Joanne Maynard – Blanchard LeaderChat

Engaging in Your Employees’ Development

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:57:01 +0000

Most companies want their employees to continue to grow and develop because they know employee growth benefits not only the individual but also the organization. For example, how would productivity change if an employee became a more effective communicator or learned to manage others using a coach approach?

To foster employee growth and development, organizations often enroll people in training or provide them with a coach. What they don’t do enough of, however, is encourage the managers of these employees to support that growth and development.

This type of manager involvement is often referred to as stakeholder engagement. Simply put, the leader is paying attention to their employees’ development. Stakeholder engagement does not have to be time consuming or difficult. And it’s been documented that when managers are involved, it’s much more likely that an employee’s training and coaching will meet or exceed desired outcomes.

Why stakeholder engagement?

Stakeholders are in a great position to provide helpful feedback to their employees. The employee can use this valuable data to determine their development goals and how those goals relate to the organization’s needs. Additionally, stakeholders can:

Encourage the employee to share their learning objectives to make sure the two parties agree on the work the employee should focus on. Then together, they can align the employee’s development goals with organizational objectives to increase the impact of the learning. This not only maximizes the employee’s effectiveness but can also increase their overall contribution.
Provide insight and suggestions for improvement and behavioral change to the employee and help them understand the manager’s vision for their role.
Emphasize the organization’s level of commitment regarding the employee’s development.
Recognize whether or not the employee is invested in their own development.
Encourage the employee to invest more effort in pursuing learning opportunities.
Hold both themselves and the employee accountable for the employee’s development goals.

Manager involvement before training or coaching

When stakeholders get involved early, they can help direct the course of an employee’s learning—it can be as simple as the leader recognizing and acknowledging the developmental work the employee is taking on. More often, however, it involves the manager facilitating a conversation with the employee before training or coaching begins. During this conversation, manager and employee can discuss:

The organization’s key goals, objectives, vision, and values
The employee’s key initiatives and how their role fits into the overall strategy of the organization—linking the employee’s development to the organization’s purpose and desired outcomes
The way employee performance is evaluated and how it ties into business metrics
The stakeholder’s thoughts on the employee’s goals with the goal of agreement on skills the employee needs to achieve specific results. They can then work together to consider how the employee’s actions impact the employee, the manager, and the organization.
Potential gaps the training or coaching might be able to close that will enable the employee to improve and maximize the value they bring to the organization.
The employee’s Individual Development Plan (IDP), if they have one—or, if not, manager and employee may discuss how to create one. It’s always a good idea to have a written plan defining employee development objectives. At the end of the conversation, the IDP serves as a contract between employee and manager that outlines what they will do together on further development.

Manager involvement after training or coaching

At the end of training or coaching, stakeholder and employee can review:

Key concepts from the training and how to use them to be more effective going forward. Help make the concepts come alive by linking the learnings to the employee’s strategic and organizational objectives.
The employee’s IDP and how the learnings might align with, enhance, or change their development plans. Discuss specific actions the employee is going to take, including timeframes and deadlines.
Having ongoing conversations about the employee’s IDP and their new learnings. There is so much value in having regular development discussions; don’t let this be “one and done.”

These conversations are extremely important. They not only engage the manager with the development process but also begin to assign some ownership to the manager for the eventual level of development achieved by the employee.

Employee development is everyone’s responsibility

The reality is that an employee’s growth and development is the responsibility of the whole organization. Stakeholders getting involved can provide a big return on investment without being time consuming. Many stakeholders are motivated by their own participation because they feel they are contributing not only to their employee’s development, but also to their own success. When this happens, it’s a win for all!

Are you a stakeholder who could increase your involvement in your employees’ development? Or perhaps you are an employee who could benefit from more attention from your manager regarding your development? I hope this post has given you some ideas for getting started!

About the Author

5 Reasons You Need an Accountability Partner

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 11:45:00 +0000

Most people will agree that ongoing professional growth and development is important. That said, most people also know it can be quite challenging to establish new skills and behaviors. Competing priorities make it hard to focus, motivation comes in fits and starts, and there just never seems to be enough time.

There is a great way to improve your chances of working on your development—and that’s to enlist an accountability partner. What is an accountability partner? It is a neutral and supportive person who helps you stay on track with your development.

Time and again, it’s been shown that people are more successful when accountability measures are built into any self-development program. We just do better when we have support. An accountability partner can make the difference between someone who succeeds in their development and someone who loses focus.

So what could you achieve with an accountability partner in your corner? It could help you:

• Figure out what and who you want to be when you grow up. So many people are not fulfilled professionally and really have no idea what professional fulfillment might look like for them. An accountability partner can help you determine what makes you tick. Why is this important? Someone once said “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” But in order to choose a job you love, you first need to figure out what you are all about and what that job would look like.

You and your accountability partner can come up with questions to answer for clarification about who you are and what you want—such as What do I value? What matters to me? What’s interesting to me? What motivates me? What’s important to me professionally? It’s surprising how rarely people ask themselves these kinds of questions. Many seem to think they aren’t worthy of finding a job that honors their values or is interesting. An accountability partner can help them see not only that they are worthy, but that answering these questions can be integral to their well-being, given that work is such a huge part of life.

• Expand your options. When left to our own devices, most of us tend to see ourselves in a very limited manner. In other words, we aren’t very good at seeing our lives from multiple perspectives. We might think “I can’t figure out what I want professionally, I’m too busy making a living,” or “Who am I to think that I can do what I love?” An accountability partner probably won’t have those same limiting beliefs about you. They can get you to suspend reality for a time and dream dreams that may be big, but are also obtainable with some elbow grease. Often when brainstorming with others, we come up with ideas that may seem crazy but are actually seeds of brilliance. I can’t tell you the number of times someone has told me their professional dream and then immediately said it was unattainable—whereas from my perspective, their goal was not at all farfetched; it was, in fact, quite doable.

• Figure out where you go from here. Let’s say you did find answers to the questions above, and you suspended your self doubt at least for the time being. Now what? How does one make their hopes and dreams actionable? On your own, it can be challenging to figure out a course of action. But brainstorming potential actions with someone else can often spark big ideas you might not even have considered by yourself.

• Recognize accomplishments along the way. We often don’t recognize our own incremental changes—when we make progress and close the gap between where we are and where we want to be. But someone else can see our progress more clearly, help us recognize it, and keep us moving forward.

• Keep going when the going gets tough. Having a cheerleader is a very powerful thing—especially if it’s someone who will encourage you to take risks and do things that are uncomfortable. We’re much more likely to challenge ourselves when we have someone watching from the sidelines. Sometimes we will stumble, but we tend to get up much quicker when there’s somebody saying “Come on, keep trying—I believe in you.”

So where do you find an accountability partner? It could be your boss, a coworker, or a friend—or you could enlist the help of a professional business coach whose stock and trade is being an accountability partner. Many people have experienced how a professional coach has helped them by leaps and bounds.

Where you find your accountability partner doesn’t matter as much as getting someone in your corner to maximize results for you—or maybe your direct reports. You don’t have to go it alone!

About the Author

Don’t Put Off Your Own Personal Development

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:40:47 +0000

Many leaders I work with know they would benefit from developing new skills but aren’t sure how to fit learning into their already packed schedule. I encourage them to think of their workplace as an on-the-job learning lab or playground where they can experiment with a new skill or behavior. I use this language because I think it’s best not to think of skill development as a big, serious task. Learners can relax into the learning by playing with it from different angles.

How about you? Are you putting off learning new things until the time feels right? Here are five strategies to help you get started.

Choose one skill or behavior you want to acquire or improve. Get clear on one tool you want to add to your repertoire. Developing a new skill or behavior takes your best effort, so focusing on just one development area at a time prevents you from getting overwhelmed or diluting your efforts.

Check your motivation. Do you truly want to develop this skill, or is it something you’ve selected because you think it might look good on your resume? Skill development requires that you be intentional and roll up your sleeves to hone what you want to learn. Internal motivation makes it much easier to put in the time and do the work.

Create an image of what good looks like. Let’s say you want to become a more effective presenter. Once you determine you want to add that skill, create an image for yourself of what being a more effective presenter would look like. You can start by noticing good and not-so-good presentation skills of others around you—including people you work with, friends, family, or even the person giving away samples at a grocery store. After observing for a while, you will have created your vision of an effective presenter.

Put your development plan together. Once you have your image defined, what you will you actually do to gain this new skill? If you aren’t sure, watch other presenters in person or online to see what they do that feels authentic to you. Seek advice and support from people who have presentation experience. Read books or articles on the topic. Look for tips, tricks, and suggestions that motivate you and resonate with who you are as a person.

Ready, set, go. On the job is the best place to practice a new behavior—but use care. If you want to add presentation skills to your tool kit, it’s probably not best to start by volunteering to present to your executive leadership team. Start small, then build up your opportunities for practice as your skill level increases.

You don’t have to wait until your calendar opens up to work on skill development. You can practice on the job in the learning lab that is your workplace. Put these five strategies to work and take the first step today!

About the Author

Please Get Off the Phone: 3 Steps for Breaking the Addiction at Work

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 10:47:16 +0000

For many years I reported to the same manager. He was very supportive and made time frequently to meet in person, one-on-one, to discuss both my ongoing work and my development. Then something changed. My manager became very distracted. The source of this distraction? His new smartphone.

Every time it buzzed or beeped, he would stop focusing on our conversation and grab the phone to explore the source—a new Facebook post, an email, a text, etc. Pretty soon I found myself not really wanting to get together with him. And I wasn’t the only one—my boss’s other direct reports were feeling the same way.

Actor Emilio Estevez is quoted as saying “We have all these devices that keep us connected, and yet we’re more disconnected than ever before.” I agree.

The distracted, disjointed experience I had with my boss has become a daily occurrence for millions of people, both on the job and in their private lives. Overuse of cell phones has become an actual addiction. I wonder if the inventors of the smartphone or social media platforms could have ever imagined the harmful potential of their device or service. I also wonder—often aloud: Does the fact that we can stare at our phones 24/7 mean we should?

So how might we move differently going forward?

