26 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Hiring Top Talent

…nurturing talent inside an organization makes strategic sense…
–John Ryan (managing director at RSMR/TRANSEARCH)

Change is a constant. Re-organizations, re-structuring, lay-offs, and looking at ways to cut costs are likely to continue.  Knowing this, it’s more important than ever to have the right person in the right job.

Hiring that “right person” is a challenge faced by all leaders. It’s important to be clear on job functions, responsibilities and behaviors to help grow results. It’s also equally important to spend sufficient time looking for candidates internal to your organization or business to fill an opening.

External hiring will always be in the mix, but don’t forget about your high potential employees. You will have easy access to skill-sets, talent, experience, passion, and goal achievement, along with feedback and performance results.

Hiring from within saves costs, utilizes and builds on existing company knowledge, and most important, builds employee morale and loyalty.

In a 2010 Employee Job Satisfaction survey conducted by SHRM, what matters most to employee are the following 5 elements:

No. 1: Job Security

No. 2: Benefits

No. 3: Opportunities to use skills and abilities

No. 4: The work itself, tied with, the organization’s financial stability

No. 5: Compensation and pay

Click here for complete article

As leaders, we need to understand the skills and talent our staff brings to the table. We need to ensure each member has a development plan, and we need to understand their passion and career aspirations. We must commit to building talent, and we need to provide honest, and sometime difficult feedback, about an individual’s skills and competencies.

Commit to retaining top talent, and remember, if you don’t “hire hard”, you’ll have to “manage hard”!

24 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Success

7 Reasons To Attend The Journey

In leadership, don’t think of good or bad, right or wrong styles.  Think in terms of what could be done differently to achieve desired results!

7 Reasons To Attend The Leadership Journey: 

  1. Improve communication and relationships
  2. Make better decisions
  3. Advance planning and task management skills
  4. Enhance listening skills
  5. Better manage conflict and difficult situations
  6. Increase employee engagement
  7. Build self confidence

Satisfaction guaranteed!
Earn 18 priSM CPD credits and 3 PSM level points

 Testimonials:

“The training was fantastic! I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to become a better leader, team player or human being!” –C.B.

“The Journey provided the overall ability to step back, assess current roles, and provided amazing diagnostics via the tools/instruments regarding leadership styles for myself and others.” –T.S.

Why wait? Enroll today!

19 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Self-Assessment

Self assessment is universal truth.
–unknown

A Self-Assessment For the New Year

Where are you now? Where would you like to be?

We’ve begun the new year, and what better way to kick it off than by completing a simple, yet hopefully, thought provoking assessment.

Use a scale of 1-5, 5 being highest, answer the set of 8 questions below.

  1. I am concerned about long term planning over day to day problems and annoyances.
  2. I allow me/my team/organization to invest in new technology, processes, training, and tools without trying to delay the investment.
  3. I have clearly defined vision, mission, goals, and roles, have communicated them, and track my progress.
  4. I hold myself and others accountable to high-performance standards.
  5. I permit the team to work on projects and with customers without looking over their shoulders.
  6. I deal with difficult conversations with customers, staff, and peers rather than avoid the situation.
  7. I admit mistakes freely and allow mistakes to be learning events, for me, and others.
  8. I am passionate about what I do, and WANT to continually develop my skills, and help others succeed.

How many did you score a 4 or 5 in?  What about a 1 or 2?

Now score your boss. How’d they do? Would you be willing to share your results with your leader? What about sharing with them how you rated them? Is there anything you’d like to see change?

Think in terms of where you are now and where you’d like to be. How much change is required?

12 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Leading With Fear

Fear promotes underachievement and mediocrity.

Fear impacts us all. We’ve talked about how fear impacts our decision making skills, and yes there’s more. We fear that we may fail, that we may lose control, that we won’t meet our goals, that we may not be liked, that we’ll be rejected, and so on.

Leading in a culture of fear is stifling, behaviors and inspiration are impacted, growth and creativity suffer, underachievement and mediocrity flourish.

As leaders we need a heightened awareness of what impacts us and how. Especially during times of change, (in some cases turmoil), we need to have stronger relationships with our staff to assess how they are doing.

Fear can be inspirational, but more often than not, it creates discomfort and restlessness, and negatively impacts productivity and results.

Let’s start by looking at how we lead. Do we fear losing control? Are we micro-managing? Are we too involved?

