Imagine what it would be like to arrive at work and have a manageable number of strategic projects on your to-do list. These projects would be challenging and thought-provoking. Making progress would have a positive impact on your team, your business, and your customers.
April 5, 2024 | By Living As A Leader
“Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.”—Alvin Toffler, writer and futurist
As we start a new year, it’s easy to anticipate all sort of uncertainty and change on the horizon.
March 8, 2024 | By Living As A Leader
February 8, 2024 | By Living As A Leader
The simple act of saying thank you at work does not come naturally to all leaders.
When someone is put in a leadership position, the focus is often on developing processes, outcomes, and goals. But in that focus, the human element of appreciation can get lost.
November 3, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
Growing Your Leadership Resources with Social Media Social media has erupted in our culture as an essential tool in our daily lives.
October 13, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
What happened to the 40 hour work week? In the post-pandemic world, changes to the standard work week have accelerated.
September 15, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
The amount that companies spend on talent development varies, but as a general rule of thumb, businesses should aim to spend at least 1% of their revenue on talent development, according to Inc Magazine.
July 28, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
The idea of “quiet quitting” has made headlines. The concept means that workers may stick around in a job but “quit” trying to get ahead or go above and beyond.
April 28,2023 | By Living As A Leader
The chorus of resignations that started during the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased, with millions of American workers turning in their resignation papers. There are no signs of it stopping – 4 in 10 workers are considering quitting in the next 3-to-6 months, according to a new report from McKinsey and Co.
March 16, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
The workplace has seen almost unprecedented churn in the last few years, which has been described as a Great Resignation or a Great Reshuffle. Whatever you call it, the data is clear: A record-setting number of people are leaving their jobs.
February 9, 2023 | By Living As A Leader
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It’s helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” – Tim Gallwey
February 17, 2022 | By Living As A Leader
The numbers show that employees want change. Data from the federal government shows that people are quitting their jobs at a record rate, with each month shattering the previous high. There’s no end in sight.
January 20, 2022 | By Living As A Leader
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that problems can come at leaders fast and furious. Often, there’s no perfect solution in these complex situations, but the problems still need attention and can’t be ignored.
December 2, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Gratitude has the power to transform difficult situations into meaningful work. It can energize both the giver and receiver of gratitude. And it can be its own reward.
November 4, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Work is undergoing its biggest transformation in decades –– and as a result people are re-evaluating what they want out of their careers.
October 14, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
The most effective workers know how to hold themselves accountable for results. Because of this skill, they become successful and get promoted to positions of leadership.
September 16, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
The best leaders realize that learning never ends. There are always opportunities to grow your skills like listening to your team, providing valuable feedback and balancing accountability with inspiration.
September 2, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Over the past year, working long hours from home or staying late and coming in on weekends has pushed many to the brink of burnout. We all, collectively, need a break
August 19, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Having a sense of autonomy is one of the key motivators at work.
August 5, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
July 15, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
For those starting out in their career, here are fundamentals to help create a foundation for leadership growth.
July 1, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Change is in the air, and not only because summer has arrived.
June 17, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Training is just a starting point. Real learning requires something more.
May 20, 2021 | By John Rutkiewicz
We honor Mother’s Day with leadership wisdom from inspiring women.
For most of us, Mom was one of our very first leaders.
May 6, 2021 | By John Rutkiewicz
The images in your head rarely match the reality on the ground.
There are still many persistent myths about leadership, based on stereotypes about how a CEO should act or run a company.
April 22, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Take inventory and throw out what you don’t need anymore.
There is undeniable satisfaction in being able to toss a hole-y pair of socks that you haven’t worn in years. But the value of spring cleaning isn’t just getting rid of old things –– it’s about making space for what’s really important.
April 8, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
Lessons learned from navigating loss and starting over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
One year ago this month, life looked completely different. It’s still hard to fathom how much the world changed overnight, and how much workplaces transformed –– perhaps forever changed.
