In its simplest definition, culture is the way things get done in an organization. It’s about the behaviors and attitudes of employees and management and how that translates into different approaches to performance—both good and bad. If you are a leader looking to improve your organization’s current culture and work environment, here are five steps…
Dear Madeleine, I am a few years in, working on Wall Street. I am a financial analyst and am pretty good at my job. At my recent performance review my boss told me that I need to “build my brand.” What the heck? I tried to get some detail out of him but didn’t get…
Ken Blanchard has a favorite question he asks audiences when he is speaking to them about servant leadership: “Are you here to serve or to be served?” Ken believes the way you answer that question determines how you approach leading others. If you’re here to be served, you think leadership is all about you. You…
In this episode, Don Yaeger, author of Great Teams: 16 Things High Performing Organizations Do Differently, discusses his research on why some teams win when others fail. “My research of the business and sports world uncovered sixteen things that successful teams do, and I grouped them into four main pillars,” explains Yaeger. (As you listen,…
Dear Madeleine, I got a new boss about six months ago and I have been watching and waiting to see how he is going to pan out. So far, so good, I think—except for one thing that is really burning my toast. Literally the first thing he did was to put a stop to all…
Between 50 and 70 percent of executives fail within the first 18 months of being placed in an executive role, whether they are promoted from within or hired from outside the organization, according to research from the Corporate Executive Board. That statistic is unnecessarily high, say organizational coaching experts Madeleine Homan Blanchard and Patricia Overland.…
Dear Madeleine, I am terrible at my job and it is only a matter of time before I get fired. I don’t like any of my direct reports. I am supposed to do one-on-ones with them, but I find them so boring and whiny I can barely listen to them. I am making errors because…
High performing teams are a joy to watch, aren’t they? Team members are committed to the team’s purpose, each other, and work seamlessly together to achieve the team’s goal. Each person knows his or her role, is highly motivated, and will willingly sacrifice their moment in the spotlight if it helps the team win. Why?…
Dear Madeleine, I recently took a director level job with a huge Fortune 50 organization. I have been thrown into the deep end and I am worried about completely bombing out. I have had zero onboarding, so I am constantly making errors and spending tons of time backtracking and clearing things up. I am really…
Learn six strategies for turning a pressure situation into an opportunity. In this episode, Judd Hoekstra, coauthor of Crunch Time: How to be Your Best When It Matters Most, talks about the skill of reframing—intentionally thinking about a situation in a new or different way to improve performance. “When faced with a stressful situation, it…
In his work consulting with business leaders at top organizations around the world, best-selling author Ken Blanchard explains that for best results, leaders need to combine a focus on people with a simultaneous focus on results. It’s this one-two combination that delivers the greatest impact. Managers need to have a shared responsibility with direct reports…
Dear Madeleine, I am a senior leader in a large nonprofit. My big struggle is with one employee who seems emotionally unstable. One day she is completely reasonable and easygoing, and the next she is reactive and flying off the handle for no apparent reason. I’ve learned to expect it, but her behavior is affecting…
Dear Madeleine, I head up one of several R&D teams at a global consumer goods company. My team is amazing—brilliant, eccentric, creative, fun people who are blowing away their goals. (It takes a certain type of person to be good at what we do.) Here is my problem. Some of my folks are good at…
Too many leaders have been conditioned to think of leadership only in terms of power and control. But there is a better way to lead, says best-selling business author Ken Blanchard—one that combines equal parts serving and leading. This kind of leadership requires a special kind of leader: a servant leader. “In this model,” says…
Dear Madeleine, I am a new manager. I have twelve folks reporting to me and it is going perfectly, except for one person (I will call him “A”). There seems to be a fundamental disconnect between how he sees his own performance (superior) and how others see his performance (subpar). I am continually confused by…
