This week's topic is how to spend $700 on your professional development. Frances, one of our listeners, contacted me this week to say that she has $700 in a "use it or lose it" budget within the next week and wanted some advice on what to do. Since many of these resources would be helpful to all of us, it's the topic for this week's show. To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Two overarching rules to keep in mind before you do anything: Talk to people who are doing the stuff you want to do Have your own professional development plan (I use Michael Hyatt's life plan that I've discussed on prior shows) Books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner How to Win Friends and Influence People (and the new version for the digital age) both by Dale Carnegie The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (link for the printed version) Amazon Prime - $79 a year (2 day shipping, streaming of movies, borrow one book a month for free) Publications The Wall Street Journal ($103 a year for the digital version) Chronicle of Higher Education ($72.50 a year for the digital version) Harvard Business Review ($79 a year) For help using an RSS reader see TechCouple episode #5 Professional Associations What you get? Local chapter and networking and social learning These are great for resources too - workshops, classes, book lists, seminars Many are $100-$200 annually Professional Journals Leader to Leader Journal ($200/year) Extended Education programs at local universities UCI Education is great for people in Southern California - find a great program near you! Software education Lynda.com ($25 a month or $250 annually) Here's a link for a free 7-day trial on Lynda.com iTunes U I mentioned the Justice series by Michael Sandel at Harvard Massive Open Online Courses Here's an example of one coming up from Stanford: Technology Entrepreneurship Academic Earth is a great clearinghouse for these courses The Great Courses is great for lectures and classes from top professors as well, as long as you're OK getting lots of catalogs from them Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback See you in a week for the next episode!

Welcome to the fifteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: Get Specific With Goals This week I was listening to the HBR IdeaCast and a recent interview with Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson about her book: 9 Things Successful People Do Differently I've also been reading Get Rid of the Performance Review! by Samuel Colbert To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Examples of actual ineffective goals: "Communicate more effectively" "Develop leadership skills" "Communication skills to be improved (writing) and get your point across more clearing and concisely" "Improve quality and completion of assigned duties" "Begin working outside of their comfort zone towards new opportunities and/or subject areas" SMART Framework S - Specific M - Measurable A - Attainable R - Relevent T - Time-phased Examples of more effective goals, utilizing the SMART framework: Establish procedures with vendors to reduce year-over-year error rates by 20% before June 30th Become a subject matter expert on departmental software use by achieving Microsoft Office Specialist Certification by the end of the year Develop skill in departmental training activities by facilitating one training class in Q1 of 2012 and receive participant satisfaction scores that are 80% or higher Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback See you in a week for the next episode!

Welcome to the fourteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: Four Leadership Lessons I'm Thankful For "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 2 To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Four stories from my career of leadership lessons I've valued: McDonald's and the value of humility How I utilize this in daily client interactions now Orientation and the value of excellence I utilize this in teaching and production of this show My first job and the value of consequences Today I utilize this to have courage "Our chief want in life is someone who shall make us do what we can." -Ralph Waldo Emerson My friend and colleague and the value of love In tough situations, find something to love about the other party More coming with this show in 2012! In the meantime, I'd like your feedback on these questions: Start: What should I start doing on the show that I'm not doing? Stop: What should I stop doing that I am doing? Continue: What should I continue doing that you feel is working? Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback See you in a week for the next episode!

Welcome to the thirteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: How Culture Affects Coaching To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback What do we mean by a strong culture? Strong culture: consistent throughout the organization and thus has a strong influence on individuals Weak culture: do not have as strong an impact on individuals because of inconsistencies (does not mean it is not effective) In Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein (2004) defines culture as, "…a pattern of SHARED BASIC ASSUMPTIONS that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to PERCEIVE, THINK, and FEEL in relation to those problems" (p. 17). We accidentally referred to Schein's book in the episode as "Making Sense of the Organization" which is actually a book by Karl Weick and also an excellent read on organizational culture, though the Schein book is an easier read, so we recommend that first. We discuss Schein's three indicators of culture: Artifacts Espoused beliefs and values Underlying assumptions We also referenced the model below from The Character of a Corporation by Goffee and Jones: Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Welcome to the twelfth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: Five Ways to Have Courage to Coach To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Courage (n) as defined by Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty Eleanor Roosevelt is famously attributed to having said, "Do one thing every day that scares you." "If you're the king of your world, you're playing in the wrong world." -Unknown 5 Pieces of Advice: 1) Have a mentor - for me, it's been my wife (and past managers) 2) Educate yourself on the issues - for me, it's reading and RSS feeds Check out Shelfari.com and you can view my profile here. Six Ways to Get Smart and Stay Smart TechCouple Episode #5 3) Surround yourself with people who will empower you. 4) Have direction - a personal vision Michael Hyatt's life planning e-book is a great way to start I'm Irrational With My Time (and so are you...) 5) Lean into discomfort Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback. See you in a week for the next episode!

Welcome to the eleventh episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: How to Create a Shared Vision. Also a special welcome back to my favorite guest: Dr. Bonni Stachowiak, President of Innovate Learning. What did you do with the tools from last week's episode? Who did you give constructive feedback to? To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback You can't create a shared vision without having your own vision first. It's inappropriate for us to be dependent on others or independent from them. Rather, we need to have relationships of interdependence. Bonni mentioned a clip from the movie Spartacus which captures the power of interdependence: Two key elements of a shared vision: The people involved have a shared picture of what the future looks like. Everyone is committed to achieving the work and working towards it together. We discussed four steps for leaders to take when creating a shared vision: A few books that we mentioned on this episode: The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner We also mentioned Linda Krall, our favorite strategic illustrator Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Contact (877) LEARN-45 or send email to feedback@innovatelearning.com See you in a week for the next episode!

Dave Stachowiak: Coaching for Leaders In his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith warns against the habit of leaders adding too much value and stifling the motivation of an employee’s independent ideas. He says that when we start improving an employee’s idea, “You may have improved the content of my idea by 5 percent, but you’ve reduced my commitment to executing it by 50 percent, because you’ve taken away my ownership of the idea.” Does it even make sense to give someone feedback? Here's a helpful guide. Minor issue? If the person is aware: ask what they plan to do to resolve it If the person is unaware: let it go Major issue? If the person is aware : ask questions and help brainstorm If the person is unaware - redirect by using EXPECTATION -> EXAMPLE -> EMPOWER Saying something "nice" first can get us in trouble as a leader: It doesn't sound sincere, since it's often done only before constructive feedback It's not credible since the leader will often fail to cite evidence and examples The leader ends up gliding over the real issue and the person never really hears the constructive feedback Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Discover the art of giving effective feedback and the challenges that come with it. Learn a three-step model for impactful positive feedback, emphasizing specific qualities and expressing gratitude. Build stronger relationships by acknowledging and affirming strengths. Explore additional resources and coaching services for further insights.

Dr. Bonni Stachowiak, President of Innovate Learning and Associate Professor of Business, discusses coaching Millennials in the workplace. Topics include generational differences, autonomy in work culture, characteristics of baby boomers, understanding Millennials' needs, and effective coaching strategies for engaging and motivating younger employees.

Welcome to the seventh episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders! This week's topic: How to Coach the Millennials (Part 1). One of the biggest challenges I hear from leaders today is how to coach this new generation of young people entering the workforce. I cite current statistics from the Fall 2011 edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. Special guest: Dr. Gilbert Fugitt Associate Dean of Students at Concordia University in Irvine, CA You can reach Gilbert at gilbert.fugitt@cui.edu Gilbert mentioned the book Not Everybody Gets a Trophy by Bruce Tulgan as a resource for leaders. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.