Dear Madeleine, I am what’s called a “people leader”—I lead individual contributors at a global software giant. I am also a technical contributor as a subject matter expert in a specific application. I don’t love managing people. I am quite reserved and I find it tiring—but it is the only way to get ahead in…
A new study conducted by The Ken Blanchard Companies with 1,300 people in managerial and non-managerial roles found important correlations between an individual’s identification as a self leader and positive work behaviors. – People who exhibit the behaviors of a self leader are more likely to expend discretionary effort on behalf of their organizations. –…
What’s the most important factor in determining organizational success? The answer might surprise you, says Susan Fowler, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. In reviewing research for the redesign of Blanchard’s Self Leadership program, Fowler found compelling evidence that suggests the single most essential ingredient in organizational success is the proactive behavior…
When was the last time you had discretionary time on your hands, wondering what to do with a gift of time where nothing was planned or expected of you? If it wasn’t yesterday, then read on. A summer morning stands out with vivid clarity in my mind. I was eight years old. My younger sister,…
When you look at all of the stats pointing to the low levels of employee engagement in the US and around the world, you might start to believe that people are naturally lazy and disengaged—or that people wouldn’t work if they didn’t have to. But that’s not true. In fact, that kind of misinterpretation of…
If you are a manager, supervisor, or an executive at any level, I think you’ll find the latest research on leadership power relevant to your job, the people you lead, and the results you seek. Consider this story shared by a woman in a workshop I was teaching on motivation. While taking her normal elevator…
New research into human motivation is helping managers move beyond carrot-and-stick extrinsic motivators. And while it’s good that we’ve made progress, we still need to keep moving if we truly want to leverage what the new science of motivation is teaching us. In the June issue of Ignite, Susan Fowler, best-selling business author of Why…
I am a runner. It defines me. Up until recently, my Twitter bio’s opening descriptor was Runner. (It’s now, temporarily, a Game of Thrones quote. I’ll change it back soon.) Running is part of my life. It’s what I do. But lately I’ve encountered a problem: I haven’t been running. When I’m training for a…
Are your leadership practices based on outdated assumptions about the true nature of human motivation? Think about how you might approach leadership differently if you took into account some of the latest findings: – Our basic human nature is to thrive. No one wants to be bored and disengaged. People want to contribute. People appreciate meaningful…
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…