Leadership Blogs
Tags: behaviour, business performance, conflict management
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
When there is a need for a business to deliver on a big vision, strategy or goal, the energy of your people that can be harnessed towards that objective, is critical. Infighting, ongoing conflict or when people fundamentally don’t get on eat away at or waste that energy. This is a major cost in many businesses and affects more than just the people involved.
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Tags: business performance, change management, leadership coaching, leadership development, leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Monday, October 31st, 2011
In a challenging business environment, many organisations need to deliver significant changes or results with diminished resources. Success will largely depend on the ability of their leaders and managers. Yet in many businesses, mediocre leadership performance is tolerated as it is felt addressing this is “too hard”. However, ignoring this can adversely impact the entire organisation.
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Tags: influencing others, leadership development, leadership performance
Posted in: Developing Leaders – admin |
Monday, October 10th, 2011
There are periods in the lifecycle of most leaders when they achieve significant breakthroughs in their leadership effectiveness and performance over a relatively short timeframe. This article explores how to achieve a real breakthrough in your leadership performance and improve your career.
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Tags: leadership development, leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Many organisations invest a considerable amount of money and resource into developing their leaders. This article outlines how to ensure your leadership development programmes have a realistic chance of delivering results instead of becoming an unnecessary overhead.
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Tags: influencing others, leadership development, leadership performance, team development
Posted in: Developing Leaders – admin |
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Finding time to review your leadership performance and understand how to maximize your skills and those of your team can benefit most leaders, no matter how long you have been in a senior position. In these Free Leadership Articles our experienced executive and business coaches share some of the tools and processes that can help you significantly improve your leadership.
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Tags: leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Organisational structure is driven by individual and team performance. Where that performance is below par it needs to be addressed and not tolerated as it will invariably have a wider negative impact on the business both externally and internally.
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Tags: emotional intelligence, leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
The foundation of leadership is the ability to impact and influence staff and other stakeholders. This relates to the way they communicate and most of all it relies on their emotional intelligence or EQ. Being a good leader is not sufficient if their impact on other people leaves them feeling demotivated or disengaged.
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Tags: emotional intelligence, leadership performance
Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Carmel |
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
The ability to lead and to influence others to want to follow is developed through a raft of things including competence in the role and the ability to build and maintain the trust of your people. Developing trust and influence in a leadership role also requires emotional intelligence.
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Tags: emotional intelligence, leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Carmel |
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
During the good times when work is flowing and results are good, the level of a leader’s emotional intelligence is not seriously tested. However, when things get tough, a lack of emotional intelligence will become very obvious and will have an impact beyond the leader to his or her people.
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Tags: emotional intelligence, leadership performance
Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Carmel |
Monday, February 21st, 2011
To remain effective in a leadership role, leaders should invest time and effort in the continuous development of their emotional intelligence (EQ). Leaders with a good level of EQ can more easily navigate leadership challenges and remain calm, confident and effective.
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Tags: business coaching, leadership performance
Posted in: CEO Success – Kevin |
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
At times when CEO’s want to improve their leadership performance, most benefit from having a relationship with someone they can use as a sounding board, someone they trust and someone who will be prepared to challenge their thinking when appropriate.
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Tags: business coaching, motivation
Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Monday, February 7th, 2011
Whether you are a leader, a member of a team or in business for yourself, being personally motivated is a vital ingredient for your sense of purpose, happiness and ability to achieve at a high level.
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Tags: leadership performance, motivation
Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Monday, January 24th, 2011
For a leader, a sense that you are losing your mojo or motivation can be very scary. Being highly motivated at work is enormously satisfying and productive but even very successful people can lose their drive and energy, and find it difficult to kick-start their motivational engine.
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Tags: leadership coaching, leadership development
Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Monday, January 17th, 2011
Utilising a leadership coach is not an indication that you are an under performer. In sports athletes and teams recognise the value of a good coach for development of technique, strategy, mental application and focus. What benefits do they and thousands of other successful people get from a good coaching relationship?
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Tags: business coaching
Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Before starting the process of choosing a business coach you need to honestly examine your own personal readiness to be coached. If you’re not ready to learn, grow and take action, business coaching may not be successful.
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Tags: emotional intelligence, motivation
Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Thursday, November 25th, 2010
Leadership is about being able to motivate your people to operate at their best. Bringing out the best in your people is the difference between ordinary performance and excellence.
