When asked at a corporate retreat to detail his biggest challenge as a senior level executive, an esteemed colleague recently shared with me that he was literally brought to tears of frustration as he described his efforts to connect and inspire his younger workforce.

Turnover from this segment was at an all-time high and it was severely affecting morale, production and leadership.

This scenario is happening all over the world. Millennials currently represent 30% of our workforce and will grow to over 40% by 2020. This issue will only exapand in importance. The press has written about this generation as the “Me Generation.” There are more similarities in values than one may think between generations; it is the order and priorities using these values in their lives that are different.

Here are three suggestions to engage differently with your Millennial workforce. If you want to gain a competitive edge, reduce turnover costs (and your frustration level), keep reading!

• Create a plan. Seek outside expertise if necessary to create a strategic approach to this human capital issue. Address it like a budget issue, capital project, operational issue, or other business system. Also, please include your Human Resource people…and remember - this is a leadership issue, not an HR issue.
• Ask your Millennials to weigh in. Get a better understanding of what the expectations are from your people. Asking during an exit interview is too late to salvage your investment in that person. So be proactive! Many times the solutions are within an organization. All we must do is ask for it.
• This is a worldwide epidemic in business as more boomers retire and Millennials move in to fill the ranks. Coaching as a management style has never been more important than it is right now. Seek coaching training for your leaders.

Transform your culture to create buzz with Millennials as an organization that “gets it.”

This requires a different mindset in how we lead. Having a coaching professional to help you see things differently...asking provocative questions of the entire organization, stimulates new thinking. This shift leads to quicker solutions.

Remember, all business problems are people problems!

It is a new world. It is changing rapidly. It will not be “the way it was” ever again. By acknowledging these things and creating a plan to engage Millennials differently, you will be out in front as the trend setter with this vital segment of the workforce. Your turnover costs will drop and company morale will rise…not to mention your life will get a whole lot better when you are not frustrated to tears.

Are your Millennials bringing YOU to tears? Please leave your comments below. 



This program will help you become an even better leader!

     Coaching In The Workplace



© 2014 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

 

This is secretly one of the biggest fears of executives.  I know it was one of mine...the fear of being “found out” or exposed as the fraud I felt I was. 

What would happen if people found out that:

• I didn’t always have all the answers? 
• I didn’t always know what to do next?
• I was flying by the seat of my pants, hoping I was making the right decisions? 

To cope, I spent so much of my time being busy; juggling all the balls, hoping one wasn’t going to drop. Pretending that I was ten feet tall and bullet proof.  Trying to be everything to everybody so that I didn’t let anyone down.

• I was exhausted.
• I was scared.
• I was worried.
• I was fried…

Sound familiar?

I accomplished this juggling act for a great many years until one day I looked in the mirror and I said “you’re a fraud.”  I realized at that moment that I was living my life on other people’s terms, working for their desired outcomes, not mine.  

On the outside I looked like I had it all together.  I had built a wonderful reputation as someone who gets things done. I had built strong teams and developed relationships with peers that are still thriving to this day.  I created what I thought was confidence through lofty accomplishments. 

What I know now is all of that “stuff” was external to me.  I built a life that was external to who I am.  Everything my life was built on was based on my ego, my need to prove my worth. Oh, don’t forget the all important people pleasing that I was a champ at.

I was slowly but surely losing myself in the life I was building.  Day in and day out I was giving more of myself, emptying the tank.  If I hadn’t recognized this fact that lonely day in front of the mirror, I’m not sure where I would be today.

If this resonates with you in any way, then slow down and think...

When was the last time you spent any time in front of the mirror of your life?  I’m not talking about brushing your teeth, shaving or putting on your makeup.  I’m talking about really taking a look at yourself and the life you have built.  

When was the last time you asked yourself:

• Is this my life or is it someone else’s?  
• Am I operating from a place of personal integrity?
• Will I look back on my life with pride or regret?

If you are living this life like it’s truly yours, great! Keep building it.  If it’s someone else’s, don’t you think it’s about time you gave it back?

*******************************************************

Ever feel like an imposter, a fraud? Please leave your comments below. Let’s get this discussion out in the open!

And...

Did you know that all the way to the end of his illustrious career Jack Welch felt like an imposter? You’re in good company...



This program will help you become an even better leader!

     Coaching In The Workplace



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

Are you really clear about what you want?

• Have you made a list?
• Have you set goals?
• Have you visualized your desires as being achieved already?

Thought so…

The odds were with me on this one.

