Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® II model is based on the idea that an individual’s development is goal or task specific. It also teaches that there are four predictable phases a person goes through as they develop. In a nutshell when learning something new we often start out as an Enthusiastic Beginner. Then from there, if we…
Last week my daughter and niece—both 13 years old—attended a Student Self Leadership course that was offered to employees here at The Ken Blanchard Companies. I was curious about what they would think about the program since we were basically teaching them an accelerated, age appropriate version of the class we teach to aspiring leaders…
It is estimated that more than two million millennials step into their first leadership role each year—and that first year is critical. Research by Harvard business professor Linda A. Hill shows that the skills and habits people adopt in their first year of management can be a foundation for success—or an obstacle to it—for the…
Good operational leadership is a consistent process of providing clear goals, coaching, and review to make sure people are clear about their tasks, have the direction and support they need to succeed, and get feedback on how they are doing along the way. But the results of a Blanchard survey suggest that leaders are falling…
Most leaders began their careers as high functioning individual contributors. They had their sphere of responsibilities and took pride in their ability to accomplish tasks. They were self-starters effective at how to get work done. These qualities likely contributed to their eventual promotion into a management role. But when they became a manager, their role…
The Ken Blanchard Companies just closed out a research survey with over 500 people in management roles to ask them about their experiences when they first stepped up into management. The company will be sharing the results of the research as a part of the rollout of its new First-time Manager program, but some of the initial…
Dear Madeleine, I’m relatively new to a managerial position; I’ve been in my role for around two years. I was promoted from the ranks and am now leading a team that I was a member of when I first came to the company. This has created some interesting challenges—some I’ve overcome, others remain a work in…
Dear Madeleine, I am a fairly new manager in a great organization. I just love the people side of being a manager. My problem is that I don’t really understand the numbers part of the job. I really want to ask my boss to help me understand, but don’t want to reveal my ignorance. I…
As we grow and learn as human beings we come across things in life which make us wonder how different things could have been if we knew then, what we know now. Working for a leadership company now, I often think about my first time manager role and how I really wasn’t as good of a manager as…
When The Ken Blanchard Companies asked 1,400 people the question “What is the biggest mistake leaders make when working with others?” 41 percent of respondents identified inappropriate communication or poor listening. When these same respondents were asked to look at a list of common mistakes and choose the five biggest missteps by leaders, two responses…