Coaching for Leaders

This episode puts all the pieces together from our personal leadership series into your annual 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. 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 coaching podcast and blog that dramatically increases our audience’s skill level in self-leadership, coaching, and personal productivity.” My Values (see episode #20 for a full overview on how to get clarity on your values) 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. 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. Priorities: Faith Health Bonni Baby Learning Career Extended Family Friends Service Finances An example of my vision for children: “I want my children to remember me as a guiding light in their lives who empowered them with love of God, family, learning, discipline, and friendship. I want them to look back at their time as children as a time filled with many life lessons, joy-filled days, and discipline that served them in their lives as adults. I want them to feel like they were empowered to be whoever God created them to be and that their mom and them always came first in my life. I want them to remember that my love helped them become beautiful and whole people, who would then go on to love their own families and spread God’s love in the world.” Current Reality: We don’t have a baby. We will have a baby soon. Neither of us know what the heck we are doing. Specific Commitments: Spend at least one hour daily (outside of care time) that is focused on connecting with our son through cuddling, play, and other ways that he is ready to explore the world. Begin introducing books, reading, and storytelling to him as soon as is practical so that he begins to associate learning and growth with a happy and successful life in this world. Work with Bonni to determine a meaningful name for our little boy. Finish reading “Raising Cain” to establish good practices to support his growth emotionally. Attend as many doctor appointments as possible to continue my education as a father and build a long-term relationship with our pediatrician. Complete reading the American Academy of Pediatrics book section on the first year of life that was recommended by our pediatrician. Step in as the primary care giver at least one day a week so that Bonni has time to rest, even before she returns to work. Determine a guardian for our little boy, should Bonni and I both die when he is young. Another of an action item this year from my career section: Create at least 100 Coaching Skills for Leaders podcast champions by the end of 2012 (people who contact me to say that they’ve gained something from the show or otherwise demonstrate through actions that they are big fans of the show). Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Kirwan Rockefeller: Visualize Confidence Having a powerful vision can mean the difference between mediocrity and clear direction for the future. I welcome special guest Dr. Kirwan Rockefeller, author of Visualize Confidence, in order to help this community create our personal vision. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Susan Gerke: GO Team Resources Our personality preferences influence every relationship we have, including those where we lead and coach. I welcome special guest and Innovate Learning senior facilitator Susan Gerke to discuss our strengths and blind spots in this episode. Susan and I discussed the spectrum of directing vs. informing language. Here are a few of the resources from Susan: Go Team Resources The I in Team* by Susan Gerke Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

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. 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? What events are you most proud of in your life? When do you feel most alive? What makes you angry? What are you willing to fight for? I mentioned this document that contains a list of values and may be helpful in determining your core values. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

It’s the new year and an important time to consider ourselves first, so that we can better lead others. This week, I begin a series on personal leadership that will take us through the month of January. Here are a few resources that I mentioned in this episode: The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner Five Practices – Model the Way is the first one Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman HBR Managing Yourself The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey First three habits: private victory Habit #1: Be proactive Between stimulus and response, we have choices we can make Story of Viktor Frankl – Man’s Search for Meaning How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

As leaders, we need to support learning right after it happens. In this episode, I’ll review fives ways you can do this as a leader. 1) Provide opportunities Find something for them to start to use what they’ve just learned. If you need to, help create opportunities! 2) Review the actions taken Do a debrief afterwards – particularly if something didn’t work well. The sooner it happens, the more likely it is that you’ll reinforce good habits and correct poor ones. Avoid reviewing things weeks or months after they happen. 3) Inquire about what they are thinking, feeling, or noticing I mentioned Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline Fieldbook You won’t hear much at first but over time you’ll hear people say lots of things 4) Correct the flight plan 5) Use encouragement Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Dale Carnegie says “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise” in How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is a must read for any leader. Also, review episode #9 from this show for a detailed overview on giving encouragement through recognition. Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Helping people utilize new skills they are learning is an essential skill for all leaders. In this episode, I’ll examine four ways you can do this as a leader. REFRAME Move people away from just task accomplishment and more towards skill mastery. There’s a difference between having knowledge and being an strong contributor to an organization. Challenge people for practical experience. Challenge them to put what they are learning into action. RECONNECT Engage people during regular development meetings (at least once a month – once a week is ideal). Discouragement and obstacles will happen – we need to provide coaching along the way. Give perspective by using encouragement and also reward progress (not just results). Challenge people to compare themselves with themselves. RENEW Make things new again. You can’t know everyone on January 1st – be ready to add in more, make changes, and adapt Add new challenges and opportunities throughout  the year. Avoid people getting into extremes – either overwhelmed or underutilized. Especially watch out for underutilized. Overwhelmed is easy to stop – underutilized is often only recognized after a person decides they are leaving. RETURN Help them determine how they can return value to the organization. What can they do to teach others? What can they do to teach you? What are new responsibilities that connect back to their long-term goals? Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

Frances, one of our listeners, contacted me this week to say that she has $700 in a “use it or lose it” budget within the next week and wanted some advice on what to do. Since many of these resources would be helpful to all of us, it’s the topic for this week’s show. Two overarching rules to keep in mind before you do anything: Talk to people who are doing the stuff you want to do Have your own professional development plan (I use Michael Hyatt’s life plan that I’ve discussed on prior shows) Books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner How to Win Friends and Influence People (and the new version for the digital age) both by Dale Carnegie The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (link for the printed version) Amazon Prime – $79 a year (2 day shipping, streaming of movies, borrow one book a month for free) Publications The Wall Street Journal ($103 a year for the digital version) Chronicle of Higher Education ($72.50 a year for the digital version) Harvard Business Review ($79 a year) Professional Associations What you get? Local chapter and networking and social learning These are great for resources too – workshops, classes, book lists, seminars Many are $100-$200 annually Professional Journals Leader to Leader Journal ($200/year) Extended Education programs at local universities UCI Education is great for people in Southern California – find a great program near you! Software education Lynda.com ($25 a month or $250 annually) Here’s a link for a free 7-day trial on Lynda.com Massive Open Online Courses Academic Earth is a great clearinghouse for these courses The Great Courses is great for lectures and classes from top professors as well, as long as you’re OK getting lots of catalogs from them Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

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 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 30th Become a subject matter expert on departmental software use by achieving Microsoft Office Specialist Certification by the end of the year Develop skill in departmental training activities by facilitating one training class in Q1 of 2012 and receive participant satisfaction scores that are 80% or higher Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 2 Four stories from my career of leadership lessons I’ve valued: McDonald’s and the value of humility How I utilize this in daily client interactions now Orientation and the value of excellence I utilize this in teaching and production of this show My first job and the value of consequences Today I utilize this to have courage “Our chief want in life is someone who shall make us do what we can.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson My friend and colleague and the value of love In tough situations, find something to love about the other party Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic. To accelerate your learning, uncover more inside Coaching for Leaders Plus.