Tag: Coaching

The IntExt Path Of Leadership: A Snapshot Of The Building Blocks Of One’s Leadership

June 21, 2019By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on The IntExt Path Of Leadership: A Snapshot Of The Building Blocks Of One’s Leadership

Leadership Lesson: How you sit back, look for and see the process of leadership and how it unrolls from within you, is important to understanding your path of leadership – tracing it from the internal to the external — and the way you live it, demonstrate it, and carry it out.

I recently ran a workshop at Stanley Black & Decker’s Access Technologies department which opened up a general overview and discussion about leadership. The session aimed to get to the heart of what the attendees believed leadership and leadership development were all about, and the role of their development in their own life and work, and that of others.

Part of the presentation demonstrated how differently people view leadership. Any time I present on leadership,…

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When You Want To Celebrate Your Win, But Your Coach Says, “Look Back And Learn!”

June 7, 2019By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on When You Want To Celebrate Your Win, But Your Coach Says, “Look Back And Learn!”

Leadership Lesson: In the right fashion, and when appropriate for the environment, a leader should always make sure people are self-aware, and improving and refining their tactics, even in the moments following a great win or success.

As much as I love and watch soccer and, much more, live for the high-stakes championship games, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before: A coach passionately coaching, correcting, and challenging (?) one of his star players while surrounded by streamers, trophy-presentation preparations, and media encircling them — literally surrounded by the celebratory chaos of their having just won a tournament title.

Related: Lessons Are Everywhere:…

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Ten Things We Learned From Our First Leadership Coaches – Our Teachers – Part 2

May 24, 2019By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on Ten Things We Learned From Our First Leadership Coaches – Our Teachers – Part 2

Leadership Lesson: Hands down, teachers were our very first leadership coaches, pushing us to be curious about the world around us, keeping us accountable to what they knew we could deliver, and trying to make sure the lessons they shared stuck long after the partnership ended.

Continued from Part I

What We Learn About Others

Through this third group of attributes, we learned how to interact with and impact others through the methods and approaches teachers utilized with their students and others. This group builds off of the previous two groups established in Part I of this series — the curiosity foundation and what we learned about ourselves.

Conversation

Teachers have been partners in some…

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Ten Things We Learned From Our First Leadership Coaches – Our Teachers – Part 1

May 17, 2019By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on Ten Things We Learned From Our First Leadership Coaches – Our Teachers – Part 1

Leadership Lesson: Hands down, teachers were our very first leadership coaches, pushing us to be curious about the world around us, keeping us accountable to what they knew we could deliver, and trying to make sure the lessons they shared stuck long after the partnership ended.

Recently, I came across a LinkedIn post in which one of my connections, a school teacher, posted pictures of a letter he had received from a former student. In the letter, the student thanked the teacher, sharing that it was the work of and experience with the teacher that set the writer of the letter on the course where they find themselves today, and how that experience was unmatched by subsequent teachers and professors.

How amazing is that?

Rarely do any of us…

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To 2019! Coach It Out’s Year-End Message: Keep Getting Better!

December 31, 2018By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on To 2019! Coach It Out’s Year-End Message: Keep Getting Better!

Leadership Lesson: Here are some considerations to keep in mind as we move forward into the new year, so we can each keep assessing — and evolving along — our own path of leadership and development.

Another year comes to an end. Another year of accomplishments, maybe some so-so’s, and probably some disappointments and letdowns. What we did in the year likely ran the gamut from happiness-inducing achievements to discouraging misfires. 

And here we are — New Year’s Day, closing in on the finish line of 2018 and the starting line of 2019. Even though New Year’s Day isn’t tangible and visible, and is merely a demarcation set on paper, we typically see it as a new beginning to set resolutions.

New goals. New commitments. New re-commitments. 

We…

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In Working With Others, How Do You Challenge Them To Make Them Better?

November 2, 2018By CiOIn General Leadership, To The BossesComments Off on In Working With Others, How Do You Challenge Them To Make Them Better?

Leadership Lesson: Although leadership is about working to eliminate and minimize environmental, developmental, and mission-related obstacles, making someone or something better in the course of that work, it can’t be fully effective without challenging those who are led.

The leadership of yesteryear – coordinating people to carry out cookie-cutter, repetitive tasks that benefit a mission or organization – is long gone.

Even though most workplaces have evolved past that type of work and mentality, as time goes on, there is even more to leadership than just getting the best results. It’s not only about the task at hand but also about what is built for the future, in both the organization or group or the people carrying out the work.

Leadership is about getting the best out…

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To Get To Your Goals, Your Biggest Disciplinarian Should Be You

June 29, 2018By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on To Get To Your Goals, Your Biggest Disciplinarian Should Be You

Leadership Lesson: You need to be your own disciplinarian if you’re going to break what comes naturally – complacency and comfort — to build forward.

How do you keep yourself in shape? How do you keep everything tight, strong, and flexed, so you are prepared and ready to push through obstacles and achieve what you’re capable of?

No, I don’t mean physically.

I mean goals outside of your physicality. I’m talking about your professional goals, life goals, developmental goals – anything where you want to be better and achieve more.

Desiring more is human nature. People want more. Leaders want more. We all want more. 

But how bad do we want it?

Most people tend to use the words desire and commitment interchangeably. Unfortunately, they believe that wanting…

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Your Leadership Wake: How Do You Guide And Support Others?

March 23, 2018By CiOIn To The BossesComments Off on Your Leadership Wake: How Do You Guide And Support Others?

Leadership Lesson: Leadership is about building others, engaging their best, and challenging them toward their best, to build toward a common goal.