Be aware. The first step is awareness. Over the next couple of days, chart how many times and how much time you spend interacting with your device. (Ironically, there are apps that will do this for you.) Make a note of the specific triggers that prompt your use.

Ask: Can it wait? When you reach to check your phone, ask yourself: Is this really important or can it wait? Chances are, it can wait.

Take face to face literally. Make in-person meetings sacred. Keep your phone off the table and on silent mode. Anything else you are doing needs to take a back seat.

For many people, these behaviors will be challenging. So be kind to yourself—two steps forward, one step back. The key is to alter your behavior by keeping the goal of less time on your device top of mind.

I heard someone say we all need a retreat from our electronic gadgets. Now you know what I think about that statement. What do you think?

About the Author

Stop Taking on Other People’s Problems—3 Tips from an Executive Coach

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 15:12:54 +0000

“I don’t have enough hours in the day to get my work done.”

It’s a common complaint I hear from my coaching clients—especially those who are newer to a management role. Very often when we are talking about their workload I notice that they are taking on “monkeys” that aren’t theirs.

Monkeys? you might be thinking. What? Several years ago, Ken Blanchard coauthored a book with William Oncken, Jr. and Hal Burrows called The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. The “monkey” represents the ownership or responsibility for an unsolved problem or an incomplete task.

Let me give you an oversimplified example—one I sometimes share with my coaching clients—about taking on monkeys. Picture this:

A manager is in their office trying to work on their strategic plan for next year. One of their direct reports drops by. The direct report says, “Hey boss, I can’t get hold of Steve to get the numbers for the report I’m compiling for next week’s off-site meeting.” (This is the unsolved problem or incomplete task.) The boss says something like, “Well leave it with me and I’ll try to reach Steve.” In an instant, the boss has taken on the direct report’s “monkey.” The direct report skips down the hall with that monkey off their back. Over the course of a day, this happens with other direct reports. Soon the manager is weighed down with monkeys and no longer has time to work on their own strategic plan.

More often than not, the person I’m coaching relates to this and sees themselves in the story. The question follows: What to do?

Here are a couple of strategies I’ve developed with my clients as they learn to deal with their own office monkeys.

Slow down and reflect. When a direct report drops by with a problem, ask yourself whose problem, job, or task it is. Most of the time, the problem belongs to the direct report.

Ask a few open-ended questions. Help the direct report think through the situation. For example, ask, “How are you reaching out to Steve? Might there be another way?” Maybe the direct report is emailing Steve when it might be better to pick up the phone or go by and see Steve. Another question might be, “If you can’t reach Steve, what are other ways you can get the data?” If more help is needed, you could brainstorm with the direct report to figure out other options. Helping them think things through will often get things moving and keep the monkey firmly with its owner—the direct report.

Make sure your direct report knows their next move. Before the conversation is over, confirm the action the direct report is going to take with their monkey so you can get back to your own work.

I’m not proposing that managers abdicate their responsibility for providing direction and support. I’m just suggesting that managers help direct reports find ways to solve their own problems and tasks.

The reality is that consistently following this procedure will help your direct reports grow into self-reliance—which makes this a win-win situation for everybody!

About the Author

Stop Being Perfect at Work

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 10:56:51 +0000

I’ve been coaching executives for about six years now. Recently I was working with a leader who proudly identified himself as a perfectionist. He considered it a badge of honor that he routinely works ten to twelve hours each day. Even now, in his sixties, he has his company cellphone on him at all times and feels he needs to respond to emails, texts, and calls right away. When I asked him if he could set a lower expectation—such as replying within 24 hours—it seemed like a foreign concept to him.

This leader told me, unsolicited, that working so much meant he had missed many of his daughters’ milestones growing up. When they were kids, he told his daughters nothing was acceptable but A+ effort. He is proud that he set such high standards and believes his kids are successful because of those standards. I wonder whether he imposed his standards on his daughters to the degree that they, too, will miss out on parts of their lives trying to be perfect.

Over the years, I’ve heard many renditions of perfectionistic tendencies from my clients. This tends to show up most often when I’m debriefing a 360 or other assessment with them. It surprises and saddens me that many with the highest assessment scores—obviously very qualified people—don’t believe they are doing all that well. Inevitably, most of these people are perfectionists. Their perfectionism distorts their thinking.

Most of us believe it’s good to have high standard. Working hard and performing well are positive qualities. But there’s a difference between having a strong work ethic and striving for perfection.

When I Googled perfectionism, I found a quote from my old friend Wikipedia that sums up the definition well: “Perfectionism, in psychology, is a personality trait characterized by a person’s striving for flawlessness AND setting high performance standards, accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ evaluations.”

Perfectionism is a huge, complex subject. My intention here is to touch on just a few simple but effective ways people can begin to combat their perfectionistic tendencies.

Recognize your own perfectionistic tendencies. Increasing your self-awareness of perfectionistic thinking patterns and/or behavioral tendencies is very enlightening.
Notice your critical internal dialogue (which is usually hard to miss). An effective way to disrupt those self-critical thoughts is to replace them with more realistic and helpful statements—often called affirmations. Every time the internal critic surfaces, silence it with an affirmation. One I like is “I’m okay just as I am.”
Try living by a “done is better than perfect” philosophy. I first heard this statement from my boss. It’s a good one. As a recovering perfectionist myself, this thought has stopped me many times when I’ve found myself working to make something perfect. Of course, for most perfectionists, their “done” is usually much better than their non-perfectionistic colleagues’ best efforts.

Why should organizations care about helping their perfectionistic employees, you ask? Because perfectionism is linked to accident-related disabilities, absenteeism, burnout, and turnover.

Do you, or someone you know, tend to be perfectionistic? Try these first steps and let us know how they work for you. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

About the Author

4 Ways to Provide Individual Attention Like a Coach

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 11:45:55 +0000

For most, if not all organizations, their employees are their number one asset. This makes the wellbeing, the engagement of employees very important. Why? Because engaged employees are passionate about their work. They strive to provide superior customer service, solve problems, and find innovative approaches.

A great way to generate a significant positive affect on employee engagement is through individualized attention and one way to get started is through coaching.

Every employee in an organization is different. Coaching is a wonderful way to give employees individualized, customized attention. Coaching is uniquely tailored for the person being coached. A coach works with an individual to understand what make them tick—to understand the employee’s own strengths and work passion. Coaching helps to draw out employees’ ideas and opinions and helps employees to discover how to best make their own contribution. It makes employees feel valued and appreciated. All this attention gets employees to engage more in their own career.

Is engagement an issue in your organization? Consider some of these ways a coach provides individualized attention to those they serve.

A coach:

Takes the time to build rapport with those they coach to get a sense of who they are, not just what they do. Great rapport often increases employees’ motivation to work hard in their role and on the goals of the organization.
Values employees’ contributions and cares about their professional success. This in turn often empowers them to take more ownership of their own continued development.
Cares about the individual, working with them to understand their strengths and foster greater development.
Checks in with those they coach to see what is working, what isn’t, and what might the employee do different in the future.

Coaching gets clients to engage more in their role, their development, and the goals of the organization. When employees receive coaching, they feel positively supported and valued by their organization which in turn generates and builds more engagement.

Engagement has been shown to increase retention, innovation, and performance, and as a byproduct, revenue. What organization wouldn’t welcome that?

When people feel that their manager cares about their development their commitment and energy increases. This leads to growth, increases their confidence, and helps them to reach their full potential. Use a coach approach to individualize attention, either by hiring outside coaching or developing those capabilities in-house. Individualized attention pays off for the individual and the organization.

About the Author

Are You Taking the Time to Connect? A Coach’s Story

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:45:43 +0000

When you are a coach who works with leaders from all walks of life, you begin to notice patterns. One pattern I’ve noticed is that about one-third of the leaders I work with consider connecting and building relationships a part of their job, while the other two-thirds do not. This second group of leaders generally feels that they should spend most of their time focused on executing—getting work done and marking tasks off their list.

Left to my own natural tendencies, I’m part of the second group. When I’m chatting with a coworker or hanging out by the proverbial water cooler, after about five minutes I get the itch to get back to my “real” work.

But over the years I’ve recognized that in most cases, the most successful leaders are the ones who are all about building connections.

Several years ago, I spent a week working at our local sports arena during the Davis Cup tennis tournament. We were told parking at the arena would be limited, so I carpooled with a coworker named Dan. Turns out Dan had once worked at the arena and still knew a lot of the staff.

The first two days of work were spent preparing for the main event. Dan was able to park in front in a VIP section. Every day when we got there, Dan would stop and chat with different parking attendants about their work and life. Dan had obtained several Davis Cup commemorative pins that were very sought after, and he made sure to give a pin to each of the attendants he talked with. I noticed what Dan was doing but could only think about how I wanted to get inside and start working.

On the third day, the crowds increased and the parking lot was quite full. As Dan drove into the VIP section, a parking attendant he didn’t know told him he didn’t have the right credentials to park there. Another attendant immediately ran up to tell the first attendant it was okay. We parked in the VIP section each day for the rest of the tournament.

I never got the impression that Dan was chatting with the attendants and giving them the pins only to secure VIP parking. To me, this story is a concrete example of the power of connection.

Think you could use a little more connection in your life? Here are three ways to get started:

See building connections as a valuable part of your job. I mentioned to one very successful senior leader I coached that it sounded like she spent half her time building relationships. She agreed, but then said it really should be 90 percent of her time!
Regularly get up and away from your computer or other electronic devices. Go hang out by the coffee cart, invite someone to walk with you to the vending machines, drop by to say hi to a colleague, or—for the very brave—schedule some lunches. Although initiating contact might not feel natural, most people find it to be a pleasant experience.
Listen more than you talk. I don’t think it’s an accident that many people who don’t regularly connect happen to be introverted—maybe even shy. The reality is that building connections often means listening to those you are connecting with. If you are a generally shy person, think up a couple of questions you can ask, if you need to, to start a conversation. Ask a question such as ”How was your weekend?” or “Did you see the big game?” And then just listen.

With a little practice, you can learn to be a master at connecting, too!