You see…

• Only 3% of people set goals.

3%.

And, it gets better…

• Only 1% review their goals daily.

1%.

And the percentage of people who actually visualize achieving their goals?

Smaller than my mind can grasp (that means I couldn’t find research to back up any number).    ;-)

This is GREAT NEWS!

“What!,” you say?

It’s true…

Think about it for a moment…

If you actually crystallize your goals,

Then write them down,

Then visualize achieving them each day…

Guess what?

You will be at the top of the class!

You will do what most others don’t!

And, most importantly…

You will achieve all that you want!

And it starts with…

• Thinking the thoughts.
• Writing the thoughts down.
• “Seeing” the thoughts coming true.

You can carve out 5 minutes each day in order to achieve your dreams, right?

Thought so.

I just knew that you wanted to be a 1%-er!

I can “see” your desires coming true already…



This program will help you become a 1%-er!

     Coaching In The Workplace



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

Truly...Are you dying to leave a good legacy?

Want to know how to do it?

So many of my clients are at the stage of their lives where their focus is on leaving a good legacy.  Isn’t this what all of us want? To be remembered fondly...to make an impact...to build something.

While these are very admirable goals (and ones that I find myself thinking of often), I have discovered that leaving a legacy means something slightly different for everyone. 

Most of us focus on building and creating so that when we are gone people remember us.  We focus on the external...not the internal.

What do people actually remember about us after we have moved on?  

Do they remember what we did...or who we were?

One of my clients mentioned that some of the most memorable individuals within the organization were not necessarily the top performers. The reason they are memorable is because they are a nice person who is kind to everyone. It’s about who they are vs. what they do.

Hmmm...

While this seems crazy to those of us who are driven to slay the big dragons, there may be something to this.

Leaving a legacy isn’t just about doing something, it is about being someone.  People don’t just remember what you did...they remember how you did it, and who you were while doing it. 

Legacy is about who you are being while accomplishing your tasks, it’s about interpersonal relationships. It’s about having an impact on the way people think. 

Life is so much bigger than our need to prove our worth...so much bigger than controlling a business outcome...so much bigger than just the bottom line. 

Life is really about being an inspiration to those around you through your actions.

Ask yourself:

• Who are you being each day? 
• What imprint are you leaving on others? 
• How do you make your contribution?

I have yet to attend a funeral where work accomplishments were the main focus. 

I know I want my eulogy to be about the positive impact I was able to make in people’s lives – and not just the bottom line. 

How about you?

Start to think about life as your vehicle to express who you truly are and the positive ripple effect you leave when you walk out of a room.  If your actions connect with another and inspire them in any way, you have left a positive legacy. 

You are leaving a legacy every single day of your life...in every moment. What legacy do you want to leave...starting today?

Quick…

What one skill is the most important for a manager?

Are you sure?...

It’s coaching!

What about all the technical stuff? Spreadsheets, product knowledge, etc.?

It ALL takes a back seat to coaching.  Here’s why…

Human Capital (your people) is more important than all of the technical stuff combined. They are your most important asset. They are the biggest line item of your budget. Shouldn’t you treat them as the most precious asset that they are?

Huh? Have you really thought about that? Better start thinking now…

Because, according to a recent poll:

• 51% of your best people are actively looking for another job! The simple truth is that if you coached them they wouldn’t be.

• According to a recent Gallop Poll, employee engagement levels in North America are an abysmal 30%.

How much money do you think that is costing your firm?

• In the U.S. alone it’s costing organizations $360 BILLION a year!

Coaching can help with all of these issues…and if you have coaching skills it can help you look like a rock star!

According to a recent Harvard survey, "Coaching skills for managers is the most important skill required for success in the next 10 years."

Got it?

Now, what are you going to do about it?  It’s only your career…

 

This program can help! Coaching In The Workplace



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

A colleague recently forwarded an article to me from the Financial Times online site FT.com entitled, “Stanford Research Finds Chief Executives Want Training,” written by Adam Palin, (August 1, 2013).

I read the one page summary with increasing agitation.

Highlights included:

• Nearly two-thirds of high level executives do not receive coaching or leadership advice from those outside their organizations.
• This despite 100% of executives involved in the research project “enjoy some type of coaching.”

Huh? Two-thirds don’t get coached but 100% of them enjoy it???

The findings reported in this particular article match the plethora of similar reports I have recently read in such varied sources as Inc. and Psychology Today…just within the month.