This previous post had broken down the power and influence of leadership impact and introduced this series of posts covering where the wake from a leader’s actions can be observed and felt.

It outlined how a leader — or anyone, for that matter — can create and leave behind a positive, exhausting, or neutral experience for those around them, based on how they approach different areas such as collaboration, communication, and expression.

It asked us to consider what a leader leaves in their wake.

This post is one of many in the series which breaks down a few of the areas in which…

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What Good Is Someone’s World Of Lessons If They Can’t Come Off The Page?

September 15, 2017By CiOIn General Leadership, To The StudentsComments Off on What Good Is Someone’s World Of Lessons If They Can’t Come Off The Page?

Leadership Lesson: To ensure integrity in a lesson, those sharing the lesson should be closely watched to ensure they are living and operating within the parameters and standards they teach to and set for others.

Learning is important. That much is obvious, right? It’s at the core of what developing, creating, and growing in your life, workplace, and career is.

Some people will stop learning by choice. They’ve had their fair share of as much as they can — and would like to — take.

Others see the merit in evolving, changing, and recycling the knowledge, as it’s refined and further developed throughout their life or career back into their environment as a means of strengthening everything around them.

Refining what you learn and putting it out into the environment is not…

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Have You Learned From The Marks Adversity Has Left On Your Journey?

August 11, 2017By CiOIn General LeadershipComments Off on Have You Learned From The Marks Adversity Has Left On Your Journey?

Coaching is an interesting field because it demonstrates how much people don’t know about themselves. Many times, the solutions clients seek are within their reach in their environment, and it is during the coaching process that the client becomes aware of those very tools and how to refine them to serve themselves best.

There are countless times where the client doesn’t know where to look or what to consider. They may doubt themselves or become unsure of their abilities because they compare themselves to other people. One can’t help but look for what is going on in the lives of others, but the thing is that they compare themselves to the apparent and obvious achievements of others.

Most of us don’t take into consideration everything that might…

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In The Course Of Your Leadership, How Do You Pay It Forward?

April 10, 2017By CiOIn General Leadership, To The BossesComments Off on In The Course Of Your Leadership, How Do You Pay It Forward?

So much goes into our leadership and development — in the present, for the future, and from the past.

Years of education and experiences combine to make up who and what we are today. It is up to us to take into consideration what is in our past, to determine what it is that made us who we are, and utilize it to our benefit.

In the course of reinforcing and developing our own leadership, if we’ve had those great and beneficial experiences, we should do two things with them. First, we should learn from them and consider them lessons learned for our future advantage. Second, we need to share those experiences, and their resulting benefits, with others.

We should share those lessons with those…

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What People Teach Us: Travis Kalanick — Temper vs. Leadership

March 1, 2017By CiOIn CiO Briefs, General LeadershipComments Off on What People Teach Us: Travis Kalanick — Temper vs. Leadership

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick posted a “Profound Apology” on the company’s website to atone for or, at least, begin atoning for his behavior in a video which surfaced of him berating an Uber driver, while he was a fare in the man’s car, who had challenged him on the company’s policies which purportedly cost the driver $97,000 in losses.

In the posted apology, Kalanick states “It’s clear this video is a reflection of me – and the criticism we’ve received is a stark reminder that I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up. This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it.”

“…receiving leadership coaching…is no substitute for mental…

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Leadership: What Someone CAN Do Versus What They WANT To Do

October 24, 2016By CiOIn To The BossesComments Off on Leadership: What Someone CAN Do Versus What They WANT To Do

Leadership is powerful. It is gripping. It is influential. It is impactful.

But it can’t be any of those things unless it is harnessed and refined.

And leadership is not only about refining the best in oneself, but seeking out, and tapping into, the best in others.

Most often, an organization might overlook the leadership potential in its members because it doesn’t seem as if some have the potential to lead, influence, or make an impact.

“We, as leaders, can’t deal in the obvious; we need to dig deeper so that other will do the same.”

The problem with that thinking is that, oftentimes, without digging deeper and surveying a person’s drive, what you see on the outside isn’t really indicative of how they can provide value from the…

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So, You Want To Be An Effective Leader. How Are Your Conversational Skills?

September 10, 2016By CiOIn Article, General LeadershipComments Off on So, You Want To Be An Effective Leader. How Are Your Conversational Skills?

Leadership Lesson: Conversations are the fire-starters that get the effectiveness of leadership off the ground, tapping into the resources of the people in the environment, organization, and community.

Contrary to traditional — and misguided — belief, leading is not merely about coming into an environment, picking up the torch and pushing forward.

It is not merely serving as a talking head for all that has been built and laid out before one’s own tenure.

It is not merely continuing what was laid out before one’s arrival, but also building upon and improving it, leaving it better than when the initiative, mission, or effort was taken on.

Leadership is much more than that. It’s much more proactive than that.

Related Post: 

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Never Assume You Can Speak For Others Unless It’s Agreed Upon

January 7, 2016By CiOIn CiO Briefs, General LeadershipComments Off on Never Assume You Can Speak For Others Unless It’s Agreed Upon

It’s always been advised that one should never judge a book by a cover. Hand-in-hand with that advice is the understanding that we should not make assumptions about anything or anyone.

These pieces of advice have as much to do with leadership as they do with surveying one’s entire environment and keeping an open mind as one seeks a familiar, supportive, and safe environment in which to proceed, thrive, and succeed in one’s mission.

“…we should not make assumptions about anything or anyone…”

Two recent, high-profile cases illustrate what can happen (or not happen) when glaring and inaccurate assumptions are made.  These examples illustrate that such presumptions can occur anywhere and to anyone, regardless of the cause, whether that cause works toward peace or aims to shake up the…

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