About the Author

3 Ways to Combat Perfectionism

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 10:45:37 +0000

When a person goes through leadership coaching it often includes some kind of evaluation, such as a 360-degree assessment. Debriefing the assessment results is typically done during one of the first coaching sessions. This debrief helps the coaching client identify strengths they can leverage as well as potential areas for development.

I’ve noticed a trend when doing these debriefs. A client’s self rating is often noticeably lower in several areas than ratings from other people such as their direct reports or their boss. Most clients aren’t surprised at this; in fact, many laugh and chalk it up to their being a perfectionist. They often say they know they set a high bar for themselves and put lots of pressure on themselves—but they seem to accept this as the way they are wired. But is it?

Most people agree that striving to continually grow and develop and to achieve one’s goals is a desirable trait. Perfectionism, on the other hand, can be a different story. A perfectionist is often defined as someone who strives for flawlessness.

Many of my clients who label themselves perfectionists push themselves harder than anyone asks them to. They tend to work more than they need to. They fear making a mistake because they are afraid others will see their imperfection. These behaviors and beliefs can make them inauthentic in their interactions with others because they don’t like to reveal what I call their “soft underbelly.”

Full disclosure here: I have perfectionist tendencies. But seeing this characteristic often in my clients has caused me to look at my own perfectionism and make efforts to throttle back these inclinations.

I like what Dr. David Burns, author of the highly regarded book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, said about perfectionism:

“Perfection is man’s ultimate illusion. It simply doesn’t exist in the universe. There is no perfection. It’s really the world’s greatest con game; it promises riches and delivers misery. The harder you strive for perfection, the worse your disappointment will become because it’s only an abstraction, a concept that doesn’t fit reality. Everything can be improved if you look at it closely and critically enough—every person, every idea, every work of art, every experience, everything.”

Most perfectionists have been that way all their lives and often have underlying beliefs that drive their perfectionism. That said, greater self awareness and a commitment to lighten up on oneself can be a start. Thanks to the internet, there is much information at our fingertips regarding the pros and cons of perfectionism as well as techniques for lessening its negative effects. Here are a few:

Realize that we are often our own worst critic. Most people are not rating and judging us to the degree we are rating and judging ourselves. Interesting fact: people often feel uncomfortable around perfectionists.
Don’t judge your insides by other people’s outsides. Most people tend to put their best “Facebook” image out there—one that is different from how they actually feel inside. So don’t compare yourself to others.
Try to keep in mind what author Brené Brown says: “Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.”

I often ask my perfectionistic clients if they could “dare to be average.” They usually groan—because to them, average is tantamount to failure. Some, however, do work to unclench their jaw and not operate at full throttle all the time. So far, none of them has died, and several have reported feeling more at ease then they have in a long time.

Might you benefit from examining whether perfectionism is having a negative influence on your life? Please let me know what you discover!

About the Author

Don’t Over- or Under-Supervise: 4 Steps to Getting Management Just Right

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 10:45:36 +0000

“I don’t want to be a micromanager!”

I hear that statement all the time from my coaching clients. I get it—no one wants to be known as a boss who hovers over people and tells them what to do all the time. However, what I’ve noticed with some clients who desperately do not want to micromanage is that they often go to the other extreme and completely abdicate their leadership responsibilities.

So how does abdicating—which we also label as under-supervising—frustrate? Let’s look at one common example.

Under-supervision is most damaging when a leader says to a direct report who is unfamiliar with a task, “I know you will be fine. Just let me know when you’re done.” The direct report very likely won’t be able to do a task they haven’t been trained to do. Then, when the task becomes difficult or the person experiences some natural early failure, it’s normal for them to think, “My boss thinks I can do this. There must be something wrong with me!”

This begins a stream of negative self-talk, which can kill creativity. People in this state rarely give themselves permission to be a learner, to take risks, or to experiment with possible solutions. Isolation can also set in. People are often hesitant to reveal that they don’t know something—and are even less likely to do so if they think their boss expects them to know it.

Finally, forward motion is thwarted. When someone doesn’t know how to do something and doesn’t have anyone to guide them, they will often work on the tasks they do know how to do and set the other task aside. It appears to be human nature. I’ve witnessed people who are otherwise brilliant do this many times.

I’m convinced that abdicating behavior from a manager can be just as frustrating to a direct report as the dreaded micromanaging. The ideal balance would be to provide the right kind of leadership style depending on direct report’s development level on whatever task or goal they are working on. As Ken Blanchard says, a leader needs to “Slow down to go faster.” Here’s how it works:

With your direct report, articulate the goal for any assigned work. Express what a good job would look like. And this is a vital step: have your direct report repeat back to you what they heard you say about the goal and the desired objective. This will ensure you are both on the same page.
Next, ask the person how they would go about achieving the goal. And then really listen.
If they list out what they would do and it sounds like a good plan, send them on their way with your blessing. Of course, always let them know you are there if they need anything along the way.
On the other hand, if you hear “I’m not sure,” “I haven’t done this before,” or other statements of self-doubt, take it as a sign the person needs more supervision. Partner with them to create a plan for getting the job done—and be sure to check in with them regularly.

I always think using this style is like offering a thirsty person trekking through the desert some water. It’s giving them something they desperately need.

The hope is that a direct report who isn’t yet self-reliant on a task will grow and develop autonomy as they go forward. As the direct report develops competence and confidence doing the task, you, as the leader, can pull back on supervision.

Matching your leadership style to the specific needs of your direct reports will allow you to always correctly supervise versus under- or over-supervising. In this way, your leadership actions will always be just right!

About the Author

Do You Engage in Mental Jabbering?

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 15 May 2018 10:45:18 +0000

For about a year now, it seems everywhere I turn I hear people talking about the power of mindfulness. To me, mindfulness means paying attention to your experience from moment to moment. Because I keep hearing and reading about this topic, I figure the universe is telling me this should be my development focus right now—and I agree.

In his book The Inner Game of Tennis, author W. Timothy Gallwey states “Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering, or distracting.” This familiar spinning, spinning, spinning of thoughts is the opposite of mindfulness. In fact, to quote Phil Jackson, former coach of the Chicago Bulls, you might call it jabbering.

As I’ve started to pay more attention to my thinking, I’ve found that I definitely engage in mental jabbering. Most of my jabber involves things that either happened in the past or may happen in the future. I must admit that when my mind jabbers I’m not paying attention to my experience from moment to moment.

As a coach, I’ve begun to notice that my clients also engage in lots of jabber. When I sense this is happening, I ask them questions to bring them into the present moment—which in reality is the only one they have.

So what’s the big deal about us calculating, planning, or reminiscing much of the time? When we jabber, we are missing many of the moments we have to live. We are on automatic pilot and not fully aware of what we are doing or experiencing. We eat without really tasting, look without really seeing, listen without really hearing, and touch without really feeling. In other words, we miss out on the texture of our life experience.

To stop jabbering means to quiet the mind and strive to be in the here and now. It means to gently bring yourself—or possibly a coaching client—back to the present moment. Of course, that’s easier said than done. So here’s some incentive.

When we quiet our mind, we are better able to:

Fully experience the actual moment in front of us

Maintain focus

Manage our reactions/responses

Reduce stress and anxiety

The list of the benefits of mindfulness could go on and on.

I’d like to encourage you to spend some time noticing where your thoughts are. Their location may just surprise you!

About the Author

4 Keys to Being More Mindful at Work: A Coaching Perspective

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 11:35:03 +0000

I like how mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness. He says, “There is nothing particularly unusual or mystical about being mindful. All it involves is paying attention to your experience from moment to moment.”

For the leaders I coach, much of their workday moments are spent in email, in meetings, or tap, tap, tapping on their cellphones. Also competing for their attention are one-on-one interactions with clients, colleagues, and direct reports. It’s easy for them to be anything but focused in the present moment.

That said, I think most people will agree that being as present as possible, in the here and now, is valuable. We’ve all experienced having someone be fully present with us, really focused on what we had to say. It’s quite energizing. When we strive to be more in the present we give a gift not only to people we interact with, but also ourselves.

How about you? Could a little more mindfulness help in your interactions with others? Here are a few points to keep in mind.

Knowing about mindfulness is not practicing mindfulness. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Oh, mindfulness, sure, I know what that is.” Then they dismiss it like it’s old news. But in reality, they may have never tried practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a learned habit anyone can acquire. Just wanting to be more mindful doesn’t make it so. Instead, we have to be intentional and we have to practice. The good news is that absolutely anything we do can be an opportunity to practice greater awareness.

If at first you don’t succeed… If you commit to practice mindfulness, you will notice that the mind definitely seems to have a will of its own. What to do? Every time your mind starts to leak away, bring it gently back. Bring your consciousness back to what is taking place in the moment.

Focus on the present—not the past or future. As we work to be more in the present, we often find ourselves thinking about things that happened in the past or something that may or may not happen in the future. This causes us to unproductively spin our wheels. Mindfulness is about focused attention in the present moment.

It’s not always easy to remember to be mindful. Trust me, I know from experience! But the rewards from being in the here and now—in the present time and in the present space—are plentiful. Any movement toward more mindfulness is better than not trying. If you are interested in learning to be more mindful, the internet is loaded with more information. Give it a try. I would love to hear about your mindfulness experiences.

About the Author

Are You Overusing These 3 Leadership Habits? A Coach’s Perspective

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 11:45:18 +0000

Each of us have natural tendencies and habits. Leaders are no different. We might love to share our sage advice, to be problem solvers, or to play the devil’s advocate. But these tendencies and habits, if overused, can have a downside.

Here are some commonly overused leadership habits and alternatives we might put in their place.

Giving Advice. I love Benjamin Franklin’s quote about giving advice: “Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.” Instead of jumping to give advice, consider asking questions to draw out the brilliance of the other person. Facilitate them finding their own answers. It will require some practice with open-ended questioning and real listening, but doing this keeps the other person front and center in discovering their own wisdom.

Problem Solving. Instead of sharing your own “winning ways,” consider empowering the other person to find their own answers. In coaching we call this letting the other person do the heavy lifting. What’s amazing is that when someone does their own heavy lifting, they are usually much more invested in the actions and outcomes. No, you didn’t get to provide solutions, but you also didn’t add anything to your own to-do list—which can often happen if you are the problem solver.

