Blanchard LeaderChat

In this episode, Vicki Halsey, author of Brilliance by Design, shares a case study of a team putting the ENGAGE model into practice. For years, both in the school environment and in corporate education, Vicki Halsey observed what was happening in classrooms—a teacher standing in front of a group of people, talking at them. The people in the audience were not engaged; only the speaker. This was very different from Vicki’s classrooms, where people were active, inspired, and even noisy. “It occurred to me that the person who is energized and all fired up is the one doing the teaching—not the one doing the learning. It should be the other way around,” explains Halsey. “It happens every day in companies around the world. We hire people because they have fabulous transferable skills, but we don’t spend the time it takes to teach them what they need to know in their new position to help them be successful. We don’t engage them in learning. So, to help the learning process, I designed a simple six-step process that brings out the brilliance in learners: the ENGAGE model.” Energize and Focus Learners—Get people involved before the session starts by sending emails to explain the importance of the experience. Then give them exposure to the materials that will be used. Send books, articles, podcasts, or video to help them start to learn before they get there. When they arrive at the meeting or classroom, get them involved immediately with an interactive exercise. Navigate the Content—Present the content through interactive lectures, demonstrations, stories, handouts, exercises with card sorts, or case studies. The key is to understand that people learn in different ways. You need to present the content in enough ways to give everyone a chance to learn. Generate Meaning—Once the attendees have learned the content, move the learning from short-term memory to long-term memory and help participants sell themselves on why the learning is important in their world by having them create flip charts about the value, benefits, and meaning of this learning in their lives. This will rally commitment for the next part of the ENGAGE model so that they will apply what they have learned. Apply to the Real World—Have people apply what they have learned through practicing or rehearsing. Give them all the tools they need—checklists, scripts, video examples—then have them practice, practice, practice. Gauge and Celebrate—It is critical to assess how much learning has occurred—and then celebrate. This can be as simple as a quiz show-style game or crossword puzzle, a group mind map, or a “stump the panel” game. The idea is to create a fun way to deepen the learning and help transfer the learning to doing. Extend Learning to Action—Keep the learning top of mind after the meeting or class. Send reminders with a tip of the week, share success stories of people using their new skills, or have award ceremonies to honor people’s commitment to the learning. Continuous reminders or refreshers will help extend the learning. “Research indicates that designs for learning sessions focus about 70 percent of the time on the content to be learned and only about 30 percent on having learners practice what they are learning,” says Halsey. “If you want to unleash the brilliance of your people, you must flip that equation, so they are practicing the new skills 70 percent of the time. Don’t just talk at them. Let them process, learn, and get to work.” 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 of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, government agencies, and educational and nonprofit organizations. About Vicki Halsey For more information on Vicki Halsey, go to www.vickihalsey.com.

In this enlightening episode, Brené Brown describes her research study, seven years in the making, that looks at the future of leadership and the barriers and obstacles to daring leadership. “One of the most important findings of my career is daring leadership—a collection of skills and practices that are teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. It isn’t easy—because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. But it is necessary if you want to cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and embed the value of courage into your culture,” explains Brown. Brown describes the four skills needed to become a courageous leader. The first and most important skill is Rumbling with Vulnerability. Brown had assumed that the biggest barrier to courageous leadership would be fear, but her research indicated that fear is not a barrier. In fact, leaders she interviewed admitted to being fearful much of the time. The real barrier is how people armor themselves to deal with the fear. It is critical to understand that we all self-protect when we feel scared, defensive, or vulnerable. A great tool to use when Rumbling with Vulnerablity is curiosity. “When I find myself in a tough situation or I’m about to receive some hard feedback, instead of getting my armor up, I stay open and ask questions, so I can get specific information,” Brown explains. In the book she identifies 16 different ways we armor ourselves and offers ways to move that armor out of the way to become a daring, courageous leader. The second skill is Living into Your Values. Leaders constantly must do tough things, give hard feedback, put bold ideas into motion while being unsure of the outcome, and take many risks. Courageous leaders are able to do this consistently because they operate with a clear set of values and behaviors that line up with those values. “It is important to have values as a leader, but it is critical to operationalize them. Otherwise they are just vague concepts, not guiding principles,” Brown explains. The third skill, Braving Trust, can be tricky because many leaders don’t know how to talk about trust. Direct reports have to trust their leaders in order to have honest conversations and both parties have to be in an unarmored position. It’s no secret that the highest performing teams are built on a foundation of trust. And building trust is a skill that can be taught and learned. The fourth skill is Learning to Rise and deals with the ability to re-set after an error or mistake. The ability to be resilient helps leaders learn from mistakes quickly, share those learnings, and continue to move forward in a positive way. And, yes, it is a skill that every leader can learn. “Courage is a skill set we can teach, measure, and observe, but we are choosing not to because it is an investment of energy and time and it takes muscle building. But why are we choosing not to do it? If we need braver leaders, but we’re not investing in skilling them up, what is getting in the way?” asked Brown. Brown’s new book, Dare to Lead is the ultimate playbook that offers practical skill-building tools for creating brave leaders in your organization. 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 of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, government agencies, and educational and nonprofit organizations. About Brené Brown For more information on Brené Brown, go to www.brenebrown.com and click on the Dare to Lead Hub for free resources.  