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Tags: influencing others, leadership performance
Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Kevin |
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
A key function of a leader is to influence key stakeholders, whether they are internal to the organisation or external. Your success in achieving this level of influence is often based less on your proposition than it is on your ability to build relationships with these stakeholders. Developing these relationships relies on your interpersonal skills.
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Tags: leadership performance
Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Monday, November 1st, 2010
The most effective leaders are those who can flexibly use a range of leadership styles when appropriate. Effective leaders are aware that when dealing with different types of people and situations, using only their dominant style may not always get the best results.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Those who take their leadership to new heights develop the ability to positively impact and influence others. The impact may involve anything from building relationships to motivating to influencing change. Irrespective of who you wish to impact and how, it starts with self-awareness.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
For anyone, leader or employee, being highly motivated at work is enormously satisfying and productive. In order to understand how to motivate other people, leaders should start with understanding what motivates and drives themselves.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Monday, October 18th, 2010
Leadership is about influence – whether it is getting buy-in to a vision, changing attitudes or motivating your people to perform at their best. The words we use have influence, and in any leadership context, the power of language in achieving influence cannot be underestimated.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
Leadership is not practised in a vacuum. Every leader needs the ability to build and maintain relationships to be successful. Leaders who build meaningful connections with people have a platform for influencing and leading them. Without that connection, the opportunity for influence is compromised.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Carmel |
Monday, October 11th, 2010
A good level of trust between executive team members underpins a team’s ability to make decisions quickly and objectively. When the level of trust is low, politics and personal agendas impair the ability of the team to be as effective and successful as it could be. The leader plays a key role in ensuring trust levels are built and maintained.
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Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Lynn |
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
When executives are presented with particularly challenging leadership situations, maintaining resilience in tough times is a key to success. How do leaders remain consistently positive in the face of these challenges?
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Posted in: CEO Success – Lynn |
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
Research shows that self-awareness from a leader is a key factor in their success. Obtaining honest feedback on your own leadership performance is critical to developing this self-awareness, but obtaining that feedback can be a challenge for leaders and those reporting to them.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Monday, September 20th, 2010
Staff performance relies heavily on the capability and commitment of those staff. What fuels their commitment is the energy they can apply to their work. As leaders your role is to help staff harness and maximise that energy and because conflict has a tendency to drain people, knowing how to provide conflict management and resolution is an essential leadership skill.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
When CEOs are leading significant change, transition or improvement in their business, isolation can be detrimental to their leadership performance. Leading a business during this period is more challenging and stressful than at any other time.
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Posted in: CEO Success – Lynn |
Monday, September 13th, 2010
For many of our leadership coaching clients, gaining other perspectives is a key outcome of the coaching process and adds significantly to their self-awareness. Executives may not have self-awareness of the baggage, emotions, fears, risks, and consequences they bring to the decision making process. Exploring different perspectives on an issue can help find win-win solutions.
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Posted in: CEO Success – Lynn |
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Obtaining effective leadership feedback can be a challenge for leaders and those reporting to them, but is critical to the success of the executive and their organisation.
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Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Lynn |
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
For a new leader or executive, starting a new role can be both exciting and daunting. It has been said that the first three months in a senior position can make or break the role. This is because transition is a time of great opportunity and challenge.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Good communication skills are a key ingredient to effective management and leadership. A leader who has listened well will have much better information to make more effective decisions.
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Posted in: CEO Success – Lynn |
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Accurate self awareness is a key factor in your leadership success. Yet the more senior your leadership role, the more challenging it can be to obtain accurate and honest feedback from the people that really matter.
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Posted in: CEO Success – Lynn |
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
In today’s fast paced world, time management is no longer a viable solution. Managing energy, not time, is a key to enduring high performance as well as to health, happiness and life balance.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Kevin |
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Examines the leadership approach that will most positively impact staff performance and business results in a challenging market.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Good listening skills are a key ingredient of effective management and leadership. Where staff feel they have been listened to and that they have contributed to a solution their commitment to act is stronger. A leader who has listened well will have much better information to make a more effective decision.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Friday, July 16th, 2010
Most of us believe the best way of motivating ourselves and others is by external rewards like money – the carrot and stick approach. However, Daniel Pink’s recent book ‘Drive’ reveals that the secret to high performance and motivation is based on other factors.
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Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Lynn |
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Professional advice on effective stress management for leaders, from Lynn Humphrey, leadership coaching expert at Stepshift.