Often the reports comment on how important high level executives think coaching or advising is for their executive team – and yet, two-thirds aren’t getting that type of unbiased, larger perspective advising themselves.

So, why the agitation?  I had to stop and really think about why this ticked me off…

• I was not agitated at my colleague for forwarding the article.
• I certainly was not agitated at the reported findings, all of which promoted my chosen field of endeavor quite positively.
• My agitation arose from a question – “If executives value coaching and leadership advice so much, why aren’t more seeking it out?”  Why this “vacuum of I?”

What needs to occur for the headline to read: “100% Of Leaders Currently Using the Guidance of Executive Coaches?”

I chafe at the continuing bombardment of cultural communication focused upon reporting the status quo – the environment, economy, education – you name it.  The focus is very, very rarely on the action – just the “state of things.” Sadly, it’s as if we have become fixated on watching, with fewer and fewer of us actually taking action.

Regrettably it seems to be the case with many leaders too.

Why are “the best of the best,” not seeking outside guidance?  How can these leaders consider that a sound leadership approach?

Every individual must lead self (and others) to hers or his highest potential…a potential never achieved within the “vacuum of I.”

 

Do you know leaders who are living in the “vacuum of I?” If so, what can you do about it? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.



© 2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

Leadership requires a wide range of skills, understanding, and awareness. And it starts with an objective personal assessment of all of these.

As we look to organizations, we do so with the understanding that in every organization there is a current “leadership lid.”  Nothing brings forward the current leadership’s lid as much as change does.

Leadership is often made or broken by the trials of experiencing change. Leaders rarely acknowledge the toll that leading change takes on them personally. The personal impact can be enormous.

Executives find a way to adapt to new business situations such as establishing a start-up, growing a business, negotiating mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, or restructuring. Yet many are ill equipped to deal with the obvious personal dimension of executive leadership, especially when faced with change. Thankfully, there are preparations that one can take to ensure success.

Before we embrace change we must look objectively at ourselves by asking some tough questions:

• How do I limit the organization? 
• Does my current view of my leadership team limit their progress?
• What blind spots of mine are hindering the organization’s performance?
• What personality characteristics of mine hurt the organization as it faces change?

Questions such as these are necessary to develop our own internal understanding of how well we will lead others through change. 

It is about nurturing our ability to get beyond our own set of thinking, which is based on experience…and may not be steeped in reality.

Stop and ask yourself: How well am I leading through change and what is the impact it is having on me personally?

A common assumption is that a leader can go through a “change” and not be affected by it. This is simply not the case. 

The rules of the game are uncertain and may have to be developed along the way. As the context and assumptions of the situation are changing, understanding and clarifying our habitual behaviors is critical. 

Factors such as mission, initiatives, goals, and priorities will ensure that the basis of the change is appropriate and that it does indeed solve the “right problems.” Many organizational changes are initiated based on false assumptions and understanding – our blind spots. These surface due to a lack of personal awareness.

A leader’s primary role must therefore be to test and validate that the changes will lead to an improved state…for all parties, not just themselves.

The leader that aspires to lead change must often be the first to be transformed in order to lead the change in question. He or she must also assess how their mind-set will have to be transformed by the very change that they are expecting others to experience. At an emotional and visceral level, they must be able to understand how this change will impact themselves before they attempt to lead others through it.

Leaders must have a strong sense of self-awareness prior to leading any change initiative. Knowing one’s strengths and constraints can create a conviction of informed optimism that can infect, motivate, and mobilize others. In contrast, those who plunge head long without a deliberate personal change plan will often find themselves questioning their abilities and commitment in the midst of the change…as will those whom they lead.

Identify your blinds spots and change yourself first in order to help lead others through change. It’s your duty as a leader.

To your continued success!



©2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.

It is with great pride that we announce our latest coaching program- Coaching in the Workplace™.

Click here to get more details.

Our goal has always been to help spread the amazing benefits of coaching in the workplace. This program takes tools and resources used by thousands of people in 36 countries, and packages them for use in any organization. This course represents many years of work perfecting tools that truly can help transform an organization.

This program is for executives, HR professionals, managers, and coaches. It is designed as a self study course that you can take on your schedule.

If your organization has any issues with turnover, absenteeism, employee engagement, or any other Human Capital related challenges, then this course is for you.

According to Gallop (and other leading survey firms) here are the workplace realities…which coaching, and this program specifically, can help with:

• 75% of people wished they had a different job.
• 51% of “A” workers are actively looking for a different job.
• Worker productivity is only at 33%.
• Lack of engagement costs U.S. businesses over $385 BILLION a year!
• 80% of people NEVER use their greatest gifts at work.

