Selecting the right people is a critical leadership lever that drives growth. Employee selection is the ultimate pay-me-now or pay-me-later leadership proposition. Do it effectively now and reap the benefits of a high-performing team later. Do it fast and cheap now, and pay the price later of increased turnover, underperforming teams, a diluted culture and…
In today’s ultra-competitive marketplace, good results aren’t good enough. To win, you need to produce extraordinary results. Extraordinary results come from extraordinarily performing teams. And where there is an extraordinary team, you can bet there is an inspiring leader. That’s why leadership – specifically, your leadership – matters. Leadership matters because extraordinarily performing teams are…
A common misperception among leaders is that once you get to a certain level, you should consider only a 30,000-foot perspective (i.e., the big picture) of your business. Although a high-level perspective is necessary for leadership success, it must be accompanied by an in-depth understanding of your team’s operation (e.g., your drivers of cost, profit,…
Inspiring coaches get creative with scoreboards while keeping them relevant to the employees they are managing. For example, Stephen Mansfield, CEO of Methodist Health System in Dallas, has a handy technique to keep his team focused and accountable. His scorecard is literally just that—an index card. Mansfield says, “I have a little handwritten index card…
Accountability starts at the beginning of the performance process. If we wait until the end, then we are simply imposing consequences rather than creating ownership. Therefore, crystal-clear expectations are the foundation for boosting accountability, but blurry expectations lead to blurry results. Leaders and team members should be able to easily agree on the answer to…
Very few tasks are performed completely in isolation for today's leader. Leaders harness diverse resources and collaborate across functions. In fact, our favorite definition of teamwork is "connected independence." The success of most organizations is directly proportionate to their leaders' ability to inspire excellent teamwork. High-performing teams consciously apply the Team Effectiveness and Alignment Model (T.E.A.M.). As…
Winning leaders are accessible and authentic. That formula for leadership success has not changed in 25 years. Here are some examples and steps you can take to step up your leadership game. For 25 years, we asked lots of clients and colleagues questions about their experiences with strategy execution (what we call "adherence"), including this…
A great leader is a great coach. For years, we have asked clients who the best leader they ever had was. Predictably responses include that "My best leader... pushed me believed in me helped me realize my potential invested time in developing me." In other words, these really good leaders were really great coaches. They also…
Although it’s an ambitious goal to change the world, we often underestimate our singular power to change the world of those around us. We don’t have to be a billionaire giving away cars or houses to positively change someone’s world. We each have that same power. We don’t even have to do anything! We only have…
Most of us are so technologically connected that we couldn’t disconnect even if we tried. Many of us fear having to stare down that dark tunnel of technology withdrawal. What we are talking about, however, is connecting versus being connected. We live in a high-tech world, but building positive relationships is still a high-touch job.…
