Coaching for Leaders

Heather Backstrom: Executive Coach What is a personal brand? Personal brand is who a person is from the inside out. It’s not about external looks - that is personal image (also important, but different). 1. Values Knowing our values can provide clarity on the kind of work and work environment we choose. To help get clarity on your values, you may wish to utilize Dave’s values exercise at this link. Consider experiences in your life that really brought you joy - what values show up? For more on values, check out Coaching for Leaders episode 20. 2. Vision It’s about where you are now and where you wish to go. Create a target for yourself by defining it visually or in writing. “You can’t hit a target you don’t even have.” -Zig Ziglar For a journaling app, check out Day One. For more on vision, check out Coaching for Leaders episode 22. 3. Purpose Vision is where your head is and purpose is how you get there. Vision is the future and purpose is what’s happening in the present. Dave spoke about being a “curator of wisdom about people.” Without purpose, we tend to get caught up in other people’s lives and lose our own way. 4. Authenticity Personal brand is about bringing out the best of who you are. Borrow wisdom from others, but make it your own. 5. Perception We define our world and other people by our perceptions. The language we use can change how people perceive us. Heather and Dave both mentioned that they struggled most with this element. What action will you take enhance one of these five elements of your personal brand? Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Jennifer Deal: Center for Creative Leadership Author, Always On, Never Done: Don't Blame The Smartphone Center for Creative Leadership works to help improve leadership. Many people said that staying so connected really started when they received their smartphone. On average, people in the survey were connected to the workplace 72 hours a week, or 13.5 hours a day. Personal tasks done during the workday were accounted for in the research (even people that don’t work these kind of hours still do personal tasks at work) One of the biggest complaints was the number of meetings required in organizations. A major issue is being invited to meetings and then people realizing that they weren’t really needed. Setting clear agendas is key. Be explicit why each person is needed. Another major complaint was too many people making decisions. Be explicit about who has decision-making authority and who needs to be checked with. The intentional use of ambiguity as a management tool is also a challenge. Sometimes people don’t make a decision so they don’t have responsibility for it, so they leave it in ambiguity. Clear agendas and outcomes help prevent this. This leads to crisis mode later on. What Jennifer does differently because of this research She still answers emails early in the morning and late at night. Setting better boundaries about having done enough work today. Being very specific on agendas for meetings. She turns down a lot of meetings that aren’t as high value as the other things she needs to be doing. Check out the Center for Creative Leadership for more resources Also see episode #128, Four Practices For Leading An Effective Meeting What have you seen a leader do to encourage quality connections to the workplace? Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. First question from Khrist and a few suggestions from us: Recognize your hot buttons or trigger point Avoid handling things in the midst of anger and emotion, if you can avoid them (for example, don't send emails when angry) Instead, write out your thoughts just for yourself Get input from others who are not as close to the situation Start with questions and not accusations/assumptions Sometimes a bit of expressed anger or frustration is OK, assuming it is genuine Consider what you are really able to do or not do Give yourself grace too - none of us are perfect at handling these situations In fact, we discover the most from imperfect situations Book recommendation: Daring Greatly by Brene Brown* Book recommendation: Difficult Conversations* Video recommendation: Brene Brown's first and second TED talks Past podcast recommendation: How to Lead When Someone is Driving You Nuts [episode #48] Second question from Huzefa and a few suggestions from us: What is it you want about being an entrepreneur and could you achieve it without the risk? Three elements you'd need to be successful: Skill in the field Passion for the work Market of customers who will pay what you are worth Could you do a test-run or two on a small client project that would prove your model and lessen risk? Book recommendation: Empowered manager by Peter Block* Book recommendation: Business Model Generation* Book recommendation: Business Plan In A Day by Rhonda Abrams* Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

