One of the most powerful things a leader can do to build a strong organizational culture is to just be himself. For us lucky Double-Take employees, we have a great example at the top of our organization.

Four or five times a year, Double-Take Software CEO Dean Goodermote makes a drastic wardrobe change to entertain his clients. His necktie is replaced with love beads. His suit is replaced with a tight, sleeveless T-shirt, capri pants and bright orange-and-blue sneakers – an homage to the company colors.

Cluster-Funk at Tech Ed from DBTK on Vimeo.

I was just blogging on my personal site about this topic, and thought it was applicable to work, as well.

Often, we sign up for various activities, groups, classes, etc. and eventually begin to feel annoyed that we have to go attend yet another meeting, or wonder why we aren't getting as much out of it as we used to. We wonder if fellow participants enjoy wasting our time, and our minds wander as we figure out who to talk to in order to get out of this ridiculous training.

Well, here's why you have that toxic attitude:

MindfulMoment
By: Andrea Moore, CIASTD 2009 President

“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” — Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Recently, I found myself feeling disconnected from a group I meet with one evening each week. I found myself placing blame on the group participants and thinking about aspects of their personalities that were not allowing me to connect.

Knowing, however, that I am responsible for creating the experiences of my life, I took a step back and reminded myself of the part I am playing with this group. I asked myself, “What am I doing to connect with these people?”—and what I realized is that I was not fully showing up with this group. Once I put myself out there and shared what I was feeling, the connection returned.

In what way are you participating in your life?
How can you take more responsibility for what you are creating?

Andrea is a senior consultant at FlashPoint, a multidiscipline HR consulting firm in Indianapolis. As a certified professional in learning and performance and a certified empowerment coach, she focuses on the growth and development of individuals, work teams, and leaders.

We all do it. It's a curse of being human and unfortunately no matter how hard we try be perfect, hardworking, efficient workerbees who come in to do the job and then go home...

Our emotions get the best of us. At some point or another, life takes it toll and we react. We blow steam in the office, go off on a rant during lunch, mutter under our breath. It happens. We're human. I get that.

But are our reactions appropriate? Justified? ...Expected? Even better: are your reactions INTENTIONAL? Do they further your position?

Consider the last time your emotions got away from you and you reacted in a way that didn't serve you or the organization best:

• What was the trigger that set you off?
• What was the emotion that was expressed? What was the emotional trigger behind the emotion? (hint: the trigger may not be the same as the emotion was expressed. Fear may be expressed as anger)?
• Where did you feel that emotion (may be anywhere in the body. There is a reason we use the term "gut reaction" for example)?
• How did you really want to react to the situation?

Next time you have to react, press PAUSE. If not PAUSE, hit the 5-SECOND DELAY. Give yourself some time to let the rational thinking section of your brain dissect how you feel vs. how you're going to react.

This type of emotional control takes practice. A lot of it. Start by asking these questions in real time as you feel your emotions getting the better of you, before you react. With practice and a few deep breaths, you may be able to hit the pause button and become more intentional with the emotions you use in the workplace -- they'll push your agenda much further than flying off the handle ever will.

During tough economic times, you'll hear rumblings about "employee engagement" from various levels of an organization. Employee engagement is the hot buzz word that just won't go away, primarily because it does have an impact on how well (or poor) a company comes out of a downturn.

However, while everyone is buzzin' about employee engagement, how many of you actually know what drives, creates, and sustains it?? If you can name at least 3 *without peeking*, you get an A for the day.

Get a little deeper on what drives employee engagement:

• Trust and integrity – how well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'.
  
  
• Nature of the job –Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day?
  
  
• Strategic Direction between employee performance and company performance – Does the employee understand how their work contributes to the company's performance?
  
  
• Growth opportunities –Are there future opportunities for growth?
  
  
• Pride about the company – How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated with their company?
  
  
• Coworkers/team members – significantly influence one's level of engagement
  
  
• Employee development opportunities – Is the company making an effort to develop the employee's skills?
  
  
• Relationship with one's manager – Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or her manager?

Now, more than ever, your team, organization and peers need you to be positive and forward-looking. The best way to begin looking ahead is to begin with yourself.

It's spring. The time of growth, rejuvenation, and excitement for the future. Let's start fresh - today! Consider where you are at in your leadership journey at this moment with these questions:

Here & Now

1. What are you doing well in your leadership?
2. What can you improve in your leadership?

1. If things were as great as you'd like them to be, what would they look and feel like?
2. What is your role in creating a great future?
   
3. What are others saying about you in the future?
4. What immediate action can you take to move toward a great future?

Some managers wonder why so much planning, questioning, testing, and evaluating has to go into training our people. Some may even believe there isn't value to dedicating someone to this role, or that it's even necessary to work this hard to "just share information".

Well, here's why it IS important:

How Do Humans Learn? I'd venture to say that 90% of managers think that sharing information is the same as training. Sorry to tell you folks, TELLING AIN'T TRAINING. In a sense, learning is like an ecosystem. We’re continually influenced by information, our social interactions, and experiences. These shape who we are and what we know. And this ultimately determines how we act. Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll knock your socks off!