Being the Devil’s Advocate. I used to work for a manager who always played the devil’s advocate. I knew he did it in an attempt to bring out our best on projects we were working on—but, boy oh boy, was it draining. Instead, consider Ken Blanchard’s advice and spend your time catching people doing things right. I know when someone catches me doing something right, it feels so good I start thinking about what else I could do to keep that feeling going. And as a friend of mine said, who wants to work for the devil’s advocate, anyway?

Giving advice, problem solving, and helping people consider alternatives all have their place in a manager’s toolkit—just don’t overdo it. Replacing our old tried-and-true ways is never easy. But if we are willing to consider change, to behave more intentionally, and to be patient with ourselves while we practice, we can empower others like nobody’s business. They will be grateful and really appreciate to us for what we are often not doing. And who wouldn’t like to do less and get—and give—more?

About the Author

The Leader as Coach – 3 Common Traps to Avoid

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 11:45:15 +0000

A leader’s ability to coach effectively can really foster the development of the people they lead. But like any leadership style, using a coaching style incorrectly has its drawbacks—especially if you are new to it. Here are a few of the common mistakes.

The leader does the heavy lifting. To be effective, a coaching conversation must be a two-way discussion. Both the leader and the person being coached (i.e., the direct report) need to be engaged. However, if the coachee doesn’t fully participate, it’s easy for the leader to do more of the heavy lifting. This is like the leader driving a car with the direct report in the back seat, enjoying the ride. It’s the opposite of what is meant to happen. Both parties must be active participants in the discussion. When using a coach-like style, the leader’s job is to draw out the brilliance of the person being coached.

The leader creates dependency. When a leader does all the work, it can create a dependency on the part of the direct report. For instance, the direct report asks the leader to help with issues they can easily handle themselves—or they delay action or avoid a decision on a task. In extreme cases, the direct report starts abdicating all decision making to the leader. When this happens, a leader’s own work time gets eaten up, which can result in their needing to bring home work that could have been completed at the office.

The leader talks when they shouldn’t. When leaders facilitate a coaching session, some find it hard not to offer up good ideas—especially if the coachee is quietly contemplating what to say. This scenario is fairly common since most people need time to think about a topic before they chime in. A leader who wants to be more coach-like needs to give people the gift of silence—which is easier said than done. One tactic I’ve suggested to clients is to envision themselves sitting on their hands versus jumping in to help. If the coach can stay silent, they are less likely to impart their own knowledge and more apt to draw out brilliance from their direct report.

When appropriate, using a coaching style can be instrumental to the development of others. When leaders encourage their people to do the work and to come up with their own ideas and solutions, direct reports become engaged and step into their growth, which is a beautiful thing!

Are there any other traps you’ve seen leaders fall into when trying to be more coach-like? Please share in the comments section below!

About the Author

Joanne Maynard is a senior coach with The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching Services team. Since 2000, Blanchard’s 130 coaches have worked with over 14,500 individuals in more than 250 companies throughout the world. Learn more at Blanchard Coaching Services. And check out Coaching Tuesday every week at Blanchard LeaderChat for ideas, research, and inspirations from the world of executive coaching.

Giving Constructive Feedback—Focus on the Goals, Not the Person

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 17 Oct 2017 10:45:14 +0000

Most leaders and managers dread giving constructive feedback to direct reports. They are concerned that others will see the feedback as negative or critical of them as a person.

A core concept of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Situational Leadership® II model can help leaders and managers get over this hurdle by making sure that feedback is focused on a specific task or goal, not on the person themselves.

Focusing solely on the task will pinpoint the type of feedback that is needed and help to keep an individual’s personality out of the equation.

For example, managers who use Situational Leadership® II begin by setting clear goals with employees—they identify each specific goal or task and what a good job would look like. With these clear goals in place, during a feedback session the manager can provide redirection if they see a gap between the direct report’s development level on the task and the agreed-upon ideal. Focusing on the task itself helps the manager determine what the direct report can do to move toward closing that gap. Feedback is then focused on finding solutions to close the gap instead of blaming or attacking the direct report.

There are many benefits to framing feedback this way.

Feedback is more easily given, since it is not a personal criticism of the receiver. The giver can be specific about the goal or task and paint an image of the ideal that the receiver can work toward.
Feedback is more easily heard. Instead of the receiver feeling they must defend their position or blame others, they are more likely to hear and appreciate the feedback. This improves the chance that they will make a positive change.
Feedback presented this way fosters further dialogue. Giver and receiver can fully discuss the task and what a good job looks like so they can walk away with clear agreement of what that ideal is. When both manager and direct report know what the target is, they are much more likely to partner together to hit it.
Providing feedback this way has the receiver witnessing the giver being honest and direct, which often accelerates higher levels of trust, performance, and development.

Have you been avoiding a feedback conversation? Focusing feedback on goals and tasks lessens the pressure on both the giver and receiver. We’d love to hear your thoughts on providing feedback this way!

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The Manager as Coach: Coaching with the Time You Have

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 10:45:07 +0000

In today’s fast-paced working environment, people in leadership roles are being asked more and more to use a coaching approach to move people and their projects forward. Interestingly, the number one reason managers give for not coaching is that it takes too much time. Let’s explore that reasoning.

At The Ken Blanchard Companies, we define coaching as a deliberate process using focused conversations to create an environment that results in accelerated performance and development.

Let me say that again: coaching accelerates performance and development through a deliberate process of focused conversations. It doesn’t say how much time coaching should take or where coaching needs to happen. The reality is that coaching can be used on the job, in any conversation—planned or unplanned, long or short.

There is only one requirement. You must first learn, and then intentionally practice, coaching skills so that they become a permanent tool in your toolkit. A good way to begin is by using formal coaching on a regular basis.

Formal Coaching

Regularly scheduled meetings, such as one-on-ones, are a great opportunity to formally practice coaching skills. Because these meetings are planned, you can be intentional about how you show up. You can even ask the other person to let you know ahead of time what specific development topics they may want to discuss. During the meeting, you can practice getting clear agreement on a specific topic. As you explore the topic, if you recognize that the person you’re working with is capable of finding a solution, you could then use the coaching process. At that point you would intentionally avoid being directive and instead would ask open-ended questions to allow the individual to surface options and ideas.

As you continue to identify coachable moments in these formal conversations and to practice using the coaching process, you and the other person will begin to anticipate how conversations will play out. You will get into a rhythm that will really help when the need for informal coaching arises.

Informal Coaching

The coaching process and skills you use in your formal conversations are equally useful in brief, spontaneous interactions you have with people throughout your day. As with formal coaching, you slow down to get clear agreement on the focus for the conversation. Once that is established, you ask the person what their options and ideas are for moving forward. Again, if you sense the person you’re working with can find a solution on their own, avoid being directive and just ask a couple of questions to draw out their own brilliance.

Whether you are in a formal or informal coaching conversation:

Get clear agreement/clear focus on the specific subject
Consider this a potential growth opportunity for the other person
Don’t jump in with solutions—instead, encourage the person you’re working with to explore their own ideas for how to move forward.

Remember: it’s about coaching with the time you have—not about how much time it takes to coach. The small investments of time involved in having focused conversations can often result in high yields.
Coaching also creates an increasing level of self-reliance. Managers who coach provide a win for the organization, a win for the person being coached, and a win for themselves! I think that’s a good thing—wouldn’t you agree?

About the Author

The Leader as Coach: 3 Times When Coaching Is Not the Answer

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 11:45:39 +0000

In a couple of my recent posts I’ve talked about managers using coach-like skills in their conversations with direct reports. Doing this often makes conversations more impactful and effective.

But there are times when using a coaching style is not appropriate—when, in fact, it can be counterproductive and cause the other person to become frustrated.

First let’s look at a couple of instances when coaching is exactly what a manager should do.

When the team member knows what to do, but needs assurance they are on the right track.
When the person’s task is not at a critical juncture and there is time for a little trial and error in service of their growth and development.
When the manager feels confident the direct report has what they need to make good decisions about how to move forward.

On the flipside, managers need to know when the more open-ended, supportive style of coaching does not work. Here are some examples.

When the task is completely new. If this is the first time the person will be completing a task or goal – regardless of whether they have lots of transferrable skills – they are a learner who needs direction. Asking them to define what good would look like or to come up with how to get the task done can cause a deer-in-the-headlights reaction. Additionally, it might cause them to question their ability but keep that doubt to themselves. Neither of these situations would foster learning. Once the direct report demonstrates an improved skill level, the manager can turn to a more coach-like style. For those with solid transferrable skills they will likely arrive at that place fairly quickly. For someone newer it may take more time.
When a decision needs to be made immediately. If the stakes are high or a situation is urgent, there often isn’t time for the brainstorming or trial and error aspect of coaching.
When the direct report is not receptive. Not everyone is coachable. Some people are reluctant to brainstorming with their boss. For instance, it might be very important to some to always appear to have the answers—and others may see the give and take of a coaching conversation as too touchy-feely.

There is a place for facilitating coaching conversations. When the direct report is self-reliant, coaching is a preferable style to directing. It can help direct reports move forward and may draw out new and wonderful ideas. But when the person is new to a task and really doesn’t know what to do, specific direction is a more appropriate first step. Using a coaching style in this instance would reap a minimal—or even negative—return on investment.

Determining when training and direction are more appropriate than coaching is critical. Managers should ask themselves: Does this person know what they’re doing and just need a sounding board? Or do they really need direction because the task is new?

The best leadership style to use in different circumstances is not always obvious, but with a little practice any manager can become skilled at recognizing the right time to coach. What’s been your experience? If you have any tricks to know when to coach and when not to coach, please share!

About the Author

The Leader as Coach – 4 Ways to Develop a Coaching Mindset

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 12:47:54 +0000

Learning new skills can be awkward and uncomfortable. Think back to the first time you interviewed for a job or spoke in front of a group. It’s possible you made some mistakes, but in the long run you grew and developed.

And if you were lucky enough to have someone supporting and partnering with you—someone coaching you through the experience—chances are that support really helped.

