Team Building

Do You Know What Your Leadership Type Is?

  I was talking with someone yesterday about some of the assessments that I have been doing.  He was sharing his background and experiences with them as well.  Periodically, he would tell me whether he was a high or a low on some of the scales for that assessment.   Based on our conversation he was able to surmise where some of my scores fell on the scale as well.   We will be working together a lot and it is a…
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Are You Ready to Be Creative?

​When a leader is looking for some new ideas they will usually bring the team together for a brainstorming session.  Depending on the leader, there are two outcomes that this session can have.  The first example is what the leader should avoid doing.  The leader says that they want new ideas, but they shoot them down right away.   Take a look at one of my favorite clips from the TV show “The Office” The Golden Ticket Episode.  Have you ever…
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Monday Morning Leadership Q&A – 6/26/17

Monday Morning Leadership

Client Question: “I recently took over a new team, but we don’t seem to be connecting with each other very well. What can I do to make that happen?” Building the connections with a new team as soon as possible is very important. They want to know who you are, what your expectations are and that they can trust you. In my experience, having a “get to know each other” meeting early on sets up a good foundation. Sharing information…
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Fantastic Leadership Resource Summary – 6/23/17

Welcome to the Fantastic Leadership Resource Summary! This week’s summary includes: ways to be a respected leader, signs that you are doing better than you think, self-aware leaders, optimizing your communication, stop being a boss and be a leader, being a leader not a doer, don’t focus only on results, know who you are as a leader, building a strong executive team Articles/Ted Talks/Quotes 6 Key Ways to Become a Highly Respected Leader http://buff.ly/2kO4lGB By Andy Margison Master these skills…
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What Do You Need to Make an Executive Team Successful?

Over my career I have seen both effective and ineffective executive teams.  Working for an effective leadership team ensures that things run more smoothly in the organization, communication is clear and decisions get made pretty quickly.   The ineffective teams can cause major issues in productivity, lack of trust, slow decision making, confusion and poor morale.  These type of issues at an executive level are magnified and the ripple effects are felt across the organization. Part of the challenge of an…
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Are You Going to Follow the Chicago Cubs Lead?

​There are many motivational speeches given at college graduation ceremonies this time of year. I recently read Theo Epstein’s Yale Graduation Speech that he gave at the commencement ceremony. For those of you who don’t know him he is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs. (I know not everyone may be a Cubs fan, but please keep reading anyway!) I had some key take-aways when I read the speech that I would like to share. If you…
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Fantastic Leadership Resource Summary – 5/26/17

​Welcome to the Fantastic Leadership Resource Summary!    This week’s summary includes:  Being an inclusive leader, does your leadership add or subtract value, how can you be persuasive, building a cohesive team, defining leadership, asking for what you want, focus on what could go right, how can your leadership continue to impact others Articles/Ted Talks/Quotes “Portrait of an Inclusive Leader” http://ht.ly/GIFe30bYeML by @benjaminclusion The inclusive leader creates an environment where dissent isn’t viewed as negativity, or being difficult; but an…
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Are You Being Careless With Your Leadership?

​I was reading this article today called If Your Employees Act Like They Don’t Care, You Might Be Doing These 11 Things Wrong by Sunny Bonnell.  The first quote in the article is: “People come for great vision and leave for poor leadership.” This is such a true statement.  I have seen people make decisions to stay in an organization because of the vision that a leader shared.  They were inspired and believed that the leader would help them reach…
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What Do You Need To Consider When Building Your Team?

​Have you ever met someone and it feels like you have an instant connection with them?  You may have similar values, likes, dislikes or personalities that makes you feel that way. It is natural to be drawn to people who are similar to us.  When you look at your team in comparison to you, do you see more similarities or differences?   Imagine if you had a team of people that were just like you….everyone agrees all the time, works the…
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Do You Know When It Is Time To Ask For Help?

                When I started working many years ago, I showed initiative, solved problems and got things done.  I was rewarded for it, so I continued to work a lot of hours and do those same things throughout my career.  When I started to lead a team, I should have realized that my job had changed and I needed to do things differently. This happens to a lot of new leaders, but even to…
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