Business Toolkit – Page 61 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

What Do Pie And Negotiation Have In Common

January 29, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

John Fisher, thoughtLEADERS Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss Negotiation.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, John discusses another perspective on negotiation in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

John breaks down his pie analogy for Jim and Jan, explaining that there are different styles of negotiation, and that an easy way to think about these different styles and approaches is to think about divvying up the pieces of the pie.

Utilizing the different “slices of the pie,” not only the different styles, but each style of negotiation has a very different end goal in mind and that you need to know and be cognizant of whatever this end goal may be to best approach your negotiation.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring John, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

How To Build Executive Presence

January 22, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director, talks about how to build executive presence.

Beyond the Uniform is a site for career resources for Veteran’s and they host a podcast where they interview a military Veteran about their civilian career: what they do, how they got there, and advice for other Veterans seeking to do the same.

This is a skills episode, where Mike sat down with the team at Beyond the Uniform to dig into a specific skill set that is likely to be highly relevant to all listeners. Mike is an expert corporate instructor on many topics, and in this episode he delves into Executive Presence – what it is, why it is so important to the Veteran community, and specific actions they can take – today – to start to further build this. Mike also talks about his own career path, starting his own company, and how Executive Presence has played a role in his success.

Being a Leader Through Conflict Management

January 15, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Jon Wortmann, thoughtLEADERS Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss conflict management.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Jon delves into conflict management in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

Jon explains some of the keys to conflict management, the most important being the awareness of it, and also the importance of strong verbal communication skills in order to navigate through and best understand any conflict.

In further discussion, Jon points out that, though navigating conflict itself and being able to hear individuals and various sides of an issue is important, conflict management is only successful when you can come to an actual resolution. Solving the problem, even if it involves compromise, is ultimately the most important piece of conflict management.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Jon, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

Building Your Resilience as a Leader

January 8, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Jon Wortmann, thoughtLEADERS’ Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss Leadership Resilience.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Jon explains leadership resilience in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

Jim, Jan, and Jon define exactly what it means to be resilient, where Jon compares the idea to being a human slinky, and how to continually bounce back against the regular and extraneous stresses of life.

The team at the leadership podcast ask Jon to breakdown recognizing when someone on our team may be struggling and how we, as a leader, can support and provide a strong environment for others to be able to develop their own resilience and to “bounce back” from their own particular stressors.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Jon, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

Breaking Down Leading Yourself

January 1, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Sabrina Smith, thoughtLEADERS’ Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss leading ME.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Sabrina discusses what it means to lead ME, yourself, in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

Jim, Jan, and Sabrina break what exactly Sabrina means when she says leading ME, and how to show up and work on yourself for the betterment of others every single day.

The group dives into what happens when you believe you’re above needing to be led, when you aren’t thinking about yourself as a part of the team, and how to break out of that dangerous mentality.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Sabrina, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

What It Means To Have Ownership

December 18, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Sabrina Smith, thoughtLEADERS’ Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss ownership.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Sabrina goes into detail about taking ownership in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

Jim, Jan, and Sabrina break down exactly how to define ownership and how it plugs into your day-to-day work life, especially when you are managing people, while also breaking down what a conducive environment looks like and how to create it to empower and encourage ownership across your team, including with yourself.

Sabrina goes into some detail about why exactly ownership is an important part of leadership and some of the pitfalls and gaps that are happening already, maybe within your own organization.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Sabrina, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

Keys To Effective Negotiation

December 11, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss Negotiation.

In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Mike, breaks down some of the basics of negotiation in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue.

Jim, Jan, and Mike talk about the bi-partisan frustration that is inherent with real negotiation and breakdown why negotiation is an important part of teams and being an effective leader, no matter where you are in your career.

Mike discusses some of the thought process around approaching negotiations and the necessity to change your tactics depending on the party on the other side of the discussion.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Mike, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

Developing Your Executive Presence

December 4, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss executive presence.

thoughtLEADERS is proud to announce a new initiative with The Leadership Podcast to provide very short podcasts called “chalk talks.” They’re a bitesize session on a common (but challenging) leadership issue. In this session, Mike breaks down some of the nuance that comes along with creating and growing your executive presence.