When Do Humans Learn? I get this question occasionally, and most of the time managers are trying to determine the best time to hold a training session, or whether offering eLearning can be taken anytime will really be effective for retaining information. Somewhere out there is the belief that people learn the best between the hours of 9a-11a, Tues-Thurs. But that's not the case!! As humans, we’re always in learning mode. We don’t turn learning on or off.

My Training Philosophy: We don’t learn just because someone gives us information or tells us that we’re in a training course. We learn because that’s how we’re wired. So when we do take a course, we fold it into our learning ecosystem and make it part of how we understand the world around us.

Photo Credit: The Rapid eLearning Blog

Curious to know what goes on day-to-day? Get real-time updates on what Double-Take's learning folks are doing by following us on Twitter.

www.twitter.com/DBTK_Learning

Self-Confidence for Leaders, By Marshall Goldsmith

I was recently teaching in a seminar for MBA students at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. A young second-year student seemed anxious to talk with me. He finally asked: "I have read your book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. In the book you talk about classic challenges faced by your clients. I noticed that you never discuss self-confidence problems. How do you deal with your client's self-confidence problems?"

This was a great question. It made me realize that I rarely encounter self-confidence problems in my work with CEOs and potential CEOs. It is almost impossible to make it to the top level in a multibillion-dollar corporation if you do not believe in yourself. On the other hand, I am frequently asked to speak at business schools (in fact five this month), and I have noticed that students in my seminars often want to talk about it.

We live in a world of dramatic, tumultuous, and unpredictable change—change that is wiping out time-honored businesses and long-standing institutions and ushering in unprecedented opportunities for creative individuals and entrepreneurial organizations. So pervasive is change today that it has redefined our first task: The job is no longer figuring out how to win at the game of work and life; the job is figuring out the new rules of the game.

Watch this entertaining video from Seth Godin and ask yourself the same question, "Is it broken?" If it is, whatever "it" is then see what YOU can do to fix it.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/this-is-broken.html

Think you have what it takes to become a manager? If you think a management role is in your future, even the distant future, you need to check out this article by Dan McCarthy: 7 Myths about Management.

I bet you would all agree with me that loud, rude, and/or negative people in the workplace are not the reason you show up everyday. Most of you would probably agree the rude and mouthy people can be really damaging to your outlook and mood. For instance, how do you feel after hearing someone fly off the handle, yell, and curse over something as small as a rescheduled meeting or unexpected phone call from a sales person?

For the grand majority of us, the instinct to take flight (aka: lay low) takes over. And even if the outburst wasn't aimed at you, guess what happens: your focus, engagement, productivity and creativity are out the window.

This article highlights some research that confirms our intuition about these folks in the workplace. The study shows that rude behavior has an effect on productivity and creativity. And I guess if we're noticing a decline in productivity, creativity, engagement, innovation, etc... we could safely assume it's having an impact on the bottom line, as well.

“We found that even when the rude behavior is pretty mild, it impairs a person’s cognitive functioning and has spillover effects in how they treat their co-workers,” said Amir Erez, a University of Florida management professor.

The unusual study, by Erez and Christine Porath, a management professor at the University of Southern California, appears in the October issue of the Academy of Management Journal.

This well-crafted research shows that when organizations allow rude employees to run roughshod over others, it not only creates uncivilized workplaces, it is just plain bad business.

Take note, and don't let your temper tantrum run roughshod over your employees.

Truly engaged employees are committed employees. To get yourself to become committed to an organization involves truly believing in what the organization's purpose, what it's doing, and the people who are leading it.

Getting commitment takes more than the employee making the choice to be loyal and committed. It involves YOU leading them to the choice of being committed and engaged. To maximize your chances of getting long-term commitment from your people during trying economic times, be real and use Engaging Leadership. Here's how:

1. Tell people what you want to accomplish.
2. Tell them what led you to believe it's important to them and to you.
3. Tell them your own struggles along the way.
4. Tell them how long you've been thinking about "it".
5. Tell them you are committed to it.
6. Tell them your plan for helping them be able to do "it."

A BNet Video Still

I subscribe to RSS feeds for an unknown number of employee development and leadership blogs. It's my connection to what's going on in the field, who's who, what's changing, and what is staying the same because it's tried and true.

During on of my quick scans thru the feeds, I found this Leadership Communication Kit from the All Things Workplace blog. I couldn't have preached this any better:

Nothing Happens Until People Talk

How often have you heard someone in authority ask, "Hmm. Do you think I should tell them about this?" Well, only if you want something important to happen. Because nothing happens until people talk.

Add these four thoughts to your leadership communication kit:

• Never assume that anyone knows anything.

• The larger the group, the more attention needs to be given to communicating.

• When left in the dark, people will fantasize their own reality. Do you want their fantasy to trump your reality?

• Effective leaders are obsessed with accurate, frequent communication.
  

Go tell someone what you've been thinking about!

The 7th installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. What else do you want to learn about? Tell me! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part VII
The Brilliant Leadership Blog

Having looked previously in this series at the application of the coaching cycle and how a manager/leader can find time to coach, this final installment is aimed at the relationship between coaching and other learning solutions, in particular, training courses.