Control points vary. Do we provide timely communication? Do we solicit feedback? Do we address and manage conflict? Do we provide sufficient latitude empowering team members to address and resolve issues on their own or do we feel compelled to intervene?

Leadership is certainly not a popularity contest, but we can be inspiring and trusted while simultaneously holding ourselves and others accountable for actions and behaviors.

We’re all going to make mistakes. Let’s not err on the side of stifling creativity and diminishing the opportunity to learn and grow. Lead with confidence, not with fear.

05 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Decision Making

Decisions Made In Fear

Fear paralyzes groups, leaders, decisions, and success 

Fearful decisions by corporate leaders and executives have a way of replicating more poor decisions and creating fearful leaders.

Decisions Made In Fear Are Stifling . . .   

Over the past few weeks I’ve been getting notices of individuals that are being laid off from their positions after many dedicated years of service.

It seems to me that corporate leaders of the world not only have a business responsibility, but also a social responsibility. They must determine if they are operating out of fear when making these critical decisions, (or perhaps due to mandates), and understand the far reaching impacts to individuals, and to their organization.

I am not saying these layoffs are wrong; I’m suggesting a need to determine if the changes are based on fear, or for the benefit of their companies future.

If a leader operates out of fear, they will not make proper short or long term decisions. Fears and insecurities of those around them will increase, creating a paralyzed group of decision makers and leaders.  It then propagates itself, damages trust, and breaks down innovation. In other words, accomplishing the exact opposite of what’s intended (to excel and thrive). Once a leader creates that fear based environment, it is very difficult to recover; we’ve coached many.

Interesting enough these decisions are said to be made to improve business conditions. The idea is to get rid of poor performance and/or improve the bottom line in case there are poor future business conditions.

We don’t want short term fearful behavior at any level if we are ever to get the world economies back on track to prosperity.

Who is responsible for all of this and who owns this? Please read John Miller’s book The Question Behind The Question ISBN 0-9665832-9-9 and 12 Steps For Courageous Leadership ISBN 978-1-4567-1937-1 to help remain on track.

On our next segment we will talk about the “fear of losing control”. I would appreciate any and all comments.

02 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Blog

Kicking Off 2012

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
–John Quincy Adams

HOW DO YOU INSPIRE OTHERS?

Do you:

  • Provide feedback?
  • Offer opportunities for growth?
  • Listen to new ideas and opposing views?
  • Delegate assignments and responsibilities?
  • Reward and recognize accomplishments?
  • Know what others are passionate about?
  • Understand that conflict is healthy and can be inspiring?

Take a few minutes and think about how you influence and inspire others. Now take it to the next step and try something new;  let me know how it goes!

29 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Happy New Year!

As 2011 comes to an end and we gear up for 2012, we’d like to share  some leadership quotes we hope you will find inspirational:

“The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.”
– Henry Kissinger

“Leadership is intentional influence.”
– Michael McKinney

“Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”, that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”
– Peter F. Drucker

“My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.”
– General Montgomery

May you have the courage to live and lead with passion, and the ability and heart to achieve and enjoy your life’s ambitions and objectives.

Happy New Year!

27 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Blog

Tips For Self Reflection

Being willing to learn, and make changes, increases your ability to succeed

TO STAY ON TRACK:

  • Make commitments
  • Be vulnerable
  • Expand your comfort zone
  • Acknowledge change
  • Welcome feedback and take action to become more effective
  • Don’t over-use your strengths (they may result in a weakness)
  • Be authentic
  • Ensure your behaviors align with your beliefs
  • Remain controlled
  • Continue to grow and improve
  • Think out of the box
  • Take time to assess what could be done differently
  • LISTEN! Process what you are hearing and feeling
  • Have courage

May you always:

  • want to make a difference
  • want to understand
  • want to grow

Wishing you success!

07 Dec
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Development Budget

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
–John F. Kennedy

STAY ONE STEP AHEAD . . .

Let us provide you with the tools and the secrets for becoming a great leader!

Options include one on one coaching, group development programs, and customized team solutions.

PeopleTek has coached and developed thousands of individuals in leadership success and in the achievement of personal and professional goals.

Put your plans in place now!

Steve Pruett, CEO, Communications Corporation Of America, says:

“PeopleTek has been instrumental in helping us build our management and leadership skills. They have been able to get our company leaders to take the time to build skills and achieve goals and helped create a roadmap that can both guide us and keep us on the path we have chosen . . .”

