Leading Edge – Volume 35 – Dealing with Difficult People

Dealing with Difficult People-Introduction

  • Difficult people exist in all facets of our work and life. They can be customers, team members, bosses, peers and family members.
  • Not all difficult people can be saved or turned into fans. Our job is to mitigate who we can with a consistent application of skills and self-mastery.
  • The cost and risk associated with difficult people is large. Organizational impact can be measured in time and weighted salary dollars dealing with problematic team members and customers.
  • The degree of impact we have with difficult people varies by our relationship with them and the role they play in our lives.

Leading Edge – Volume 34 – Mentoring: Summary and Conclusion

Focus on Mentoring-Summary and Conclusion

  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • The mentoring focus must always remain on the benefits to the person being mentored and his or her needs.
  • Communication is key along with building strong, trusting relationships.
  • Successful mentoring will provide organizational benefit, value to the mentee and build a legacy for the mentor.Beginning next week, a new series,

    Dealing with Difficult People

    debuts featuring Tim Schneider. After that, we will be breaking some new ground with Relational Intelligence. Aegis Learning is committed to provide useable and valuable information to our customers and friends.

 

Leading Edge – Volume 33 – Mentoring: Overcoming Obstacles

Focus on Mentoring-Overcoming Obstacles

  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • The most common obstacle to mentoring is a perceived lack of time. Prioritizing the mentoring process and remembering the long-term value is important to overcome this challenge.
  • Unrealistic expectations for both behavioral change and timeline can also be common challenges.
  • Working in partnership between the mentor and mentee will ensure that obstacles and challenges are easily overcome.
  • Successful mentoring requires an incremental view of growth and not a giant, singular leap forward.
 

Leading Edge – Volume 31 – Mentoring: Skills to Mentor

Focus on Mentoring-Skills for Mentoring Success

  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • Successful mentoring requires a unique combination of skills and the situational awareness of when to use particular skills with a mentee.
  • Effective communication, including hefty doses of listening are paramount to becoming a great mentor. Being clear in communication is also a must.
  • Encouragement type coaching is important to celebrate the successes and incremental improvement of mentees.
  • The emotional intelligence skill of empathy plays a significant role in mentor success.
  • Being or becoming a good storyteller will also serve the mentoring process well.
 

Leading Edge – Volume 30 – Mentoring: Becoming a Great Mentor

Focus on Mentoring-Becoming a Great Mentor

 
  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • The mentoring relationship should be solid, deep and built on vulnerable trust.
  • Sharing challenges is an important part of the mentoring relationship.
  • The mentor should always examine motivations to ensure the best interests of the mentee are being served.

Leading Edge – Volume 30 – Mentoring: Framework for Growth

Focus on Mentoring-Framework and Choosing Candidates

 
  • Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist continues his series on mentoring.
  • Successful mentoring clearly documents the objectives and desired outcomes of the relationship.
  • A formalized approach to scheduling is needed for long-term success.
  • Journaling meetings and interactions aids in the learning and growth process.
  • Mentoring relationships should be chosen carefully for mutual benefit, fit and the ability to communicate effectively.

Leading Edge – Volume 29 – Mentoring: Introduction

Focus on Mentoring-Introduction

 
  • We welcome Aegis Learning facilitator Matt Zobrist to begin a multi-part series on the powerful organizational and personal tool of mentoring.
  • Mentoring is a relationship of mutual benefit that grows talent and provides succession planning opportunities for people.
  • The primary focus of mentoring is to grow leadership skills, organizational savvy and the relationships needed for success.
  • Mentoring is a long-term relationship and differs from standard coaching models because of depth and scope of the interactions.

Leading Edge – Volume 28 – Healthy Workplace Conclusion

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Conclusion

 
  • Healthy workplaces are high performing workplaces that generate better results and have significantly higher levels of team member engagement and customer service.
  • Creating a healthy workplace requires a strategic and long-term approach. It is not a hodgepodge of skills or one-time seminars.
  • The commitment to create a healthy workplace must be shared by all leaders and consistent across all leadership levels.

Leading Edge – Volume 27 – Transparency

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Transparency

 
  • Transparency has the ability to transform employees into operating partners for an organization with much higher levels of ownership and vesting.
  • Trust and transparency are closely related. Transparent organizations and leaders are more trusted by team members.
  • Trust your team members with the truth and as much as you can tell them about financial results, customers, meetings and other team members. The more you trust them, the more they will trust you.
  • Leadership transparency must be balanced with the need to be upbeat and optimistic. Transparency does not grant license to be a fear-based leader or to be an ass.

Leading Edge – Volume 26 – Service Culture

Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Service Culture

 
  • The same skills that go into people-centered leadership (listening, empathy, respect) also are applied when building a service culture.
  • Service culture has very little to do with how an external customer is treated but rather in how internal (team member) customers are treated.
  • Team member requests should have the same urgency, respect and courtesy as those coming from an external customer.
  • Maintaining a service culture requires leaders that value people and team members.