In this episode, Susan Fowler explores how most companies expect managers to motivate their people to accomplish goals. Managers may try many different methods to encourage people to reach their goals, from rewards and recognition to pressure and intimidation. But research indicates that these methods just don’t work. “When did we get to the point that people have to be motivated by carrots and sticks—carrots representing incentives or bribes, and sticks representing pressure, threats and tension?” asks Fowler. Many people may not be aware of new research showing that the real secret to motivation is creating an environment where people are optimally motivated to perform at their highest level. “Look at your own beliefs,” says Fowler. “Do you think people are basically lazy and won’t do what you want them to do, or do you believe people want to thrive and make a contribution in their role? Do you believe people are more motivated extrinsically or intrinsically?” Research indicates that people want to thrive and that intrinsic rewards are more sustainably motivating than extrinsic rewards. Problems arise when managers don’t believe people want to succeed or when they default to extrinsic reward systems to improve performance. Fowler describes three conversations managers can have with direct reports. Each includes a separate set of questions to help analyze a direct report’s motivation on certain projects or tasks. The first set of questions gets to the root of the psychological need for autonomy: does the direct report feel good or bad about the choices available to them on their task? Everyone needs a sense of control over what they do. The second set of questions focuses on the psychological need for connection or relatedness and helps identify values and purpose. The third set of questions relates to the psychological need for competence and describes the skills the person brings to the task. When the manager asks the direct report questions that put them in touch with their needs for choice, connection, and competence, the direct report is able to find their own source of motivation internally—and that is the most powerful motivation. “You must remember to be mindful and not judgmental when having these conversations with your staff,” Fowler says. “By asking these questions, you are helping people to be more self-aware and to explore what their motivational outlook is all about.” Fowler believes managers can create an environment where their people can have a better quality of life. “It’s not that we don’t want money—we are all motivated by money, power, and status—but there are other options that serve us and the people around us more effectively. We need to become more aware of why we are motivating people the way we are, and what is motivating us.” Fowler encourages you to ask yourself these three questions: (1) Why do I make the choices I make? (2) How do I feel a greater connection? and (3) How do I learn and grow 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 of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, government agencies, and educational and nonprofit organizations.   For more information about Susan Fowler, go to http://susanfowler.com/ Or https://www.kenblanchard.com/Products-Services/Optimal-Motivation

