August, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES As you are Connecting the Dots for your team, it is essential to keep these guidelines in mind: Active Listening The key to effective listening is to start with the belief that the person speaking has value. Many of us get caught up in our thought process, of how we are … Read more
August, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES Your 7-point checklist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a Hungarian psychologist, coined the phrase “FLOW” that describes a healthy mental state in which a person is so immersed in the task at hand that it creates a focus and engagement that increases effectiveness. In sports, it is described as being “in the … Read more
August, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES While you want your team to collaborate and leverage each other’s ideas and efforts, more often than not, one or two members of your team get caught up in the Idiot Response. The Idiot Response is more common than you might think. It occurs in a team where two … Read more
july, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES The immediate assumptions we wrap around ideas and information is our blink response. (Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book, Blink, about this very response). Our blink response is based on our past experience and knowledge; it allows us to make effective gut decisions. These quick responses are very efficient and … Read more
July, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES There are two fatal flaws in coaching others into better performance: • Overuse of Command (micro-managing) • Overuse of Consensus Effective leaders recognize that both Command and Consensus have their place, and they are skilled at knowing when to use which style of coaching, in order to Energize Action. … Read more
July, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES As leaders, we generally have many opportunities to have one-on-one meetings with each of our direct reports. These meetings tend to be focused on the problems of the moment, and issues that need to be solved today. Very little time is focused on what is actually working. Taking time … Read more
July, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES In these disruptive times, many of us are stuck in our normal way of looking at creating new growth. Our traditional problem-solving focus assumes that if we solve all the problems then we are left with great performance and growth. This is based on the false premise that we can solve … Read more
July, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES As you are working through the ever-changing landscape of business today, how will you and your organization emerge from this crisis? What culture changes have occurred with your team? Have those changes been purposeful or happenstance? Very often, during times of external stress, we react to the situation, based … Read more
june, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES Just as an effective organization has their Mission, Vision, Strategy and Values statements to guide their choices in making decisions, leaders need to be explicit to themselves and to their teams regarding what their underlying philosophy of leadership actually is. The transparency of a leadership philosophy helps the team … Read more
june, 2020 THE PACIFIC INSTITUTE ARTICLES Any time we make changes in our organizations, from a platform change in software to a strategic change in marketing, we need to Connect the Dots for all our staff by answering these five questions.* Why are we changing? As a leader, we always want to be proactive in answering the … Read more