Management and Leadership

April 22, 2008

Getting Great Results Turning Talent Into Performance:  If you did not see this program live, here are some brief presentation notes

The definition of leadership: Someone following someone because he wants to, not because he has to.

Do you want to be right or effective?
Have you ever been so right that no one would talk to you? If you criticize others’ ideas, they will almost never use yours, no matter how good they are.

Effective leaders drop their judgments:
Everybody knows something you don’t. “I disagree, but I am willing to listen.” Thinking you know everything is proof that you don’t.

Listening skills:
You motivate people by listening to them; compassion and attention create dedication. When people feel heard and not judged, they will do more than just the minimum.

Managing difficult personality styles:
A high percentage of employees with difficult behavior may be getting unintentional negative consequences for doing a good job. Don’t reward an effective employee with someone else’s work.

What great managers know:
People don’t change that much. Look for the value they have now. Don’t manage for the miracle; just because you found one diamond in the rough does not mean you are a magic manager. Some people just suck!

Hiring for talent:
Look for the naturally recurring patterns that are needed to do the job. Some people are very articulate and experienced and yet have no ability. If they ask you to further explain the question you just asked them in an interview, tell them it’s their interpretation that’s important. You will now find out who they really are.

Use attribute assessments:
Stop hiring the talent impaired!

You turn talent into performance by aligning goals with talents.

Management Skills Training Programs


The Fine Art of Shutting Up: Communication Skills

February 4, 2008

I watch the news a lot and I see all these people trying to talk at he same time. Interrupting each other is nothing new, but they used to curb it a bit on TV. I was on TV and hosted radio shows years ago (I still do some Radio from time to time) and not interrupting each other was part of being professional. But now it’s like crazy drunk people at a college party trying to tell their best story. Of course we expect some people to do it; Bill O’Reilly is just an incurable chronic interrupter. He is not so much rude, as he is just psychotically driven to talk while his guest (or victim) is still talking. He makes a good point I guess every now and then but it’s difficult to see his style as effective; and it just makes for low quality, yet some how popular, television.  As a person who likes to talk and someone who has been known to interrupt people myself, I think we need to be aware of what it looks and sounds like to an audience. As a salesperson years ago, I had a boss that told me that I was a great presenter but I talked too much. He said, “As much as you talk you should go into a meeting and try to say nothing. If you do that, I’m sure you will have said just-enough.”

The lesson: What comes out the other person’s mouth means more to them than what comes out of your mouth. (That’s worst sentence I’ve written in 3 years but I think you get my point). If you let people talk you have more control over the outcome of the discussion and you don’t look ridiculous to other people watching/listening to your conversation.

Listening article :: Communication skills training programs :: Transformational leadership information


The Key to Listening to Boring People

November 29, 2007

I know that listening is important but it can be very difficult when you don’t care about what the other person is talking about. We want to care; we have compassion for people and their problems (OK, some of us do practice pathological leadership) but something about what they are saying is losing us at about 5 seconds in. Sometimes it’s the topic: when my wife talks about Yoga I just stop caring. I saw her in front of the TV doing a headstand while wearing a neck brace. Could Yoga be the problem and not the solution? Sometimes we don’t have the time for a low priority issue right before that important conference call. But every now and then it’s the person who is talking. Some people are just boring! Its not their fault I guess; maybe the were raised by boring parents in a boring environment. Our research at Wynn Solutions shows that making sure people feel heard is the foundation of trust. But what I have noticed over the years and what we now teach our clients, is that if you focus on how someone feels (happy, mad, glad, sad or freaked out) while you are listening to them (not just what they say) you are able to hang in their with the people that would normally send you to snoozeville. Also, you retain much more information (regardless of your poor listening skills) and believe it or not, you start to care more about what they are saying. It’s amazing and I highly recommend you try it.

Wynn Solutions training programs


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