Over the past few years I have been captivated by our need for development of renewable energy. It was only recently I realized the parallel between renewable energy through natural resources to affect our environment and renewable energy through investing in people to affect our work environment.

There is no argument that effective leadership requires a variety of competencies in the leader’s toolbelt. Some of these tools include effective communication, inspiring, directing, creating vision, strategic thinking, building relationships, adaptability, drive, execution and emotional intelligence. Coaching is a relatively new tool for the leadership toolbelt. Like all the other leadership competencies mentioned, coaching is not the only tool for leaders; however, it is an important one.

There are many misconceptions of what coaching is and even how to use it, and leaders often think they are coaching when they are not. For example, a leader meets with a team member to discuss a challenge, situation or area for improvement and basically tells the employee how to resolve the problem. He or she may tell a story of resolving a similar situation. Next, the leader encourages the team member to “get out there and make the changes.”

Does this scenario sound familiar? Although this approach may have a place in leadership (in fact, it’s more like mentoring), too often, it becomes overused. When a leadership competency is overused, it becomes a weakness.

Read the article in it's entirety here: http://www.trainingindustry.com/blog/blog-entries/add-coaching-to-the-leadership-toolbelt.aspx

We live in a fast-paced, ever changing, and complex world. As leaders we are constantly looking for more effective, efficient, and productive ways to push both ourselves and those that work with us. According to research recently published by Gallup, employee disengagement costs American organization up to $550 billion in lost productivity per year. That’s $2000 per employee per year. It is clear to see from these numbers that the cost of disengagement and boredom among your employees is staggering. 

Most leaders don’t think about their leadership legacy. They think a legacy is something for older people or something you leave when you die. A Legacy, however, is something more. A true Legacy is a living thing that is a gift to both the giver and recipient and as it is passed on, it adds to the leader’s reputation. It is possible a legacy is not “formally” recognized until after a person retires; however, just as a person begins building their financial legacy from the day the begin their career, so a leader begins building thier leadership legacy the day you begin leading. This means leaders who desire a meaningful legacy need to be proactive.

  "Man cannot live on bread alone, he must have peanut butter (James A. Garfield)!" Similarly leadership does not stand alone, it must get results, and that means achieving well formulated goals. By definition, a destination is inherent and you MUST know where your are going or, as oft quoted Yogi says, "If you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there." 

Today’s guest post is by Mike Figliuolo, co-author of Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results (you can get your copy by clicking here). You can learn more about Mike and the book at the end of the post.

Here’s Mike:

Alan leads a team of highly-intelligent scientists. While most of their time is spent on scientific work, a portion of their roles is administrative. Before Alan took over the team, many of these scientists hadn’t been trained on these responsibilities because their previous leader tended to do all this administrative work himself. Alan fell into that same habit when he took over the team.

During a hectic period, Alan and I spoke about how stressed out he was. “I don’t have enough hours in the day to get all this stuff done.”

Have you ever noticed when you observe someone else doing something it usually looks easy? Or have you noticed, when you think of something that needs to be done, you think, “it’s not that big of a deal, it should not take them very long”? I am guilty of this on many occasions; although, at least now I am consciously aware of it.

What causes a leader to fail?

The truth is, there are many things that cause failure at all levels of leadership. There is not a specific “formula” for leadership failure, just as there is not a specific “formula” for leadership success. There are however, actions or behaviors that drive a leader toward the path of success or failure.

 It is almost impossible to open a business publication or business blog without seeing something about the generations at work. Often writers make it seem that all of your leadership and motivational problems will be solved once you understand and cater to the needs of "Millennials" or change your behavior and point of view and stop acting like a "Boomer".

A few years ago, one of my colleagues and I decided we wanted to explore the notion of generational conflict in the workplace. We conducted a study, using focus group methodology, to explore perceived differences between, specifically, Boomer and Gen X women in the workplace. The conversations, focusing on topics such as: jobs vs. careers,
 work life balance,
 sacrifices vs. choices,
role models,
personal fears and values,
and perceptions about the “other” group of women and the ease with which they can work together.

MSBCoach is committed to partnering with leaders and teams to identify their True North.  One's true north includes living into your values, identifying what it means to you to be your authentic self, and practicing emotional intelligence.  Leadership, executive, and team coaching are effective ways to help leaders and their teams put these principles into practice.  We also offer engaging workshops in being an authentic leader, emotional intelligence, identifying your values, and many others.  You can check out our coaching processes and our list of workshops here.

I realized something insightful when I returned to work after the holidays. I believe it is something we all face; however, this year I was able to more clearly identify it and wrap my head around the “why” as well as the “how” to make it different.

This thing that I am referring to is the post- holiday blues. We work diligently to stay on track at work while we get our homes ready, buy and wrap gifts, plan the holiday menu, go to the grocery store (again and again),… making sure everything is just perfect. We run around attending holiday parties, planning the festivities, while still taking care of our families, ourselves and our work…. Then all of a sudden…. it is done… over… everyone is gone, the house is quiet as well as a mess …. there are decorations to be taken down and it is time to go back to work.

There is always a great deal of conversation at the beginning of a new year about “casting the vision” or “leading the vision” and then it seems to fade into the background until the next year. A Visionary Leader carries and models the vision daily and in every action. As you begin this year remember these things about your role as a Visionary Leader: