Last month, I had the opportunity to observe a leadership development training at a manufacturer. The difference between this training compared to others I’ve observed is that this training was facilitated in Spanish.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

"The hardest thing for people to understand is that the relationship is the delivery system of anything you try to accomplish."  - Peter Block

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Holding people capable (accountable) is an important part of building trust, maintaining standards of excellence, and achieving goals in any organization or personal relationship.

Some challenges for manufacturers in 2023 continue to be recruitment & retention and meeting customer expectations, especially as customers are asking about your social responsibility.  These challenges have led to high turnover, inability to meet production demands, customer loss, and lack of market expansion.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

If you have read the previous post in this series, thank you! If this is the first time you popped open one of my posts, thank you! 

Writing is not one of my stronger skill sets. Writing is an arduous experience as I tend to overthink grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, logical flow, and the greatest fear of all…being judged by an unidentified person behind a screen who I will most likely never meet. Better yet, what if they respond and like the post and I need to respond intelligently and respectfully? What if I sound like a complete ne’er-do-well? All this white noise in my head leads to me losing sight of the fact that I’m simply sharing my thoughts and ideas and that takes a ton of courage. When I write something and put it out there for public viewing, I am being completely, unequivocally, 100%, vulnerable! And therein lies the artfulness of asking questions – being completely, unequivocally, 100%, vulnerable. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments are falling by the wayside. What was once a priority has turned into an annual check-the-box competency training for some. Unfortunately, annual competencies are not enough to drive change, create inclusion, and foster engagement. Below are 6 tips to assist you in your DEI journey.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Recently I read two interesting books, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday and Why am I Afraid to Tell You Who I am? by John Powell. Each book provided a fascinating opportunity for self-reflection (DEEP self-reflection) and although I don’t necessarily agree that ego is the ‘enemy’ per-say, I do believe it is vitally important to recognize the various shades of ego we naturally possess.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Listening as a leadership competency is talked about often, but unfortunately a lot of our own “stuff’ gets in the way of actually listening with an open heart and mind.  We come to the conversation with a preconceived context, we have unconscious and sometimes conscious biases towards the person or situation, and even our mental, physical, and spiritual state of being plays a significant role in how we show up and listen to what is being shared.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Today’s manufacturing leaders are savvy firefighters – addressing and solving complex fires (situations) one after another. But what if there was a different approach? One that allows the employee to address and solve the complexity with their leader instead of being dependent on their leader to solve or fix the challenge at hand?  What might it be like if the leader paused, recalibrated, and approached the situation as a coaching conversation opportunity?

"There is only one way to look at things until someone shows us how to look at them with different eyes." - Pablo Picasso 

Good company culture cultivates engagement and innovation. Research shows that workplace innovation leads to significant and sustainable improvements in organizational performance, employee engagement and overall well-being.