November 28, 2009 • 1:33 pm
How many times have you come out of a conversation - particularly with an employee- feeling that it didn’t quite go the way you would liked it to? Perhaps you were too abrupt. Perhaps what you had to say did not have the necessary impact on the employee. Let me share a couple of examples: ” I gave him all the facts but it didn’t seem to sink in!” complained one manager. ” I was most considerate and spoke to him ever so kindly” said another. Both were right- and both were wrong.
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Filed under: Executive Coaching, Executive Effectiveness , coaching conversations
September 7, 2009 • 6:33 pm
A feature I have enjoyed reading in the New York Times is the “Corner Office”. Every week, Adam Bryant has a conversation with a business leader on management and leadership.
This week the interview was with Alan Mullaly, the President & CEO of Ford Motor since 2006. For most of his career, Mullaly worked for Boeing. I see that Ford has been the only US auto major to have done well recently.
I found his views to be matter of fact, fairly simple yet meaningful. It underscored to me the point that in business while many things change- the way to deal with them seldom do. It is still important to understand your business, your customer, his/her needs, and learn how to get the best out of your people.
Filed under: Executive Effectiveness , Alan Mullaly, executive leadership, Ford
August 18, 2009 • 2:25 pm
Terms like “engaged employees “and ” psychological contract” are frequently used by HR practitioners when they speak of successful people at work. Some believe that intrinsic motivators like a sense of achievement and the challenges that go with the job really influence performance. Others argue that there is nothing like a rich pay packet to make the employee set aside everything else to perform well at work.
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Filed under: Executive Effectiveness , employee engagement, people management, Rob Briner
“Can you teach an old dog new tricks?” asks Singapore based Pratap Nambiar in his blog Thought Perfect. Pratap is the Founder and Chief Executive of Thought Perfect Pte Ltd. This catchy phrase has been debated in HR and performance improvement circles for decades. What is the power of learning? Can people really change their behaviours? Can you make change stick? Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Executive Effectiveness , Executive Coaching, learning
Remember a time when coaching was primarily aimed at those who were looking for help to perform? Things are changing as a tough economic situation around us makes performance at work come at a greater premium. We see coaching becoming increasingly popular across a wider spectrum of clientele.
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Filed under: Executive Coaching, Executive Effectiveness , coaching trends, Executive Coaching
In TechRepublic, Polly Schneider Traylor writes of 10 ways you can support your CEO. Although the article is directed towards CIOs, in my view it is as applicable for any senior executive working for the CEO. Isn’t it interesting that while outwardly all are supposed to be on the same page, in reality there is a lot of variance in most organisations?
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Filed under: Blogs, Executive Effectiveness , top management teams, work culture
Young professionals who feel that their independence and freedom to innovate have been curtailed, older professionals who feel their experience and ideas are not being given the merit they deserve and assorted others who have their own complaints, often feel the CXO is less than human. He/she is blamed for everything that has gone wrong. Frequently, their image is nothing short of being tyrannical.
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Filed under: Executive Coaching, Executive Effectiveness , CXO Development, Executive Coaching
“We’ve gotten so used to every generation doing better economically than their parents. Are our kids going to do better than we’ve done? I hope so, but I’m not sure. So it seems like we ought to tell them that socioeconomic wealth is not the only, or even the most important, metric of personal happiness.” This extract is from an interesting interview with Greg Brenneman in the New York Times. Greg is the Chairman of CCMP Capital, a premier private equity firm.
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Filed under: Executive Coaching, Executive Effectiveness, People , CCMP, Executive Coaching, executive leadership, Greg Brenneman
Unlike now, a fair number of years ago the term “employee engagement” was relatively new. The question “ Are your employees engaged? ” brought forth a variety of answers. One manager told me ” Yes, but many of them are on contract and not directly engaged”. Another manager when asked in a fact finding conversation, ” Are you yourself engaged?” by one of our lady Consultants gave a somewhat sheepish smile and coyly said ” I am actually married with one child”.
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Filed under: Executive Coaching, Executive Effectiveness , David Zinger, employee engagement
