May 15th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
Good employees have upward skills.
- They clarify expectations.
- They accept responsibility.
- They ask for and accept feedback.
- They communicate successes and failures.
- They handle criticism.
- They show loyalty.
- They understand and accept you.
- They are not needy.
- They can change.
- They focus on results.
- They take the initiative.
- They are team players.
- They understand what is important.
Are you hiring upward skills?
Are you training upward skills?
Are you even expecting upward skills?
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: commitment, conscious awareness, courage, employee engagement, employee motivation, employee performance, employee selection, high performers, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership success, performance, trust
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May 2nd, 2012 by Martha Forlines
![AbrahamLincoln[1]](http://www.beliefsysteminstitute.com/images/wordpress/uploads/2012/05/AbrahamLincoln1-300x198.jpg "AbrahamLincoln[1]")
Introverts get their energy from being alone; people wear them out.
Yet, effective leading is people-filled . . . almost always.
Not so much with a team of unusually capable people who work independently and get their important needs met from the work itself (intrinsic satisfaction).
A team like this means employees don’t require as much interaction with their manager.
This is a team for the introvert leader.
There is more. Introvert leaders need a job where they have some time to themselves and a boss who respects the need to recharge their battery.
With the right team, right job, and right boss, introverts can lead spectacularly.
Otherwise introvert leaders face constant energy-draining interactions, enormous stress, and immense job dis-satisfaction. As a leader, be aware of the needs of your introverts.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: confidence, employee motivation, employee performance, Executive Leadership, leadership coaching, leadership secrets, leadership success
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April 17th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
Have you been able to slow down enough to enjoy nature’s miracles this spring? We had to share this beautiful image that appeared in our back yard yesterday evening. It just doesn’t get any prettier and more perfect than this!
Speaking of perfection…we have a challenge for you to take the Bad Boss Test! While none of us are perfect, it’s a good idea to check in to understand potential opportunities for us to improve as leaders. Good bossses, like you are motivated to be better bosses.
Are any of these TRUE for you?
- People are afraid of you.
- You blame others.
- You don’t value people.
- You distance yourself.
- You’ve stopped learning (about how to manage).
- You don’t manage up.
- You run scared.
- You don’t deliver tough messages.
- You don’t seek feedback.
- Stress controls you.
- You’re not concerned with employee well-being.
- You micromanage.
- You’re unavailable.
- You don’t know your employees.
- You fear appearing weak.
GOOD SIGN if you’ve read to here. Bad bosses don’t take Bad Boss tests. They don’t care.
Good bosses want to get better. The statements TRUE for you point the way.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: Change Management, employee engagement, executive coaching, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership secrets, leadership success, leadership training, performance
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April 3rd, 2012 by Martha Forlines
Working with our coaching clients we’re reminded of how wonderfully unique each one tuly is. No two assessment results are the same, no two desire the same outcomes from the coaching and no two are motivated by the same things.
So, the perennial challenge for every leader is to see the importance of understanding all of those unique qualities and differences of each person working for them. Then, how do you best manage to the individual – from a motivation and engagement stand point?
Knowing each employees’ “locus of control” moves you closer to understanding them even better. So what does this term mean? It refers to a basic belief system that we all have about the influences that affect outcomes in our lives.
There is a very simple test that determines if these influences are primarily internal or external. Locus of control describes the degree to which individuals perceive that outcomes result from their own behaviors and choices (internal), or from forces that are external to themselves (such as God, fate, society or “others” in their work or personal life).
Here are a few questions that determine if you are primarily operating from an internal or external locus of control:
1. a. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck OR b. People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make; *
2. a. Without the right breaks, one cannot be an effective leader OR b. Capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities.*
3. a. I have often found that what is going to happen will happen OR b. Trusting to fate has never turned out as well for me as making a decision to take a definite course of action. *
If you think about each person working for you, are they operating from an internal or external locus of control? When it comes to self accountability, how does this effect their behavior and performance results?
Interesting thing to think about, as a leader.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
*J.B. Rotter (1966)
Tags: employee engagement, employee motivation, employee performance, leadership, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership success, leadership training, performance
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March 21st, 2012 by Martha Forlines
Do you ever feel like these two kayakers…working so hard against the current professionally or personally, day in and day out?
Every great leader has it – ENERGY—and plenty of it!
And you can’t have energy without practicing good self-care.
Taking care of yourself begins with knowing you are at choice about priorities.
Choosing to do everything is wearing you out!
How can you lead if you’re fried?
Think about it—you are free to choose.
And remember to delegate . . . outsource when you can, at work and at home (get someone to clean the house or mow the lawn) . . . eat right . . . sleep more . . . exercise . . . have some fun.
Take care of yourself—if you don’t, who will?
