The Ken Blanchard Companies Ignite newsletter is a must-read for leadership, learning, and talent development professionals. Highlights from the just published August issue include Getting Buy-In for Leadership Development Training One of the biggest challenges leadership, learning, and talent development professionals face when they propose a new initiative is convincing their CEO of the financial…
In a couple of my recent posts I’ve talked about managers using coach-like skills in their conversations with direct reports. Doing this often makes conversations more impactful and effective. But there are times when using a coaching style is not appropriate—when, in fact, it can be counterproductive and cause the other person to become frustrated. First…
In a new article for Training magazine, Jim Diehl and I share the results of a 1,300-person study of teams in today’s work environment. The survey results reveal there’s much work to be done: only 27 percent of respondents said their teams perform at top levels a majority of the time. Millennials scored their team…
Measuring the impact of coaching is harder than one might think. That’s why it’s essential that any person being coached has a robust development plan that identifies a positive set of outcomes and steps along the way. Here is what we’ve learned after coaching executives for more than 16 years. Be specific—specificity is KEY. In…
“Too many leaders have been conditioned to think of leadership only in terms of power and control,” says best-selling business author Ken Blanchard in the July/August issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine. “But there is a better way to lead—one that combines equal parts serving and leading. This kind of leadership requires a special kind…
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Each of these one-word questions can push organizational leaders and their team members toward the clarity they need to achieve success. In this post I’d like to focus on who and what. When leaders set clear expectations, outcomes are much more likely to hit the mark. And it’s just…
“Great managers aren’t born—they’re trained.” That’s the message Scott Blanchard, principal and EVP with The Ken Blanchard Companies, is sharing with audiences as he speaks to groups of leadership, learning, and talent development professionals. Blanchard points to research that shows most managers don’t receive that necessary training, however, until they are about ten years into…
