Blanchard LeaderChat

A finite game has known players, fixed rules, and a clear end point, like baseball. But with infinite games such as business or politics, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined end point. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game—there is only ahead or behind.

In this episode, Craig Weber explains how strong communication skills can build healthy work environments and increase leadership effectiveness. “The first step is awareness. People need to be aware of how they react to others during conversations,” explains Weber. Once people have this awareness, they can be more thoughtful about their responses and help conversations move along in a positive way. The second step is to embrace a new way of thinking. Many people let their ego get in the way during conversations when they want to prove they are right. That isn’t helpful. The purpose of a conversation is to get a clear understanding of an issue with the goal of working together to make good decisions and move forward. To do that, you must develop a mindset of learning. The third step is learning the skills of candor and curiosity. Candor involves being able to state your opinion clearly and explain the thinking behind it. Curiosity is about testing your opinions or theories with others to learn about blind spots or inaccuracies in your thought process. It also involves the ability to inquire and gain clarity about comments or opinions from others. Weber suggests creating a personal plan to work on specific areas of your communication skills. Be aware of your behaviors, approach every conversation with a learning mindset, and then practice the skills of candor and curiosity. Weber wants everyone to realize they have the power to make a difference both at work and at home by simply improving their communication skills.  For more information about Craig Weber, go to https://www.weberconsultinggroup.net/conversational-capacity.

Jennifer Brown says most of us are not aware of the variety of forms bias can take. The most important thing is to start having discussions about diversity and unconscious bias so every leader can begin their journey toward becoming an inclusive leader.

Marcus Buckingham, author of 'Nine Lies About Work,' shares insights on debunking common assumptions in the workplace. He challenges ideas such as people caring which company they work for, the best plan winning, and the need for feedback. He emphasizes the importance of embracing individual uniqueness and finding love in work rather than seeking work-life balance.

“I’ve been in the business of leadership development for 30 years, and it became increasingly evident to me that love is the foundation of great leadership,” says Steve Farber. He isn’t talking a touchy-feely notion of love, but the competitive advantage you can have when you love what you do in the service of people who love what you do. This book is about dispelling the myth that love and business are mutually exclusive. Farber isn’t talking about love as a sentiment, but as a discipline: love of the cause, values, people, customers, products, and services.  

In this exciting episode, you’ll hear how aviation pioneer Carey D. Lohrenz learned what Fearless Leadership means in two of the most demanding and extreme environments imaginable: the cockpit of an F-14 and the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Through her experiences, Lohrenz identified a fundamental truth: high performing teams require fearless leaders. “Fearless leadership isn’t about not feeling fear. It’s having the ability to feel uncomfortable and to move through it and show up to be the best you can be,” explains Lohrenz. Hear her describe the fundamentals of Fearless Leadership: Courage: If you cultivate courage in yourself, you’ll have what it takes to see limitless possibilities for yourself as a leader. Tenacity: Embracing the persistence it takes to keep going after a goal—even when it becomes difficult or risky—and continuing to take action. Integrity: Do the right thing, be honest, be trustworthy, and lead by example. Lohrenz also describes how to put Fearless Leadership into action by first setting a clear vision, then being the catalyst for moving your team toward that vision by creating the culture to support it. She also illustrates the importance of being resilient as a leader and describes the seven steps you can take to become more resilient: Reject victimhood Embrace change Focus on what matters Find a wingman Know what you can control Learn from adversity Take action “Above all, Fearless Leadership is the difference between having the life, team, culture, and organization that you want, and settling,” says Lohrenz. So risk more, worry less, and take action—because bold, fearless action drives success. For more information about Carey Lohrenz, visit www.careylohrenz.com

In this episode, you’ll hear Jim Clifton describe the findings from Gallup’s largest study on the future of work from his new book, It’s the Manager. “We found that engagement—not satisfaction, but engagement, where people are developing and contributing to something bigger than themselves—is extremely low. In the United States, about 30 percent of employees are engaged at work. And if you look worldwide, that number drops to 15 percent,” says Clifton. “This tells us that in the world of management, something isn’t working. The numbers are depressing—but the possibilities are inspiring.” After studying 300,000 teams across 160 countries, Gallup found that one thing makes the difference between high performing teams and failing teams: the manager. While the world’s workplaces have been going through extraordinary change, the practice of management has been stuck in time for more than 30 years. Hear Clifton describe a few of the 52 discoveries from his book, including the importance of creating the kind of culture that supports employee development and the need for managers to stop being a boss and start being a coach. The new, younger workforce wants their work to have deep mission and purpose—and they don’t want old-style command-and-control bosses. They want coaches who inspire them, communicate with them frequently, and develop their strengths. “Just imagine if we improved engagement from 15 percent to 50 percent. We would see meaningful growth like never before.” About Jim Clifton For more information about Jim Clifton, visit www.gallup.com.

