Jan Thompson & Associates || Executive Leadership Coaching blogs

Latest Articles in this Channel:

11/27/08--06:49: Are you a Human Doing? (chan 1685664)

Many of my clients report they are so caught up in the "doing" of their jobs, they rarely think about just "being". "Being" seems slow, not necessary, unrelated to their effectiveness; something they want but don't have time for. However, when I ask them to identify the qualities of Leaders they admire, guess what? Beingness comes to the forefront. Of course, the words they use are "presence", "listens intently", "has a passion for what s/he does", "able to get people energized"--but it boils down to a strong sense of who they are as people and as Leaders.

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04/10/09--08:46: Appreciation At Work (chan 1685664)

I've noticed a trend among my High Potential clients, they feel unappreciated.  Now why would the best and brightest in a company ever feel unappreciated? Perhaps its because Managers aren't taught that it is a key to getting results through others?

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06/08/09--14:23: It's not what happens to us, its what we do with it. (chan 1685664)

Check out this link to see Matt Weinstein, the nations foremost authority on the use of fun and humor in team building. He and his wife lost their entire life savings to Bernie Madoff.  He's reminding us that while we can't control others, we can control how we live our lives, what we focus on and what we do with bad news. 

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06/04/10--10:20: Do you have Beginners Mind? (chan 1685664)

So many of my clients are in the midst of corporate change (a new Boss, massive reorganization; either layoffs or lots of new hires coming in the door.)  The natural response humans have to change (unless they are the ones in charge of it!) is to resist.  Resistance is spending energy in ineffective ways trying to make sense of the temporary chaos that accompanies every change.  So how to allow that change to happen more effectively?
 
Imagine that you are a new employee in your company.

Do you expect yourself to know all the who’s, why’s and what’s of the company right away? No.  As a “beginner” at this company (Day 1 of the change), do you trust that you’ll figure it out as you go along? Yes. Do you rail against the new company’s policies or ways of doing business because they’re different from your last company? No.
 
Experiment a little with imagining yourself as “just arrived” and see how adaptable you can be.  Although you cannot change the outward events, you do have a choice as to how you perceive them.
 
In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few.
                                         Shunryu Suzuki

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07/02/10--11:42: Keeping Your Top Talent, Mistake #1 (chan 1685664)

Practically every company these days wants to keep their top talent, no matter that others may be let go due to the economy.   The Harvard Business Review (5.2010) reports that programs aimed to keep top talent are often not very effective.
 
Mistake #1: Assuming that High Potentials are Highly Engaged.
Did you know that nearly 40% of internal job moves involving high potentials end in failure? Instead, here's what to do: 
1.  Identify who your High Potentials really are and give them lots of stimulating work, recognition and the chance to prosper. 
2.  Pay attention--give your top executives a quarterly list of your best and brightest with a few words about their strengths. When a young high potential gets a personal call many levels above their Boss they pay attention. 
3.  Don't delegate talent development to line managers. That only encourages hoarding of talent. Manage it at the corporate level.
4.  Don't assume high potentials will take one for the team or buy in to the idea of "run time". Offer A players differentiated compensation and exposure to key executives for mentoring. 

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07/28/10--11:51: Keeping Your Top Talent, Mistake #2 (chan 1685664)

Practically every company these days wants to keep their top talent, even though they may be letting go of others due to the economy.   The Harvard Business Review (5.2010) reports that programs aimed to keep top talent are often not very effective.

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08/20/10--10:10: Becoming a Mentor (chan 1685664)

Traditionally, a mentor was someone senior who helped those who were junior build skills and make connections.  Often, they were expected to be major "advocates" of a mentee, often lasting for an entire career.

Today, mentors come at all levels of the organization and provide a variety of things for mentees. Two of the newest "mentor" roles are 1. Mentoring "up" and, 2.  a "short term" mentor to gain a new behavior. Here's how they work:

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10/01/10--09:54: Purpose, Pleasure or Peace? (chan 1685664)

Anybody got an overcrowded Calendar?

Looking at my calendar one day in frustration, I decided to find out how others, those with even more time demands, get it all done. A busy client shared with me a unique way of managing his calendar. We asks himself 3 questions for every time demand: 1. Does this appointment or project have a Purpose? If he's not clear of the purpose-value, he makes sure to connect with any others involved to determine if there really is a compelling need. He also asks himself if someone else on his team could serve the purpose with greater skill or to build a development need. Sometimes the purpose is simply to be present because a key stakeholder in his career wants him involved. Asking himself this question has decreased the amount of resentment he used to feel about some meetings. 2. Will this time on my calendar create Pleasure? My friend reports that doing things or being with people that are pleasurable actually creates energy in his day! That energy makes it worthwhile to take the time to send a "thank you" email or have lunch with people that are fun, interesting, stimulating, etc. 3. Will this time create more Peace?. Instead of living with a nagging feeling, blocking out time to think or time to get an unpleasant project or conversation done early can create peace of mind.

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11/09/10--11:04: Learning Agility (chan 1685664)

Want to be someone who learns faster and better than others with a track record of success in first time or rapid change situations?  That's the definition of Learning Agility, a term defined by Lominger International: A Korn/Ferry company almost 15 years ago to help companies define high potentials vs. high performers. High potentials can be high performers; but high performers aren't necessarily high potentials.  The good news is that, for many employees, the four aspects of Learning Agility can be developed over time.   The four aspects are: 1. Mental Agility, 2. Results Agility, 3. People Agility, and 4. Change Agility.  If you are a successful leader, you're probably good at 2 of these 4 already.

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12/03/10--10:25: CHANGE AGILITY—one aspect of building your Learning Agility (chan 1685664)

Last month I introduced Learning Agility, a term defined by Lominger International: A Korn/Ferry company.  It is now used by most of the Fortune 500 in some form to help build strong Talent Management strategies.  One aspect of Learning Agility is CHANGE Agility.  This is the ability to deal with ambiguity, to operate effectively when the strategy is unclear, when the new initiatives look impossible, when the “tried and true” solutions of the past aren’t working and new solutions are needed. A CHANGE LEADER is someone who adapts quickly to change, often rallying others around them, knowing that to push for change means you’ve got to take a lot of “heat”.  Change is hard for those who are being told to change; it’s always easier for those who are driving the change.  So the Change Leader must be able to stand alone in their own belief and commitment while influencing and encouraging others who are needed to make the change successful.
 

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