In today’s workplace, business leaders are encouraged to coach their direct reports. To do this, leaders must develop a coaching mindset—a mindset that looks for the potential in others. Here are four ways to get started.

Talk on a regular basis. Leaders with a coaching mindset intentionally have regular conversations with direct reports in service of their direct reports’ development, learning, and growth. Don’t wait for midyear or yearend reviews—shoot for weekly or biweekly conversations.
Understand that developing your people is as important as meeting deadlines. Focus on people and Remember, it’s not an either/or question—the more you develop your people, the more valuable your organization will become.
Value learning. Create a safe environment where everyone on your team has permission to be a learner and to try out new skills. Be a role model—share times when something didn’t go well for you, and talk through lessons learned.
Slow down to draw out your direct reports’ brilliance. Sometimes giving people the answer seems quicker and more efficient—but in reality, doing this can create dependency. Slow down and take the time to teach your people how to complete a task. It’s a front-loaded investment that can really pay dividends.

As the Chinese proverb says: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Using a coaching mindset is like teaching your people to fish. Embrace a coaching mindset!

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5 Important Coaching Techniques Every Leader Should Practice

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 30 May 2017 11:45:09 +0000

More and more organizations are looking for their managers to use coach-like behaviors in conversations with their direct reports.

Here are five of the most important techniques coaches use in their conversations with clients.

Consider how these techniques could help the managers in your organization be more coach-like in their communication style.

Be fully present. Practice being fully present in your conversations with people. Avoid distractions, give undivided attention, and show you care. Of course, we all know this is easier said than done—but this alone can go a long way toward building trust.

Get, and keep, the conversation focused. It is easier to help a direct report move forward, faster, if they are the one who declares a specific focus for the discussion. Having them establish a focus creates a more deliberate and intentional conversation. Keep in mind there will be times when the conversation goes off topic. When it does, the manager is expected to get the conversation back on track.

Ask mostly open-ended questions, especially those starting with what and how. Open-ended questions promote discovery for the other person. The most essential questions coaches ask are what and how questions that help direct reports discover their own answers or course of action.

Stay action focused. Help the direct report create a plan of action that will move them forward. Share coaching questions such as “What do you think you need to do now?” As much as possible, keep the ownership of the plan, and any actions, in the direct report’s court. Actions they take may turn out to be excellent growth opportunities. Keeping the ball in the other court allows managers to get on to other things on their to-do list.

Follow up. Check in with direct reports on their progress, their learnings, and any challenges they might be facing. Doing this helps them keep what they said they would do top of mind. It also shows them again that you care—which is never a bad thing.

There are many ways for managers to incorporate a coaching style to help people develop more competence and confidence. The ideas above are in no way a complete list, but I encourage you to have the managers in your organization give them a try. Practicing coach-like behaviors in your conversations creates a learning environment not only for those you coach, but for you as well.

Let me know how it goes!

About the Author

3 Ways Coaching Can Help Teams and Work Groups

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 11:45:28 +0000

Most coaches work one on one with clients, but at times coaches are also hired to facilitate team performance when people come together to accomplish shared goals, make decisions, or learn new skills.

Having a coach who is pulling for the good of not only the team but also each team member can help keep the agreed-upon common purpose and desired outcomes top of mind all along the way.

When coaching in a team setting, focus on three objectives:

Establish the intent for coming together. First, make sure everyone involved knows the group’s common purpose as well as expected results from their work as a team. Clear agreements regarding intent will likely prevent individual members from getting off course.
Create a safe, confidential environment. To create a healthy environment for the exchange of ideas, follow basic coaching rules: keep confidences, allow everyone to be heard, clarify action steps, and set up accountability measures.
Track participation. Pay close attention to each individual’s participation. As we say at Blanchard, “No one of us is as smart as all of us.” To ensure all voices are heard, encourage input from more reserved participants by asking their opinion. Also, be ready to reel in more assertive team members if they begin to monopolize the discussion.

Organizations generally choose people for a project based on complementary skills needed to get the job done. Then, to achieve desired results, everyone on the team needs to pull in the same direction. Having a coach to set the stage and facilitate successful team meetings not only helps organizations get the most from everyone’s time and effort—it also helps people enjoy the process.

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3 Ways Coaching Can Help You Apply What You’ve Learned

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 11:45:04 +0000

Do you remember a time when you left a training session full of valuable knowledge that you were just itching to apply? Unfortunately, when you got back to your workplace, there was a pile of catch-up work that immediately became your top priority. And time out of the office had caused your inbox to explode. And then your boss informed you about a new project you had to tackle.

When this scenario happens, despite your best intentions it’s likely the session materials—along with your new learnings—will end up on a shelf.

Does it have to be this way? No! What if you had returned to your workplace with the same pressing deadlines, and discovered that your company had assigned a coach to support you and help integrate your learnings back on the job. Wouldn’t that be helpful? You bet it would! In fact, people who get coaching to support new learning exhibit up to two-thirds more improved productivity than those who didn’t have coaching following their training.

Wondering how to get started? Here are three of the ways I work with coaching clients to help them apply what they’ve learned in class. Consider how these strategies could help your people.

Stop and think about development. We don’t often have someone to brainstorm with regarding where we should focus our development time. One of the first things I do is create that space and environment. This helps my client sort out and declare their development goals.
Recognize that it’s okay to be a learner. Most of my clients are high achievers. When they get back to work and start to apply what they’ve learned, they often wrestle with not having already mastered their new learning. Coaching can set realistic expectations and help the person embrace being a learner instead of internally berating themselves for not being an expert at the new material right from the start.
Set aside practice time. Clients are often tempted to abandon what they’ve just learned because it’s too time consuming or too hard. I recommend that my clients identify one or two people to initially practice with. Once the client has practiced and gained some mastery, they are more comfortable rolling out their new skills on a larger scale.

The key to successfully providing coaching to support learning is to first help class participants carve out time and then provide a safe space for them to focus on applying new learnings in the workplace. Organizations that provide coaching to support learning signal that the training is important and that the company is invested in the person’s ongoing development. It also sends a subtle signal that the organization is expecting to hold the training participant accountable to use what they have learned.

Providing coaching turns a training event into a learning process. It makes the learning stick! Could your people benefit from some coaching to support their learning? We would love to hear your thoughts.

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3 Reminders on How “Just Listening” Is Sometimes the Best Approach

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:30:34 +0000

Have you ever shared a frustrating situation with your boss, a colleague, a family member, or a friend and they kept jumping in and offering solutions (many of which you had already thought of yourself)? I certainly have, then realized I didn’t need or want them to resolve the situation for me. All I really wanted was for them to just listen.

As a coach, listening is one of the key tools I use with my clients. The longer I coach the more I notice what a gift just listening can be for someone—not only for my clients, but also for my family and friends.

Here are three things I keep in mind when I find myself wanting to talk instead of listen.

The listener does not have to add value. Often when someone is sharing a concern, we want to help so much that we jump in with ideas to solve the person’s problem. The truth is, most people are the best subject matter experts of their own lives. They may just need to verbalize their frustrations out loud.

Listening can help others solve their own problems. Your silence allows the other person to dig deeper. Often just listening to someone helps them to get to the root of the situation by venting versus just mentally churning at a superficial level.

The mere act of listening strengthens relationships. When you truly give someone the gift of your time—and your silence—it helps to build mutual trust and respect. Your listening can also help to increase the other person’s confidence and motivation, just by allowing them to feel heard. In the workplace, the positive implications of this simple act are endless.

Are there opportunities where you can practice listening more? Can you resist the urge to jump in with your brilliant ideas or solutions? If you can, you will be giving the exceedingly rare gift of silence. Surprisingly, giving that gift makes people think you’re a great conversationalist too!

Let me know how it goes. (I promise to just listen!)

About the Author

Coaching to Support Learning: 3 Best Practices

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 13:05:05 +0000

Coaching to support learning is a process that gives learners a chance, after training, to go back to their jobs and practice using the concepts they just learned. Providing employees with two or three 1-hour coaching sessions creates an actual learning process instead of just a training event.

This extra step is important in today’s busy work environment. Many organizations don’t have the resources to provide managers the time to grow and develop their people. And employees often don’t have enough room in their schedules to practice training concepts when they get back to work.

Done right, coaching to support learning sends employees a clear-cut message: Your leaders believe training is important—and we want to provide you with the support you need to be able to apply your new learnings back on the job.

Here are three best practices to provide coaching that supports learning in a way that works.

Support and reinforce behavior change after learning new skills. Post-training coaching sessions keep training concepts top of mind for a much longer period of time. During coaching, participants choose one, two, or three of their newly learned skills they believe would benefit most from practice. The skill(s) they select become the focus for their ongoing development plan.
Support learners in taking action and using training concepts back on the job. Coaching provides the gift of time and space as well as a neutral partner to help them think through how to practice and implement what they learned in training. So that their new learning doesn’t feel overwhelming, coaching participants are encouraged to begin their new skill practice on a small scale, choosing one or two trusted colleagues to practice with. During coaching, participants strategize with their coach exactly what they will practice and with whom. Once the person is more confident, their new skills can be rolled out more broadly.
Create a learning lab environment where employees can safely review and practice training concepts. Confidential coaching allows employees the opportunity to define their own customized learning plan—to declare how they are going to structure their own development. It allows employees to define a customized approach to their learning.

Looking back on training you have received in the past, try to recall how much information you retained and were able to apply on the job after training. How might things have been different if you had reviewed the training content every few weeks—with someone who was solely interested in supporting you in utilizing what you learned? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

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3 Suggestions to Help Direct Reports Stay on Track with Growth Goals

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:05:53 +0000

Imagine your doctor just told you that you have high blood pressure. That’s important information. However, unless you do something with that information, such as starting medication or altering your diet, nothing will change. You will continue to have high blood pressure. Making a plan and taking action is required to change the situation.

The same can be said about professional growth and development. If you want to master new information or develop a new skill, simply knowing that something is important won’t result in growth or change. You have to define a developmental plan and then take action.

Whether personal or professional, setting a goal for growth and then taking action on your own is easier said than done. Most people benefit from the support of others when they decide to make a change.

