The TalentGrow Blog features posts to help you develop yourself, your team, and your leadership strength. Topics range from communication skills, networking, employee development and engagement, to coaching and self-improvement.
Do you hate networking? Most people I meet do. But networking doesn't have to be a 4-letter word. In this video, leadership development strategist and communication expert Halelly Azulay will teach you 3 simple, easy tricks that will help you take networking from icky to awesome!
Read MoreYou've heard the term emotional intelligence (aka EQ) bandied around. Do you know what it means? If not, you might have fallen for the common myth that being emotionally intelligent means being more emotional. That's really not the case. What being emotionally intelligent actually means is becoming more aware of your own and others' emotions, increasing your capacity to manage your own emotions and take into account those of others, so that you can increase your ability to be more, not less, rational in your actions. Your communication and your relationships will improve when you harness your emotional intelligence!
Read this post to learn more about what EQ is and how to harness it for improved communication.
Read MoreEffective delegation is an essential supervisory skill. Any supervisor or manager must learn to delegate effectively in order to accomplish his or her goals. By definition, to supervise the work of others means that you have to take time away from the technical aspects of your job and tend to the people side of things. Therefore, because time resources are finite, you must remove some of the work you were previously able to accomplish on your own from your task-list in order to make time for performance management and leadership tasks. And because that work still must be completed, you will need to delegate it to your staff.
In this post I summarize the barriers and benefits of delegating, and offer a step-by-step process to help you delegate successfully.
Read MoreThere’s a tide of supporting evidence rising for why we should really ditch performance appraisals as we know them. Over the past year, I’ve been lucky to work with two different large clients to help them do just that. Here’s what I’ve learned so far from the research, preparation, and roll-outs of these huge cultural changes:
Read MoreI’m happy to share three new leadership books with you that are launching in the coming days. Each brings a unique and helpful perspective to ease the work of leaders and create new opportunities for developing leadership skills: Leaders Open Doors by Bill Treasurer, Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative by Scott Eblin, and The Discomfort Zone by Marcia Reynolds. Here's my short review of each - go get all three!
Read MoreMotivating others - that's a tough one, right? In this post, I share the three secrets to motivating and inspiring others. Hint: none of these secrets involve spending more money! Here are some of the key findings from scientific research about what is highly motivating to most of today's knowledge workers and how to apply these insights to your daily leadership efforts.
Read MoreHave you ever learned new skills, and felt overwhelmed and intimidated? Did you feel unnatural and uncomfortable as you tried out your new skills? If you're like most, you might have even had doubts that you could really perform those new skills and a strong urge to revert back to your tried-and-true old habits.
In the vlog (video blog) below I share a useful analogy that likens the experience of learning any new skills to learning to drive a car for the first time. Please watch it here:
Read MoreLast week, I experienced a career highlight: I call it 'al-fresco learning' (outdoors, fresh air learning). Check out the scene in the photos. It was absolutely a joy to be in the Sarasota, Florida breezy afternoon sun, temperatures in the upper 60s, surrounded by palm trees, lawns, the pool and the bay.
But wait, there's more!
As if the surroundings and atmosphere weren't perfect enough, I was lucky enough to be doing GREAT work. It was my role to coach a group of 11 smart, engaged, and successful managers on what it means to be at their Best Self, at work. This is a subject about which I am VERY passionate. I truly believe that each of us has special gifts and strengths, and we should strive to leverage, optimize, and maximize them at work -- daily! It was wonderful to be working for a client who also believes this and is willing to invest in helping their employees get this right.
I want to share with you the exercise we worked on.
Take out a notebook, journal, or your favorite word processor and complete the following sentence:
"When I'm at my Best Self, I am..."
Some examples may include
"...adding value by suggesting creative, outside-the-box ideas to solve problems or improve products, services, or processes."
"...collaborating with others to create synergistic solutions."
"...focused and calm."
"...thinking about serving others."