March 18, 2021 | By Living As A Leader
We all have times when we get frustrated by what’s going on around us at work. Our frustrations and concerns can negatively impact our workplace satisfaction and productivity.
Learn how choosing your “inner-circles” can help you handle frustrating work changes.
January 28, 2021 | By John Rutkiewicz
Often, when we ask leaders what they struggle with in their role, they share, “I don’t know how to motivate people.” Showing your employees that you care is one of the most effective ways to improve employee productivity and retention, and inspire and motivate them.
Here are five ways you can demonstrate to your employees that you care… without feeling like you’re “Coddling” them.
December 17, 2020 | By Aleta Norris
It’s easy to confuse coaching with confronting an employee, but not knowing the crucial differences can damage feelings, morale and productivity, and ultimately, cause valuable people to leave your organization. (Includes Bonus Infographic)
October 22, 2020 | By Rick Piraino
As a leader you must be mindful and intentional in leading from afar. “Out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t work well if you want to keep your remote workers engaged and productive. Here are 6 strategies to manage remote teams:
August 20, 2020 | By Patrice McGuire
According to research from Harvard Business School, among the happiest employees, 95 percent say that their managers are good at providing positive feedback.
Here’s the catch: Positive feedback needs to be sincere or it loses its effect.
Here are four ways to sincerely give positive feedback and praise to your employees.
April 23, 2020 | By John Rutkiewicz
At Living As A Leader, we teach a workshop in our Leadership Development Series known as The Seven Most Common Mistakes Leaders Make.
These mistakes aren’t the “rookie” mistakes we all make from time to time. These are mistakes that are made over and over, no matter how long we’ve been leading.
Today we are going to talk about the #1 most common leadership mistake we encounter in our work at Living As A Leader…
January 9, 2020 | By Cindy Jansen
Emerging talent within our organizations are not enamored with the formal, once-a-year-let’s-cover-everything-for-as-far-back-as-we-can-remember conversation.
Regular, ongoing, even-informal coaching conversations are more the style of today.
Here’s an easy way to start a regular habit of coaching your employees.
December 12, 2019 | By Patrice McGuire
People want to win. It’s energizing. It’s motivating. There’s a difference in energy and focus when we’re playing a game for fun and when we’re really keeping score. Here are three things to keep in mind as you think about developing scoreboards for yourself and with your team.
November 14, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
The popularity of personality quizzes and character assessments is evident. Check your social media news feed and you're sure to see someone sharing a link to a quiz. Let's look at an assessment that not only provides fascinating personal insight, it can also be used to better understand others.
October 24, 2019 | By Glenn Marczewski
What do you do if you’re having an uncomfortable conversation with your employee and they get mad, blame someone else, deny what you say or start crying? Here is how to handle these four predictable, not-so-great employee reactions to your candid, not-very-comfortable conversation.
October 3, 2019 | By Aleta Norris
If you identify your most important projects, goals and initiatives, but you don’t make time for them, nothing changes. You’re still trapped in the whirlwind of too much “stuff” to do and the feelings of exasperation, futility and stress that often come with it.
September 12, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
It's time to rethink the phrase "curiosity killed the cat," if you want to advance in your career, instill trust and respect in your employees, support breakthroughs in innovation in your organization and improve productivity.
September 7, 2018 | By Nancy Lewis
Many years ago, on what started as a typical Monday, I was summoned to the company auditorium of my employer along with a couple of hundred other managers. Little did I know, the lives of so many were about to change dramatically and unexpectedly.
August 22, 2019 | By Patrice McGuire
August 8, 2019 | By Nancy Lewis
John Rutkiewicz shares what he has found to be the greatest risk to our organizations. It’s not a lack of strategy, passion or commitment.
July 11, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
You’ve tried adding a foosball table, paying for monthly escape room outings and sports events for your team and increasing 401(k) matching. You still can’t figure out why your employees quit…
June 20, 2019 | By Glenn Marczewski
You've undoubtedly heard the saying, "Leaders are readers," and most of us have read the great leadership classics by authors Steve Covey, Dale Carnegie and Sun Tzu. Here are two of this year's must-read books from authors that are bringing the latest in practical, transformational advice for leaders.