Coaching can address all of these issues…in fact; it may well be the ONLY thing that can cure these workplace “ills.”

If you don’t have a coaching strategy in your organization, we can guarantee you one thing—these statistics will not go down…

Coaching is the “cure.” Isn’t it time you used coaching to focus on your most important asset…your people?

Click here to enroll or to get more details.

Do you spend a great deal of energy trying to make things perfect?

You can’t let go of this project until it’s perfect...

You can’t have this discussion until your comments are perfectly rehearsed...

You can’t move forward until you know how it will all play out... 

Really? 

How much of your energy is spent thinking, and re-thinking, about the action you want to take?  How much time are you wasting working toward perfection?

Has being perfect become an excuse for you? Perfection can move from a need, to a wonderful excuse for not moving forward, in the blink of an eye.  Lack of perfectionism isn’t about being lazy or doing things half way, it’s about understanding the natural progression some things take.  How are we possibly going to know how a situation will play out unless we make our first move?

If you are spending too much time analyzing and rehashing the situation, you are stuck in your thinking mind.  This loop will create zero momentum.   Step out of your thinking mind and connect to your higher vision...and take inspired action!

Inspired action is based upon trust. Trust in your instincts. Trust in your talent. Trust in the fact that everything will be o.k. Take action based upon knowing these things.

Our thinking mind, the one that loves perfection, can truly limit your grow---and success. Yes, you may fail at some things. Yet you will never have any chance of success unless you take action. Any action equals progress.

And remember, there is really no such thing as being perfect. Be perfectly happy knowing that.

To your continued success!

My daughter and I share a love of Greek and Roman mythology. We are currently reading “The Mark of Athena,” the third installment of Rick Riordan’s “The Heroes of Olympus.”  It is such great material and rich with modern interpretations of the stories.

Percy Jackson, a demigod (son of Poseidon and a mortal) and one of the main heroes in the book series, is confronted with a particularly challenging quest.  Following a confrontation with another demigod in which Percy very well could have been killed, he begins to question his power…and himself. Eerily like many leaders in top organizations I work with on a daily basis. 

“Percy didn’t feel powerful.  The more heroic stuff he did, the more he realized how limited he was.  He felt like a fraud. ‘I’m not as great as you think,’ he wanted to warn his friends. Maybe that’s why he had started to fear suffocation.  It wasn’t so much drowning in the earth or the sea, but the feeling that he was sinking into too many expectations, literally getting in over his head.”

When I read Percy’s rumination I flashed back to a conversation I had with a CEO of an organization last year. Much of the business’s growth had been meteoric and his “reputation” had grown with similar speed -- to almost cult like proportions.

His ego reveled in being held in such high regard, but through our discussions he acknowledged he was quaking inside, “Just waiting for them to see who I really am and for it all to fall apart!”

As his external world seemed to improve his internal world deteriorated. This leader found himself closing down and trying to control more and more.  He was less open to comments from his executive team, often making unilateral decisions without consulting them.  He discounted information that he did not agree with. He was cutting himself off -- suffocating himself!

He began to lose touch with the values that anchored his initial success, replacing them with others’ expectations. His compass no longer pointed to his “true north,” and he began to lose his way.

We see it constantly in the news -- General Patraeus, Eliot Spitzer, and the Secret Service detail in Columbia, to name just a few leaders (or those considered leaders in their field). They drowned in others’ expectations or projections of greatness, leading to poor judgment and a belief to some extent of being “above the law.”

When a CEO (or any leader) loses their way, it has a ripple effect throughout the organization, their family, and their entire community! The collateral damage is immense.

Who else do you know who responds to feelings of vulnerability and inadequacy with greater levels of denial, self-importance, and constriction?  We all know someone who fits that profile...they might even be staring at us in the mirror in the morning.

The remedy is a loving, tough, trusting, outside advisor. A person who calls it like they see it and says the things that a person often doesn’t want to hear. Luckily, Percy Jackson had his demigod friends as trusted advisors to help him find his way.

Who do you have?

Commit to getting your own advisor (it could be an executive coach, a mentor, or a trusted friend), or you may run the risk of becoming a self destructive high performer. Leadership is a challenging path that all of us need help navigating. Make sure that you have a support system that will keep you from a path like Percy’s.

Oh, and that CEO I had the discussion with…he’s still looking for work.


©2013 and beyond Executive Coaching University. All rights reserved.