Blog - Page 5 of 60 - Wheeler Coaching Systems

Oct

2023

Supercharge Your Team’s Performance: Create a Communication Structure that Works

Effective communication is the key to success in the fast-paced world of leading. Without it, misunderstandings, conflicts, and missed opportunities can abound. As the team leader, establishing a well-structured communication system will reduce these problems. In this blog, I will share ideas for creating a robust communication structure to transform your team into a harmonious powerhouse. Let’s get started!

Define Clear Objectives and Expectations

To foster effective communication, begin by setting clear objectives and expectations. Transparency and clarity provide a roadmap for your team. Clearly define the purpose, goals, and performance indicators of every project. When everyone involved understands their roles and responsibilities, there is no room for ambiguity.

Encourage Open Dialogue and Active Listening

Strong communication is a two-way street. Develop an environment that encourages open dialogue and freedom to express concerns. This allows for diverse perspectives and promotes innovative solutions. Remember, active listening is crucial. This skill helps team members understand each other’s viewpoints and strengthens collaborations.

Establish Formal Communication Channels

Formal communication channels ensure messages are handled effectively and avoid getting lost. Regularly scheduled team meetings, newsletters, and status reports are excellent avenues for sharing information with your team. Utilize video conferences, email, project management tools, and internal social media platforms to keep the lines of communication open.

Implement an Efficient Feedback System

Feedback is the fuel that drives improvement. Establish an efficient feedback system where team members regularly provide input, suggestions, and constructive criticism. Make it a two-way process by offering feedback to your team as well. Constructive feedback fosters growth, motivates individuals, and enhances overall performance.

Leverage Technology

In today’s digital age, technology plays a crucial role in communication. Invest in communication tools and platforms to streamline interactions within your organization. Project management software, instant messaging apps, and video conferencing tools make remote work and collaboration more efficient. Embrace technology enhancements to bolster your communication structure.

Promote Cross-Departmental Collaboration

Collaboration across departments leads to enhanced communication and efficiency. Encourage your team members to share knowledge beyond their areas of expertise. Cross-departmental projects and teams broaden perspectives, improve problem-solving, and foster a cohesive work environment.

Train Employees on Effective Communication Techniques

Effective communication should be a skillset honed by all team members. Conduct regular training sessions on active listening, conflict resolution, and empathy. Equipping employees with strong communication skills creates a workforce that thrives on clear and impactful interactions.

Monitor and Refine Your Communication Structure

Creating a communication structure is an ongoing process. Monitor its effectiveness regularly by seeking feedback from your team and analyzing metrics such as response times and clarity of information. Be open to making adjustments and improvements based on feedback. Remember, communication is dynamic, so your structure should be too.

By creating a well-structured communication system within your organization, you’re setting yourself up for success. Clear objectives, open dialogue, and efficient feedback mechanisms foster a harmonious work environment where everyone can thrive. Embrace technology and encourage cross-departmental collaboration to leverage the power of diverse perspectives.

Need help with understanding the communication styles of your team members? Go here to invest in a Maxwell DISC Personality Indicator, and contact me if you want to dive deep into your results. Develop that effective structure for communication in your organization and lead well!

Sources:

– Harvard Business Review: “The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback”

Oct

2023

Break Down the Silos

Are you feeling the pressure to work faster and be more productive? Are you having difficulty getting your team to cooperate and collaborate? If so, you may be stuck in the land of silos.

You know the drill: each team works in its little bubble, rarely, if ever, communicating with the other teams. As a leader, you encourage autonomy and independence, but it can lead to wasted time, energy, and inefficiency.

There’s a better way: collaboration. Your teams can work together more effectively and efficiently by sharing information, resources, and ideas. You can develop a culture of collaboration by establishing clear objectives and expectations, fostering trust, and providing support to each team.

Clarify Expectations

Establishing clear objectives and expectations is the first step to developing a collaborative environment. Every team should know their roles and responsibilities and what is expected of them. This helps foster a sense of ownership and accountability among your team members.

Strengthen Trust

“Speed happens when people . . . truly trust each other.”

Edward Marshall

Trust is also important when it comes to collaborating. Your team should feel comfortable working together and sharing ideas. When team members respect each other’s opinions and everyone’s opinions and ideas are heard, you create a culture of trust.

Support the Team

Finally, you need to provide support to each team. As the leader, encourage them to work together and support each other. If they need resources from you, provide them. Take the time to give constructive feedback and ask questions to help them stay on track and reach their goals.

Leadership expert John C. Maxwell in his book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Leadership states “one is too small a number to achieve greatness.” When we or our teams work in silos, we cannot accomplish as great of things as we can with a team.

Collaboration can be a great way to increase productivity, efficiency, and achieve greater results. You can help your teams work together more effectively by establishing clear objectives and expectations, fostering trust, and providing support. You’ll be amazed at the results when your teams start working together instead of in silos.