There are a variety of learning solutions or tools available for helping staff to learn. The most common is to send staff on a relevant training course but there is also the option of using tools such as eLearning, procedural documentation, technical documentation, team briefings, formal education programs, educational books and online articles, forums and blogs. Critically, all of these tools are predominantly knowledge based and they do not, in the main, develop skills, behaviours or attitudes – all of which are required for a staff member to become fully capable in the relevant area.

For example, is it possible to send a staff member on a relevant training course and as a result, for them to become completely competent in that area without any additional intervention?

The answer is – possibly. But only if they are able to practice what they have learned and develop in that specific task or skill area through self evaluation. From a leadership perspective, it will be completely hit and miss as to whether the individual is able to apply what they have learned and become fully competent.

The chances of a staff member becoming fully competent are significantly enhanced if the leader is able to make regular coaching interventions alongside the alternative learning tool. By all means use training, eLearning or any of the other learning and development tools to kick start or support the learning process but they should always be used in conjunction with one-to-one coaching – not instead of it.

One of the common traps managers fall into is to identify a training need (often as a result of the appraisal process) and to arrange for the staff member to attend a relevant training course and then to simply tick the box – job done! Whereas a smart leader will possibly utilise a training course to kick start the process but they will then work with the staff member upon their return to work to develop opportunities for practice, supported by regular feedback interventions.

In short, training courses, eLearning modules, procedural or technical documentation predominantly fulfil the first stage of the coaching cycle – instruction. They simple do not and cannot replace the following four stages of the coaching cycle – demonstration, practice, observation and feedback. These stages can only be achieved by actively coaching staff on the job.

I hope this series on coaching staff has been useful. Becoming an effective coach is a pre-requisite of becoming an effective manager of people – a workplace leader. If you or your company would like any guidance in developing a coaching culture and improving the leadership capability in this area, please contact me via the ELC website to discuss how we can help you move forward.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Here's the 6th Installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Let me know what else you'd like to hear about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part VI
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
Previously in this series we have looked at the five stages of the coaching cycle; instruction, demonstration, practice, observation and feedback. But knowing how to coach is only half of the equation. Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to staff receiving the coaching they need is that the leader struggles to find time to coach – it is one of the most common objections that I encounter.

Most people would agree that coaching and developing staff is an important leadership activity but it is rarely urgent – nobody (apart from the staff member involved) is going to notice if you skip a coaching session today but all hell is going to break loose if you miss that project deadline! As a result, coaching doesn’t happen as often as it should and frequently managers will absolve themselves of coaching responsibility by sending people on training courses. We’ll look at the relationship between coaching and training courses in the next part of this series but for now, let’s just focus on how you can find the time to coach your staff.

Firstly, let’s be perfectly clear about one thing. If you are responsible for managing and developing staff, coaching is a core part of your job. No ifs. No ands. No buts. It is part of what you are being paid to do and the main way you can get your staff to perform at a higher level is to help them to become more capable. So, the bottom line is this – you simply have to find time to coach your staff. And here are some suggestions that I hope will help you find that time.

1. Schedule – Build it into your schedule (diarise it if you have to) in order to make a clear commitment to coaching your staff.

2. Delegate – Are you doing things right now that your staff could be doing just as effectively? Is it quicker to do it yourself? Are you hanging on to jobs you like doing? The more you coach, the more you can delegate – trust your staff and learn to let go.

3. Good Enough – Are you a bit of a perfectionist? Do you spend more time than you should on tasks to make them perfect? Can you do them quicker and to a standard that is still good enough? Well here’s the thing – good enough IS perfect!

4. Enjoyability – Are you spending more time than you should on some tasks because you enjoy doing them? Are prioritising these tasks ahead of coaching for the same reason? You don’t need me to tell you that more personal discipline might be required then.

5. Automate – Are there some tasks and functions that could be automated? What are you waiting for?

6. Negotiate – When you ask others to do things for you, do you build in some flexibility to the deadline ‘just in case’? Most of us do. So what does that tell you about some of the deadlines you are working to? Yep, there is often scope to negotiate the deadline and/or the work content in order to buy yourself some more time.

7. Innovate – Use your resources wisely. What tools have you got to help you coach? Are there are other people who could help out with some of the coaching activities. You don’t have to do all the coaching yourself but you do have to make sure it gets done.

There are few things in the leadership role that are more important than coaching and developing staff – yes there are some, but not many. You need to find the time to coach, see it as a core part of your job and prioritise accordingly.

In the next and final part of this series we’ll be looking at how you can combine coaching with training courses in order to make developing staff more effective and more efficient.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

The last few lines of this post from the Leading Effectively Blog really resonated with me and the current situation many of us face: do more, work harder, produce more results... but with non-existent budgets and smaller numbers on your pay stub.

“You do what you’ve got to do. If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels."

The Drive-Thru Pharmacy and Innovation
The Leading Effectively Blog, Center for Creative Leadership
Posted: April 8, 2009 by Doug Riddle

Damien jumped out of the cab and opened the doors for my dinner companions to enter. I cruised around to the front passenger side and got in the door. As he drove us back to our hotels on the edge of the French Quarter I asked how long he’d been driving a cab. “Six years.” Business was up and down. He didn’t really light up until I asked about his day job: “I’m a barber. I’ve been cutting hair since I was 12. Got my license when I was 17. I just thought it was fascinating.”

