Blog
(Influential Leadership) Ask Powerful Questions
In order to be a great leader, you want to be masterful at going beneath the surface to really understand your people and the issues they face. It’s not enough for a leader to utilize the process of coaching. The key is to become a masterful coach. There are certain skills that will […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Level 2 Listening
Don’t Settle For Just “Listening” In our last Influential Leadership entry, we discussed how critical it is to incorporate coaching into our leadership style. One of the most underrated coaching skills, equally important to developing client relationships and managing people on your team, is the skill of listening. Did you know that there are different […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Master the Art of Coaching
Avoid This Mistake When Managing Others You may already be a leader who directly supervises a team of professionals. If you don’t supervise anyone now, this most likely WILL happen as you increase your influence and effectiveness in your organization. Most good managers are good at directing the people they supervise. They tell their […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Disagree the Right Way
Disagreements can be unpleasant. Disagreeing the wrong way can create bad feelings and sour a relationship. Avoiding a disagreement can be just as bad. You can mislead the other person into believing you support their ideas, destroying trust when they realize their mistake. This doesn’t even have to have been an active attempt […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Own Your Mistakes
Own Your Mistakes…Without Excuses Apologies can be awkward. However, owning up to your mistakes in a very professional way is one of the most important career moves you can make! True leaders don’t hesitate to own up. Think of the famous Tylenol poisoning case. In many ways, Johnson & Johnson didn’t even make […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Name That Behavior
Have you ever been in a meeting where you were trying to influence the other person, and you noticed that they: Glanced at the computer screen while you spoke? Took phone calls or answered emails? Picked up items from the inbox to process? Got interrupted by a knock on the door? In any way seemed […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Ask Effective Questions
Master The Art of Asking Effective Questions My last two posts discussed the importance of paying attention to someone’s tension (their level of urgency) in order to influence them, and that for someone to act on your idea (or “buy” from you) their tension needs to reach the Threshold of Activation. If they are not […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) The Threshold of Activation
My last post discussed the concept of “productive tension.” Tension can be defined as the urgency one feels to do something. To be effective with others you need to develop a keen awareness of where someone’s “threshold” is – specifically, their Threshold of Activation. What is the Threshold of Activation? The Threshold of […]
Read More
(Influential Leadership) Pay Attention To Tension
What is Tension Anyway? The critical factor that determines what changes someone will make and when those changes occur is TENSION. Tension can be defined as the urgency one feels to do something. Tension determines what some will notice and what they will ignore. A key principle to remember is that people pay attention […]
Read MoreJoin Our Community
Enter your email address to register for Career Tips and receive expert advice on marketing yourself every month!