Author: TimSchneider

Leading Edge – Volume 27 – Transparency

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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.

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Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 26 – Service Culture

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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.

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Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 24 – People Centered Leadership

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-People Centered Leadership

 
  • One of the most common predicting elements of a healthy (and successful) workplace is the presence of people centered leaders at all organizational levels. From the C-suited to the first line of supervision.
  • People are never be viewed or treated as a commodity at healthy workplaces.
  • People centered leaders are great listeners and prioritize listening to their team members.
  • People centered leaders provide genuine empathy to team members.
  • People centered leaders build solid and lasting relationships with team members.

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Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 25 – Input and Voice

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Input and Voice

 
  • The input and voice from team members have great impact in engagement, problem solving and innovation.
  • Effective leaders in healthy workplaces seek input prior to important decisions and when challenges present themselves.
  • Natural spots for input include strategic planning, budgeting and the identification of process improvement opportunities.
  • Soliciting voice includes looking for feedback and creating an environment where disagreement is encouraged.

More Articles

Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 23 – Ethical Congruence

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Ethical Congruence

 
  • Ethical consistency or ethical congruence is not about ethics and certainly not about morality. It is about the consistent and fair application of policies to all team members.
  • When team members believe their are dual standards, unfairness, lack of consistent enforcement or favoritism, morale will be substantially harmed.
  • Avoid making policy exceptions because of who someone is or because they happen to be a favored team member.
  • Senior leaders especially must be consistent and great role models for this behavior.
  • Take special care to ensure you are not creating any appearance of impropriety or favoritism.

More Articles

Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 22 – Growth and Development

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Growth and Development

 
  • The investment in team member growth and development is a significant indicator in workplace health and success.
  • Training should be provided that expands knowledge, is driven by team member needs and desires and is not just about improving job skills.
  • Internal opportunities for both movement (lateral) and advancement (promotion) should be provided to all team members.
  • Empowerment of team members is a key ingredient to successful growth and development. True empowerment and not traditional delegation.
  • Work to assist team members in finding self-actualization.

More Articles

Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 21 – Team Member Self-Esteem Needs

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Team Member Self-Esteem Needs

 
  • Meeting the self-esteem and ego needs of team members creates a healthy and high performing workplace as well as develops increased performance and engagement.
  • Making praise, appreciation and recognition a part of the organization’s culture creates sustained health and performance.
  • Leaders must be committed to consistency in providing appreciation and positive feedback.
  • Leaders must overcome their own stigmas related to appreciation and praise and not judge the needs of others based on their own needs.

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Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Leading Edge – Volume 20 – Team Member Social Needs

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Focus on Healthy Workplaces-Team Member Social Needs

 
  • Healthy and effective organizations are concerned with and work hard at meeting the social needs of their team members.
  • Shared celebrations are an important step in meeting social needs. Birthdays, work anniversaries and other important milestones should be celebrated.
  • Don’t gauge the social needs of your team based on your own.
  • Create opportunities to adopt a cause or charity.
  • The relationship that team members crave most is with their immediate leader. Satisfy that need by building deep relational connections with them.

More Articles

Aegis Learning Edge is in Impact, Value and Results
  • Rise! by Tim Schneider
  • Everything DiSC Catalyst Online Learning from Aegis Learning
  • A Heart for Leadership by Tim Schneider

Why a Heart for Leadership Matters

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Unlocking a Heart for Leadership

This is a multi-part series of excerpts from Unlocking a Heart for Leadership, a soon to be released book by Tim Schneider.  This book and series examines the powerful methods to add heart based (affective/feeling) approaches to your leadership and life.  An unlocked heart is the third facet of full leadership and personal realization.  

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”  Nelson Mandela

The Trinity of Leadership Success

One of the first questions that is often asked is why. Why does heart matter? What difference does my heart make if I am using the right skills and competencies and achieving a certain level of success?

And those are very fair questions.

The heart of a leader completes the trinity of leadership success, potential and full actualization of ability. Consider three circles, the first circle contains your competencies and skills. The most important of those competencies include communication, team member engagement, coaching, self-mastery and empowerment. Also among them are decision making, innovation and change, strategic planning, relationships and external management and courage and risk. Within each competency, there are critical skills to master as well. These competencies and supporting skills, when mastered and used consistently will lead you to a tremendous level of success just on their own.

Developing the use of competencies and skills is a cognitive or thinking processed piece of learning. It is developed through the engagement of intellectual capacity and stored in process, mind memory. The learning occurs from reading, seeing, doing and reinforced by the successes associated with the application of those skills. Your mind and memory drives the use of competencies and skills when not combined with other elements of success.