“I have two chairs...over on the East side of New Orleans. We were flooded out in The Storm and I went to Atlanta...came back about 6 months ago. You do what you got to do.”

I thought about a comment the Chairman of our Board of Governors had made earlier in the evening. “I’m not worried about America.” He explained that the entrepreneurial spirit that yielded drive-through pharmacies would bring us back. He echoed a conviction shared by many of us in the field of leadership: that we will have to innovate our way out of the present recession.

While I’m not persuaded that drive-through pharmacies are the height of innovation, I think they do illustrate our compulsion to find solutions to problems, big and small. When you’re sick, you don’t really want to get out of the car to get your prescription. On the other hand, I tend to think we need to find creative ways to reduce our dependence on the auto in the long run.

Either way, Damien said it: “You do what you’ve got to do.” If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels. Too early for gratitude, I suppose, but perhaps useful to keep our eyes lifted to a far-off light.

Stay innovative,

Doug

The 5th Installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Share other topics you'd like to learn about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part V
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
So far in this series we’ve looked at how to provide clear instruction, effective demonstrations, enable practice in a safe environment and the under-rated element of observing this practice. In this section we’ll be looking at how to make an effective coaching intervention and provide feedback to the staff member.

In fact, the very phrase, provide feedback to the staff member is wrong. This implies that feedback is a one way process whereas it really should be a two way discussion. Wherever possible, the staff member should be encouraged to review their own performance or progression in the task or skill area with a view to identifying what has worked well and what can be improved. The coach’s role is to ask great questions and listen actively. In Brilliant Leader I recommend the use of the communication funnel as a key coaching technique for such interventions.

Apart from being a two way discussion, what are the other aspects of a feedback intervention that we should consider?

1. Positive Reinforcement – It is vital that people understand what they have done well and why. This is much more than simply praising the individual. It is about helping them to understand the positive behaviours they have employed so that they learn when and how to employ these behaviours in the future.

2. Constructive Improvement – When something hasn’t gone as well as was intended, it is important for the staff member to understand what they needed to do differently and how. The key guideline here is that if they were to perform this task again will they be able to exhibit different and more effective behaviours.

3. Support Interventions – Often, a feedback intervention occurs because the staff member asks for help – usually because they encounter something new or different in relation to the task or skill area. In the early stages of the coaching cycle, the coach might simply provide a recommendation or even an instruction. However, as the individual becomes more accomplished, the coach’s role is to challenge the staff member to come up with their own solutions or recommendations. These can then be shaped, if necessary, before being ratified.

4. Timely – Coaching interventions should be timely. The longer it is left after the event before the staff member receives feedback, the less relevant the feedback becomes. This presents particular challenges for those who are coaching remotely. This might involve coaching via the telephone or video conferencing. It might also indicate a need to meet with the staff member more frequently or to involve additional help in the coaching process from those who are on the same site or location.

5. Motivational – While remembering that the purpose of a feedback conversation is for the staff member to learn, it is also important that the environment that is created is motivational and inspirational. This requires that encouragement is provided even when correcting or improving behaviour. The feedback session should finish on the development of an action plan or a summary of key points that will be taken away from the session and the coach should instil a sense of belief in the staff member that they can successfully implement and apply these actions.

The final point to make when considering the coaching cycle is to remember precisely that – it is a cycle and not a straight line process. The cycle will repeat less and less frequently until the staff member becomes fully competent in the task or skill area. This implies that coaching is an ongoing process not a one off exercise. To be clear on this, coaching is a fundamental part of managing and leading people – it is a core part of the job.

This will be an important point to note in the next part of this series we explore how to find the time to coach.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

There are fewer things more challenging than being a supervisor today. Each day becomes more difficult because of new challenges like ever-changing technology, an increasingly diverse work force and the push to accomplish more with fewer resources.

Nowadays, there are tons of seminars, workshops and books out there to teach new supervisors and managers skills they need. It's hard to sort through them all and determine which one will give you the most bang for your buck. Many times, it takes trial and error until you find something that works for you. Often, you can rely on the expertise and recommendations of your peers.

National Seminars Training is well-respected and receives rave reviews from past participants. If you'd like to learn what it takes to be a manager, or maybe you've been a manager longer than you can remember but want to refresh yourself, I encourage you to sign up for a seminar like "Management and Leadership Skills for First-Time Supervisors and Manager" from National Seminars Training. They have decent locations to choose from and a variety of seminars to offer. You can register here.

The 4th Installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Let me know what other topics you'd like to hear about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part IV
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
So far in this series we have looked at how to instruct staff members in a task or skill area, provide effective demonstrations and enable opportunities for them to practice, ideally in a safe or non-urgent environment. An often overlooked and under-rated aspect of coaching is monitoring and observing how the staff member is developing in the task or skill area. This then, is our focus for the next stage of the coaching cycle.

One of the workshops I run frequently is presentation skills. These are highly practical workshops that involve a lot of practice and feedback. When a presentation has not gone entirely as planned, I will often ask both the group and the presenter how it could have been improved. While they often come up with some useful ideas, they rarely get to the root of the issue. And this is where I have to earn my crust as a coach – by not just observing what everyone else has seen but also, identifying what is happening and why. I have to see the things that other people haven’t spotted in order to suggest one or two changes that would transform the presentation.

