Everything Counts: The 6 Ways to Inspire and Motivate Top Performance
Originally posted on Forbes.com May 20, 2013 Despite all research about the nature of leaders, practitioners and scholars still acknowledge that many aspects of leadership remain a mystery. Today I would like to address one of the key mysteries that seems to consistently defy traditional analysis. Often, leaders are identified as possessing a remarkable quality … Continue reading
“No, There’s Not an App for That.”
I checked the Apple website recently and noted that there are now over 775,000 apps for the iPhone. That’s an impressive number.1 Here’s another impressive number, but one that’s much smaller: “#1”. As in, most important. As in numero uno, or in primo. Although it’s about as small as you can get, being #1 is … Continue reading
Quit it! Why Leaders Should Stop Answering Questions
The following post is a portion of Jack Zenger’s Forbes.com column. A subordinate drops by your office. She asks, “What do you think we should do about getting the technical manual written for our new product? Should we outsource it or try to find someone inside to do it?” In my opinion, the above interaction … Continue reading
The 16 Days of Competencies: #2 Technical and Professional Expertise
As featured in the article “Making Yourself Indispensable” published in the October 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review. Yesterday, Harvard Business Review published an article titled, Making Yourself Indispensible, by Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman—co-authors of The Inspiring Leader and principals of the leadership development company, Zenger Folkman. After years of extensive research, we at … Continue reading
Are YOU an Inspiring Leader?
I just returned from a visit to the Pacific Northwest. Our destination was Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. I have a sister there who lives on a lovely boat and we had a “sister’s retreat” with a third sister and niece joining us. This was a very beautiful and inspiring time and place. … Continue reading
A New and Clever Way to Make an Emotional Connection: Don’t Pick Up Your Smartphone
One of the things we know from the studies we’ve done on inspiring leaders is that they are able to develop strong emotional connections with those they lead. We see them do that in a variety of ways. One of the most important is to show concern and consideration; it’s an effective way to let … Continue reading
3 Unintended Outcomes of Measuring Training in Hours
Last year a client came to us expressing a concern about employee engagement scores slipping in one of their divisions. We did some aggregate analysis of the 360-degree leadership assessments we had done for this division and also looked at the results of their annual climate surveys. As expected, there were a number of contributing … Continue reading
10 Ways to Pull, Rather than Push, for Results
There are two very different ways to achieve results. The most common approach used by leaders to achieve results is characterized by the competency “Drive for Results.” Leaders who drive for results might be describes as follows: Does everything possible to achieve a goal or objective. Is able to achieve goals and objective on time … Continue reading
Inspiration vs. Empty Cheerleading: The One Word That Makes All the Difference
We’ve all been in situations where we’re facing a difficult task or tight deadline and a well-intentioned manager or colleague says something like the following: “You can do this.” “I’m sure you’ll be great.” “I’m confident you can do the job.” “You’ll get through this.” “Don’t worry, I know you’ll do just fine.” When we … Continue reading
Tell, Ask, Listen: 3 Steps Toward Becoming a Great Communicator
When we conduct employee opinion surveys, the most common theme we observe in our written comments for organizational improvement focus on “Communication.” One of my favorite comments was, “I don’t know if I am in line to be demoted to janitor or promoted to CEO. I need feedback!” Communication is also a very common theme … Continue reading
zengerfolkman.wordpress.com 