Coaching & Motivating

Workplace problem? Get team to attack it

January 13, 2017
One powerful way to extract your team members’ best ideas, suggestions and efforts is to conduct a problem-solving meeting based on a definite agenda and guidelines.

What’s your period/question mark ratio?

January 13, 2017

As an executive coach, I was working with Phil, director of finance for his company. He shared frustrations he was having with one of his staff accountants, Melinda. “She gets defensive so easily,” he said. “I have trouble speaking with her about performance issues.” I suggested we do a role play…

How patient should I be with a new hire?

December 31, 2016
Q. The last person I hired doesn’t seem to be catching on as fast I’d like. Any guidelines as to how long I should give him? — J.J., Maryland

Are you treating employees like adults?

December 22, 2016
The most effective form of supervisor/employee relationship is also the simplest and most accurate: adult-to-adult.

Who’s benefiting from the tube?

December 17, 2016
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Avoid coaching burnout with frank talk

December 5, 2016
You enter into a coaching relationship with enthusiasm. But over time, the fire can go out—and you dread what you initially enjoyed.

Have a holly jolly workplace

November 16, 2016
A little holiday spirit is just what you and your employees need.

Managing is a matter of trust

November 6, 2016
How to get your employees to believe in you, the organization and its mission.

Never be ‘too busy’ to coach each worker

November 6, 2016
Do you find yourself putting out fires all day, not coaching or leading? Or do you feel you’re spread so thin that you rarely have time to praise fine work, ask smart questions or serve as a sounding board for ideas?

What a good manager might have said to the Chicago Cubs if game seven had gone wrong

November 5, 2016
On a mid-October night in an alternate universe, the Cleveland Indians actually defeated the Chicago Cubs in game seven of the World Series to take baseball’s 2016 crown, and in doing so, denied millions of diehard Cubs fans from realizing their century-old dream of winning a league title. What could manager Joe Maddon possibly have said to his team to make such a fictional defeat less crushing? Maybe he could have tried something that, with a little modification, might work for any leader trying to motivate a staff in their worst moment.