This is at the heart of coaching observation. The coach has to observe what is happening and also what is not happening. They must see the things that others can’t and identify why things are happening. This enables them to provide feedback that gets to the root of the issue and enables the staff member to improve, noticeably, when they next try to practice the task or skill.

I believe this is an intuitive part of coaching and as such, it is difficult to be specific on how to develop this aspect of the coaching toolbox. However, I offer the following guidance.

1. Observe what is happening but more importantly, identify why it is happening.

2. Observe what isn’t being applied.

3. Ask the staff member to reflect on what you have observed.

4. Get to the root of the issue.

5. Don’t try to improve too many areas at once. Identify the base learning that needs to take place before building on this to improve the finer details later.

In the next part of this series we’ll be looking in depth at the art of providing feedback to staff with a view to reinforcing what they are doing well and improving things that could be done better.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Your 3rd installment from a really great series of posts about coaching from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Enjoy! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part III
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
Previously in this series we looked at how to provide staff members with clear instruction and an effective demonstration. In this third part of the coaching series, we’ll be looking at providing staff with opportunities to practice what they have learned. This requires that first we look briefly at the art of delegation.

Essentially, there are two reasons for delegating to staff members – firstly, to get the job done and secondly, to develop the individual. In delegating simply to get the job done you should primarily focus on ensuring the staff member is already capable of what you are asking them to do. Delegating to develop the individual is what concerns us here.

When looking to provide opportunities for the staff member to practice what they have learned, the leadership challenge is to try and create a safe environment. On occasion, there might be opportunities for safety to be created via a simulation but more often than not, safety comes by the delegation being in a non-urgent situation. This provides the coach with an opportunity to check work and provide feedback before it goes live.

Practice should also be timely. That is, it should occur shortly after the staff member has received instruction in the task or skill area (and optionally, a demonstration). If something is explained today and no opportunity for practice occurs until three weeks later, how much knowledge will have been retained?

In Brilliant Leader, I also make the point that practice should be graduated. That is, the practice should be made more complex in graduated stages until the staff member has developed completely in the task or skill area. The staff member also needs to know that support is available throughout the practice period although as we shall look at in the feedback part of this series, the coach will not always provide the answers.

Before we get to that aspect of coaching, we’ll be taking a brief look at the next stage of the coaching cycle – how to monitor and observe the staff member while they are practicing. This will be our focus in part four of the series.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

The 2nd installment from a really great series of coaching tips I found on the Brilliant Leadership blog. Please let me know what other topics you'd like to learn about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part II
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
In the first part of this series on how to coach staff and how to find the time to coach staff, I looked at the instructional stage of the coaching cycle. The need for the coach to provide a clear explanation of the task or skill area by breaking it down into bite sized chunks, delivering a clear and unambiguous message while checking the staff member’s understanding.

An optional tool for imparting knowledge is the use of a demonstration. This primarily enhances the staff member’s knowledge and awareness of the task or skill area by enabling them to see how it is done by an expert or competent individual. However, like each stage of the coaching cycle, providing an effective demonstration is not without its difficulties.

For example, has anyone ever shown you how to do something on a computer? Explanation – Talk – Click! Explanation – Talk – Click! Explanation – Talk – Click! I’m sure most of us have been there and the net result is that we are rarely further forward than when the demonstration began and more often than not, we are more confused.

So how does a coach provide an effective demonstration?

Competent Individual or Expert?
The first challenge is to ensure the person providing the demonstration is able to exhibit model behaviour. The problem often encountered by experts is that they have progressed to a level of unconscious competence – they don’t even have to think about what they are doing. Often, the most effective demonstration will be provided by a competent individual – someone who can think about what they are doing at each stage. This is not to say an expert cannot fulfil the role but they must be able to increase their level of conscious awareness.

Step-By-Step
An effective demonstration will break the task or skill down into stages and deliver these in a step-by-step format, taking questions at each stage before moving on. This process should conclude with a joined up demonstration that brings all of the stages together.

Running Commentary
While providing a demonstration the coach should provide a running commentary that also allows for the staff member to ask questions as the demonstration unfolds.

Practice
While this is technically the third stage of the coaching cycle, an effective demonstration should allow an opportunity for the staff member to have a go at the task or skill in the presence of the coach. This will often include a summary of the issues arising from the demonstration before allowing the staff member to move onto the next stage of the coaching cycle – extended practice.

In the next part of this series I will explore further the challenges that are faced by both the coach and staff member in providing opportunities for extended, unsupervised practice in the task or skill area.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful Brilliant Leadership workshops.

I found a great series on Coaching Employees that I'm going to share with you over the next couple of weeks. Let me know what other topics you'd like to learn about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff --- Part 1
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
One of the key leadership activities in the workplace, especially for those with direct responsibility for people, is to coach their staff. But how do you do it and how do you find time to do it?

In this series I hope to answer both questions. To do so I will be putting a simple coaching cycle at the heart of the discussion. This breaks down as follows:

1. Instruction
2. Demonstration
3. Practice
4. Observation
5. Feedback

This cycle seems relatively straightforward but the reality is that there are challenges presented at each stage. So let us begin with the first stage of the coaching cycle – instruction.