List some of the potential and actual barriers to being your best self at work. What might get in your way of being creative and thinking outside-the-box, for example? Perhaps barriers for you include self-sensoring and being too critical of yourself, or maybe it's not getting enough creativity-stimulating inputs from fresh and divergent sources. If being focused and calm is how you want to be, for example, then maybe your barriers include having a very noisy environment, or not having a clear plan for your day's work.
Devise three specific routines, or habits, that you will incorporate into your daily and weekly work to help ensure you are bring your best self out as much as possible. Be specific, and phrase them in the positive (i.e., say what you will do instead of what you will avoid or stop doing).
For example, you might say, "I will read three articles each week from other industries or other professional fields to diversify my perspective and generate new insights into existing problems." Or, "I will close my door for a 90-minute stretch each morning at 10:00 a.m. and dedicated uninterrupted energy and attention to a highly important focus project."
Create accountability structures. How will you stay true to what you have committed to and how will you track your progress? Consider enlisting an accountability buddy or a peer coach to help you keep yourself accountable and stick to your plan. Another method is to keep a journal of your progress and reflect on your accomplishments and challenges.
What do you think? Are you bringing your best self to work? Do you know what it takes? What are your challenges and successes? I'd love to hear about it!
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Also, subscribe to my podcast, The TalentGrow Show, on iTunes to always be the first in the know about new episodes of The TalentGrow Show! http://apple.co/1NiWyZo
Becoming Your Best Self: Will you help me?
How to be happier: 4 tips from Positive Psychology (heard on the TalentGrow Show podcast)
What are your big goals for this year? How are you forwarding your action on achieving them?
Well one of my goals this year was to venture into the wonderful world of video blogging. And I've decided to just leap into the deep end. So - here is my first 'vlog'. I hope you like it - and please give me suggestions and feedback. Thanks!
Halelly: Hi. This is Halelly, from TalentGrow, and welcome to my first video blog, or vlog. I wrote down my goals for 2012 and this is one of them – I want to create more video delivery of content. I write in my blog, I wrote a book, I speak with clients via my workshops and my conference presentations and my training and facilitation work and teambuilding, but I’ve never done a video. So I decided, why not? Let’s do it.
You write down a goal, you have to write down what actions you’re going to take to make that goal a reality. There has to be something that you can do everyday, or at least every week, to move you every big closer to achieving that goal, even if it’s just baby steps. Because stuff gets in the way. Emergencies, crises, other people’s priorities, all can actually hijack your goal. And sometimes if we don’t revisit them on a regular basis, they can go to the wayside. And that’s a shame, because your goals are what’s important to you. It’s what you decided you really want to do. So I hope I encourage you to work on your goals, not to forget them.
So, this is my attempt to take a baby step and so I decided that my very first vlog will be one that’s kind of easy because I’m just going to make it public. Now I can’t back out because everybody knows I’m planning doing vlogs. And I also want to ask you – I actually have two requests. The first request I have for you is for suggestions on content. What topics would you like me to talk about in short segments, about three, four minute segments, that don’t take a long time to listen to or to watch, but that bring you value, that teach you something new or give you an idea or make you think of something in a different way. You know, the topics I usually focus on are related to leadership and communication, especially interpersonal communication in the workplace, related to employee development and employee learning, and also related to working in teams and to emotional intelligence, especially at work.
So what do you want to hear about? Do you have a special challenge or a particular question, something that came up that’s been bugging you or you weren’t sure if you handled it the best way? Please share with me any ideas you have, because that’s going to be really helpful. As I said, I’ve lined up some ideas already, but I’d love to hear what will make it valuable for you. So that’s my first request, what content would you like me to share with you?