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: beliefs, Executive Leadership, leadership, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership secrets, leadership success, leadership training, performance, self mastery for leaders
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March 8th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
We just returned from New York City. Martha worked with a team determined to take their leadership effectiveness to a new level…very inspiring. Meaningful discussions were facilitated about raising your leadership confidence and courage by learning more about your own values and beliefs – those that propel you forward or that hold you back from greatness. We also discussed optimizing strengths in your leadership role so you own it, love it and lead it with integrity and confidence.
Today’s Solutions for Leaders BLOG is about one of the truths that was a AHA for most everyone in the session…enjoy!
Are you managing others the way you want to be managed?
Welcome to the club! That’s the tendency we all have.
But the heart of leadership is honoring strengths and gifts.
And this means managing to the individuality of those you lead.
Think about it…
- Leverage their strengths;
- Understand their limitations;
- Know them in a way that you communicate so they hear and understand you;
- Give individual outcomes that motivate and engage them;
- Step back and watch them soar to success!
You can join a new club—manage to the individual.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: beliefs, confidence, courage, employee engagement, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership success, leadership training, performance, trust
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February 23rd, 2012 by Martha Forlines
As a leader do you have courage to:
-terminate a poor performer,
-reward high performers,
-give honest feedback,
-hold people accountable,
-agree to disagree,
-do the right thing, and
-much more,
If a leader doesn’t have courage here are some surefire substitutes we hear:
-“I don’t have time”
-“It’s not important anyway”
-“I’m not good at that”
-“I hate doing it”
-“Nobody really cares”
-“It can wait”
Just tell yourself the right thing—the need for courage disappears and leaves you with a clear conscience.
Of course, there’s always a price to pay for the things we say to ourselves.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: confidence, employee engagement, employee motivation, employee performance, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership training, performance
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February 7th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
We received a call recently from a manager dealing with a supervisor that was going “native”. The supervisor failed to respond when a member of her team performed poorly.
The first problem was that the manager had to bring the employee performance issues to the attention of the supervisor. Here’s where the supervisor went native…she begrudgingly counseled the employee and said, “My manager, Ms. XXXX said I had to talk to you about how you are treating our customers.”
Hmmm…so there is no self accountability and there’s no accountability for the performance of her own employee. Read more below about this tangled web…
- This thread weaves a tangled mess.
- Every poor performer has one thing in common—someone is letting them get by with it.
- You can teach a person HOW TO deal with poor performers, but you can’t teach people TO deal with them.
- The missing ingredient is COURAGE, which is hard to find, at least in most leadership training, leadership consulting, and executive coaching.
- And so . . . on and on poor performers go…unless you have the courage of accountability and follow through!
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: confidence, courage, employee engagement, executive coaching, fear of failing, leadership, leadership consulting, leadership secrets, leadership success, leadership training, trust, workplace conflict
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January 20th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
As a manager, you can “guarantee” performance. Think about these practices common in unionized organizations and even the public sector…
A “high performing unionized organization” is an oxymoron and the exception, not the rule. Joining the words “high performance” with a union is a contradiction. There is good reason for this—actually three.
1. Union employees are not held accountable.
There is no accountability for high performance. They not only get by with mediocre performance, they can freely perform poorly.
2. Union employees are not rewarded for performance.
Rewards are dished out according to seniority, and are most times the same for everyone. The longer you’ve been there, the more privileged you are, period.
3. Union employees don’t’ get fired.
As long as there’s a pulse, you‘ve got a job. That’s the culture, long entrenched.
4. Manage like the unions, and you’ll get poor performance, guaranteed.
All you have to do is (1) avoid accountability, (2) reward for seniority not performance, and (3) never fire anybody. This is a formula that always works…to get poor performance.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
Tags: employee engagement, employee motivation, employee performance, leadership, leadership success, leadership training, performance
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January 4th, 2012 by Martha Forlines
Every failure gets you closer to success.
Each one gets you closer to giving up.
Which will you choose?
Choosers of success hold an edge!
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Recap of leader quick tip: You choose where failure leads
Herein is a clue for you
Behind the wheel of an automobile
A thought appears
Not at all clear
Sir Isaac Newton
Mathematician, scientist, philosopher
Somehow tied to you
If you’ll think of the great names
In the history of the world
Surviving centuries
Maybe a name or two
Will come to you
Artists and composers
Philosophers and astronomers
Scientists unraveling
Mysteries of the world
Slaves all to their passions and destinies
Forsaking all else
Discovering the kernel within
All of these
Just mere men
And women
If ever there was
A mere woman
And pictures of you
Wondering who you are
Who you really are
Who you will become
If you will listen to your heart
And follow your dreams
Not easy
This you know
Your life has told you so
But you can decide
Perhaps you will decide
To listen to your heart
And follow your dreams
But when?
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
P.S. This isn’t the kind of stuff you typically hear from leadership consultants and executives coaches, or in leadership training programs. This is the REAL THING!
Tags: beliefs, confidence, conscious awareness, courage, Executive Leadership, fear of failing, leadership coaching, leadership consulting, leadership secrets, leadership success, leadership training, performance, self mastery for leaders
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