Managers are in a great position to offer this much needed support to their direct reports—many of whom already have either a formal or informal development plan for themselves.

If you are a manager, here are a few suggestions you can make to your direct reports to help them progress toward their goals.

“Link your development to your job.” Suggest they thoughtfully consider how their learning and development goals will specifically make them more effective at work.
“Practice what you learn.” Have them identify one or two behaviors they want to hone and think of where they can practice those behaviors on the job. For instance, they could practice during one-on-one meetings with you or in weekly team meetings with their peers.
“Keep your development top of mind.” To stress the importance of their growth, regularly touch base with direct reports around their progress. Ask them to set a specific date by which they will share a success story with you on how they successfully implemented their learning.

Being someone’s support system doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort—after all, the person you are helping is doing all the heavy lifting! That said, letting a direct report know you care about their growth and development and cheering them on can make a huge difference in their success.

Are there opportunities where you can help someone grow? If so, try the ideas above and let us know what impact they made!

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Could You Be More Coach-like in Your One-on-One Conversations?

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 12:05:40 +0000

Recently I was reading the white paper “Bringing Science to the Art of Coaching.” Authors Jack Zenger and Kathleen Stinnett look at a couple of key questions to explore while examining what research says about the effectiveness of coaching. Consistently, the data shows strong correlations between a leader’s coaching effectiveness and measures of employee commitment and engagement.

But that’s not all. Leaders who use coaching skills are more likely to retain their key people as well as have more productive teams. This in turn generally translates into a positive effect on the organization’s bottom line. When the leader uses a coach approach to foster direct reports’ development, everyone benefits.

One of the key areas that Zenger and Stinnett focus on is conversation, which they look at from two aspects:

What should we talk about?
How was that for you?

Both of these questions get at a major source of problems when managers and direct reports have one-on-one conversations. First, rarely are the conversations about a topic the direct report wants to discuss. (Most managers discuss what is important to them as a leader and assume that it is also of value to the team member.) Second, leaders rarely ask for feedback after the conversation to see if it met the needs of the direct report. As a result, one-on-one meetings are hardly ever as effective as they could be.

The best coaches—and the best leaders—know that the greatest amount of personal change occurs when it is a partnership. From a leader’s perspective this means talking less and listening more. It also means learning how to ask effective coaching questions and how to be in service of their people’s ongoing development.

Specifically, Zenger and Stinnett recommend that leaders use a Coaching Topic Checklist as a tool for structuring one-on-one conversations. Their approach is to have the direct report choose from a series of possible topics ranging from, “The progress I am making in my career,” to “How I could contribute more to the organization,” and even more tactical like, “How to handle a specific challenge.”

Through it all, they suggest leaders consider a coaching mind-set, which promotes discovery and growth and frequent stops to check in for feedback on effectiveness.

Many people would say that their best managers were those who used a coach approach to partner with them in achieving their goals. Do you currently use a coach approach when interacting with your people? If not, could it be time to learn? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

About the Author

3 Ways to Help Others Along a Leadership Journey

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:07:22 +0000

Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® II model is based on the idea that an individual’s development is goal or task specific. It also teaches that there are four predictable phases a person goes through as they develop. In a nutshell when learning something new we often start out as an Enthusiastic Beginner. Then from there, if we stay at it and practice we become a Self-Reliant Achiever.

One challenge organizations face is when individual contributors, who are Self-Reliant Achievers in most of their work, are tapped for leadership roles. While they may be experts in their previous individual role, they are rarely at the Self-Reliant Achiever level when they move into their first leadership position.

More realistically they start out as beginners commencing a long leadership development learning journey. This shift from being master of their previous universe to “wet behind the ears” can often be challenging. If new leaders don’t recognize that they aren’t, nor should they expect to be self-reliant it can create self-doubt. And self-doubt can eat away at their confidence which can hinder needed learning.

As a coach—or anyone helping someone else step up to leadership for the first time, here are a few ways you can help someone along that journey.

Set reasonable expectations. Growing and developing leadership skills is a learning journey. Recognizing that can help. Truly acknowledging that our first attempts will likely not be our best attempts allows us to give ourselves the “grace” to be a learner.

Practice, practice, practice. We don’t learn through osmosis or simply by knowing. We learn by applying what we know. We try, fail, and if we are smart, get up and try again taking note of what we did right.

Ask for help. We need to embrace our role as a learner and courageously ask others for help and guidance. Learn from our boss, or a mentor, or those who have leadership skills we admire. When asked, most relish the opportunity to share their wisdom. Let’s not struggle in silence.

In working with clients, I’ve always believed the old saying Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. When you lead, mentor or coach a first-time manager, let them know that learning to be an effective leader requires a lot of effort—and it will only be harder if they become their own worst enemy. Help them realize they will need to give themselves a break and understand there is no quick or easy path to skilled leadership. Actually I think we all need to remember this because in today’s rapidly changing world –learning something new is likely a common occurrence.

What are your thoughts and experiences about coaching new leaders?

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New Managers: Are You Having Trouble Letting Go of Old Habits?

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 17 May 2016 12:05:30 +0000

Most leaders began their careers as high functioning individual contributors. They had their sphere of responsibilities and took pride in their ability to accomplish tasks. They were self-starters effective at how to get work done. These qualities likely contributed to their eventual promotion into a management role.

But when they became a manager, their role shifted. They now needed to focus on what needed to get done and leave the how to the individual contributors they managed. As a manager, they needed to be more strategic and less tactical.

Many managers struggle with this change. They had established numerous great methods, processes, and ideas for how to accomplish work. What are they supposed to do with these concepts now?

For a fair share of managers, the natural answer is to pass on their ways to their direct reports by staying hands-on. It doesn’t occur to them that as a manager their role is to figure out and communicate what needs to get done, leaving the how to their direct reports as their capabilities allow and giving direction and support only as needed. Unfortunately, some managers never make this shift.

If this sounds like you, there are numerous benefits when you shift from how to what. Leaving the how to your direct reports:

… gives them the chance to develop their skill set.

… is motivating. Research conducted by Blanchard for our Optimal Motivation training program uncovered that employees feel motivated when they perceive that what they are doing is of their own volition and that they are the source of their own actions.

… gives you more time and space to work on the what.

What can you do to make the shift? Lots! Here are a few suggestions:

Acknowledge to yourself that the change won’t be easy. It helps if you recognize that the benefits far outweigh the uncomfortable process of change.
Do a little soul searching. Why do you want to keep your fingers in the pie? Is it a lack of trust, a need to control, or a wish to add value?
Learn the art of partnering with direct reports to facilitate their independent problem solving. Ask your capable people a question such as “What do you need to do to get the work done?” Then figuratively sit on your hands and listen as they figure it out. You might need to ask a few more open-ended questions—but resist offering solutions.
Practice, practice, practice. This will not happen overnight. Two steps forward, one step back—but stick to it and you will be able to make the change.

I love the quote “Mediocre coaches are those who remain attached to their own opinions and feel the need to be right or even useful.” To me this applies not only to coaches but to managers, colleagues, parents, spouses, friends, etc. Are you unnecessarily keeping your hands on the work your direct reports should be doing themselves? If so, what are you going to do about it? Let me know!

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Sharing Feedback: 3 Ways to Help Others Improve

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 12:05:06 +0000

I recently read an interesting Zenger Folkman white paper on feedback. What caught my eye is that more than 50 percent of people whom they surveyed said that corrective feedback has helped their career more than positive feedback has.

Ken Blanchard loves to share former colleague Rick Tate’s assertion “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” To me, this statement implies feedback is a gift—if both giver and receiver are open to seeing it that way. The hope would be that the feedback would give the receiver new insight in service of their growth and development, not immobilize or anger them. And yet, as they move up in their career many people find they receive less and less meaningful feedback of any kind. Why would that be?

A clue can be found in the aforementioned survey on feedback. Many of the respondents who said corrective feedback has helped their career also said they themselves were resistant to giving it. I get that—no one wants to be the bearer of bad news or to de-motivate someone else. But my take on the situation is that a lot of people crave honest feedback, and it’s courageous to offer it—as long as it’s done with compassion, thoughtfulness, and no ulterior motives.

In an effort to identify skills and methodologies used by business coaches, the International Coaching Federation has defined eleven core coaching competencies. One of those competencies is direct communication—and part of that competency encourages coaches to be “clear, articulate, and direct in sharing and providing feedback” to their clients. I think we all need to do this more often, remembering that feedback is a beginning step, not an end in itself.

In addition to courage and compassion, here are a few things to keep in mind if you choose to give the gift of corrective feedback.

Focus on observable behaviors, not personality traits. People are more able to change or develop a behavior than to alter their personality. When you gear your feedback toward suggested behaviors such as listening better, taking time to build relationships, or enhancing presentation skills, it gives the feedback recipient something concrete to focus on. Also, be prudent with your feedback by focusing on just one or two topics at a time.

Keep a positive end goal in mind. Think about the positive change you would like the person to make, and paint a picture for them that gives them a vision to work toward. This is far more effective than focusing on what the person is doing wrong.

Offer to be an accountability partner. Changing in isolation is hard. If your recipient is open to change, offer support. This might include helping them devise an action plan or scheduling a weekly or monthly check in. Also, catch them doing something right—keep your eye out for when they make positive strides and praise them. It’s great reinforcement.

Can you find the courage to gift someone you know with clear, articulate, and direct feedback? Are you willing to be a support system for someone else’s development? If your answer is yes, great! My advice is to start small, in a low-risk situation. For example, practice with someone you feel safe being a learner with. Tell them providing corrective feedback is a skill you want to develop. You can agree to reciprocate, with them offering feedback and accountability support to you as well.

Giving corrective feedback effectively is a skill worth having. Give it a try and let us know how it goes!

About the Author

Work Smarter, Not Harder: 3 Ways to Get Started

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 13:21:07 +0000

At times do you feel like there aren’t enough hours in your workday? Like you’re running after your work instead of being firmly in the driver’s seat? If you do, you’re not alone—not by a long shot. This is exactly what life was like for one of my coaching clients, a young, bright manager clearly on the fast track. Although he loved his work, it seemed no matter how many hours he put in, he never felt caught up.