In this episode, Don Yaeger, author of Great Teams: 16 Things High Performing Organizations Do Differently, discusses his research on why some teams win when others fail. “My research of the business and sports world uncovered sixteen things that successful teams do, and I grouped them into four main pillars,” explains Yaeger. (As you listen, you’ll realize the names of the four pillars create the acronym TEAM.) Pillar One: Targeting Purpose “Every team has to have a shared sense of purpose,” says Yaeger, “but this is more a belief than a statement. A high performing team feels a shared purpose in their bones. It becomes part of who they are as a team.” You may have heard about Simon Sinek’s Why concept (if you know the answer to why your work matters, you will enjoy your work more.) The concept behind this pillar is very similar to Sinek’s concept, but it applies to entire teams, not individuals. The sense of purpose for a team identifies who they are serving and why that matters. Whether in business, sports, military operations, or day-to-day life, teams show up more positively when they share a sense of purpose. Pillar Two: Effective Management Yaeger explains that team leaders need to be committed to developing others. To build a team to its full potential, a leader should recruit people for a cultural fit and then train them for skills. Profit and loss statements are the roadmap to the future for many companies—but Yeager suggests having the right people in the right positions is a better way to ensure that people and teams are constantly developing and improving. The most successful teams have markers on their roadmap of performance defined as developmental goals, not monetary goals. Pillar Three: Activating Efficiency This pillar focuses on a willingness to not just accept change but embrace it, so the team can be successful even in transition. “It is important to build a culture of mentorship. Leaders do that by making their expectations clear and praising good performance that supports the culture. Every member of the team must act as a mentor when necessary. It isn’t the job of only the team leader to be a mentor—everyone needs to own that role.” An especially good example of this pillar is for leaders to be fully engaged in all meetings or practices to let the team know their performance is the most important thing at that moment. In fact, Yaeger recommends that leaders be either fully engaged and present or fully absent. If a leader isn’t prepared to be there 100 percent, they might as well not show up at all. Pillar Four: Mutual Direction Great teams have a true sense of what they ultimately want and what it will take to get there. A football team focuses on the fourth quarter and a business team focuses on the completion of a project. Both teams focus on the finish. By preparing all along the way, great teams build a culture where they can win even in critical situations. Most important, Yaeger urges team leaders to design the culture they want. “By design or by default, your team will have a culture. So design it the way you want it to be and focus on creating and maintaining it. The best teams aren’t necessarily the ones with the best talent—they are the ones with the strongest culture.” 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 of Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, governments, and educational and nonprofit organizations. About Don Yaeger For more information about Don Yaeger go to donyaeger.com.  

Learn six strategies for turning a pressure situation into an opportunity. In this episode, Judd Hoekstra, coauthor of Crunch Time: How to be Your Best When It Matters Most, talks about the skill of reframing—intentionally thinking about a situation in a new or different way to improve performance. “When faced with a stressful situation, it is normal to have the fight, flight, or freeze reaction. But what you should do is pause and recognize when you are having negative thoughts—then challenge your thinking to have positive thoughts,” Hoekstra explains. Hoekstra offers six tips for putting reframing into practice. The first is to reframe from trying harder to trying easier. Contrary to what many of us have been taught, trying harder under pressure is often counterproductive. Think about your best performances. Were you grinding and full of anxiety? More than likely, you remember your best performances as almost effortless. Trying easier isn’t about being lazy or not trying. It is about throttling back just a little. It’s about taking the tension out of what you’re doing and replacing it with a level of effort that allows you to perform in a relaxed state. The next skill is to reframe from tension to laughter. Humor diffuses pressure better than any pharmaceutical on the market. It momentarily reduces the perceived threat posed by a situation. It also helps generate a sense of control and provides perspective that can help you see dire circumstances with some levity. It also stops cortisol, a stress hormone, in its tracks and releases endorphins—the feel-good neurotransmitters that enhance performance. Reframing from anxiety to taking control is a skill that can be used in any stressful situation that undermines your performance. Instead of setting lofty goals that can be intimidating, set simple, short-term, bite-sized goals that are attainable. Then you can take control of the situation and perform at a higher level. Fighting our own doubts is difficult, but it is possible to reframe from doubt to confidence. “When I’m making a presentation but I’m filled with doubt, I think back to a similar situation where I performed at my best level. I visualize that performance—I actually relive the event—to build my confidence and remember that I’ll be using the same tried and true skills that I’ve successfully used before,” says Hoekstra. Reframing from failure to a learning moment is one of the most useful skills to consider when trying to deliver your best performance. Whether you are an athlete, business person, actor, parent, or teacher, we can all learn from our mistakes. Hoekstra shares how Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40, has banned the word mistake from the company’s culture. Ridge prefers the term learning moment. People are afraid of making mistakes, but having a learning moment is an opportunity. He asks people to think about what they’ve learned and to share that information with others. The last skill is to reframe from prepared to overprepared. This skill is especially helpful in pressure situations. A normal amount of preparation is fine, but it won’t serve you well when the pressure is high. Overpreparation allows you to operate instinctively even when things are not going as planned. “Overpreparation is what allowed Michael Phelps to set a world record in the 2008 Olympics even when his goggles were leaking and he couldn’t see the edge of the pool,” says Hoekstra. Overpreparation is the skill that allows you to overcome the unthinkable. The best thing to remember is that people everywhere, in all kinds of professions, are using reframing skills successfully. They are as helpful to a CEO or athlete as they are to a parent trying to have a positive interaction with their children.

