Coaching For Leaders

Some people have heard that myth that how you look is more important than what you say. In this episode, I address this myth, describe in detail why what you say is the most important part of your presentation, and give practical advice for how to assemble presentation content. You can build a good presentation, even if you don't feel that you have professional delivery skills. Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback I begin this episode by speaking about the often misunderstood study from Dr. Albert Mehrabian that is often cited as evidence by those who claim that how you say something is more important that what you say. Olivia Mitchell from Speaking About Presenting has an excellent article that addresses this issue head on. In addition, this video provides great perspective: The bottom line? What you say is far more important than how you say it. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -Leonardo da Vinci Article I published last week: How One Key Question Gets Audience Results "

We turn our final episode of our training series to what every leader ought to know about sending people to training. Since episode #30, we've learned about many aspects of training, so this week we turn our focus to what you should know (and do) when sending people to training. I welcome Janet Riley, a gifted trainer and consultant, to help explore this topic. Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Janet's extensive career in the learning and development industry has provided her thousands of hours in experience training leaders around the world, most recently with the David Allen Company. She provides important and practical wisdom for all leaders. Here's what I asked her: When is training a good way to develop someone? When is training the wrong answer? What are three things leaders can do before training to support people changing behaviors? What are some of the different attitudes people show up with in a training classroom - and how can a leader respond to each of these? What

Aaron Kent: Dale Carnegie In the opening of this episode, I mentioned the book Soar With Your Strengths, which I recommend. This week, I welcome a dear friend and business partner as my guest. Aaron Kent is the President & CEO of Dale Carnegie of Southern Los Angeles. I asked Aaron the following questions during our interview: What are some common misconceptions leaders have about training companies? How would a leader know its the right time to consider bringing in an outside resource like Dale Carnegie? What should leaders do to prepare for a first meeting with a company like Dale Carnegie? How does Dale Carnegie approach a first meeting (i.e. what can leaders expect?) In your experience, what do leaders who have great success with training do differently than those who have mediocre success? What's one thing that leaders don't do when hiring you that you wish they did? Since this show is about engaging and developing others with coaching, who is a leader that's been an effective coach for y

Bonni Stachowiak: Teaching in Higher Ed Bonni Stachowiak is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, a professor of business and management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, Bonni was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. She joins me monthly to respond to listener questions. Be sure to align with the organization's mission, vision, and goals: Requires that you have at least a basic understanding of strategy (long-term planning). There are many approaches to strategy. A good person to know about in the area of creating competitive advantage is Michael Porter. Steps to needs analysis: Determine the problem(s) by finding a key business lever that will make a big impact on the organization if it gets fixed/improved. People pay more attention to fixing problems than they do to making improvements. Affirm that the problem really is the problem (work with stakeholders to see if there is consensus on the key prob

Whether you have access to many training resources or none at all, there is a lot you can do as a leader to train others. In this episode, we'll examine 5 effective ways you can train the people you lead. Prepare Estimate how much time you will need in advance - then double it. If you fail to block enough time, either you will sell the person short by rushing, or you will impact other business operations by taking more time than planned. Be realistic with how long things will take. Coach the rest of the team and remind them that access to you when you are conducing on-the-job training will be more limited. Be sure to consider the organizational outcome you want to have come out of the new skill or behavior you are working on. It's not enough just to get the other party good at actions - they need to understand how these actions fit into the big picture. Demonstrate You'll want to fully demonstrate what it is that you want the other party to do. Suggest that the other person watch and observer -

Whether you have access to many training resources or none at all, there is a lot you can do as a leader to train others. In this episode, we'll examine 5 effective ways you can train the people you lead. Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback 1. Hold a Class This is a great tool when lots of people need to learn something at the same time Ask yourself, "What do I want people walking out of this room doing differently?" Focus on the objectives instead of the logistics 2. On-the-Job Training This is helpful when the learning lends itself to this, there are less resources or time available, or if there is a very small number of people involved A lot of organizations talk about on-the-job training, but few really do it Be clear on what you want the person to learn during an established time period and design for that 3. Role-Playing This is helpful when teaching something that requires a lot of human interaction and thinking on your feet. Your steps: demonstrate - practice - co

Leaders often look to training activities in order to develop people. Training is a wonderful tool for growth, if used correctly. Unfortunately, some very common mistakes are often made. This week, Dave looks at six common mistakes leaders will want to avoid as we being a new series on training others. Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Six Mistakes Leaders Make Sending People to Training 1. Not willing to participate yourself 2. Using a training class to give feedback 3. Doing nothing to be flexible during training 4. Sending one person to training and having them come back to train everyone else 5. Failing to provide practical application opportunities 6. Going silent Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback If what you've heard on this week's show has been valuable to you or if you've benefited from past episodes, please leave us a review on iTunes. You can do this at coachingforleaders.com/itunes and then click "View in iTunes." We are very grateful for your feedback! Commun