28 Nov
PeopleTek Coaching Blog

Recognize Stress

Stress is not what happens to us. It’s our response To what happens. And response is something we can choose.
–Maureen Killoran

RECOGNIZE STRESS

This time of year we frequently feel we’re on “overload” and as a result may experience stress. For some, stress is a motivator, for others it’s debilitating. The key is to recognize when we’re being stimulated and challenged, versus being overwhelmed and non-productive.

Be aware of how you’re feeling! Then take action to choose positive behaviors to help you achieve those remaining goals. Look for stress relieving tips in Thursday’s update.

22 Nov
PeopleTek Coaching Blog

Work With Purpose and Passion

“Chase your passion, not your pension.”
–Denis Waitley

Career passion and purpose . . .

Why is it so important that we are passionate about everything we do? We all know deep inside that when we are lacking passion we aren’t the best we can be.

I know I’ve been in jobs and assignments I didn’t really relate to, or feel a strong need for accomplishment. The results were clear; they could have been better and the people involved could have seen a better me.

So can we be passionate about something we don’t love to do? My answer is yes, as long as we’ve discovered our leadership purpose and linked it to all we do. We have to determine what our purpose is, and ensure our external behaviors support that purpose.

That sums up passion in a nutshell. If we believe we are just robots in assignments for monetary gain, that’s what we’ll get – a pay check. For us to be outstanding, motivating and inspiring leaders, we must be passionate in everything we do, and demonstrate that passion across the workplace.

So take that first step and find your passion. Second, determine how you can bring that passion to every assignment. I guarantee you will take your leadership to a higher level!

17 Nov
PeopleTek Coaching Success

8 Tips For Success – Make Them A Habit

“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of force and habit.  He must be quick to break those habits that can break him – and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.”
— J. Paul Getty

For the past couple of weeks we’ve shared thoughts about leadership habits; both those that add value, and those that may not always serve us well. One of our customers provided us with a great article written by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch. You may want to consider making those tips a habit!

Below are Jack Welch’s 8 tips, with excerpts from his verbiage.

#1 LEADERS RELENTLESSLY UPGRADE THEIR TEAM, USING EVERY ENCOUNTER AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EVALUATE, COACH AND BUILD SELF-CONFIDENCE

You need to invest the vast majority of your time and energy as a leader in three activities:  You have to evaluate, you have to coach, and you have to build self-confidence.

#2 LEADERS MAKE SURE PEOPLE NOT ONLY SEE THE VISION, THEY LIVE AND BREATHE IT.

Leaders have to set the team’s vision and make it come alive. You have to talk about vision constantly, to everyone.

#3 LEADERS GET INTO EVERYONE’S SKIN, EXUDING POSITIVE ENERGY AND OPTIMISM

An upbeat manager with a positive outlook somehow ends up running a team or organization filled with… well, upbeat people with positive outlooks.

#4 LEADERS ESTABLISH TRUST WITH CANDOR, TRANSPARENCY AND CREDIT

Your people should always know where they stand. They have to know how the business is doing. And sometimes the news is not good–such as imminent layoffs–and any normal person would rather avoid delivering it. But you have to fight the impulse to pad hard messages or you’ll pay with your team’s confidence and energy.

#5 LEADERS HAVE THE COURAGE TO MAKE UNPOPULAR DECISIONS AND GUT CALLS

There are times you have to make hard decisions–let people go, cut funding to a project, or close a plant. Your job is to listen and explain yourself clearly but move forward. You are not a leader to win a popularity contest–you are a leader to lead.

#6 LEADERS PROBE AND PUSH WITH A CURIOSITY THAT BORDERS ON SKEPTICISM, MAKING SURE THEIR QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED WITH ACTION

Every conversation you have about a decision, a proposal, or a piece of market information has to be filled with you saying, “What if?” and “Why not?” and “How come?”  You have to make sure your questions unleash debate and raise issues that get action.

#7 LEADERS INSPIRE RISK TAKING AND LEARNING BY SETTING THE EXAMPLE

Too many managers urge their people to try new things and then whack them in the head when they fail. If you want your people to experiment, set the example yourself.

#8 LEADERS CELEBRATE

Celebrating creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Work is too much a part of life not to recognize moments of achievement. Make a big deal out of them.

Ben Franklin sums up habits in the following way:

 “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.”

What changes would you like to make to increase your net worth?

1 … 20 21 22 23 24 … 26