Relationship Coaching: Advice on How to Attain Your Goals
Executive coaching isn’t just for executives anymore.  Every day, we all engage with other people to accomplish things, whether at work or at home.  The principles that apply to business world coaching easily translate to other types of relationships. All relationships come down to a few basic factors, the biggest of which are trust, honesty and dependability.  In other words, each of the parties clearly states their needs and wants, knows the other person will work hard to help them […]
Employee Accountability In The Workplace
The mind and heart can envision and feel great things, but so many times there is a disconnect in where we are today vs. where we desire to be. While there are many necessary pieces to bridging that gap, one of the key girders is accountability:  the willingness to do what one says. Part of this is holding others accountable. There must be both individual and team accountability for a business to work effectively. I am reminded of Peter Block’s […]
Effective Communication Skills for Business Success
  In this “Drive Through With Don”, he discusses two different teams and the effect communication had on the success of the businesses. One team was struggling and frustrated and they communicated very poorly with each other.  Poor communication damaged relationships, created mistrust among the team members and any efforts to turn this around were either blocked or given very little effort.  Once a team becomes ineffective it bleeds over to customers and suppliers and before too long, the problem […]
Effective Communication and Better Listening Skills
When most people think of communication, they think about talking and passing along information, advice or opinions.  Effective communication also involves actively listening, knowing when to speak and when to stay silent.   Keep in mind that 85% of what we communicate is nonverbal so in addition to being patient, your face and actions must also be considered.  All organizations maintain that they value open communication, but few listen to their staff, customers and suppliers effectively.  Listening, like any other skill, […]
Poor Communication Skills in the Workplace is Costly
Poor Communication costs you, both professionally and personally. One source estimates employee misunderstandings cost organizations $37 billion per year.  “Misunderstandings” are defined as: actions or errors of omission by employees who were misinformed (or misunderstood) company policies, business processes, job functions or a combination of all three.  Additionally, communication barriers resulting in productivity losses had a cumulative cost of $26,041 per year per worker.  Leaders must make a conscious decision to improve. Eighty five percent of our success in life […]
Effective Communication in the Workplace
  A clear, effective communication skill is one of the best attributes a person can develop. It equips you to be successful professionally and personally.  By communication, we mean stating your needs clearly and listening to others with the intention of fully understanding what they are trying to say. It is a “two-way” street. Can you identify with this example?  It is the job of leaders to go to the unknown and find out what’s there.  Asking employees for honest […]
Leadership Coaching for Change Management
What do college athletes, Olympic gold medalists and smart business leaders have in common?  They rely on coaches to help them reach their greatest potential and teach them to overcome challenges.  Yet a study by the Stanford Business School found that nearly two-thirds of CEO’s and nearly half of senior executives do not receive any executive coaching or leadership development.  Almost all of them (69%) said they would like coaching to enhance their development. Imagine your college coach working with […]
Effective Coaching in the Workplace
  As a leader of a group, a team or an organization you must remember to focus on the impact you have on the audience.  When you are coaching or evaluating your own interactions, do not focus on how you delivered the message (what you said or what you did), focus on the reaction you see.  That is the true test of a productive session. Regardless of the vehicle used to coach (a story, an assignment, a book to read), […]
Business Meeting Itinerary and Change Management
Meetings can cost a lot of money if they are not productive.  If your manager has put you in charge of leading an upcoming meeting, ensure it goes well by using these guidelines: Goals: have specific, tangible SMAART Goals for the meeting, as well as sub goals. Transform the goals into questions. Questions: ask questions that get them thinking about the whole organization. The objective is to get them to see, think about and consider the entire map and not […]