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast we speak with Robert Greene, author of the New York Times bestseller, Mastery. Greene shares some of the key points from his book, beginning with the importance of self awareness—getting a clear sense of who you are, where you are going, and what motivates you. From there, Greene discusses the importance of acquiring skills. He makes a strong case for an apprenticeship approach, where you focus on skill development above all else in your early years on the job. The goal is to develop the type of skill mastery needed in today’s specialized world. Finally, Greene recommends developing a plan to fully leverage the skills you’ve developed.  Planning can be self-guided, though he does recommend finding a mentor as a great way to shorten the process.  The key is to take action, overcome fear and inertia, and learn how to experience failure and learn from it. Overall, Greene provides an inspiring look at how to become the person you know you can be!

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast, we interview Beverly Kaye, author of the new book Up Is Not the Only Way. Kaye shares new ways to stay engaged and feel valued for managers and others who work in flat organizations—companies that offer few opportunities to climb the traditional corporate ladder. Kaye says a focus on creating engaging work and new opportunities for growth can help. Part of the process for individual contributors is about changing their perspective on their current job. Kaye jokes that the grass is not always greener on the other side. "Sometimes when we get there, we find out it's AstroTurf." Instead, Kaye suggests individual contributors ask themselves a few key questions—"What part of my job do I love?” “How could I do more of that?” “How can I talk to my manager about this?”—and then move on to what Kaye calls career calisthenics: "What part of my current job could I push away from?"  "What parts of my manager’s job could I pull toward me?" Kaye also recommends people open themselves up to alternative career paths by seeking out options other than just waiting for a promotion. For managers, Kaye recommends a one-on-one conversation with each direct report that focuses on the person’s career. Questions such as: "What was the best part of last week for you?” "What did you like best about the last project you worked on?” and "What one skill have you brought to this position that you haven't fully used yet?” are all good places to start. It's not easy. But it can be done. And in this podcast, Beverly Kaye shares how. Be sure to listen to the end of the episode to hear Ken Blanchard's insight on the concepts Kaye discusses.

“We all know how good we’ve become—but we don’t know how good we could be,” says Mark Sanborn in his new book, The Potential Principle. “Almost all people have a desire to get better—but only 30% have a plan.” That’s wishful thinking, says Sanborn. Sanborn recommends that people practice “positive discontent” in their lives and says that life gets interesting when you ask yourself, “How much better could I be?” He offers four reasons for getting started sooner rather than later: Change: If you stay the same, you get left behind Customers: The more you do, the more they expect—you have to keep improving Competitors: They keep getting better—you need to, also Capability: It gives you a chance to offer more to the world Sanborn discusses his Potential Matrix, which focuses on both your inner world and your outer world. In the outer world you have performing and learning.  In the inner world, thinking and reflecting. Sanborn explains that most people have a preferred quadrant, but it’s best to work on all four and look for improvement in all areas. “Start with what you most need to improve. Where would you see the most benefit?  This makes it easier to create momentum.” Next, Sanborn recommends finding people who can help you along your journey. “Engage others—think who before how. Who can help you get better?  Find an expert who already knows.” Sanborn also discusses how to disrupt your present thinking, refocus on what is important, and increase your capacity. “You need to disrupt yourself before someone else does.  You probably have a relationship, process, or problem that you know isn’t working very well.  It’s always better to initiate disruption yourself than to wait for things to get worse—then you have to act. Sanborn specifically encourages leaders. “Leaders know what matters—the key is to make it matter to others—that’s what makes you a leader. Focus on the important things. Grow yourself and grow your team.  Learn how to accomplish more in the same amount of time.” And finally, some personal advice. “Each morning make it a goal to go to bed that night a little bit smarter than you were when you woke up.  Learn something new.  Try something different.  Make a new a new friend. Pursue a new idea. Don’t go through life status quo.” Be sure to listen to the very end of the interview to hear Ken Blanchard’s thoughts and takeaways from the ideas Sanborn shares!

