Your Supervisors Are Costing Your Company Sales – Here’s Why

 

By Robert Denker | May 17, 2012

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Q: Who are the people in your company who make the biggest difference between success and failure?

A: Your first-line supervisors!

Surprised?  You shouldn’t be.

Far too often this level of your company is completely overlooked when it comes to driving and sustaining sales, and therefore, is an important concept for effective leaders to embrace.

Unfortunately it is one that rarely receives any dialog on the agenda of executive teams.

Why is this?

Perhaps because an organization’s first level of supervision is right under their noses so to speak.

Much like common everyday things we encounter in life – say a light switch for example – we know they are there, but we really don’t “see them.”

In addition, the “leadership press” doesn’t focus much on this level of the leadership tree – I guess it’s not sexy enough.

After all, there is more interest and money on topics and development workshops they can run that have the word “Strategic” in them, not the word “Supervisory”.

But, if you’re interested in creating a thriving and sustainable business, you better start paying attention to this first level of interaction that is directly responsible for the happiness of your customers and thus, your bottom line! …Click to read more »

How To Deal With The Discomfort of Delegation

 

By Sue Matson | May 8, 2012

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We all know that change can be hard, right?

We’ve heard it said and probably said it ourselves many, many times.

Still, when we’re actually in the midst of making a conscious change in behavior, we sometimes fail to recognize that it isn’t just intellectually difficult to change—it also feels bad at times.

Let’s say that you’ve decided you need to delegate more at work.

Maybe you received a performance evaluation or 360 feedback that told you that.

Maybe your boss suggested it to you.

Maybe you’ve just realized that a big part of the reason that you are putting in so much time at work but still not getting all of your most important projects done on time is that you do too much of the work that other people can do.

…Click to read more »

Coachable Moments: Are You Giving Too Many Second Chances?

 

By Sue Matson | March 6, 2012

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“ I don’t understand why Betsy keeps missing deadlines. I keep telling her how important they are, and she keeps promising to do it, but things just never seem to change. She’s a great employee in so many other respects, I just don’t get it.”

Does that sound familiar?

Many of us have faced a situation like this at one time or another.

A person reporting to you keeps falling short on the same issue time after time. Maybe it’s meeting deadlines, as with Betsy above. Maybe it’s making too many small mistakes and not paying attention to details.

Whatever the exact nature of the problem, the common elements in these situations seem to be an employee who keeps missing the mark in some area and a boss who keeps giving him or her a second, third, or fourth chance.

As a supervisor, this can be a tremendously frustrating situation.

You want your people to succeed.

So you keep trying to fix the situation.

You try feedback and reminders.

You might sometimes offer lavish praise when you see small progress.

You reinforce the message over and over, to the point of “sounding like a broken record”, as one client told us.

But all to no avail.

The person appears to hear the boss’ feedback, seems to understand the issue, often appears sincere in promising to do better, but the end result is the same: the person slips back consistently into the unproductive behavior. …Click to read more »

I Just Got a 360-Degree Assessment! Now What Do I Do?

 

By Sue Matson | February 29, 2012

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Ok, let’s say you just received a 360-Degree Assessment and some of the feedback seems pretty daunting.

What do you do?

Instead of becoming overwhelmed, here are some tips on what you should do next.

Focus on the Big Picture First.

Read all the way through the report, including any open-ended comments before you start
digging into the details.

Try to get an overall “picture” of how your colleagues view you. Does it sound like you?

Is the real “you” coming through?

What questions or “disconnects” do you see in this report vis a vis how you view yourself …Click to read more »

Perfect Leadership Is All About Balance

 

By Robert Denker | February 22, 2012

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See if the following statements describe your leadership style to some, or even a large degree:

• Do you view the people you work with as the types of people who don’t care about doing a good job, or take pride in their performance?
• Do you feel that you would be better off doing the job yourself rather than having to re-do the less than perfect work of others?
• Do you expect too much from your direct reports or from your peers?
• Do you often feel disappointed or upset if you don’t accomplish everything on your to-do-list?
• Have others told you that you are a perfectionist?

If most of these statements resonate, you may be a “Perfectionist” and as a leader you may want to reconsider that state of mind and leadership style.