When you look at these areas, which do you need to improve? Need help building teamwork on your team? Contact me to discuss using the Leadership Game to improve teamwork or a leadership roundtable on the topic. Keep helping your team come together and lead well.

Oct

2023

Swift Influence

I don’t have daughters, I am a fan of football and I wouldn’t know anything about Taylor Swift except for people I know who have daughters and the media. Am I just jumping on the bandwagon to talk about her?

Nope.

I was going to check one of my e-mail accounts and came across an article¹ on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship affecting viewership and the economic impact. This got me thinking. What is making her such an influence other than the amplification by the media?

A Story

What makes great movies great? If they are truly great, they have action for the males and romance for the females. My favorite movie is Braveheart, and this is a story of leadership, adventure, fighting . . . and love. Maybe that is why my wife doesn’t mind watching it.

People are drawn to stories. Some of the greatest communicators realize this and use stories to drive their points home. Whether someone is a Chiefs/Kelce fan or a “Swifty” they are getting caught up in the story and intrigued by it.

What story or adventure are you inviting your team into as a leader? This story is a source of great influence and purpose for people and even better when your people are the heroes of the story . . . not you as the leader.

A Pressure

The Kelce brothers have a successful podcast and have been part of Super Bowl winning teams. Taylor Swift has a large following. These facts impact their ability to create influence by harnessing two influence tools.

One of the tools of influence Dr. Robert Cialdini references in his book Influence² is likeability. Many factors go into likeability such as appearance and similarity, but the bottom line is people follow those they like. In their book Influencer³ Grenny, Patterson, et al. discuss the power of social influence and how respect and connection are required to create a sense of peer pressure.

The second factor of the Swift influence is people like both her and Travis. Both also have created communities where people feel connected to them. People respect them because of their success.

All these are factors every leader can use ethically. When you connect with those you lead and exemplify getting results apart from your position people begin to like you, and word spreads you are a leader to listen to. Over time, just like Travis and Taylor people have followed them because of the influence of others.

A System

Grenny and his colleagues explain that to create change, people must create systems and processes to support vital behaviors. There is genuine, but strategic influence in this story we are seeing. People are interested in the story, but as alluded to in the article I read to trigger this post, systems and processes within media and possibly elsewhere amplify the influence. This is not about whether it is right or wrong, but if we observe we can see that an intentional process is in place to keep us aware of their relationship because of the momentum it creates for the NFL, viewership, and other aspects referenced in the article.

As a leader, our biggest system is the culture of our organization. Culture will either promote or hinder your influence. The “Swifty” culture has amplified the NFL to people who rarely pay attention. Leaders can create a culture that promotes the direction they are leading the team, or the culture can detract from where they are trying to lead.

Take a minute and look at your vision. What is the story you are telling? How is it engaging your team or even attracting people to you or is it not? What could you do to ethically leverage peer pressure and create systems to increase your influence? Are you unclear on the story you are trying to tell and your vision? Contact me for a strategic thinking partner session to help you think into your vision and how you can inspire others to be more committed to where you are leading them. Lead Well.

“Taylor Swift helped boost ratings, but her influence extends far beyond the league”, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/taylor-swift-helped-boost-nfl-ratings-but-her-power-extends-far-beyond-the-league-180303062.html retrieved 10/5/23
Cialdini, Robert. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Harpers Collins: NY, 2007.
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., Switzler, A. Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. McGraw Hill: NY, 2008

Oct

2023

Developing Your Strategy

You’ve heard the old adage, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” and when it comes to business, this could not be more true. Strategic planning is an essential part of success in any business endeavor. But what exactly is strategic planning? In the simplest terms, it is the process of creating a long-term plan for the future of an organization. It involves setting goals, determining objectives, and developing strategies to reach them.

I’ve had the opportunity to help some business leaders think into their strategic plans. Since this is the time of year some organizations start thinking into their plans for the upcoming year I thought I’d provide a fundamental structure as you approach your strategic planning whether that is now or closer to the end of the year.

Vision

The first step in any successful strategic planning process is to create a clear vision of the future. This is painting the picture of where you want to be within a specific time period. It provides a singular direction for the organization. For example, do you have a vision to reach a new group of people with your product or service?

The vision should be informed and align with your mission (why you do what you do or your purpose) and your values. Values help determine if this aligns with what is important for the organization. Without a clear vision, the organization will wander aimlessly and never reach its full potential.

Strategies

Once a vision has been established, the next step is to create strategies to reach the objectives set by the vision. I have helped organizations with this process as we discover what are the internal strengths and weaknesses and the external threats and opportunities. The team evaluates and determines what actions they need to take based on this analysis. This process can be done in-house or with the help of a consultant, depending on the scale of the organization, the complexity of the plan, and the makeup of the team.

Action

“Execution is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage.” Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan

Now that you have clarity of the situation your organization is in, what will you do? This is where specific strategies for implementation are developed. This plan should include the tasks required to achieve the objectives, the resources needed, and the timeline for completion. Track and update the plan regularly to ensure progress is being made.