When a staff member is new to a task or skill area, the first thing they need is to understand what they are meant to be doing, why they are doing it and how it should be done. This is the knowledge they need to gain but simple as it sounds, it has some potential pitfalls. The greatest risk is that the initial explanation might not be fully understood and even if it is, human nature will lead to memory gaps during the learning process. So how does the coach overcome and deal with these issues?

Context
Before providing instruction on a task or skill area, the coach should provide the staff member with a clear context. Why do you need to learn this? How does it fit in with the other tasks you are asked to perform? How does it fit in with the work of other team members? How does it fit in with other teams and/or the wider organisation?

Without context, it is much harder to fully understand the task in hand.

Bite Sized Chunks
The best way to provide instruction is in bite sized chunks, particularly for more complex tasks or skill areas. These chunks should be logically organised into building blocks of knowledge so that each new explanation is a natural progression from the last one.

Common Language
It is imperative that the coach uses language that the staff member understands. You need to be especially careful about the use of jargon or internal language.

KISS
Keep it short and simple (or keep it simple, stupid if you prefer). Don’t over complicate an explanation. It should be clear, concise and unambiguous.

Message Delivery
Make the message come alive by using examples, analogies and visual aids.

Check Understanding
At each stage of the knowledge transfer process, the coach needs to check understanding. There are several ways to do this. In some situations it might be appropriate to run a test or a quiz. In others it might be more appropriate to ask the staff member to summarise their understanding. A more subtle way of checking understanding is to have a conversation about how to apply this knowledge that culminates in an action plan – the conversation itself enables the coach to be confident that the understanding is accurate.

Reference Material
Ideally, the staff member will have access to reference material that will serve as a reminder to the knowledge they gained. This can take the form of procedure/user manuals, process maps, notes, intranet/knowledge transfer documentation or even a relevant book.

On the surface, providing instruction on a task or skill area appears straightforward but in practice there are a number of potential pitfalls. The guidelines above will help you avoid or navigate your way through these.

In part two I will be looking at the next stage of the coaching cycle - how to provide staff with an effective demonstration.


Simon Cooper is Chief Executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the unique and powerful Brilliant Leadership workshops.

OK, I'm going to show a little of my nerdiness here, but do you remember 2 years ago when the International Astronomical Union striped Pluto of its "planet" status? Most of you probably heard about it, many of you probably didn't really care... but I urge you to consider this:

If change can happen to something as certain as a PLANET, it can certainly happen to us. And it does. Everyday.

Pluto's reclassification changed the rules of the game, and organizational change can be like that too. There you were confident and comfortable with your boss, and now you must readjust and reorient to a new one with a different style, focus, and rules. Like it. Don't like it. Regardless, get on board!

"Change is good. Everybody is doing it... Get on board!" -- Will Anderson, Channel Marketing Manager, Double-Take Software

Is there something that is nagging at you right now - that little “to do” that you’ve spent a few days just putting lower and lower on your priority list, but you have to get it done?

Here’s some simple advice: just do it. Make it your top priority in the morning. Get it over with. Get it off your mind. You’ve likely spent more time agonizing over it than it would take to accomplish the task.
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Tackling your nagging “to-do’s” first thing in the morning is a great way to progress and free your mind for the bigger projects in your professional environment.

Do you have any added advice to improve efficiency? Share them!

Author: Angie, LeadStar.us

Which one of these works best as a call to action?
• We need 37 new accounts to reach our revenue goal for 2009
• We need more than 30 new accounts to reach our revenue goal for 2009
• We need a bunch of new accounts to reach our revenue goal for 2009

Most of would probably choose #1. But why?

Because of the power of specificity.

The first example is so concrete we know it can be broken down into a measurable, do-able plan. That creates some immediate energy and confidence.

Need credibility to create commitment and action? Of course you do. And precise details show the listeners that you are probably telling the truth. A “guesstimate” doesn't have the same impact because it leaves a little "doubt cloud' hanging out there. Without concrete facts people may think that you are just making the whole thing up--or exaggerating a bit.

Statistics and precise details not only help with authenticity but create curiosity and mental involvement. The human mind latches on to that which is precise but has to wrestle with fuzziness. When people around us have to work extra hard at what we are saying, they begin to tune out.

What can you be more specific about today?

By: Emily Stevens

When running a kickoff meeting, it's important to get down to business immediately, right? And when you complete that project, isn't it great to take the team out to a nice steakhouse, and maybe even (in better economic times) buy them a round of drinks?

Or is it?

In some cultures, jumping right into a meeting without taking the time to know something about one another is considered rude and counterproductive. And what you think is a reward (steak and a martini) might create an awkward moment for a team member who is vegetarian or who doesn't drink, for religious or other reasons. Clearly, it's important to be aware of the friction points which can arise in a diverse workplace. You may be traveling the globe, or may simply have people from various cultures and backgrounds to work with here at home. Either way, here are some key distinctions to consider:

Tradition versus change: Here in the U.S. we tend to assume that we should "embrace change". However, in other cultures there may be less willingness to assume that all change is positive. Be willing to spend time justifying change, and know that customers' or employees' objections and fears will help you better identify risk areas and mitigate them. Your change initiative can benefit from listening to those who are concerned.

