Servant Leadership: Moving from Mindset to Skill Set

“A servant leadership mindset is all about focusing on others rather than yourself,” says bestselling business author Ken Blanchard. As part of research for a new book, Servant Leadership in Action, Blanchard had an opportunity to explore both the mindset and the skill set needed for leaders interested in adopting an others-focused approach to leadership.…

Leadership as a Partnership

Responsibility for leadership shouldn’t fall on only the person with position power. Leadership needs to be more of a partnership, according to Susan Fowler, co-creator of the newly redesigned Self Leadership program from The Ken Blanchard Companies. “We have to look at leadership as a two-sided coin,” says Fowler. “Some people in organizations don’t realize…

Growing Fast and Can’t Keep Up? Ask Madeleine

Dear Madeleine My question is: how does an organization scale their management team and keep skills sharp as they grow?  We are a software development services shop and we are growing fast—we currently have 30 people in management positions. It’s getting more difficult each day to make sure everyone is managing from the same playbook. …

Feeling Disillusioned at Work? You Should Celebrate!

Feeling disillusioned at work hardly sounds like something to celebrate. How could anyone feel good about low competence and low commitment? In fact, wouldn’t you want to hide it? In The Ken Blanchard Companies Situational Leadership® II training program, we teach that a Disillusioned Learner (D2) development level is part of the natural progression of…

The Inevitable 4 Stages of Cycling—and Learning

For anyone who might have read my previous blog post, you’ll know I’ve been training for a 54-mile cycle ride from London down to the south coast of the UK, ending in Brighton. When I say training, I mean I’ve looked at the bike and bought a new pink cycling jersey. That’s about as far…

Dos and Don’ts for Dealing with a Disillusioned Direct Report

People cycle through four predictable stages when presented with a new task or goal at work. If it’s something they’ve never done before, they’ll usually start out as an enthusiastic beginner—full of confidence but short on experience. This is followed by a dip in commitment and competence as the challenge of learning something new settles…