The second circle is the environment in which you operate. No successful person or leader can truly actualize their abilities and talents without a supporting and supportive environment. Within this circle are the organizational and environmental competencies of providing opportunity, valuing people, providing of needs, creating opportunity for growth and providing feedback to people. This type of environment will allow leaders to fully utilized, in a supporting climate, their abilities and talents. Together, with competencies, this creates a powerful combination for potential success.

But wait. That’s not all.

The third circle becomes the final driving piece of personal and leadership success. It is within that circle that the power of your emotions, heart and beliefs can be managed and unleashed. The heart, soul and emotional composition of a leader will drive beliefs which, in-turn, drive actions and behaviors. This can be viewed in a variety of ways including another circular view of your emotions and heart are at the core of who you are, your beliefs are driven by that emotional composition and your emotions then create the reality of behaviors and application of skills in all situations.

In the simplest of analogies, you are upset, your attitude reflects that. Your outward behaviors will then become a projection of that attitude and belief set. Conversely, if you are happy, your beliefs and attitude will be upbeat and positive. The outward behaviors driven by this will be much more positive in nature. You will smile, you will encourage, you will provide positive feedback, but only if your heart is in the right place.

Another superpower associated with leadership heart is the ability to drive sustained positive competencies and skills. Quite bluntly, anyone can memorize a skill or change a habit temporarily. We all do that. To sustain long-term desired behaviors, alignment with attitudes and belief and ultimately, emotional composition and heart must occur.

Consider for a moment that we could all quickly learn scales and a simple tune on a piano. All of that is cognitive learning and we will have this knocked down in 15 minutes. But to continue to play that music, expand the selection, execute with passion and achieve great musical results, your heart must be into it and belief in the outcome must be present. Without those, the song will sound mechanical and interest will wane quickly.

With alignment of heart, attitude and actions, any leader and any person becomes unstoppable.

By Tim Schneider

Tim Schneider is the founder of Aegis Learning and has been working with teams and leaders for 25 years.   He generates results, impact and his sole focus is your success.

He is the author of The Ten Competencies of Outstanding Leadership and Beyond Engagement and a widely sought speaker, training facilitator and individual development coach.

Sparking a Culture of Change and Innovation

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Four Almost Easy Tips to Spark a Culture of Change and Innovation

Innovation.

What does it mean to you and what does it mean to your customers, your team members and your business? Contrary to popular belief, innovation isn’t coming up with a brand new idea never before seen on the planet. Simply put, innovation is the process of translating an idea or best practice into a solution that either fulfills a business need or solves a specific problem. It can even include identifying and utilizing a best practice from another organization and “molding” it into your business environment. Yes, you heard right. Basically, “borrowing” ideas from other organizations is a form of innovation.

So if it is so important to our companies and our customers, why are leaders so bad at cultivating innovation in their organizations? In 2008, McKinsey & Company conducted a survey of 600 global executives and found that 64 percent of senior executives are generally disappointed in their ability to stimulate innovation. 64 percent. Think about all the missed opportunities!

The good news is that leaders can (and should) help create an environment that sparks innovation and change in their organization. Here are 4 almost-easy tips to help drive innovation:

1. Foster Trust and Build Culture: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Encourage folks to speak up and give their suggestions. Ask questions and create innovative environments. No negative repercussions if the idea isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread.

2. Tap customers: Customers know what they want. Ask them. Focus groups and surveys are great ways to get actionable ideas and feedback.

3. Create an Idea Program: Implement a formal avenue that provides an avenue for team members to submit suggestions and circumvent “normal” channels. Give everyone an opportunity to participate, and respond to ALL suggestions (even the ones that aren’t moving forward). Recognize implemented ideas.

4. Implement Innovation Workgroups: Identify and mobilize innovative, engaged team members to attack specific problems and provide solutions through brainstorming and process improvement. Frame the opportunity or challenge as finite as possible to get them started. Give them a structured timeline and team lead, and watch them go!

Innovation is more than just a buzzword. It is thinking creatively and taking action to improve your business. As a leader, you can help drive innovation and spark a culture of change that will positively impact your customers, your team members and your organization. It is almost easy.

Polly Walker is a talented facilitator, coach and expert in process improvement.  As the chief innovation officer for Aegis Learning, Polly produces many of the new ideas and creative solutions for workplace learning programs and their delivery.

Ms. Walker has two master’s degrees and has worked with some of the biggest client projects for Aegis Learning.  She is also our Townie and constantly optimistic.