Relationships: Do you get to know people before working with them, or is working together the means to know one another? Different cultures have different views. A good rule of thumb is to always take a few minutes at the beginning of a meeting to introduce people and orient them to each other. Even an established team can have fun with a few icebreakers which help them learn new things about one another.

Time: Is a culture punctual or casual about time? We are mostly a punctual society. If you have an employee who is less than punctual, the issue may be more cultural than attitudinal, so be friendly and fair, but firm about the need to be at work on time. That said, many workplaces today have less emphasis on being punctual, and more emphasis on simply being available, such as by Blackberry. Define your expectations and communicate them clearly.

Formality: Cultures are very different in how they approach formality in a relationship. To be safe, always start formally and become more casual as you build a relationship. Be careful about names, how quickly you go from a formal last-name-only greeting to first names. Also, be sensitive to physical distance, eye contact, and whether a friendly touch on the arm or pat on the back would be welcome or not. And, in any culture, never pat a pregnant woman's stomach. Just don't. There are other ways to communicate your support, congratulations and good wishes.

Communications: You can communicate very directly, meaning you are candid even to the point of not considering your listener's feelings. The advantage of direct communications is that they are efficient and leave no room for doubt. Indirect communications may be more focused on allowing the listener to save face but may be less clearly understood. The best practice is to structure your message carefully and deliver negative messages privately.

Rewards and Recognition: Give a lot of thought to the rewards you bring into the workplace. There’s nothing wrong with checking with people on their preferred rewards—and what they ask for may actually be easier and cheaper than what you were planning. Food, after-hours celebrations, and even public recognition may be less rewarding than you think.

One final thought: how are you setting up meetings, if you have participants across the globe? Consider the effect on those in other time zones, and balance how frequently you ask them to accommodate early or late calls. And, it’s always nice to ask about holidays when setting up a meeting schedule. You don’t have to know every holiday in every country or religion, but you can be respectful of holidays as an issue.

Diversity in your workplace can be a great source of innovation and learning for your organization. Respect is the key word: it’s what makes the difference between conflict and synergy.

By: Kris Taylo, CENTRAL INDIANA ASTD CHAPTER

There were 126 million people born between 1965 and 1998. Maybe you’re one of them. Maybe you develop training materials for some of them. Maybe you are responsible for some of these people’s career development.

What makes them tick? How are they different from the Boomers and the Silent Generation? Let’s find out.

Let’s begin by defining some terms and outlining some broad generalizations about the different experiences and world views each group brings to the work place that might impact how they approach learning in the work place.

• Gen X – the 51 million people born between 1965 and 1976
• Millennials – the 75 million people born between 1977 and 1998

Gen X is very comfortable with technology – however Millennials assume technology. They cannot recall a time in which technology was not in play. Gen X is good at multitasking – Millennials multitask at lightening speed.

Millennials tended to be latch key kids and perhaps part of blended families. As such, they are pragmatic, practical and very self-reliant. They mistrust institutions, and friends are very important to them.

Gen X, however, tended to be nurtured and supported. They experienced helicopter parenting and, hence, family and friends are one and the same.

Diane Thielfoldt and Devon Scheef note that approaches to mentoring might be adapted. A casual, friendly work environment appeal to Gen X, with the freedom and flexibility to learn. Millennials come with high expectations and like a bit more structure – with personalization and interactivity. To learn more, check out their article

Fast Company explores two myths about these groups – around work ethic and the hours they are willing to work. Read more here

HR.BLR.com offeres 4 Strategies for a Gen X friendly workplace

And finally, from ASTD, an interesting article which defines best practices for Gen X – but these sound like best practices for any age group.

What do you think? Join the conversation on Ning.

My Soapbox: We've all been around the co-worker who just sucks the life out of you. You know, the one that complains about everything, relates everything back to his/her negative experiences, or shares his/her dissatisfaction with every aspect of life? Heck, maybe this someone is you.

Have you ever wondered why this person comes to work everyday if he or she is so unhappy with their job duties, the organization, or with management? Why doesn't the toxic employee simply find another job where he or she will be happier?

I think there are two answers to these questions:

First, misery loves company. If the toxic employee is dissatisfied life, they want you to be dissatisfied too. The toxic employee isn't going to sit at home alone. Oh no, they want to share the toxicity with you!

Second, they get rewarded for being toxic. Hang on a minute, and hear me out!! The toxic employee is rewarded inadvertently by the organization (pay increases, seniority, and good benefits, etc), so wouldn't you come to work if you get paid to complain? AND, when a manager has a toxic employee on the team, they tend to avoid giving them the important projects and tasks. They tend to hand those out to the "shining star" employees (therefore overloading the shining star, and making them dislike the toxic employee and their boss), while the toxic employee gets to kick back with less work to do and more time to spread the toxicity.

How Do You Deal With The Toxic Employee? A couple tips:

1. Before you approach the toxic employee, you need both observational data (examples of negative behavior) and an accurate quantifiable account of the number of negative behaviors observed. For example, "I have observed you telling four coworkers last week that they should resist using the new process."
2. Run your observations past the HR department to get validation that the behaviors do indeed undermine the organization's goals and/or create a toxic environment for other employees.
3. It is also a good idea to work with another manager, who can act as a witness to your behavior, during any closed-door meeting you have with the negative employee. CYA.
4. Inform the toxic employee that future work performance reviews will include both objective and subjective measures -- like an assessment of how the employee is either increasing or decreasing his/her negative behaviors, by asking colleagues and other managers for feedback (think 360 Review).
   