We've been discussing engagement this month and now it's take to take action. In this episode, I review 10 things you can do today to engage people with your leadership. As you are listening, be sure to commit to take at least one of these actions either today or tomorrow and then send feedback to the links below to let us know what results you've seen: Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback 1. Sponsor an employee goal. Most all leaders know of at least one goal that each employee is working on during the year. Now, get beyond the average leader and help employees take action to achieve their goal. While they bear the primary responsibility for their professional development, it's also your responsibility to help provide resources for them to get there. This might be in the form of funding, but it could also be providing them with an introduction to someone, making space in the workday for their development, allowing them to utilize company resources for their goal, and many other possibilities.

Understanding the theory behind engagement is an important first step, but it's worthless if we don't also have perspective on how to practically apply engagement in our organizations. This week, I interview Jan Frazee from Southwest Search Dogs. Jan is someone that I've come to respect over the years both personally and professionally for her ability to engage volunteers in her organization -- and I respect her even more as a parent, since she's also Bonni's mom! Interview with Jan Frazee President and Chief Executive Officer Southwest Search Dogs info@southwestsearchdogs.org Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Thank you to all of the following individuals (and many others) who have either engaged with this community of helped promote this show to others: Fazila in Canada Sandrine in Mexico Charlie in the UK Frances in Texas Kindred in Lake Tahoe Diego in Brazil Stefan in Germany Hana in Singapore Yuria in Japan David in New England Mark in Texas Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com

Every leader needs to engage others in order to maximize the potential of the other person and their commitment to the organization. This week, we're beginning a series on how to engage the people that you lead. My apologies for not airing a show last week, but it was for a very good reason. Bonni and I welcomed our son into the world on February 2nd. Luke David Stachowiak is his name and both him and his mom are doing wonderfully well, now that we are home. I've attached a photo for those who'd like to see his adorable little face. We are very blessed indeed. This week's show begins with a quote from Teresa Amabile, author of The Progress Principle. In a recent commentary on Marketplace, she states, "The single most important thing that can keep workers deeply, happily engaged on the job is moving forward on work they care about -- even if the progress is an incremental "small win." Drive by Daniel Pink is an excellent read on how to engage others. In this book, says there are three things that Pink sugg

This episode puts all the pieces together from our personal leadership series into your 2012 action plan. I discuss in detail how I've used the Creating Your Life Plan ebook from Michael Hyatt to bring value to my life. During his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs said: “For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'no' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” See his full talk at this link. Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback I suggest downloading the Creating Your Life Plan ebook from Michael Hyatt. A piece of my vision that I had written down last year was: "The Coaching Skills for Leaders podcast and blog generates multiple comments weekly from listeners who have used the show to better their leadership and coaching skills." The action step behind that was: "Produce a consistent

Your core values influence how you view the world and how you interact with others. It's key that we understand our own core values as part of our series on personal leadership. To reach me with questions, comments, or feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com I read a quote on page 46 of The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner Here are the values that I spoke about: Meaning - Investing my time and talent into things and people that personally inspire me in the world. Sustainability - Putting my effort into things that will provide lasting, positive change in the world. Vision - Creating the future by building things twice (once with vision, once in reality). Empowerment - Give others the confidence to learn, grow, and contribute to the world in sustainable ways. Love - My passion and desire to treat people like fellow human beings. Some questions for you to consider as you determine your core values: What is your perfect day? What are you doing when you are in flow and lose track of time

Welcome to the fifteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: Get Specific With Goals This week I was listening to the HBR IdeaCast and a recent interview with Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson about her book: 9 Things Successful People Do Differently I've also been reading Get Rid of the Performance Review! by Samuel Colbert To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Examples of actual ineffective goals: "Communicate more effectively" "Develop leadership skills" "Communication skills to be improved (writing) and get your point across more clearing and concisely" "Improve quality and completion of assigned duties" "Begin working outside of their comfort zone towards new opportunities and/or subject areas" SMART Framework S - Specific M - Measurable A - Attainable R - Relevent T - Time-phased Examples of more effective goals, utilizing the SMART framework: Establish procedures with vendors to reduce year-over-year error rates by 20% before June

