Leadership Skill Building

How to Help Leaders Accurately Assess Their Own Performance

How to Help Leaders Accurately Assess Their Own Performance

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Do people in leadership rate themselves higher in ability than their results demonstrate? The answer is dependent on the individual; however, my experience is the general answer is yes.  I like objective measurement. Though we are not able to directly measure some items, measurement should help people see what they do well and identify areas that may need improvement. It is not easy to be a leader. With good skill development, they can learn to do…
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How to Lean Into Feedback We Didn’t Want to Hear

How to Lean Into Feedback We Didn’t Want to Hear

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There are productive ways to provide feedback and productive ways to receive it. In talking to many people, I hear the message that they want feedback. Do they? It seems most of the time people like feedback if it is positive. This makes sense: critical feedback can be uncomfortable to hear. While it is never easy getting feedback that is not what we want, the better we learn to handle the information the more likely we…
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Do Not Quit Till the Miracle Happens

Do Not Quit Till the Miracle Happens

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It’s a statement referenced often in the mental health world: Do not quit till the miracle happens. The meaning behind it is to keep going even when things are tough. Please do not take this so literally you think it means staying in an unhealthy situation. What it does mean is that if you are taking positive actions, at times the outcome may take a while to achieve. I have a front row seat to miracles. These…
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Gaining Self-Awareness Means Having the Courage to Hear the Truth

Gaining Self-Awareness Means Having the Courage to Hear the Truth

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Sharing can be a good thing—almost a magical thing. It often leads to an increase in self-awareness. In this column, we will focus on what happens when you share with someone you trust, who cares enough to provide you with objective feedback. The tape one plays in their head may not be accurate. Just the process of saying something aloud can be helpful. I am so fortunate to spend time with many people, both in…
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The Ability to Present Is a Must-Have for Leaders

The Ability to Present Is a Must-Have for Leaders

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Serving in a leadership role, whether formal or informal, is a fantastic opportunity to be helpful and make a difference. Being in leadership means that others recognize an individual’s ability. While I spend most of my time with people in formal leadership roles, my community work means I also interact with people who are informal leaders. I work with community volunteers who serve in a variety of community roles. Often these are nonpaid committee roles.…
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The Most Successful People Are Those Who Handle the Hard Stuff

The Most Successful People Are Those Who Handle the Hard Stuff

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Mark Clement, president/CEO of TriHealth in Cincinnati, Ohio, sent me a link to the video “Handle Hard Better.” The video is a talk by Kara Lawson, the women’s basketball coach at Duke. As I watched it, my own experiences came to mind: times when the going got tough and I quit, times when I did not quit, and the difference between the two. I also recalled stories about occasions when someone wanted to quit and did not,…
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Getting Clear on Deliverables Moves Results

Getting Clear on Deliverables Moves Results

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We all have moments of clarity, those times when something we may not have been aware of becomes noticeably clear to us. A few of these came to mind over the past several weeks. One is around how we think about deliverables. Employee engagement is a topic most organizations focus on. It shows up in goals. Yet, is engagement the goal, or are items like reduced employee turnover and increased productivity the desired outcomes? This point comes up often when I…
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