My second request is for feedback. All of us see ourselves as we can, but we don’t really know how other people see us. We don’t really know what effect or impact we’re having. We know what our intentions are, but not our impact. So I really need to know, how am I doing? What could I do differently to make this better? I’d love for some specific suggestions from you, and you can put them into the comments, you can send them to me in the various social media. I’m very active in social media. Or you can just email them to me, halelly@talentgrow.com is my email address. And I would love to hear from you. It’s going to make it really much better for you and for me because my goal is to give you quality and useful content. So thank you so much for watching, and listening to my first vlog. And I really look forward to connecting with you soon. Have a wonderful day and let’s make this the best year yet. Take care.
Sign up to my free weekly newsletter and get more actionable tips and ideas for making yourself a better leader and a more effective communicator! It’s very short and relevant with quick tips, links, and news about leadership, communication, and self-development. Sign up now!
Also, subscribe to my podcast, The TalentGrow Show, on iTunes to always be the first in the know about new episodes of The TalentGrow Show! http://apple.co/1NiWyZo
The following is an excerpt of a story I wrote for a new book called The Insider’s Guide to Supervising Government Employees, edited by Kathryn M. Johnson (Management Concepts Press 2011). The book is a collection of stories from many supervisors whose purpose is to help government supervisors (new and seasoned alike) navigate their responsibilities and challenges more successfully. It covers several key areas including understanding yourself, getting the best work from others, and supervising in a changing work landscape. In this particular story, I illustrate the importance of ongoing self-development to help supervisors continue to achieve success in their role. In my upcoming book, Employee Development on a Shoestring (ASTD Press, expected pub. date April 2012), I describe in much greater detail both the value and suggested approaches for many development methods that happen outside the classroom.
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Chris’ excitement was through the roof when he learned that he had been promoted. Finally! He was now officially a supervisor of a newly formed team in his agency. Chris felt a quiet confidence in his ability to excel as he emailed his mentor, Soo-Lin, to share the good news with her. After they scheduled their next monthly “coffee talk” meeting, Chris sat at his desk making lists of ideas and action items.
A few weeks later, Soo-Lin relaxed into her chair as she congratulated Chris once again on his accomplishment and listened to his tales of his first month as a supervisor. Sipping her coffee, she listened to his stories of excitement and frustration from her perspective of having been in supervisory roles in the federal government for the past 20 years.
“What are you doing to ramp up your supervisory skills, Chris?” Soo-Lin inquired.
“What do you mean?” asked Chris.
“Well, you have a whole new skill set you need to acquire, and fast. You will certainly learn on the job, but what are you doing to proactively enhance your skills?”
“I’m not sure I have any ideas. What do you suggest?” said Chris, looking at Soo-Lin quizzically.
Over the next hour, Soo-Lin shared with Chris some of the resources that she found helpful, including books, seminars, and training classes. But it was the story she told him that really got Chris thinking about how to keep his skills and knowledge fresh now and into the next stages of his career development.
“You know, when I first got promoted, there were no supervisory training classes offered and no resources given to me to prepare me for my new role. I had to learn as I went, the hard way. Things went very well for the first couple of years and my hard work was rewarded and rewarding.
“But then, things began to shift. I was no longer getting the results I wanted from my staff. They seemed unmotivated and deflated, and I felt frustrated with my job. I applied the same techniques that had worked before, but they were just not working in the same way. I felt really stuck and unhappy. Word got around that there might be a reorganization in our department and I started to worry that I might lose my job.
“That’s when I began to realize that I had become stale; my skills and knowledge were not sufficient to produce the performance results I wanted to see. I felt baffled and lost, so I started reading every management book in the library, searching for answers. I also started looking for role models to talk with, both inside and outside my office and agency. I was amazed how happy these successful supervisors were to share their ‘best practices’ and ‘lessons learned’ with me, and it was great to learn from them about things I could do or avoid doing—and not have to learn them the hard way! One told me that he attends the monthly meetings of our field’s professional association to learn new techniques and connect and network with other professionals with whom he collaborates and shares ideas. So I started attending these meetings also—what an eye-opening experience!