Scoreboard

Finally, the organization must have a system to measure and monitor progress. This could include benchmarking, surveys, or other methods to assess how well the organization meets its objectives. This will help to identify areas that need improvement and provide feedback for further adjustments to the plan.

Strategic planning is an essential part of any successful business. By having a clear vision, developing strategies, creating an implementation plan, and measuring progress, you can ensure the longevity and success of your organization. As you look at these areas, which do you need to focus on? Do you need help thinking into your strategic plan? Contact me to discover how a facilitated strategic planning session can help you and your leadership team. Lead Well.

Sep

2023

Leaders Adapt Their Style

I was reading an article in Harvard Business Review about “How to Develop Your Leadership Style.”¹ As I read about what the author called “power” and “attractive” styles it made me think about how we need to show up as leaders.

I tend to be a person who leans to the extremes. If I am honest, this is because extremes are easier than dealing with tensions. So, what do we do as leaders? How can we navigate the tensions of being a strong powerful leader vs. being a more relational leader?

Before going further, this is not a good vs. bad. Situations require different approaches and as the author mentions in the article, our leadership style changes while our personality is more fixed.

Power Approach

I will define a power approach as a more authoritarian approach. At its extreme, think of the “my way or the highway” mindset. This approach has times when it is appropriate. For example, if there is an emergency and a decision needs to be made quickly, the leader needs to take charge. If a leader always uses this approach, people will operate in fear.

When used appropriately, this approach helps the leader assure the team he or she is confident. I would suggest it should be genuine confidence. For example, a football coach uses this when making critical decisions on 4^th and goal. Other times during the game the coach listens to his staff’s input, and they converse to decide the best course of action.

Relational Approach

This leader comes across as dynamic, friendly, and approachable. People may call this leader charismatic. Leaning too much into the power approach can cause the team to fear the leader. On the other hand, being extreme with the relational approach can cause strong team members to either not respect or even undermine the leader.

This approach can be extremely helpful when negotiation is necessary. Also, if the team is working on a complicated project where the leader needs multiple inputs, this approach will be extremely valuable.

Read and Connect

How do we show up then? In multiple past blogs, I’ve discussed leadership tensions as well as in some of my leadership lesson videos. Here are a few ideas on how to adjust our style:

Read the room – does the room need you to show up strong and confident with clear direction or empathetic and relational?
Connect – what will connect with the team? Do they need you to be directive so they know what to do or will they feel your connection if you walk slowly and talk to everyone?
Understand the situation – the room may act as if they need you to be powerful, but the situation may call for you to calm the room and be relational.

Great leaders know how to adjust their style as their people and the situation need. What are you doing to adjust your leadership style? Change is uncomfortable and awkward, but to get to where you want to go may require you to lead in ways you have not . . . until now. Need someone to walk alongside you during this growth process? Contact me about a leadership coaching session. Keep growing and leading well.

https://hbr.org/2020/11/how-to-develop-your-leadership-style

Sep

2023

Creativity in Leadership

As a business leader, you know that the success of your organization depends on the creativity and innovation of your team. Whether you’re launching a new product or aiming to increase market share, creative thinking is essential to success. How do you foster a culture of creativity within your organization?

The most successful leaders understand that creativity isn’t a one-size-fits-all exercise. It requires a unique blend of skills, processes, and strategies to bring out the best in your team. Here are three tips and a few tools to help you lead creatively:

Encourage Collaboration

One of the best ways to foster creative thinking is to encourage collaboration. Encourage your team to brainstorm together and work together to come up with creative solutions to challenges. Enable cross-functional collaboration and provide a platform for team members to share ideas and feedback.

Embrace Technology

Technology can be a great tool for unlocking creativity. Use technology to enhance the idea-generation process and facilitate communication and collaboration. Incorporate tools like video conferencing, virtual whiteboards, and online idea management platforms to foster a creative environment.

Reward Creativity

Resist the natural human tendency to try and control and have it your way. Reward creativity and innovation in your organization. Recognize team members who come up with creative solutions and celebrate successes. Give team members the opportunity to take risks and reward them for their efforts.

Creativity Tools

Here are some tools that can help you be even more effective with creativity sessions.

Whiteboard – whether virtual like mentioned above or in person, write out ideas on the board and then sort through them after the brainstorm time ends

Mind Maps – this is a great tool to capture your thoughts visually. Dr. Caroline Leaf discusses this concept in depth and the science behind it in her book Think, Learn, Succeed.

Green Hat Sessions – these are sessions where you set the expectation that there is no bad idea. Creating an atmosphere free of judgment can lead to the potential for your next breakthrough idea.

Leading creatively requires a thoughtful approach. By encouraging collaboration, embracing technology, rewarding creativity, and using some of the tools above, you can create an innovative environment for your team. Which of these strategies will you use to enhance creativity with your team? Need help with thinking into your business? Contact me for a powerful coaching session. Lead Well.