Tag Archives: Education

How Great Coaches Ask, Listen, and Empathize

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by Ed Batista

Historically, leaders achieved their position by virtue of experience on the job and in-depth knowledge. They were expected to have answers and to readily provide them when employees were unsure about what to do or how to do it. The leader was the person who knew the most, and that was the basis of their authority.

Leaders today still have to understand their business thoroughly, but it’s unrealistic and ill-advised to expect them to have all the answers. Organizations are simply too complex for leaders to govern on that basis. One way for leaders to adjust to this shift is to adopt a new role: that of coach. By using coaching methods and techniques in the right situations, leaders can still be effective without knowing all the answers and without telling employees what to do. Continue reading →

Decoding leadership: What really matters

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By Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

New research suggests that the secret to developing effective leaders is to encourage four types of behavior.

Telling CEOs these days that leadership drives performance is a bit like saying that oxygen is necessary to breathe. Over 90 percent of CEOs are already planning to increase investment in leadership development because they see it as the single most important human-capital issue their organizations face. And they’re right to do so: earlier McKinsey research has consistently shown that good leadership is a critical part of organizational health, which is an important driver of shareholder returns. Continue reading →

3 Simple, Yet Critical Musts for Onboarding Success

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Marty FukudaBy Marty Fukuda

Organizations spend a great deal of resources, including time and money, selecting the perfect hires. Many businesses have developed training programs to teach new recruits the ins and outs of technical procedures as well as details about their products, services and software.
Yet often some essentials are neglected. During the first few days of an associate’s career, amid those nervous, impressionable moments, a company should lay the groundwork for a lasting powerful relationship with the person involved. Continue reading →

There Is No Shortage of Leaders

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by Gianpiero Petriglieri

“Our world looks in vain for strong leadership,” lamented the commentary for a new report by the World Economic Forum about the global outlook for 2015. The Geneva-based foundation, best known for its gatherings of world leaders, surveyed 1,767 experts about the major trends likely to keep troubling us in the year ahead.

Despite hailing from fields, sectors, countries, and generations often at odds—or even in conflict—with each other, respondents put their differences aside when it came to assessing leaders. 86% agreed that the world faces a “leadership crisis.” Continue reading →

The Unspoken Leadership Skill You Need to Survive

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By Samuel B. Bacharach

No matter how large or small your organization, your political skills play a critical role in your success as a leader.

Recently, I attended the Inc. 5000 conference, where I conducted a session on skills for moving an agenda. To open, I asked the group if any of them had good ideas that they’ve successfully implemented. One colleague and entrepreneur from Texas told the story of having a great idea, but not having talked to right people, and not having gained the right support.

More often than not, entrepreneurs fail not because of a lack of good idea, or even because of a lack of resources. Leaders fail because they have not honed their political competence. For the past generation, we’ve talked all about “leadership,” but political skills are only politely whispered about, if they are mentioned at all.

Continue reading →