3 Steps for Conflict Resolution

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To secure a team’s commitment to a direction, decision or action, it may be necessary for a leader to resolve differing opinions. This is accomplished by striving to get all opinions on the table, and then employing empathy, discovery and tenacity to move towards a resolution.  1.      Leveraging empathy. Leaders who begin a conflict dialogue by empathetically listening to the differing perspectives, seeking to discover why the differences exist, know that this process accelerates resolution while enabling the various stakeholders to learn …

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Be Aware of Your Metrics – You Get What You Measure

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In 1975, Charles Goodhart, a respected moentary policy theorist who has spent most of his career at the Bank of England and the London School of Economics, uttered a perceptive phrase that came to be known as Goodhart’s Law. Today, his observation is cited regularly, across a variety of industries from banking to medicine to manufacturing, because it states a valuable insight about how the modern world operates.  Goodhart’s Law says that: “Any observed statistical regularity …

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Investment Priorities

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For leaders, there are always problems – a parade of challenges that command your attention. Systems are down, people or organizations are working against you, or there’s a compelling difficulty that needs resolution.  There are always opportunities as well – innovative ideas or new relationships waiting to be embraced. These are chances to create value, to share or give, to move faster, or to make something better.  And there are always limits – limited time, energy, money …

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Risk

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A few weeks back, I wrote about assessing risk, and was intrigued by responses that expressed concern about balancing the traditional acceptance of reasonable business risk with what some described as “the current disproportionate focus on personal safety.”   We know that progress involves risk; nothing significant is accomplished without it. Included in the evaluation of acceptable risk is preserving, to the best of our ability, the well-being of those asked to undertake it. We make this …

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About Promises

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Organizational culture is a core element of sustainable competitive advantage. Talented people gravitate to companies who care about their employees and customers, companies whose leaders measure and strengthen their culture, recognizing its impact on their ability to create value.  One tactic that demonstrates this value proposition is making and keeping promises. In a world where customers have many options available to them, “promising” an outcome, and then delivering it, is a differentiator.   A promise is deeper than …

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Developing CEO Successors

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When the need to identify a CEO successor becomes urgent, the probability of finding the best person is improved when that need is anticipated in advance. Developing CEO successors should be a deliberate, robust process involving your advisors or directors, and potentially the successor candidates themselves. Many companies rely on external organizations, experienced with succession issues and methods, to help develop and support this process.  One key element in productive succession planning is purposefully identifying and developing potential …

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How Best to Persuade

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Some leaders rely heavily on data to persuade their teams to embrace a needed change. Data is perceived as credible, making it a powerful means to convey the impact of a change. Data is influential and convincing, a necessary ingredient of every change rationale.  But there’s no emotion in data, and it’s that emotion that brings the data to life, that makes it memorable, enabling people to connect with the need for a change. Most people have …

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Applying Liminal Agility

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Leaders are expected to improve results, which means they are consistently challenged to drive change. Change is a disruption. Few people welcome disruption which makes it the root cause of resistance to change, and every leader’s primary obstacle to be overcome for successful implementation of needed change. In their new book, “Unleashed,” Rick and Amy Simmons, founders of the telos institute,explorea process of liminal agility that leaders may use to transform disruption into opportunity, accelerating the …

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Job Satisfaction Drives Progress

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Leadership is a people business. Results are achieved by influencing and inspiring your people to ask why, take responsibility, and make a difference for customers, teammates, and the business as a whole.  During this time of unrelenting change and adaptation, it becomes clearer that your people are your most sustainable competitive advantage. They are the face of your business, doing the meaningful work and delivering the experiences that build enduring relationships. Growth relies on these relationships.  One system …

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The Value of Meetings

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One client recently commented that he’s attending more meetings now than he previously did before the Covid shutdown, and it’s destroying his productivity. It’s a complaint I’m hearing more frequently.  When I asked if his concern was due to the higher number of meetings he’s being requested to attend, or because the meetings themselves were unproductive, he replied that both were issues for him. Time is an irreplaceable asset.  Deciding how much of your valuable time to …

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