Perfectionism Is A Two-Sided Coin

Now let me say up front that perfectionism is a two-sided coin.

One side, which I commonly refer to as the “Achievement Side”, is expressed as needing to perform in an excellent manner whereby striving for results provides a great level of satisfaction and a sense of pride and accomplishment. …Click to read more »

Understanding Your Leadership Identity

 

By Robert Denker | February 16, 2012

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Leader self-identity (how we view ourselves as a Leader) or what we refer to as our Leader-Self is never set in stone, but keeps growing and changing in one way or another over time.

Moreover, our “Leader-Self” consists of many parts, although this might not be apparent to us.

Most of the time we are used to thinking of the Leader-Self as a single whole that defines us.

For example, we might say that we have a particular characteristic as a leader – for instance being highly competitive or perhaps being an effective problem solver.

However, in order to effectively grow as a leader it is important to understand that the Leader-Self is not one thing but a complex collection of multiple definitions and parts that all have to grow and diversify into new areas to remain effective.

…Click to read more »

Leadership Moments: The Paralyzing Effects of Poor Performance

 

By Robert Denker | February 14, 2012

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In this leadership moments video, I will be addressing the dilemma that many CEO’s, managers or other leaders face from time to time: terminating an employee. …Click to read more »

Leadership & Continuous Improvement: How to Create Performance Chemistry

 

By Robert Denker | February 8, 2012

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Are you continuously improving, or sliding backward?

What makes one organization successful in driving high performance, and another stutter and stall?

For organizations committed to performance excellence, this is a critical question to answer.

This was the case with a recent client that consisted of several business units.

The client was lamenting the fact that they were having to replace a business unit CEO because, in part, the incumbent was unable to effectively execute a Continuous Improvement agenda and instill a quality mindset organizationally.

According to the client, this lack of continuous improvement in leadership caused the business unit to lose market share to competitors.

With all the hope and optimism that comes with the potential of new beginnings, this client looked forward to the next CEO.  They turned to us for direction on identifying the right candidate – someone capable of successfully driving continuous improvement.

With no room for error, this was a critically important decision and the client wanted to be confident in their approach to the selection process.

In short, they wanted a way to “know ‘em when they see ‘em.”

Our experience from working with many companies, several who are part of the Fortune 500, and our own research with close to 100 companies around the world, including several considered high performers within their respective industries, has shown that one of the key ingredients to achieving high performance is what we refer to as a company’s “performance chemistry.”

What is “Performance Chemistry”? …Click to read more »

Dr.Robert Denker: New Founding Member of the Institute of Coaching

 

By Robert Denker | February 6, 2012

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Recently I have been given the honor of becoming one of the founding members of the Institute of Coaching.

The Institute of Coaching is a non-profit organization that strives to enhance the credibility and integrity of the field of coaching. The Institute is housed at McLean Hospital (Belmont, MA), the largest teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The Institute seeks to advance the practice and profession of coaching by forming a strong international coaching research community and providing grants for coaching research.

By becoming a founding member, I contribute to the quest of showing how scientific practices of leadership coaching contribute as a vehicle of change for both organizations and individuals.

Having access to so much information will help keep rd&partners ahead of the curve so we can continue provide the most updated advice on leadership effectiveness to our clients across North America and Europe.

It is a real honor to be affiliated with an Institute that has such a great mission. By supporting the Institute of Coaching, one supports the advancement of the field and raising the bar on the brand of coaching.

To learn more about the Institute of Coaching, please visit their website.

Leadership Moments: Thinking Outside the Box

 

By Robert Denker | January 26, 2012

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In this episode of Leadership Moments, I’ll explain how you can become an innovative leader and things you can do to really think outside the box to come up with creative solutions for your business.

Many people wonder how to be an innovative leader.

Sometimes clients, coworkers, or others tell us that we need to think outside the box. But what does that really mean?

How can we think outside the box and still be practical?

…Click to read more »

The 6 Truths of Creating & Building a Strong, Supportive Business Team – Part 2

 

By Robert Denker | January 24, 2012

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In Part 1 of this article, we started talking about the 6 truths of creating and building a strong, supportive business team, and detailed the first 3 truths.

In this post I’m going to share with you the final 3 truths so you can get started creating and developing your own team using these strategies.

