Management Development Unlocked - Management & Leadership Training

On today’s episode of Management Development Unlocked, Eric sits down with Brian Walch, owner of Shiftfocus Coaching and Consulting. Brian is based in Anchorage, Alaska, and he helps organizations develop their managers. Brian also assists organizations in building best-in-class management cultures. He has a 25-year career in IT consulting and decided to move over to helping managers make a bigger impact while helping people develop in their careers.Eric and Brian cover the challenges managers face after they move past the honeymoon stage, Brian’s advice for burned-out managers, and why burnout can happen even when you love what you’re doing. He shares four domains you should consider as a manager, what to do when you believe you’re ready for more responsibility, and the one thing that can benefit brand-new managers most.In this episode, you’ll hear:The challenges managers face in their own careers once they move past the honeymoon stage.Brian Walch’s advice for burned-out managers and why internal motivation matters more than external.Why burnout can happen even when you love what you’re doing.Investing in yourself for the long haul and reaping the benefits.Continual progression even as you become more comfortable with your management position.Brian's four domains to consider as a manager: relationships and influence, skills and experience, results, and systems.What to do when you think you’re ready for more in management.Brian’s business, Shiftfocus, and what it can help you with.The one thing Eric believes can benefit brand-new managers.Connect with Brian Walch:WebsiteLinkedIn---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On today’s Management Development Unlocked, you’ll hear part five of Eric’s six-episode series of his audiobook, Lead Like a Pro: The Essential Guide for New Managers. Building a healthy coaching habit can help break three vicious cycles at work, and Eric shares some tips for becoming a great coach for your team. You’ll learn about the GROW model, becoming an active listener, and some questions you can use in your next coaching session. You’ll also hear why feedback is crucial to a successful team. Eric outlines why feedback should be a habit—both constructive and positive—and how to handle adverse reactions to feedback and reward and recognize your team without money.In this episode, you’ll hear:Building a coaching habit and the three vicious circles at work that it can break.Evolving beyond your own tasks and taking proactive steps to help your team perform better.Coaching and feedback and the three things it can help you do as a new manager.Why you should always coach in private, be curious, and avoid statements that may make the coachee defensive.Questions that can help you evaluate your team’s performance.Challenging your assumptions and digging deeper.The purpose behind coaching at work.Four essential coaching skills and the GROW (goals, reality, options, and way forward) model for coaching.GROW in practice and avoiding offering advice.Six behaviors or active listening.Seven essential coach-like questions to get a coaching session rolling.Making feedback a habit and the simple things you can do to ensure it is received well.Keeping a record of the feedback you provide.Handling negative reactions to feedback.The coaching-feedback-coaching technique.Offering rewards and recognition to team members.The three ways to reward and recognize your team that doesn’t involve money and how to do it.---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On today’s episode of Management Development Unlocked, Eric welcomes Roberta Ndlela to the show. Roberta is a member of the Zulu tribe in South Africa and grew up under the apartheid system. Apartheid ended when she was 18, and at 19, she began her corporate career in the transportation industry, where she honed her communication skills. Later, as she taught English in South Korea, Roberta recognized the value of adaptability.  She credits her communication and adaptability skills for her success today.In this episode, you’ll hear:How Roberta Ndlela defines “soft skills” as human skills.Why you need soft skills in addition to technical knowledge.The top eight behaviors that successful managers or leaders possess.The data behind soft skills, why CEOs spend 20% more time learning soft skills than the average person, and the increased productivity rates of their teams.Quiet quitting and workers’ reluctance to do more than the minimum at work.Roberta Ndlela’s free 30-minute call to assist listeners with speaking or leading people.Connect with Roberta Ndlela:LinkedInInstagram---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On this Management Development Unlocked replay, Eric interviews Roger Martin, co-founder and CEO of ThriveMore Brands. ThriveMore is a platform company with franchise brands under its umbrella, including RockBox Fitness and beem® Light Sauna. They also have a nutrition company and are discussing bringing an overseas franchise concept to America. The company employs 27 people in its home office.In this episode, you’ll hear:Roger Martin’s company, ThriveMore Brands, and an overview of what it does.His tips for overcoming imposter syndrome and why you’re probably not growing if you haven’t experienced it.What competency-selective interviewing tactics are, and how they contrast with just using your gut to hire.The impact of AI in the workplace and what makes it a powerful tool.How managers deal with failure, take responsibility for it, and work to fix the problem at the speed of trust.Psychological safety and the value of feeling safe to make mistakes and grow.The franchise brands that make up ThriveMore Brands and the goal of those brands.Connect with Roger Martin:LinkedInThriveMore BrandsInstagramTikTokTwitter/X---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On this episode of Management Development Unocked, Eric welcomes Brian Nelson-Palmer back to the show for a friendly debate. Brian is the founder of Productivity Gladiator and teaches personal, practical productivity skills. Brian’s target audience is recently promoted office people managers. Brian and Eric have different productivity styles, and this episode is all about their dueling opinions on various ways of remaining productive, including calendars, task lists, what time work should start, and more. While they may disagree on their methodology, Eric and Brian share a passion for getting things done in a timely manner.In this episode, you’ll hear:The five things Eric and Brian Nelson-Palmer are in disagreement about.Using a calendar for tasks and events (Eric) versus Brian’s use of a calendar and a separate task list.The paradigm differences that may make Eric’s method work for one person but Brian’s method for someone else.Planning every facet of your day versus leaving room in your schedule to remain flexible.Why Eric works out in the afternoon but starts work very early.Brian’s preference to sleep in later and work out earlier in the day.Brian’s explanation that meditation does not work for him other than getting back to sleep.The benefits of meditation that Eric loves.Why Brian loves Amazon’s Subscribe and Save and Eric’s dislike of it.Connect with Brian Nelson-Palmer:LinkedInWebsite---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