During our coaching, my client and I spent much of our time uncovering what was going on and what he might be able to do differently. He narrowed in on some actions he could take and he set to work. Here’s what he did:

Identified top priorities. My client made a commitment to himself that every morning he would schedule an hour alone to identify his top five priorities. He thought clarifying his priorities each day might stop the constant feeling of being pushed and pulled by whatever was shouting the loudest.

Stopped saying yes to everything. As a smart, hardworking, and knowledgeable manager, he often was the person others came to when they needed something done. He initially appreciated being the go-to guy, but eventually realized he always had more work than time to do it. Through our coaching, he acknowledged to himself that he was a very hardworking and capable person. This helped him see that the reason he couldn’t get all his work done was because he was taking on too much. He realized he didn’t have to try to be all things to all people. Using his newly established priority list helped him determine when to say yes and when to say no.

Guarded his calendar. Setting priorities and being willing to say no created another new awareness for my client—that he was getting sucked into multiple meetings every day. No wonder he was always on the run! He determined that he didn’t have an active role in many of those meetings, nor was he gaining mission critical information. So he slowed down and considered what meetings he could drop off his calendar. In their place, he worked on his priorities.

I want to point out that these action steps were not easy for my client—because he wanted to be known by his colleagues as a team player. He wanted to be readily available to his direct reports. He wanted others to recognize his can-do attitude. But, more than all of these things, he wanted to stop working twelve-hour days.

I spoke to my client a few months after he began implementing this action plan. There was a lightness in his voice. He told me he felt his efforts were truly paying off. He was finding himself working more on tasks that were really important, which was resulting in better quality work. He was now able to give higher quality attention to his staff and co-workers. All of this had produced a greater sense of accomplishment—and, most days, he was able to leave the office on time.

If you can relate to the feeling of not enough hours in the day, maybe you’d benefit from affirming your priorities, learning to say no, and controlling your calendar. Implement these three changes and let me know how it goes!

About the Author

Are You Coachable? 3 Questions to Consider

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:05:50 +0000

I like Ben Franklin’s idea about not giving others advice: “Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.” I think this highlights a cornerstone of coaching. Unlike consulting, where the consultant is an expert who gathers information and then gives advice, the coach is more of a facilitator. A large part of a coach’s role is to draw out wisdom already inside the client so that the client may discover solutions for themselves.

I often hear people talk about what to consider when shopping for a coach. They may want a coach who has worked in their industry, or in a similar role to theirs, or at their level of management. I don’t think these should be the only—or even the top—criteria. In fact, one of the most important factors in whether a coaching experience is successful centers on a quality that must be present not in the coach but in the client. Some call it coachability: the client’s willingness to discover their own wisdom and, once found, to act on it.

Effective coaches employ strong skills to facilitate client-discovered wisdom. Coaches help clients focus on their most important area of concern, define what they want, and determine what that looks like. Coaches ask questions that aid the client’s own discovery—questions that expand the client’s perspective and inspire them to take risks. To accomplish this, effective coaches create a safe, trusting environment in which their clients can do this important work.

But the client also has a major role in creating this environment. They need to be coachable. Here are just a few ways you can enhance your own coachability:

Be willing to think and act differently in the future, even if your current ways of doing things have resulted in success. Don’t hesitate to break free from old habits.
Take the time, and make the effort, to clarify your values and the parts of yourself you would like to develop.
Trust yourself enough to take action—sometimes bold action—as a result of your newly discovered knowledge.

Since being coachable means being willing to be vulnerable, it must be noted that coaching is not the same as therapy. A coach is not going to ask a client to delve deeply into their past personal life. There is a real possibility that this concern stops some people from hiring a coach or using one fully.

Also noteworthy: in coaching, the client, not the coach, drives the agenda. This means the client doesn’t have to talk about anything they don’t want to talk about. They must, however, be coachable—willing to explore, discover their own wisdom, think differently, and stretch themselves. If they do this, most of the time the reward will far outweigh the effort.

So when interviewing a coach, think less about the coach’s track record and more about whether you want to take this person with you on your journey of growth and discovery.

You might be thinking I’m not planning to hire a coach anytime soon—how does this apply to me? Allow me to challenge your question with a few questions of my own:

In terms of your own growth, are you actively creating an effective learning environment?
Are you open to expanding your thinking, clarifying your values, and taking bold action?
If you answered no, what are you going to do about it?

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4 Steps to Finding, Defining, and Taking Action on Personal Growth

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:08:38 +0000

American social philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” I’d like to take it one step further suggesting we don’t just need to keep learning, we need to also use what we learn to continue to grow and develop. To not live off our past accomplishments—no matter how successful those achievements have been—but to set new goals and achieve new accomplishments.

The reality is that most of us in our too busy, too full lives, don’t take the time to consciously think about our own growth and development. However, if you’d like to not only be a learner, but also grow and develop, you can do so in small, manageable steps. Here are my suggestions for your development journey.

Find ONE positive, meaningful “stretch” development area. Identify a single positive trait or habit you’d like to develop that would get you some bang for your buck. Notice I said single—that’s because you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. And, I said a positive trait. That’s because positive change versus problem solving is much more motivating. The good news is that any problem can be turned into a positive. For instance, instead of saying you want to stop telling people what they should do, say I want to better facilitate others finding their own answers. Instead of saying I want to lose 10 pounds declare you want to eat healthier or exercise more.

Define Desired Change. Take time to define what you will do to make this change happen—and be specific. I heard someone once say – you can’t hit a target if you don’t know what the target is. Vividly define for yourself what you will be doing differently? Using the examples above, maybe you’d see yourself listening to people more and asking more questions versus immediately jumping in with a solution. Or, to support your healthier life style, say you’ll start drinking water with lunch instead of a soda, and you’ll walk for 30 minutes three times a week.

Keep Your Desired Outcome Top of Mind. I am a firm believer that charge starts by simply becoming aware of the desire to change. Finding ways to keep your desired change top-of-mind allows you to notice times when you’ve successfully changed your behavior and times when you’ve fallen back to your old ways. Make a list of your outcomes. Use pen and paper, your phone, tablet, or computer—just record what you want to do and put it somewhere that will be easy for you to read every day as a reminder of your desired goals.

Give Yourself Permission To Be A Learner. Just because you declare you want to grow and develop doesn’t mean it will happen. You have to practice and be willing to step out of your comfort zone to try something new. Think of it as creating a learning lab for your development. Usually you don’t have to go far to find real world opportunities for practice. Just remember when you practice that the old two steps forward, one step back dynamic might come into play. Most importantly, celebrate any and all progress and don’t beat yourself up when you falter. Dust yourself off and try again. If you persist you will prevail.

The human brain is an amazing machine. Declaring a desired growth area and defining what that looks like sets your brain to work toward your goal. When you also keep it top of mind and commit to practice you become unstoppable. Give it a try. If you do, you will be one who “inherits the earth.”

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Are You Living Your Values? 3 Steps to Make Sure You Are On Track

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 11:49:57 +0000

When I first heard someone talk about values, I thought they were talking about things like “don’t steal” or “treat others the way you want to be treated.” I learned that values are the underlying aspirations and intentions we have for and about ourselves. A value could be a thirst for learning, a strong desire to create, or a yen for adventure. Our values are who we are, at our core, right here, right now—and they guide our behavior.

At Blanchard we’ve learned that leaders benefit from identifying and clarifying their values because—consciously or unconsciously—they serve as a motivating force, both professionally and personally. We’ve also learned that if leaders are willing to bravely share their values with their team, it not only allows people to better understand what makes the leader tick, but also bonds the whole group closer together.

How might you identify and clarify your own values? Here are a couple of ways:

Do a little exploration. An internet search will uncover various lists of identified values. Read through a few of them to produce your own list of ten values that really resonate with you. Then go through your list, pare it down to your top five values, and rank them in order of importance.

Open up to possibilities. Write your answer to these questions:

If money weren’t an object, how would I spend my time or use my talents?
Other than money, what gets me out of bed every morning?

As you write, try not to allow self-limiting beliefs or thoughts to restrict your answers. When you are finished answering the questions, go back and read what you wrote. As you do, pick out the values within your answers. Having a list of values nearby can help.

Pay attention to absorption. Ever find yourself completely absorbed in an activity, where you’ve lost all track of time? You look at the clock and can’t believe you’ve been doing it for hours. Often when we find ourselves completely engrossed in something, it means we are living one or more of our values. When this happens, stop and take note of what you are doing to see what values may be in play.

Why bother with all this? Because whether you are conscious of them or not, your values strongly influence how you show up in the world. Identifying your values allows you to gauge whether or not you are living your life in line with them. When your values and the way you live your life are in harmony, you are in the flow versus fighting to swim upstream. You are being true to yourself and to who you are. And there’s no better feeling than that.

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Making the Most of Manager, Mentor, and Coaching Relationships

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 13:02:15 +0000

I really like the quote from author and philosopher Eric Hoffer, “In times of change, learners inherit the earth while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

In today’s rapidly changing world we are all learners. And our busy lifestyles can make it hard to find the time for development. Three people that can help you succeed with your development plans are your boss, a mentor, or your own professional coach if you know how to employ each properly.

Each of these relationships is different by nature and all have their pros and cons.

Your Boss: In an ideal world your boss facilitates your ongoing development, assisting you to be as self-reliant in your role as possible. Many leaders offer this type of support and since they interact with you fairly frequently they have a sense of your development needs.

Unfortunately learning goals often take a back seat to the more pressing day-to-day objectives. Even the most well-meaning managers have to balance your needs with the needs of the organization. This dual focus—either consciously or unconsciously—can prejudice where they ask you to spend your time. Feedback can be a problem as many leaders are hesitant to provide negative feedback when you need to make significant changes. Additionally, you may be less than willing to identify personal weaknesses when you are concerned how it might negatively impact a performance review.

To make this a more effective growth relationship think about where you want to stretch and grow. Then think about how that growth would benefit not only you but your manager, your team, and your organization. Share all this with your boss and ask for his or her thoughts, help, and support.