For everyday situations that can drain our daily energy and make us lose focus, Micro-Resilience offers quick and easy ways to help us cope: Learn how to Refocus Your Brain, Reset Your Primitive Alarms, Reframe Your Attitude, Refresh Your Body, and Renew Your Spirit! Bonnie St. John explains how in her book Micro-Resilience, coauthored with Allen P. Haines. “We have so much disruption in our lives—new technology, new customers, new competition, new processes and systems,” says St. John. “All of this disruption creates stress and mental exhaustion. But you can make tiny changes in your daily routine to help you deal with the big changes going on in your life.” A lot of information is available about how to deal with big life changes such as illness or natural disasters. These kinds of events can require complex solutions and take time to work through. But for everyday situations that can drain our daily energy and make us lose focus, Micro-Resilience offers quick and easy ways to help us cope.

In this episode, S. Chris Edmonds discusses the key points of his book The Culture Engine: A Framework for Driving Results, Inspiring Your Employees, and Transforming Your Workplace. S. Chris Edmonds has a delightfully simple explanation of culture: “Culture is all about how people treat each other—how leaders treat their teams and peers, how employees treat each other, and how people treat customers and vendors. It’s about relationships and respect,” he explains. As simple as that sounds, it can also be a very disruptive concept to some organizations. Many leaders and managers are asked to manage business results but are rarely asked to manage the quality of their work culture. “Get out of the mindset that results are the most important thing. Make respect as important as results. One of the first things I do is educate senior leaders about how important it is to have a culture that is purposeful, positive, and productive—one that is going to drive great customer experiences and employee engagement.” So how does an organization start creating the culture they want to cultivate? Edmonds suggests writing an organizational constitution—a document that outlines the purpose, values, strategies, and goals of the company. It describes exactly how employees will engage with each other, with customers, and with vendors. An organizational constitution gives meaning and clarity to every employee by providing a clear understanding of how they can do their best work, treat others respectfully, and help the organization prosper. It is critical to urge all the leaders in the organization to model the behaviors outlined in the organizational constitution. It becomes the document they can lead by, live by, and manage performance to. It helps them hold people accountable, praise people who are living the values of the constitution, and redirect people whose behaviors are not in alignment. If your organization doesn’t have a constitution, individuals can lead by example. Edmonds asks leaders to pay attention to the relationships they have with their direct reports, peers, customers, and vendors. “I ask leaders to shift from an ‘I need’ mindset to a ‘What do you need?’ mindset. If leaders can help their people accomplish tasks easier, or give a client what they need, they will build trust and create a mutually beneficial relationship,” Edmonds explains. “I’ve seen it work with intact teams within organizations.  I tell people to just start making a difference where they are.” Edmonds shares several examples of working with organizations to help them define their purpose, values, strategies, and goals, and describes how these companies are creating their desired cultures. The stories bring his concepts to life. Edmonds stresses that culture drives everything that happens in an organization day by day, including focus, priorities, and the treatment of employees and customers. A great culture not only drives great performance but also can help attract and retain top talent. However, a great culture isn't something that evolves naturally—it must be defined, supported, honored, and modeled every day. About The Ken Blanchard Companies The Ken Blanchard Companies is the global leader in management training. For nearly 40 years Blanchard has been creating the best managers in the world, training over 150,000 people each year. From the award-winning First-time Manager program—based on the best-selling business book The New One Minute Manager®—to SLII®, the most widely taught leadership model in the world, Blanchard is the provider of choice for Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, government agencies, and educational and nonprofit organizations. About S. Chris Edmonds For more information on S. Chris Edmonds visit his website at www.drivingresultsthroughculture.com  

In this episode, Whitney Johnson discusses the secrets to creating an engaged and productive team as outlined in her book, Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve. Johnson shares seven ways managers can support their team members’ journey up the curve. Take the right kind of risks—Help team members understand the difference between doing something just to compete, versus finding a problem that needs to be solved and creating the solution. Play to your distinctive strengths—Help team members identify what they are good at and let them apply their knowledge to those types of projects. Embrace your constraints—By identifying constraints and taking a hard look at them managers can help team members inspire innovation. Battle entitlement—Encourage team members to think about new ways of doing things. Just because a process has been in place for years, doesn’t mean it is the best process. Entitlement can kill innovation. Step back, down, or sideways to grow—Continually pushing forward is not always the best way to drive innovation. Help people understand the positive influence of stepping back to look at other possibilities. Give failure its due—Accept what you can learn from failure. It might be the very thing to catapult you up the learning curve. Be driven by discovery—Encourage your team to ask for feedback and use what they learn to discover things that might be holding them back. About The Ken Blanchard Companies The Ken Blanchard Companies is the global leader in management training. For nearly 40 years, Blanchard has been creating the best managers in the world, training over 150,000 people each year. From the award-winning First-time Manager program, based on the best-selling business book, The New One Minute Manager®—to SLII®, the most widely taught leadership model in the world, Blanchard is the provider of choice for Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, government agencies, and educational and nonprofit organizations. About Whitney Johnson For more information on Whitney Johnson visit www.whitneyjohnson.com. Or visit www.whitneyjohnson.com/diagnostic to take an assessment to determine where you are on the S-Curve of Learning.