Jim, Jan, and Mike talk about the balance between “swagger” and maintaining a sense of humility in working with individuals. Their discussion breaks down the barriers that can come up with leaders who may not fully understand what exactly they are trying to convey.

Mike covers a few important rules to remember as a leader, especially when working with new people and new teams, including the critical rule of listening more than you speak.

Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Mike, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.

Developing Your Team Members

November 13, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

It’s never a great idea to work in a silo, but you also have make sure you’re working with a strong team. Learn about how you can strengthen your team and your leadership.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

Personalizing Your Leadership Approach

Do you feel like you’re investing a ton of time in your people and not getting the results you expect? Do you have team members who are performing well, but you just can’t get them to improve? Are some of your team members disengaged and you worry about them leaving your organization?

I’ve dealt with all of these situations, and I’ve taught countless leaders how to overcome these challenges. As a result, I developed a framework called the Leadership Matrix to help deal with these issues. I’ve also written a book that explains this matrix in depth.

Here, I’ll cover how to assess how you’re spending your time and energy. How to reward and inspire your high performers. How to get results out of team members who aren’t contributing. How to train and motivate your low performers. And how to reclaim your time from team members who tend to waste it. By using this approach, you can generate better results by being more efficient in how you lead your team members.

Components of High-Performing Cultures

October 30, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

Driving a strong business starts with the people who work for your business and those people align on the business through the company culture. How are you shaping yours?

A high performing culture is one where people drive performance because of the right behaviors. They’ve embedded these behaviors in their everyday life. People in high performing cultures require less supervision. They’re empowered to achieve goals that are consistent with the organization’s direction.

As a leader, you need to understand how to build a high performing culture and your responsibilities for making it happen. I found that there are six components to building a high performing culture.

First, you have to define the culture. What is a high performance? What are the desired behaviors? How will you know when you’ve achieved a high performing culture?

Second, set direction. What’s the vision for the organization? What’s the organization’s purpose? You have to be able to articulate this to the team. Third is communicating the culture. What are the communication vehicles and techniques you’re going to use to reinforce culture ever day?

The Basics of a Cross-Functional Team

October 16, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Almost all industries are segmented, but sometimes big changes require creating a team with representation from all sides of the business. Here are the basics of working with cross-functional teams.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

Imagine an orchestra made up of nothing but trumpets. Imagine a baseball team of all catchers. Imagine a medical team that’s nothing but radiologists. Those aren’t good situations.

A cross-functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It can include people from finance, marketing, operations and HR, and other key functional areas.

Employees from different levels usually participate on a cross-functional team. The team might include frontline operators, managers and directors, you may have analysts and project managers on the team. There may be other job families involved. These teams can also include people from outside the organization like suppliers, customers, or consultants. The important thing to note about a cross-functional team is you’re bringing together people with different experiences, different perspectives, and different skill sets to jointly solve a problem or implement an initiative.

Different perspectives and skills are designed to give you a higher chance of success since you’re involving relevant experts from relevant areas. If you get the opportunity to lead a cross-functional team, I encourage you to jump at that chance. You’re going to learn so much about different functions that you may never have experienced before and you’re going to see the power of bringing together those diverse perspectives and experiences and pointing them toward a common objective.

Leadership Capital and Keys to Leading Effectively

September 18, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy /by Ryan Shaw

Leadership isn’t an unlimited resource, because time isn’t an unlimited resource. Learn how to be a more effective and efficient leader.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

Do you work a 40 hour week or are you working 24/7? How much effort are you putting into your work? How much stress do you experience from the energy you’re putting in? Your time and energy are finite resources. You can squeeze more time out by taking away from other activities in your life but you can’t do that forever. That time isn’t unlimited.

If you squeeze out too much, bad things can happen. I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve had two heart attacks because I was spending too much time and energy with my work. Something needs to change. To reduce the time you spend at work, reduce stress, and improve performance, you need to approach how you spend your time and energy differently.

Leadership capital is the time and energy you invest in leading your team. It needs to be invested carefully like any other scarce resource. When’s the last time you assessed where you’re spending your time and energy? Who are you spending it with? How are you spending it? Are you getting the results you want from those investments? These are all questions I want you to consider as you assess how you’re spending the valuable resource of your leadership capital.