Strategic Leadership or Strategic Management?

A while back I heard Carly Fiorina differentiate managing from leading by saying, “Managers produce results within existing constraints and conditions. Leaders change or challenge existing constraints or conditions.” As I closed the last post that worked through a practical approach...

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Team Leadership Skills

To this point, we’ve dug into HOW teamwork really can make the dream work in our organizations and we looked at a few core competencies we’ll need to develop for effective team leadership. Now it’s time we really hash out exactly what skills we need to apply on a daily basis if...

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Life, Liberty, and Equal Treatment?

Before we turn the corner and begin working through some skills we can each hone to lead our teams more effectively, and in turn yield higher engagement and stronger profit margins, let’s circle back to where I left off last time after my time on the ole soap box about being countable...

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Good or Bad, Teams Rally Around This…

If we were having this conversation face to face, I’m guessing you’d reply to what I shared last time by saying something like, “Alright Wes, if everything really does rise and fall on leadership, but you’re telling me it requires more than the carrot and stick status-quo,...

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Everything Rises and Falls On…

OK, so maybe teamwork can make the dream work with regards to helping drive profitability in our organizations… And maybe employee engagement and teamwork are directly correlated with one another… But how do these fairly fluffy ideas become reality and who’s responsible for...

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Accountability; the “Something Extra”…

If we want the kind of accountability we’ve been looking at to this point to have a cascading effect throughout our organizations, and to completely avoid being part of the current social status-quo of unaccountability, leading by example and holding our teams to high (but attainable)...

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Focused on We, Not Just Me…

I closed last time by referencing one of the most powerful quotes I’ve ever heard from John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” I remember sharing that quote with the manager I reported to several years ago when he complained about an issue in the facility we...

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Personal Accountability Doesn't Equal Team Accountability!

Let’s think back to something that was part of what I shared last time from Lack of Accountability in the Workplace is Expensive, Fix It, “As a leader, it’s your job to create an environment in which everyone should come to work every single day and do what they do best.”

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What’s the Real Cost and Who Can Fix It?

Last time I mentioned the six areas, per a Culture.io article, that are impacted when team members aren’t held accountable. I won’t hash out all of those here but I will touch on some very specific costs I’ve seen related to just two of those…

A disengaged workforce,...

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Responsibility and Accountability in Leadership

So the lack of accountability that we’re seeing more and more frequently across what seems like all sectors of society isn’t all that new, but I absolutely believe it’s becoming more acceptable! But even with the examples we’ve looked at to this point, is it really a big...

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Employee Engagement Strategies

If you’re still on the fence as to whether or not employee engagement has a real financial impact on your business, or even your department within a business, take one more look at just the low numbers I shared recently… Now it’s time to dig into some things we can each do to...

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Whose Job Is It Anyway?

Think back to the comment I shared recently that a fellow had made on a LinkedIn article I published, “most CEOs continue to sit on the sidelines and let HR wack away at the problem.” All too often, employee engagement - and anything that’s done within an organization to address...

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