What do you do when you're the target of criticism? Here are the two kinds of critics that show up at work in the workplace and also how to address them. It all comes back to Mathnet Two kinds of critics The bully The champion Why you need your critics Hawthorne studies (Harvard article) (Economist article) Benefits You Get From A Recognition Program (episode #79) with Michelle Smith of O.C. Tanner “Our chief want in life is someone who will make us do what we can.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Actions you can take Listen and be calm (useful for both the bully and the champion) Our urge is to become defensive It may put up barriers to hearing something of value If the criticism is unwarranted, you’re the one keeping your cool (unless the other party is factually wrong in a public forum) If the other party is factually wrong in public, make your case confidently and professionally Set aside the tone or personal attack (useful for both the bully and the champion) Is there value in what the person is saying, beyond the tone? Ask a more independent party to analyze it for you. Ask for feedback and criticism (useful with the champion) “Be your own toughest critic. Demand excellent performance from yourself and your leadership will thrive in the face of adversity.” -Doug Conant This worked for me in my first full-time job Take advice of Tom Henschel for episode #107 Ask often Say thank you or can you help me understand Do something with it or don’t Embrace the criticism and make change (useful for both the bully and the champion) Realize that a lot of people use criticism as a primary tool for development Take one suggestion this week to actually put into action Love your enemy (useful with the bully, and sometimes the champion) Find something about them you can love Feel sorry for them Be glad you're not married to them What if your boss is the bully? Try one or more things above that you think might help Are you getting more than you're giving? If not, work towards another opportunity Don't throw them under the bus on the way out the door To Those Who Want Great Careers: Don’t Do What This Guy Did Other episodes that might help Benefits You Get From A Recognition Program (episode #79) Ten Ways To Pick Yourself Up When You’re Beaten Down (episode #85) Three Steps To Soliciting Feedback (episode #107) Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." -William Shakespeare Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Bonni Stachowiak, an expert in knowledge management and curation, discusses effective strategies for creating a personal knowledge management system. She explores different methods of capturing information, such as using social media and subscriptions, and highlights the importance of curating and organizing this information. The podcast also covers tools for reading and managing RSS feed subscriptions. The episode concludes with resources for staying connected with the community and accessing additional leadership resources.

Learn how to lead effective meetings by following four practices: evaluating the necessity of the meeting, establishing guidelines for communication and decision-making, setting an agenda in advance, and ensuring clear action items. Discover the importance of time management and avoiding unproductive meetings.

Have you considered telling the people you lead about the mistakes you’ve made? On this episode, why you lead better when you share your mistakes. “Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.” -Dale Carnegie Here are the benefits to talking about your mistakes with others: You get people’s attention. You open the door for people to be more willing to accept coaching. You give people a realistic path of what it looks like to learn how to lead. It reminds you what it was like to learn that skill in the first place. It keeps you humble. Two words of caution: Make sure you share real mistakes you’ve made. Sadly, not every organization values this kind of transparency. Be smart about the politics where you are. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Here's some advice that many of us have heard when we starting giving presentations or speeches for the first time: “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em, tell ’em, tell ’em what you told ’em.” That’s lousy advice. Here's how to do better. Four great and interesting speeches, with varying levels of importance: Honoring the dead - The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln Civil rights - I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A successful product launch - The iPhone Announcement by Steve Jobs Human personality - The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain Three commonalities that these four very different "pitches" share. They all: Tell a story of the problem Articulate a vision Inspire action Resources you may wish to investigate: The Quick and Easy Way To Effective Speaking* by Dale Carnegie Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences* by Nancy Duarte SPIN Selling* by Neil Rackham Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. 1. Question about leading during a school closing from Jermaine We recommended episode #55 with Carol Taylor on How To Lead In A Crisis. 2. Question about giving feedback from Sue 3. Question about prioritizing emails and voice mail from Matt Dave's task management system: OmniFocus Bonni's task management system: Remember The Milk VIP contacts and flagging on iOS7 for the iPhone and iPad: How To See Important Messages in iOS7 Mail from The Mac Observer Mailbox for iPhone Sanebox.com We recommended episode #109 on Seven Online Tools That Will Help You Do Your Best Work. We recommended episode #119 with David Sparks on How To Get Control Of Your Email. 4. Question about small tasks and large tasks from Catherine 5. Question about hiring the right person for a non-profit Check on episodes #89 and #90, both on StrengthsFinder with Steve Dosier What’s one new practice you’ll start with your time management this week? Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. Bonni and I discussed three steps for getting what you most want out of conflict: Recognize our tendency to focus on ourselves being right and the other party being wrong. Getting clear on the feeling factor: becoming aware of our own feelings and learning to express them accurately to another party Know your short and long-term goal. “Given what has already transpired that you can't change, what do you want to have come out of this situation?” We recommended Difficult Conversations* Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.