Rule 1: You cannot change a toxic employee with negativity. Hence, you must keep your cool and be positive when talking with the toxic employee.

Rule 2: Keep your overall expectations low. Do not expect an apology and do not expect the toxic employee to admit to their toxic behavior.

Title: Leading Talent in Challenging Times

Overview: It's imperative to know how to energize talent to give their best at a time when their confidence and commitment is wavering. With shrinking budgets and economic constraints, organizations who survive to outlive the economic downturn will be those who focus, invest and commit to developing their talent. As a leader of today's and tomorrow's talent, are you equipped with the skills to meet the challenges in this new economy? Can you help your organization turn the corner and win in the future? This webcast will provide strategies for managing and developing leaders who can help their companies stay in the game. Any leader trying to meet the challenges of these uncertain economic times won't want to miss these timely insights.

Don't miss these webcast take always:

Understand the types of challenges that will require different leadership

Engage your talent to passionately pursue the organization's goals

Identify obstacles, advantages and the change needed in this new economy

Title: Leading Effectively: What is Your Global Management Style?

Overview: Remote teams, telecommuting, and office "hoteling" have become familiar terms over the past decade or so. Today, almost a quarter of the U.S. workforce "telecommutes" at least some of the time. More and more, teams or entire workforces can be located in different parts of the country or the world and still collaborate effectively. This learning track explores the opportunities and challenges of leading virtual employees. We examine new ideas and trends, and delve into what works in remote workforce management.

When: Wed, Feb 25 2009 / 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

Presented by: Eileen Rogers, Managing Director, Leadership Sigma

Register: http://www.hci.org/hci/tracks_virtual_global_workforce.guid

Talent will only take you so far -- the higher you go the greater your need for development. So why is it that supervisors are the first to tell their subordinates to attend a training class, but the last to sign up for one themselves?

To be effective we need continuous learning and development. The good news is that we have a wide range of opportunities to develop and increase our leadership capability. We learn in many ways:

• We read books and digest the information. Real leaders take it a step further -- they apply the material to their daily lives.

• We learn by stepping out of Management Land. We step outside of our comfort zones to more positively impact our lives and the lives of others. We step outside of Management Land to attend a training class with our peers and subordinates.

• We learn from others. Leaders learn from others. We learn from discussions and feedback we receive from relationships with other leaders.

• We learn from experience. Leaders learn by taking time to reflect and learn from life experiences. Our experience shapes us and if we learn from our life experience, we grow and develop.

Transparency. It's all the hype in business today, with taxpayers crying out for banks to shape up after big bailouts, and employees demanding to know about the future of their position before it's published in the newspapers.

But what does it really mean? Let's figure it out.

• For you boomers out there, the word probably takes you back to high school: a transparent object, especially a photographic slide that is viewed by shining light through it.
• Gen X-ers are skeptical of closed-door proceedings, and they value open, two-way communication.
• Gen Y, I bet you're thinking: Organizational transparency helps create trust among stakeholders, encourages more informed decision-making, and supports greater participation.

Leaders want people to follow them. In today's multi-generational workforce, transparency sets the right tone to secure buy-in and commitment from diverse groups and perspectives. To be transparent, you must know this:

1. Be clear in your own mind on what it is you need your team to accomplish. If you aren't clear about the goal and how you're measuring success, how can you expect others' to achieve your vision?
2. It's a matter of trust. Candor. Leaders want their people to trust them. But it's a two-way street, folks! Leaders need to trust their people enough to tell them just where they stand.
3. Communicate! The great thing about communication is that, much to many people's surprise, it's a two-way street. In truly transparent organizations, communication is a dialogue. There is conversation where leaders talk AND listen. But there is also non-verbal communication. Leaders watch their employees, peers and customers. They watch to understand, then take appropriate action to leverage the good and correct the under-performing.
   

Keep an eye on the "Upcoming Training Opportunities" widget in the right column for in-house and online courses for improving your business skills.

Don't let a fear of confrontation negatively affect your career.

Join LeadStar for a Tough Talks teleseminar Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 1pm EST to learn how to overcome communication challenges with confidence, consistency and clarity.

During the 60 minute call and 30 minute Q&A session you will:

• Realize why direct communication is crucial to your success
• Increase awareness of your communication style
• Learn best practices to effectively handle the most common difficult workplace communication
• Discover how to manage your emotions to ensure productive conversations

What most of us don't realize when we get dressed for work every morning is that the office is a unique learning environment. There are always people around to learn from, experiences to gain insight and understanding from, and opportunity to learn from mistakes.

Another thing you may not think about is how much you can learn by watching public figures... sort of like long-distance mentoring. For example, look at Barack Obama (new US President) and Carol Bartz (new CEO of Yahoo):

• both are entering their respective positions at a time of crisis;
• both have multiple and diverse constituencies;
• both are the focus of extremely high, often conflicting, sometimes impossible expectations; and
• both are subject to substantial outside influences, circumstances and pressure.