June 13, 2019 | By Aleta Norris
Leaders at all levels often struggle when they need to have accountability conversations with employees. Perhaps you have an employee who isn’t meeting performance expectations. You have several conversations with this individual and their performance hasn’t gotten better.
May 23, 2019 | By Patrice McGuire
Leadership requires you to mindfully drive change in ways that engage, motivate and provide deeper enjoyment for your people.
May 16, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
Whether you’re in the research phase of evaluating and choosing a leadership development training program or looking to replace or update your current training provider, you can save a lot of time, money and frustration by avoiding these common mistakes.
May 9, 2019 | By Glenn Marczewski
The other day, a leader I coach – we’ll call him Jim – said to me: “My boss gives broad direction about what I’m supposed to accomplish, but she doesn’t give details about what she wants to see. At the end of December, she said, ‘Next year, I want you to increase distributor sales.’ “What am I supposed to do with that?”
April 18, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
One of the top reasons many people still leave their company is because of their boss. So what do you do if you struggle with “managing your manager?”
April 11, 2019 | By Glenn Marczewski
Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year. It undergirds and affects the quality of every relationship. Trusting someone means that you think they are reliable, you have confidence in them and you feel safe with them, both physically and emotionally. Trust means confidence.
April 4, 2019 | By Nancy Lewis
In this blog, Aleta Norris shares seven small nuggets that make a big difference for improving the employee experience and increasing the likelihood that they will (happily) stay with your company for years to come.
March 14, 2019 | By Aleta Norris
In the Harvard Business Review article, “Your Coaching Is Only as Good as Your Follow-Up Skills,” it states: “No matter how successful a coaching session feels while it’s underway, if it doesn’t lead to change after it’s over, it hasn’t been effective.” Often, employee agreements to achieve goals or make change represent goodwill but not good strategy.
March 7, 2019 | By Rick Piraino
Leadership isn’t about pushing people, trying to make them do your bidding. Leadership is about pull – pulling people along with you. The real leadership question is: Will others WANT to follow you?
February 21, 2019 | By John Rutkiewicz
Training teams to work well together requires more time and depth than trust falls, ropes and challenges courses or “Silly Hat” exercises can provide. What does it take to stop leadership team dysfunction and help employees work together better?
February 14, 2019 | By Glenn Marczewski
Knowledge transfer is becoming increasingly more critical as more and more veterans and baby boomers retire. Here’s how your company can plan for succession – even when it’s unexpected.
February 7, 2019 | By Nancy Lewis
Want to know one simple but effective secret to gaining the respect of your employees, reducing the chances they’ll look for another job, thus reducing turnover and improving productivity?
January 24, 2019 | By Patrice McGuire
Want to know what it takes to get promoted to a leadership position and be an effective leader? Aleta Norris shares six tips to land (and keep) the big promotion.
January 17, 2019 | By Aleta Norris
Leadership puts us on a public stage where our worst, as well as our best service, is on display. The places where we are not at our best may stand out to us in greater contrast and pinpoint areas for our ongoing development. If you want to be a better leader, you must turn from self-serving ways and learn the role of sacrifice.
January 3, 2019 | By Rick Piraino
Forget the “golden rule.” Do this instead to create better relationships and have more impact in life, work, and your relationships.
December 20, 2018 | By John Rutkiewicz
The performance review conversation can be challenging, both for you as a leader, as well as for the employee. The employee may feel defensive and become argumentative or even emotional. Because of this, leaders tend to avoid addressing unmet expectations. Here are seven tips for conducting the performance review conversation.
December 13, 2018 | By Glenn Marczewski
Living As A Leader co-founder Nancy Lewis shares tips on how leaders can prevent and stop bullying from occurring in the workplace. Keep reading for a free six-step guide to communicating with difficult employees.
December 6, 2018 | By Nancy Lewis
Aleta Norris shares twelve of the most common reasons employees start looking for another job and what it takes to keep good employees from leaving.