Welcome to the thirteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: How Culture Affects Coaching To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback What do we mean by a strong culture? Strong culture: consistent throughout the organization and thus has a strong influence on individuals Weak culture: do not have as strong an impact on individuals because of inconsistencies (does not mean it is not effective) In Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein (2004) defines culture as, "…a pattern of SHARED BASIC ASSUMPTIONS that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to PERCEIVE, THINK, and FEEL in relation to those problems" (p. 17). We accidentally referred to Schien's book in the episode as "Making Sense of the Organization" which is actually a book by Karl Weick and also an excell

Bonni is the host of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, Dean of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Business and Management at Vanguard University, and my life partner. Prior to her academic career, she was a human resources consultant and executive officer for a publicly traded company. Bonni is the author of The Productive Online and Offline Professor: A Practical Guide*. You can't create a shared vision without having your own vision first. It's inappropriate for us to be dependent on others or independent from them. Rather, we need to have relationships of interdependence. Bonni mentioned a clip from the movie Spartacus which captures the power of interdependence: Two key elements of a shared vision: The people involved have a shared picture of what the future looks like. Everyone is committed to achieving the work and working towards it together. We discussed four steps for leaders to take when creating a shared vision: A few books that we mentioned on this episode: The Fifth Discipline*

Dave Stachowiak: Coaching for Leaders In his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith warns against the habit of leaders adding too much value and stifling the motivation of an employee’s independent ideas. He says that when we start improving an employee’s idea, “You may have improved the content of my idea by 5 percent, but you’ve reduced my commitment to executing it by 50 percent, because you’ve taken away my ownership of the idea.” Does it even make sense to give someone feedback? Here's a helpful guide. Minor issue? If the person is aware: ask what they plan to do to resolve it If the person is unaware: let it go Major issue? If the person is aware : ask questions and help brainstorm If the person is unaware - redirect by using EXPECTATION -> EXAMPLE -> EMPOWER Saying something "nice" first can get us in trouble as a leader: It doesn't sound sincere, since it's often done only before constructive feedback It's not credible since the leader will o

Welcome to the eighth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders! This week's topic: How to Coach the Millennials (Part 2). One of the biggest challenges I hear from leaders today is how to coach this new generation of young people entering the workforce. I cite current statistics from the Fall 2011 edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. Special guest: Dr. Bonni Stachowiak President of Innovate Learning (our firm) Associate Professor of Business at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, CA You can reach Bonni at bonni@innovatelearning.com Bonni mentioned the book Drive by Daniel Pink as well as this brief video. In addition, she made reference to this graphic from Harvard Business Review: Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback. See you in a week for the next episode!

Welcome to the seventh episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders! This week's topic: How to Coach the Millennials (Part 1). One of the biggest challenges I hear from leaders today is how to coach this new generation of young people entering the workforce. I cite current statistics from the Fall 2011 edition of the Leader to Leader Journal. Special guest: Dr. Gilbert Fugitt Associate Dean of Students at Concordia University in Irvine, CA You can reach Gilbert at gilbert.fugitt@cui.edu Gilbert mentioned the book Not Everybody Gets a Trophy by Bruce Tulgan as a resource for leaders. Next week, I'll continue the conversation with Bonni Stachowiak (my best friend and wife) who will bring her perspective on working with the millennials from experience as a corporate vice president and business professor. Stay connected with the show on iTunes, our website, or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/

Welcome to the fourth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders! Today's topic: What is coaching and why it's different from other development tools. Here's the link I promised to the EDS commercial on building a plane in the air. Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback with questions, comments, or feedback. Socrates said, "The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms." (accidentally attributed to Plato in the audio of the show - apologies!) Let's look at: leading, managing, training/teaching, mentoring, consulting, counseling, and of course coaching. Leading: Creating environments that achieve a shared vision. Peter Senge describes a shared vision in The Fifth Discipline The rose windows at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris are a good analogy John F. Kennedy's shared vision to get us to the moon Managing: Establishing, monitoring, and controlling processes and procedures Communicating clear expectations Follow-up Feedback or consequences My work at SCORE! Educational Centers was an example

Welcome to the third episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders! Today's topic: Why teaching adults is different than teaching kids. Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback with questions, comments, or feedback. A brief overview of how teaching fits into coaching. We're going to examine a few lessons from The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles, Elwood Holton, and Richard Swanson (7th edition). Pedagogy vs. Andragogy (art of teaching kids vs. self concept of being responsible for ourselves) (Greek: child-leading, man-leading). You can't teach adults the way you teach kids. Why talk about kids? As coaches, there's the tendency to fall back on what we've seen all our lives and what we remember from school - unfortunately, those same skills don't work with adults. 6 assumptions about andragogy: 1) The Need to Know (adults need to know why something is important before learning it) With kids: because the teacher said so I share my experience with stats in graduate school As a coach, you might need to help make this