Today’s episode of Management Development Unlocked comes from chapters five and six of Eric’s bestselling book, Lead Like a Pro: The Essential Guide for New Managers. These chapters outline how to perform a SWOT analysis of your team and the importance of building trust with your team members. Eric shares how to implement the Tuckman model of team development, the five dysfunctions of a team, how to overcome or avoid the five dysfunctions, and eight values to incorporate into your leadership style. Finally, Eric shares some important takeaways from The SPEED of Trust by Stephen R. Covey.In this episode, you’ll hear:How to perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to focus on your team’s internal and external factors.Holding a team meeting to discuss a SWOT analysis together.An alternative method of a SWOT analysis suggested by the Harvard Business Review.Performing SWOT analysis regularly for your team and yourself in conjunction with the brainstorming methodology mentioned in chapter three.Why using a SWOT analysis can help you identify where to focus your coaching efforts and training programs and develop a plan to improve team performance and achieve goals.Implementing the Tuckman model of team development (forming, storming, norming, and performing) and what to expect.Setting expectations with your team as you use the Tuckman model.The importance of building trust within your team.The essential concepts all managers should know to build trust with a team and how it can benefit managers.The five dysfunctions of a team.Overcoming or avoiding the five dysfunctions of a team.The key to a successful team.Why managers must lead by example and demonstrate a commitment to the team.The eight values to incorporate into your leadership style.Takeaways from The SPEED of Trust you can use with your team.---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

This episode of Management Development Unlocked features Brandon Birkmeyer. Brandon is a former Madison Avenue agency executive who worked on accounts like Coca-Cola and Apple. He left the corporate world six years ago and now does corporate training and speaking. Brandon is the author of the book, “Front & Center Leadership: How Leaders Can Use Personal Branding to Stand Out and How You Can Too.” He is also the host of the podcast “Brands on Brands.”In this episode, you’ll hear:Brandon Birkmeyer’s book on personal branding in the corporate space, “Front & Center Leadership.”The three components of a successful personal brand.Brandon’s catalyst for writing his book and leveraging your human potential to become a personal brand.How the principles laid out in his book apply to the future of management development.His steps for bringing leaders to the forefront with practice.Who Brandon’s book is for and why new managers can benefit from it most.Overcoming the reluctance to build a personal brand.The three types of reluctance.Connect with Brandon Birkmeyer:Website---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