A Mentor: Establishing a relationship with a mentor—someone other than your boss—can remove some of the previous obstacles. Where a boss has organizational objectives to balance with your development, a mentor is someone who is focused solely on providing help and advice based on their past experience. Mentors serve as counselors and guides.

In my work as a coach, I have heard many of my clients share stories of the positive impact mentors have had in their lives. The only regret these clients mention is that they often find themselves hesitant to ask for more as the mentor is “gifting” what time they do give.

Here’s how to get the most out of this relationship. Think about what you most want to develop and where you think your mentor’s wealth of knowledge might specifically help. Focus on one or two areas. Having this focus will help you and your mentor know how to best utilize their gift of time.

A Professional Coach: So what about a coach? As you can imagine I am somewhat bias toward what a coach can do. Where a boss is a stakeholder, and a mentor is gifting their time, a professional coach is neither. A coach is completely in service of your development. They are not looking for you to take any action or path except for one of your own choosing. This allows the coach to be very curious about who you are and what you truly want.

Coaching clients can candidly share their aspirations, limitations and fears. They see that the sole purpose of the relation is their own growth and learning.

Here’s how to get the most out of a coaching relationship. Just as with your boss or a mentor, target what you want to learn and develop. This will make the time spent with a coach more impactful. Coaching requires your commitment of money, time, effort, vulnerability, etc. so thinking ahead about the path you want to take will help you get the most from your investment.

Multiply Your Abilities

Focused growth and development doesn’t happen without effort and it usually doesn’t happen nearly as effectively when done on your own. When thinking about your own continuous path as a learner, consider where and how your boss, a mentor or coach—or maybe all three—can support you so you can “inherit the earth.”

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Developing as a Leader? Sometimes Less Is More—3 Questions to Ask Yourself

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:29:55 +0000

Writing a to-do list

" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bigstock-to-do-list-607301.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bigstock-to-do-list-607301.jpg?fit=700%2C467&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-6047" style="margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:0;" src="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bigstock-to-do-list-607301.jpg?resize=333%2C222&ssl=1" alt="To-Do List" width="333" height="222" /> I was recently coaching a client who had been identified by his organization as a top performer. During our first call, we talked about the things he initially wanted to focus on for his professional growth and development.

In short order, the client mentioned five large development goals—and my sense was that he could have easily doubled that list if I had given him an extra minute or two.

This didn’t surprise me—my experience has been that if asked, most leaders can identify a laundry list of development goals for themselves.

What I’ve learned, though, is that for leadership development to be most effective it’s better to focus on only one or two objectives at a time—to gather, versus scatter, our forces when establishing a learning focus.

Biting Off the Right Amount

Developing a new behavior takes time, energy, and practice—and it’s often a trial and error process. If your scope is too big and you try to tackle too many changes at once, it can become overwhelming. When this happens, frustration can set in—which can lead to throwing up your hands in defeat.

Setting a reasonable goal is more likely to lead to success. But reasonable doesn’t mean something already in your comfort zone. The change you seek should stretch and challenge you—maybe even scare you a little.

3 Questions That Can Help

When defining the right level of challenge, ask yourself:

With my limited time and energy, what are the one or two most impactful areas I should focus on?
What would achieving this goal look like? What would be different? What is the target I’m striving to hit?
Who can I enlist (a coach, friend or mentor) to help me along the way?

Focus Leads to Mastery

Gather your forces by picking one or two behaviors you want to acquire or change—and then practice, practice, practice. Try to think of the time you spend in development as a learning lab as you test and refine the new behaviors you want to add to your tool kit. Take time periodically to evaluate what is working and what isn’t. Give yourself permission to fumble along the way.

Keep in mind that learning happens over time, with practice. If you stay focused, before you know it you will master and own that new attitude, habit, or skill.

And after you celebrate, you can pick a new area to focus on!

About the Author

Coaching Tuesday: Expand Your Thinking—3 Ways to Get Started

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 12:22:09 +0000

Thinking And Results Mindset – sticky notes pasted on a blackboard background with chalk arrows.

" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bigstock-thinking-and-results-mindset-76382465.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bigstock-thinking-and-results-mindset-76382465.jpg?fit=700%2C467&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-5902 " style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:5px;" src="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/bigstock-thinking-and-results-mindset-76382465.jpg?resize=347%2C231&ssl=1" alt="Thinking And Results Mindset" width="347" height="231" />As coaches we encourage our clients to look at their goals, objectives and/or challenges from as many different angles as possible. The intent for doing so is that it will expand their thinking and allow them to uncover lots of different options for moving forward.

This idea of looking at things from many angles isn’t new—it’s behind concepts such as brainstorming and “outside the box” thinking.

Nevertheless, most of us can still fall prey to recycling—and thereby reinforcing—our standard ways of thinking. This happens more often if those methods have resulted in ongoing professional or personal success. The problem is that if we aren’t careful, we can get into a thinking rut.

Here are three ways to expand your thinking and avoid a rut:

Challenge yourself to come up with a minimum of six options for looking at any particular situation. Make a deal with yourself that no option, no matter how farfetched, is initially off the table.

Try to solve the problem so that you never have it again. For instance, if you’re getting ready to have a second or third conversation with a direct report about missing deadlines, think about how you can resolve the situation so you never have to have that conversation again.

When you have a problem to solve and feel you’ve run out of options, ask yourself, “Who is the smartest person I know?” Then ask yourself, “What would that person do in this situation?”

Be warned. Often when people work to expand their thinking they begin to push against their own self-limiting thoughts, beliefs, and habits. If this happens to you, it can cause you to discount or even resist your new ideas.

Most positive change is preceded first by a change in how we view a situation. As the saying goes “if nothing changes, nothing changes.” So I challenge you to strive to look at things in ways you never have before. Who knows what amazing outcomes might be sparked.

About the Author

Joanne Maynard is a senior coach with The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching Services team. Since 2000, Blanchard’s 130 coaches have worked with over 14,500 individuals in more than 250 companies throughout the world. Learn more at Blanchard Coaching Services. And check out Coaching Tuesday every weekat Blanchard LeaderChat for ideas, research, and inspirations from the world of executive coaching.

Are You Being Clear About Expectations?

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 13:30:09 +0000

Confused concept with Asian business woman thinking with hand drawing graphic behind her.

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I asked the leader if she had clarified for her direct report at the start what the task was and exactly what a good job would look like.

There was a long pause; then my client said, “No, looking back, we never clearly discussed the desired outcomes. Now that you say it, I can see how that would have been helpful.”

Of course my client was bothered that she hadn’t thought about clarifying her expectations. Yet the reality is, when leaders are constantly being pulled in different directions, this often happens.

Slow Down To Go Faster

Sometimes leaders need to slow down to ultimately go faster. They need to take the time initially to clarify for themselves what successful accomplishment of an objective would look like. Then they need to communicate that expectation clearly to those who are tasked with achieving the objective.

When partnering with others to get something done—not only direct reports but kids, spouses, peers, even your manager—would you benefit by slowing down to ensure everyone is on the same page? You can do so by:

Clarifying the exact goal or task at hand
Defining and sharing a vision of what a good job looks like
Making sure all those involved are in agreement about the expected outcome.

Team members can’t hit a target if they don’t know where it is or what it looks like. Taking the time to clarify expectations and agree on outcomes greatly enhances the chance that your people will hit a bull’s eye.

About the Author

Joanne Maynard is a senior coach with The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching Services team. Since 2000, Blanchard’s 130 coaches have coached over 14,500 individuals in more than 250 companies throughout the world. Learn more at Blanchard Coaching Services. And check out Coaching Tuesday every weekat Blanchard LeaderChat for ideas, research, and inspirations from the world of executive coaching.

Coaching Tuesday: Are You Taking Time to Connect at Work?

Joanne Maynard — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 13:30:18 +0000

Phone keypad and woman finger – abstract communication background

" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bigstock-phone-keypad-and-woman-finger-74152462.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bigstock-phone-keypad-and-woman-finger-74152462.jpg?fit=700%2C467&ssl=1" class="alignleft wp-image-5461 " style="margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px;" src="https://i0.wp.com/leaderchat.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bigstock-phone-keypad-and-woman-finger-74152462.jpg?resize=321%2C214&ssl=1" alt="Phone keypad and woman finger - abstract communication backgroun" width="321" height="214" />I’m as social as the next person; nevertheless, in the workplace I tend to be all business. When I reach out to a coworker, usually it’s because I have something work related I need to discuss.

An experience I had last week has me rethinking this position.

I got a call from a coworker. After we exchanged the usual pleasantries, the conversation continued down a personal line. I soon found myself telling her about my elderly father who had recently gotten pneumonia. She shared a similar situation she’d had and, although I don’t think she knew it, she provided me with a few nuggets of wisdom about aging parents that really helped me.

A few more minutes into the conversation, I was still wondering about the purpose of her call. That’s when I realized she was simply calling to connect and see how I was doing. Not long after that, we ended our call and I went back to work.

Taking Time to Connect

For the rest of that day and many days afterward, that call really stuck with me. The fact that she had reached out for the sole purpose of connecting made me feel, for the lack of a better word, special. As a coach, I know how important it is to connect with my clients. We teach it as part of our C-FAR (Connect, Focus, Activate, and Review) model in our Coaching Essentials leadership development program.

But that ten-minute phone call with my coworker drove home for me the point of how important making connection is in all our relationships. It showed me how impactful not always being “all business” can be. It also reminded me that connection needn’t be reserved just for coaching. So, while I’m not yet reaching out to people at work just to connect, I am remembering to foster a bit more connection with my coworkers.

Are you all business at work? Could you benefit from a little connection? Make a conscious effort this week to notice if you are taking time to connect with people at work. If you are, pat yourself on the back. If not, strive to do so. Who knows—you might leave a lasting impression on someone just like my coworker did.

About Coaching Tuesday

Coaching Tuesday is a new weekly feature devoted to ideas, the latest research, and inspirations from the world of executive coaching. Coaching Tuesday is written by Coaching Services Partners from The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Coaching Services team. Since 2000, our 130 coaches have coached over 14,500 individuals in more than 250 companies throughout the world. Learn more at Blanchard Coaching Services.

Joanne Maynard – Blanchard LeaderChat

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