Posted: March 31, 2016 | Categories: Leadership

“Rainy day people don’t talk they just listen ’til they’ve heard it all”  – Gordon Lightfoot

Back in the late 90’s, I was a coach and facilitator for a worldwide training organization.  My job involved networking and interacting with local Chambers.

One afternoon, I received a call from my boss.  I was in trouble.  Read More…

Posted: March 28, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Management

A few months ago, I was working with a client as he was putting together a new team.  His name was Clay, and he had a goal of building a self-directed team that could be counted on to get the job done even when he was on vacation.  He mentioned that he wanted to be able to go on vacation with his family and come back to order and harmony rather than chaos.  Brilliantly, he shared this vision with his team.  The next step was to build a team strong enough to meet this challenge.  With this vision in mind, he began to build the team.Read More…

Posted: March 25, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement

Have you even seen a situation when someone you work with was verbally attacked by their boss for a mistake they did not make?  What happens when the attacker realizes he or she made a false assumption and he or she is wrong?  Usually it is one of these 4 things:Read More…

Posted: February 12, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

When I help companies coach their teams to higher performance, there are four pillars that must be solidly in place:  Ownership, clarity, and accountability.  These pillars rest on a solid platform of trust.  Without this foundation, the three pillars crumble.

Just yesterday one of my clients asked me, “If we need to build more trust on our team, how do we do it?”  I hear this question more than any other.  While there are many things we can to strengthen trust, let’s start with three “bomb-proof” fundamentals that have stood since civilization has begun.Read More…

Posted: February 4, 2016 | Categories: Leadership

About 15 years ago, I was facilitating a leadership class of about 30 participants.  Some of the folks I had signed up for the class while the remaining were enrolled by other reps.  After each class, I decided to write a detailed email to each rep about their participant, and how they did in class.  I would mention any recognition or breakthrough they had, and also identify some areas where I was challenging them.Read More…