Today’s episode of Management Development Unlocked features Dr. Phyllis Quinlan, president and CEO of MFW Consultants. Phyllis has 40+ years of experience in the nursing field and is a certified professional coach, which she weaves into her consulting firm. She specializes in helping leaders create healthy work environments, building a sense of resilience and well-being in staff using emotional intelligence and the principles of healthy work environments.In this episode, you’ll hear:Phyllis Quinlan’s role as president and CEO of MSW consultants, her background as a nurse, and her work as a coach.The components of a healthy workplace environment and the part an emotionally intelligent leader plays in that.Civility at work, why it matters, and what incivility looks like.Phyllis’s tips for creating a culture of civility and citizenship alongside a healthy workplace.The differences between bullies and individuals who are chronically uncivil.Why leadership finds it challenging to address bullying behaviors on their teams.The importance of documentation.What you can expect from Phyllis’s book, “Bringing Shadow Behavior into the Light of Day.”Connect with Phyllis Quinlan:LinkedInMFW ConsultantsBringing Shadow Behavior into the Light of Day bookmfwconsultants@gmail.com---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On this episode of Management Development Unlocked, Eric welcomes Anca Enache, founder of 3P Impact Consulting. Anca helps purpose-driven small- and medium-sized companies create a competitive advantage by revealing the environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities that may impact their business.In this episode, you’ll hear:Anca Enache’s work in sustainability alongside purpose-driven companies.The definition of a business continuity plan at the team level and how it can help a company.A real-life example of the benefits of a continuity plan.The six components of an effective team-level business continuity plan.The steps required to implement a continuity plan.Anca’s work as a consultant.Connect with Anca Enache:LinkedInWebsiteEmail---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!

On today’s episode of Management Development Unlocked, Eric shares part three of this six-part series from his book, Lead Like a Pro: The Essential Guide for New Managers. Featuring chapters three and four, you’ll hear why it’s important to set SMART goals for your team, Eric’s brainstorming guidelines for setting team goals, and why you should be performing weekly one-on-one meetings with team members. Eric also shares why you must learn how to delegate effectively and how it can improve your relationship with your team. You’ll also hear about the six levels of initiative that can help bring out the best in everyone, along with Eric’s tips for helping you decide what to delegate.In this episode, you’ll hear:Creating clear goals for your team and how you benefit from them.Understanding the purpose behind a goal and the four components behind a good goal.SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable (or aligned), relevant (or resourced), and time-bound (or trackable).The benefits of SMART goals for new managers and how to set them in three simple steps.Questions you can ask to identify a SMART goal.Eric’s eight brainstorming guidelines for setting team goals.Setting one-on-one weekly meetings with team members to make progress toward goals.Altering SMART goals to fit your organization’s needs.Learning to delegate tasks to your team effectively and how it can improve your relationship with your team.The benefits of effective delegation and some reasons managers fail to delegate.The ten commandments for effective delegation.Delegating the right tasks to the right people and how to determine if a team member is ready for the task at hand.The six levels of initiative, encouraging higher-level thinking from team members, and bringing out the best in everyone.Eric’s tips for deciding what could be delegated to your team.---Head over to girardtrainingsolutions.com to take a look at the 20+ courses I offer for new and experienced managers! Get your copy of the Amazon #1 Bestseller and #1 New Release Lead Like a Pro - The Essential Guide for New Managers while you’re there!Connect with me on LinkedIn.Please subscribe and comment!