In this episode, Alex Hutchinson shares what he learned from ten years of researching human performance. He explains that whether you are running a marathon, building a career, or raising a family, you will have fundamental struggles. And even though the situations are very different, the struggles are similar. “Human achievement relies upon the ability to endure—and your ability to push forward in any circumstance will separate the very successful times from the less successful times,” explains Hutchinson. Here are a few of the fascinating concepts he shares: Although some limits we experience feel physical, many are dictated by the brain. That doesn’t mean we can ignore those limits, but we need to realize they are more changeable than we think. If, for example, you are struggling to win a race or fighting to stay awake during a presentation, you are hitting a limit. Being able to recognize the difference between apparent and actual limits is at the heart of understanding what endurance is all about. Your beliefs could be the most powerful asset you have for improving performance. Believing you can do something is part of the trick. The method of creating belief doesn’t happen overnight—it takes time and effort to build confidence. And confidence improves performance. Tricking yourself that you are performing better than you actually are can bridge the gap between what your brain thinks you can do and what your body really can do. Deception is useful to show you what is possible to achieve; however, it isn’t a great method for sustaining performance. Understand that mental fatigue is as real and as tiring as physical fatigue. Research shows that looking at a computer screen for a few hours can cause changes in your brain chemistry that result in mental fatigue—and that can damage your physical performance. So, if you are in the office powering through a project on your computer, maybe the best thing you can do is get up and take a walk outside to refresh your mental state and then get back to your project with renewed energy. Pain causes discomfort that slows us down. An athlete experiences physical pain, but someone making a presentation or speech can also feel pain. The good news is that pain tolerance can be developed. To push the limits of your endurance, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Nutrition plays a huge role in your performance. It’s obvious that physical endurance depends on food and water, but a nutritious diet is also important for brain function. There is no silver bullet diet—you must find what works best for you. Finally, Hutchinson explains the importance of optimism and believing in yourself. He reminds us that “The experience of a limit is a sensation in the brain. It isn’t easy to change, but it isn’t as absolute as it feels. Don’t take the feeling of hitting a limit as a signal of failure, but as a signal to look for another way to accomplish your goal.”  

Chad Gordon interviews Dr. Henry Cloud, author of the new book, The Power of the Other: The startling effect other people have on you, from the boardroom to the bedroom and beyond—and what to do about it. Cloud shares the importance of recognizing the impact that others have on your success. He explains how every significant act in your life always includes someone else.  How are you being influenced by others—and how are you influencing the key people in your life? Cloud also shares a unique "four corner" model that helps you identify relationships that are toxic and lead to feelings of disconnectedness, inferiority, or feeling fake.  He describes how to move beyond these three negative corners and lead yourself and others into honest, authentic relationships where people thrive.  Cloud discusses strategies for moving beyond a good/bad mindset by creating a language and using a process that leads to real conversations that help people move forward. Whether it's in a one-on-one conversation, or in a team setting, you'll learn strategies to improve trust, feedback, and performance. And don't miss the final minutes of the podcast when Ken Blanchard joins in at the end of the interview to share his thoughts and key takeaways!