Why is it that some leaders are able to stretch and build the intelligence, creativity and motivation of their employees, while other leaders seem only to disengage and drain the collective talent found within their teams? That’s the basis of my conversation with leadership researcher and best-selling author Liz Wiseman.

Liz is the president of The Wiseman Group, a research and development firm that conducts research in the field of leadership and collective intelligence. Some of her clients include Nike, Apple, PayPal, Genentech, Dubai Bank, Salesforce.com, and Twitter. Prior to founding her research firm, Liz worked for 17 years at Oracle as the Vice President of Oracle University and the global leaders for Human Resource Development.

In addition to writing for the Harvard Business Review, Liz co-wrote the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter”, which features some of the research she’s done looking at leadership and collective intelligence.

Over the course of our conversation, Liz shares a number of stories and research findings that help to illustrate:

• What’s the “dirty little secret of the corporate world” that we don’t talk about and how it’s impacting employee engagement.
• How “multiplier” leaders stretch and grow talent to increase team productivity, instead of relying on attaining more resources to achieve goals.
• Why leaders need to go “public” with their mistakes to engender team success and building community.
• How encouraging debate can improve both decision-making and employee engagement.
• What “multiplier” leaders do that motivates their employees to do their best work.
• What the research findings into “multiplier” leaders reveals about opportunities to improve our education system in order to create leaders and employees that organizations will need in the years ahead.

Click here to continue reading »”Leadership Biz Cafe Podcast #11 – Liz Wiseman On How Leaders Grow Intelligence”

How can leaders be attentive to those they serve when their time is becoming increasingly fragmented and demands on it growing? How can recognizing the efforts of our employees lead to a sense of purpose and community and with it, a drive towards achieving excellence? These are a few of the topics I discuss with retired CEO and renowned leadership expert Doug Conant in the 10^th episode of my leadership podcast show, “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

For the last 10 years, Doug has served as the President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company, which under his stewawdship was transformed from one of the worst Fortune 500 organizations in terms of employee engagement levels to one of the best.  As a result, Campbell’s experienced not only improved productivity and profitability under his stewardship, but the company also received numerous awards recognizing the organization as one of the best places to work.

Since retiring from Campbell’s in 2011, Doug has remained quite active in the leadership field, both through his speaking engagements and his writings in such publications as the Harvard Business Review. Recently, Doug also accepted a position to serve on the Avon corporate board, in addition to serving on the boards of several charitable and other non-profit organizations.

Doug also co-authored with Mette Norgaard the New York Times bestseller “TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments”.

Over the course of our conversation, Doug and I discuss:

• How leaders can transform daily interruptions into opportunities to help others succeed.
• Why “all leadership models are wrong” and what leaders should use instead.
• The two traits that successful leaders share and use to navigate today’s complex and changing business landscape.
• What a near-fatal accident revealed to Doug about the power of community and fostering a sense of belonging.
• The four needs leaders should address to transform their company into a world-class and enduring organization.

Click here to continue reading »”Leadership Biz Cafe Podcast #10 – Doug Conant On Leadership And Organizational Success”

Among the many responsibilities that come with leadership, one that I’m particularly passionate about is facilitating the learning and growth of those you serve. This was also the focus of last week’s HCI Learning and Leadership Development conference where leaders from a wide range of industries and backgrounds offered their viewpoints and experiences on learning, leadership and fostering growth in your organization.

After attending this conference, I wanted to encapsulate some of the perspectives shared by these presenters, along with some of my own thoughts on what you can do to create a learning environment for your employees and with it, create conditions that will help your organization to evolve and grow in meeting the challenges and needs found in today’s global economy.

1. ‘Focus on behaviours to change culture. Behaviours turn into attitudes, and attitudes become the culture.’ – Bob Bennett, Vice President, Human Resources and CLO Global Organizational Learning Development and Services, FedEx Express

While we might rely on training programs to help inform our employees about what we want to accomplish and how, we have to be mindful of the reality that it’s the behaviours our employees see every day that help to shape their attitudes and understandings of what’s acceptable to those in charge. Although training programs are useful in imparting information and ideas, it’s our daily behaviours that provide the context for those ideas.

The behaviours we exemplify and evoke in others also serves to shape workplace attitudes and with it, the real culture and values found in your organization.

So while training programs are important for distributing information and ideas, it’s critical that Click here to continue reading »”What Leaders Can Do To Encourage Learning And Growth”

As my family, friends and neighbours can attest, celebrating Halloween is a pretty big deal at our house, as seen in the picture above that provides a partial glimpse of what our Halloween display was like this year.

While it may last for only one day, I’ve always approached Halloween as an event that can have a lasting impact, not just on the children in helping to create a fond childhood memory, but on the community at large by providing an opportunity for people to connect, and showing that we care about what matters to the children in our neighbourhood.

When seen from this lens, we can discover a number of actionable steps leaders can implement to foster a sense of community within their organization and with it, measures to ensure that your employees not only succeed, but thrive as members of your organization.

1. Provide opportunities for your employees to interact outside of their roles
Every Halloween, my wife and I take shifts going out trick-or-treating with our kids and staying home to greet the numerous children who visit our Halloween wonderland. We do this because we want to share both the experience of witnessing the children’s reactions to our Halloween display as well as being a part of our daughters’ Halloween experience and memories.

Wandering around our neighbourhood with my daughters as we search for decorated houses, it’s hard not to feel a greater sense of connection with my neighbours as I greet them on the street or thank them for their part in celebrating Halloween with my kids. In many ways, it feels like a neighbourhood party where we go from being strangers to sharing a smile with one another as we watch the kids excitedly parading about in their costume get-ups.

While on most other nights we might not pay attention to those who live down the street from us, Halloween gives us that opportunity to connect and bond over a common goal – of continuing the tradition of creating a special and memorable night where kids can be kids.

In today’s faster-paced workplaces, it’s easy for leaders and their employees to Click here to continue reading »”Building A Sense Of Community To Help Your Organization Thrive”