Truth Four:  Spending Off-Line Time Together

Strong, supportive teams make a conscious effort to spend off-line time together.  They know that this type of time helps build relationships and helps to create a feeling of team identity.

Off-line time together can involve eating meals together, participating in community events, celebrating special events, holidays, or just plain “hanging out.”

To spend off-line time together try the following:

• Make team members aware of the importance to spending off-line time together and encourage them to do it
• Make the effort to purposefully have certain meals together or to take workplace breaks together
• Plan monthly team outings and make it easy for all to attend …Click to read more »

The 6 Truths of Creating & Building A Strong, Supportive Business Team-Part One

 

By Robert Denker | January 19, 2012

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Leaders in every organization talk about building the team, working as a team, and “my” team. Yet few understand how to build and create a strong, supportive business team.

Why is this?

Because most skilled company executives and managers are exploring ways to improve business results and rightfully so, view team-based organization structures as the best design for involving employees in creating business success.

No matter what you call your team-building efforts – whether it is continuous improvement, total quality, or lean manufacturing – you are striving to improve results for customers.

Unfortunately, few organizations are pleased with the results their team efforts produce. If this describes your organization, then you will gain a tremendous edge by learning what our experience has shown in helping organizations across North America and Europe to build and create strong, supportive teams.

We call these “truths” because they have stood the test of time.

That is, in our work spanning over 25 years, these truths of creating strong, supportive teams in the workplace continue to re-occur across time, genders, industry verticals, and national boundaries.

The Six Truths to Creating a Strong, Supportive Team are:

Truth One: A Sense of Commitment

Truth Two: Showing Appreciation

Truth Three: Sharing Positive Communication

Truth Four: Spending Off-Line Time Together

Truth Five: Shared Values

Truth Six: Cope with the Unexpected

Let’s review each and provide some practical actions on what you can do to ensure success in your quest for creating a strong, supportive team in your organization

…Click to read more »

Do You Think Outside the Box and Have an Innovative Mindset?

 

By Robert Denker | November 8, 2011

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Well, do you?

Everyone has heard this term, yet few leaders have a solid understanding of what it means to have an innovative mindset, and to also identify which of your team members have it, too.

Here’s a case in point: We recently worked with a senior leader whose team was engaged with an outside group that does strategy consulting. He was advised by this group of consultants that he and his team needed to “think outside the box.”

When the executive called to arrange a coaching engagement with rd&partners, he admitted he was perplexed and did not fully understand what these strategy consultants meant in practical terms.

This is very common, as cute clichés are often tossed around without provision for real assistance on a practical and actionable level.

To assist this executive leader and his team, we needed to help him understand some fundamentals about innovation.

From our experience of working with hundreds of executives, we have determined the following three basic elements of innovation that leaders need to understand. …Click to read more »

The Paralyzing Effects of Poor Employee Performance…And What To Do About It

 

By Robert Denker | October 27, 2011

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Recently we were asked to engage with a CEO of a global company who was having a very difficult time coming to a decisive action on one of his direct reporting employees whose performance and track record were very poor.

We were told that he has been wrestling with this issue for close to 6 months and has not been able to take the necessary action – action that would apparently terminate the relationship between this report and the organization.

Now, one would think that at this executive level a decision like this would be old hat. After all, you don’t get to be a CEO of a global organization if you can’t make timely decisions. Yet this type of paralysis is more common than not, whether you’re a CEO or a first-line manager.

So why is this?  Why do bright, assertive, results-oriented leaders often get paralyzed when required to deal with the poor performance of a direct report?

The answer to this leadership paralysis is this: It’s because of their anger and guilt. …Click to read more »

Leadership Moments: The Magic Move

 

By Robert Denker | October 24, 2011

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In this Leadership Moments video, I’ll outline the steps for executing the Magic Move for achieving your top objectives, discuss the importance of each step, and explain how to effectively approach the process.

In our executive coaching practice one question keeps recurring with clients across America and abroad: How can I, as a leader, better align my people to ensure that we achieve the results we promise the organization?

Critical question? You bet it is.

Our direct answer? You need to execute the “Magic Move.”

What is the Magic Move? This is what we will be discussing today. …Click to read more »