November 15, 2018 | By Aleta Norris
As author Shawn Achor stated in his TED talk, “If happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. We've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon, as a society. And that's because we think we have to be successful, then we'll be happier." This week we look at a paradigm shift that brings happiness before achievement, leading to measurably greater success.
November 8, 2018 | By Rick Piraino
Without feedback, you can’t fully know the impact you’re having on those you lead. You can’t know whether your actions, behaviors and “leadership style” are hitting the mark and resonating with your people, so they’re positioned to give you their best. And what’s scariest of all, without feedback, your tendency will be to think everything is just fine. But you might be fooling yourself.
November 1, 2018 | By John Rutkiewicz
Family dynamics and a lack of intentional planning around succession pose unique challenges for family-owned businesses. Here are 5 keys to improving culture for the benefit of your employees and your family's legacy.
October 18, 2018 | By Patrice McGuire
Like many of you, I was blessed with a seven-year pseudo career as a parent soccer coach from 1997 – 2004. I remember, frequently, turning to an assistant coach or reaching out to a player with the comment, “Remember, we’re not going to do that.” I paid as much attention to conduct and behavior as I did to skill and finesse.
October 11, 2018 | By Aleta Norris
Continuing on from “The Two Oars of Leadership,” John explains how to practice the balance between focusing on people and results.
September 27, 2018 | By John Rutkiewicz
In part one of a two-part series, Leadership Coach and Facilitator John Rutkiewicz lays out a blended, balanced approach to leadership that marries the needs of your team with your need for business results.
September 20, 2018 | By John Rutkiewicz
In this week’s post, Rotate the Bald Tire, we discuss how negative, toxic employees can do a lot of damage to your company and we provide a path to handle these challenging coworkers.
September 13, 2018 | By Patrice McGuire
My daughter came home from her student teaching experience and described a tough situation. A teacher yelled at her in the teacher’s staff room about the behavior of one of my daughter’s students.
August 23, 2018 | By Rick Piraino
Coaching can make a huge impact on ending soul-crushing performance reviews, workplace bullies and turnover, but what do you do if your organization isn’t equipped with willing and able coaches?
August 8, 2018 | By Aleta Norris
When I deliver leadership training for brand-new supervisors, I use an exercise to kick off our first session. I ask everyone to write two words on a piece of paper: "Leadership is...." Then I have them finish the phrase with their own definitions, drawing from their beliefs, experiences and perspectives. Over the years, having done this exercise with hundreds of new leaders, I've noticed a trend
August 2, 2018 | By John Rutkiewicz
We all owe a debt of gratitude to Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo for their song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”. This song came to fame through the great sitcom Cheers. From 1982 to 1993 you could tune into your TV and hear that great song.
July 19, 2018 | By Sean Olson
How much is the avoidance of conflict costing your organization? Wasted time. Lost time. Turnover. Disengagement. Reputation. Quality. Even the word “conflict” suggests a fight, battle or struggle. When individuals approach a situation with the anticipation of conflict, chances are they will come prepared to defend, argue, blame or justify. The alternative is they will minimize or water down their truth or even avoid the situation all together. What does this cost your organization?
April 19, 2018 | By Patrice McGuire
For years, I gave myself high scores as a communicator. I could present in front of a group, think on my feet, talk to anyone and even deliver bad news. I thought I had communication nailed. Then along came an incredible tool called feedback.
March 29, 2018 | By Melanie Romas
I received a phone call recently from a guy I would refer to as a highly talented, committed, hard-working professional. A top 10-percenter or probably more like 5. This is the "guy" HR professionals all over the greater Milwaukee area are trying to recruit. He said, "Aleta, I wonder if I could get your help. I need to make a change.
March 1, 2018 | By Aleta Norris
I have coached girls softball for nearly 15 years. I have witnessed players develop and excel in the sport, and I’ve seen others leave the field at the end of a season to never play again.
February 8, 2018 | By Patrice McGuire