Regardless of whether the economy is going well or not, one thing that’s remained consistent in the workplace over the last few decades is the reality that each of us is responsible for managing our careers and with it, the opportunities we obtain for professional growth and development. But how exactly do we obtain these opportunities to get ahead in our career? That’s the focus of my conversation with executive coach and writer Joel Garfinkle in this episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”.

Joel has been recognized as one of the Top 50 leadership coaches in the US, having worked with executives from many leading companies including Oracle, Google, Amazon, Ritz-Carlton, and Gap. He has also been featured in a number of respected media outlets such as ABC News, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.

Joel has written seven books including his latest “Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level” in which he discusses the three key steps you should take to ensure you get those opportunities and promotions you need to move ahead in your career.

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

• How to get over our fear of increasing our visibility at work so we can ensure those in charge are aware of the value of our contributions.
• Why we need to speak up more and share our thoughts and ideas at meetings and the benefits we’ll gain from doing so.
• How we can find out how others perceive us and what we can do to ensure we’re creating the perceptions we need to get ahead.
• The importance and value of getting feedback to help you increase your visibility and influence in your organization.
• What it means to be influential and how it’s not dependent on what title/position you have.

As I mentioned at the end of the show, Click here to continue reading »”Leadership Biz Cafe Podcast #7 – Joel Garfinkle On How To Get Ahead In Your Career”

As this week marks the official start of Spring for most northern countries, I wanted to take the opportunity to revisit an idea I wrote about sometime ago about a seasonal event in these parts and the lessons we can glean from it on leadership and organizational success.

In addition to the appearance of the first seedlings in our gardens, one of the most emblematic symbols of the arrival in Spring in this area is the return of Canada geese flying in V-formation across the sky. Although I’ve discussed the lessons on teamwork and collaboration that we can learn from this seasonal migration, seeing these birds in flight over the weekend brought to mind some additional lessons we can apply in how we serve those we have the responsibility to lead.

1. Encourage your employees to develop their skills
One of the reasons why Canada geese fly in V-formation is in order to help reduce air drag, where the birds at the front essentially reduce the air resistance so that the birds at the back of the flock have an easier time flying.

Naturally, this means that the birds in the front expend the most energy flying and consequently, experience fatigue before the other birds do. This is the reason why this particular bird formation shifts so much as the other birds move up to take the lead, giving the birds who were flying at the front a chance to rest and recuperate.

It’s a smart strategy as it not only allows the birds to share the workload, but it also ensures that the flock is not dependent on a few strong birds to help them fly over the great distances of their migratory path.

When it comes to managing your team or organization, Click here to continue reading »”A Springtime Leadership Lesson From The Birds”

These days, it seems all of us are grappling with an increasing number of distractions popping up during our workday. While some can be trivial or annoying, others can turn out to be more pressing and demanding a shift in our focus and attention. It’s the latter that I’ve been dealing with and which gave rise to the thoughts below on how we might better address this fracturing of our time, focus, and attention.

Over the last few days, my girls – and as is inevitably the case, my wife and myself – have been fighting off a bad case of the flu. While taking care of the kids when they get sick is par for the course in parenthood, it can still be a major disruption to one’s work planning and schedule. And although it’s easy for others to sympathize with how such distractions can impact your productivity and focus, it doesn’t change the fact of how it can still be frustrating to see the workload increase because of your diminished capacity.

Of course, this is the very nature of distractions – they distract us from accomplishing what we originally set out to do, by pulling our attention away to other tasks than the one we wanted to complete. As I tried to juggle the demands of work, kids and trying to fight off this bug myself, I came to recognize the following truths we all have to grapple with in this growing sea of distractions: Click here to continue reading »”3 Truths About Keeping Our Focus In A Sea of Distractions”

When it comes to what we communicate to our employees, few messages have as much impact as offering words of praise to those we lead. The importance of praise to an organization’s success has been shown in numerous studies performed by management experts, psychologists, and neurologists. One study even demonstrated how just saying ‘thank you’ to your employees can lead to an increase in productivity and employee engagement.

Of course, even without the empirical evidence proffered by these various studies, most of us understand the value of praise and its potent ability to serve as a positive motivator/driver for action. So if we’ve read the studies and/or are familiar from our own personal experiences and education about the importance of praise, why then aren’t leaders communicating it more to those under their stewardship?

In most cases, the easy culprit to pin the blame on is the increasing number of distractions now on our collective radars, or the stresses brought on by trying to navigate a global economy that’s in perpetual flux. But is this lack of praise really do to external factors, or is it perhaps more a reflection of how we communicate praise to those we lead or work side by side with?

Is it not possible that in most cases, what we’re seeing is not a lack of praise being offered but a lack of effectiveness in relaying that message in a manner that is meaningful to the person we’re giving it to?

If so, how do we make sure we’re effective in giving praise to our employees so that they do understand how much we value and appreciate their contributions to our shared purpose?

In the article “The Power of Praise in Business — and How to Do it Right”, a number of suggestions are offered on how to improve the way you give praise to your employees. While there are many good points, perhaps the most important Click here to continue reading »”Are You Effective In Giving Praise To Your Employees?”