“What I learned, slowly but surely, is that your skills and knowledge need to be constantly upgraded and challenged. You can never rest on your laurels just because you have reached a certain rung on the career ladder; you need to keep working or you’ll find yourself falling off—or getting pushed off. And there are so many different ways available to help you retool, refresh, and learn.”
This is an exciting time to be a supervisor. You have the opportunity to influence others in a changing landscape. You will be challenged to handle day-to-day issues effectively in the context of an ever-evolving work environment. The best way to create a balance that serves both your employees and your organization well is to keep strengthening your personal capabilities as a supervisor. Only then will you be ready and able to help others envision and prepare to meet the demands of the 21st century government work environment.
Excerpted with permission from The Insider’s Guide to Supervising Government Employees, edited by Kathryn M. Johnson. © 2011 by Management Concepts, Inc. All rights reserved. www.managementconcepts.com/pubs
Sign up to my free weekly newsletter and get more actionable tips and ideas for making yourself a better leader and a more effective communicator! It’s very short and relevant with quick tips, links, and news about leadership, communication, and self-development. Sign up now!
Also, subscribe to my podcast, The TalentGrow Show, on iTunes to always be the first in the know about new episodes of The TalentGrow Show! http://apple.co/1NiWyZo
Employee Development on a Shoestring 'trailer' [video]
Training is Dead; Long Live Employee Development
5 Lessons on being a creative leader from three TalentGrow Show podcast guests
I've just successfully completed a certification program in the most popular of all Emotional Intelligence tools -- the EQ-i or Emotional Quotient Inventory. The program was excellent and I enjoyed learning and growing my skills and knowledge - it's one of my favorite things to do, considering 'Love of Learning' is my #3 signature strength! (I've discussed it here.)
While I've been using the concepts of Emotional Intelligence in my work for years and am already certified in another EQ instrument, the Index on Emotional Intelligence, this new certification fortifies my understanding and ability to help leaders, teams, organizations and individuals become more effective in all aspects of work and life.
This instrument, based on the Model of Emotional Intelligence formulated by clinical psychologist, Reuven Bar-On, PhD, is administered online and is valid and reliable. It is actionable: it offers a rich portrait of how engaged we are with each of fifteen behaviors and habits that allow us to use emotions in a rational, positive, and constructive way that helps us build healthy and productive relationships. In working with it, we can better understand ourselves and identify and prioritize ways to improve our effectiveness and satisfaction by letting emotions (our own and others') work FOR us instead of AGAINST us.
If you would like to learn more about this tool and how it can help you and your organization become more effective, please call us for a free consultation today.
Sign up to my free weekly newsletter and get more actionable tips and ideas for making yourself a better leader and a more effective communicator! It’s very short and relevant with quick tips, links, and news about leadership, communication, and self-development. Sign up now!
Also, subscribe to my podcast, The TalentGrow Show, on iTunes to always be the first in the know about new episodes of The TalentGrow Show! http://apple.co/1NiWyZo
Harness the power of your emotional intelligence!
How to increase creativity, curiosity, and learning: An exercise
Developing leaders and teams to improve the human side of work. Grow your leadership and interpersonal communication skills. Develop stronger teams and create employee engagement.
Send Voicemail![3 tricks to take networking from icky to awesome [vlog]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/513dd8ede4b0cc0702fce2ec/1439864478562-395FDZX0YRFZ322DGEZB/image-asset.jpeg)
![Employee Development on a Shoestring 'trailer' [video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/513dd8ede4b0cc0702fce2ec/1392152211205-C4SIKWBZE0V5AX1WCD2M/EmpDevShoestring+Video+shot.jpg)
![What do leadership and driving a car have in common? [vlog]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/513dd8ede4b0cc0702fce2ec/1472753430574-FM60I05ITSE8UJF4Z59G/leadership+and+driving+a+car+thumbnail.jpg)
