by Kevin Eikenberry Most often on this blog you read about tips and ideas for new and front-line leaders – people in the role of supervision and leadership after the move from bud to boss. This post takes a different approach, focusing more on the organizational view. If you are an individual leader thinking about your ability to be successful in hybrid team leadership, … [Read more...]
New to Leadership? Take These Steps Immediately
Every day people are promoted into new positions of leadership. If you are among those ranks and taking on your first leadership role—whether you will occupy the c-suite, a corner office or a cubicle on the shop floor—here are the very first steps you should take to ensure your success in your new supervisory role. #1 Take a leadership assessment Ask your boss, coworkers and … [Read more...]
New Leaders: Where to Find the Support You Need
Before you landed your supervisory position, you could seek advice from, vent to and share ideas with just about anyone. As long as you trusted the person and valued his or her insight, any colleague had sounding-board potential. Now your situation is more complicated. On the one hand, you have a lot more on your plate, meaning a lot more you want and need to talk about. On … [Read more...]
When Should We Train New Leaders?
It's not a matter of if you're going to train your new leaders. It's a matter of when and how. Those are the questions I'm going to respond to in this video. https://youtu.be/QGk_YQlbCEY?rel=0&showinfo=0 Tweet it out: Being a new supervisor may be the biggest transition of a career. Make sure you are supporting their growth. @KevinEikenberry … [Read more...]
Get Comfortable With Employees’ Mistakes
One of my favorite leadership anecdotes involves my daughter when she was just learning to drive. Several years ago, my daughter and I had to drive about thirty miles on county roads through rural Indiana. Snow was not falling on the day we made this drive. However, there was plenty of snow in the fields on either side of the roads and the wind was blowing. Under these … [Read more...]
Coaching is More Than Just Sharing Your Knowledge
You have likely risen to your current role because you have some expertise. That expertise could be in the technical nature of your team’s work, for example, you were a great sales person, so you were promoted to sales manager, or you were the top engineer so you were promoted to chief engineer. You may have proven to have superior leadership skills so you advanced, or you may … [Read more...]
Would You Get an “F” on Employee Development?
Seventy percent of U.S. employees say they’re at least somewhat likely to leave their current company and accept an offer with a new company that’s known for investing in employee learning and development, according to a study from Instructure conducted by The Harris Poll. That statistic is a pretty clear indicator that employees (likely your employees) want opportunities … [Read more...]
Training is an Event. Learning is a Process
I say that often. It’s part of my personal philosophy, and it’s part of my business philosophy. Let me explain. People around the world (you included) buy learning materials, books, audio programs, and webinars and attend lectures and workshops every day. Those learning options exist whether you want to learn about leadership, leopards or being a lifeguard. Companies and … [Read more...]
4 Reasons to Conduct a 360 Leadership Assessment
One of the best tools for accelerating your leadership development is a 360 Assessment. The gist is this: Eight to 10 of your coworkers, and specifically your employees, spend some time assessing your abilities to lead, manage, communicate, motivate and more. So whether you are a team leader or the CEO of a company, you should be soliciting that kind of feedback, especially … [Read more...]
3 Leadership Tips for Creating a Customer-First Workplace
Even if your team doesn't directly serve customers (think customer service and sales), you should still adopt a customer-first attitude. More important, however, is that you should remove the obstacles that allow your employees to truly serve your customers, says customer strategist and executive coach Robin Lawton, author of Mastering Excellence: A Leader’s Guide to Aligning, … [Read more...]