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Posted in: CEO Success – Kevin |
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
When leaders are effectively managing their EQ (emotional intelligence), the benefits to them, their people and their organisation can be enormous. When they are not, the costs are often significant.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Carmel |
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
Examines the importance of emotional intelligence for managers and those in leadership positions. Advice from Carmel Byrne, leadership coaching expert at Stepshift.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
At Stepshift we are committed to providing leadership coaching in a manner which delivers outstanding organisational and personal success. Our philosophies in developing leadership coaching and mentoring programmes are as follows:
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
When leaders and executives are ready to achieve a Stepshift in their leadership or performance, effective executive coaching and mentoring can provide the catalyst. There are some fundamental steps that are essential in any effective leadership mentoring programme. The Stepshift leadership coaching and mentoring programme involves:
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
When leaders and executives are ready to achieve a Stepshift in their leadership or performance, effective executive coaching and mentoring can provide the catalyst. This may be with one individual or across a whole management or leadership group. Executive mentoring is used increasingly as a tool to achieve both personal growth and improved business outcomes. [...]
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Some of you will have had significant experience with leadership coaching while for some of you it is a relatively new concept. And yet, as leaders within your organisations, you will no doubt be interested in three things:
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
A paper in the 2001 Manchester Review (Vol 6 Number1) by McGovern and others reported the results of research into Maximising the Impact of Executive Coaching and arrived at some interesting conclusions (we do not have space to cover the methodology of the research but if you are interested please call a stepshift Partner and [...]
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Lynn |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
A paper in the 2001 Manchester Review (Vol 6 Number1) by McGovern and others reported the results of research into Maximising the Impact of Executive Coaching and arrived at some interesting conclusions (we do not have space to cover the methodology of the research but if you are interested please call a stepshift Partner and [...]
» Read More...
Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
When business leaders are looking to take a significant step up in their leadership or with their business, mentoring with the right mentor can provide significant benefits during that period of transition. The skills and experience you require from the mentor and in the mentoring relationship, will vary depending on you and your situation, but [...]
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Perhaps more than anything else what differentiates great leaders from good leaders is your ability to get the best from yourself and from others. This is particularly critical in times of change, turnaround or growth when leaders are under pressure. Leadership coaching is a proven on-the-job intervention that can assist you to significantly develop your [...]
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Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
When you are running a business or business unit, perhaps the biggest challenge you face is the challenge of isolation. This is OK when it’s business as usual, but when you are seeking to significantly change, turnaround or grow your business, having someone to challenge you, support you and act as a sounding board, can [...]
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Perhaps the greatest asset that most organisations have is their people. This people asset often holds the key to their competitive advantage because as people potential is realised, their improved performance drives business success. So how do you realise people potential – one proven way is to develop your leaders as coaches.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Key reasons why coaching can deliver more impact for managers and leaders than other interventions, are that it is totally focused on the coachee and it works in the context of their leadership role rather than outside it.
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
When it is time to select yourself a coach there are a few questions to consider that will ensure you make the best selection. There are obviously coaches in different fields – this blog focuses on choosing a leadership executive or business coach. Ask yourself these questions:
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Executive Coaches are not for everyone. Business leaders and managers have times when they want to take a significant step in their leadership or career. This may involve for example achieving more success or traction in your role or with your business, getting more from your people or preparing for or stepping into a more [...]
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Posted in: Overcoming Challenge – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
If motivation of self or others will assist you in your role, read on. When you as a leader are clear on your work values, you can find ways to deliver against those values then you will find you are a lot happier and have more motivation in your work. Are you clear on what drives you, on [...]
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Posted in: CEO Success – Kevin |
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
How CEOs can achieve the leadership fulfillment and success. You aspired to be top dog in the organisation, you have achieved that success and yet somehow you do not feel…. well, successful. Irrespective of whether you have a great quarter or a mediocre one, there’s something missing…. your mojo is not there like it was [...]
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Posted in: Developing Leaders – Kevin |
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Improving your leadership often involves more than developing new skills or behaviours. Improving leadership performance often focuses on improving capabilities and behaviours. This may range from impacting areas of interpersonal capability right through to technical areas such as the leader’s ability to read a balance sheet.
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Posted in: Getting the Best from Others – Lynn |
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Appreciative Inquiry is now a commonly accepted practice in the evaluation of organizational development strategy and implementation of organizational effectiveness tactics. It is also used extensively as a basis for Leadership and Executive Coaching and for Leadership Team Development in major companies, SMEs and government.
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