Out Of The Comfort Zone

Conflict, tension and disagreement are part of every team and every organization. Those that can navigate through the tension can achieve superb results. However, too many of us aren’t comfortable with conflict and either over react to conflict or avoid it totally. And of course, when the conflict really matters, it does feel personal. There is a way to get more comfortable with conflict and disagreement. Tune in to hear the steps you can take.

How often has you questioned whether your team was accountable? How many times have you told someone on your team to hold others accountable? Accountability may be as important as trust and integrity. But what do you need to do as a leader to drive accountability? Tune in to hear what you need to do.

How do you find the courage and the strategy to persuade people in positions of power to do something different? So many people have great ideas and can’t get leaders to listen to the ideas let alone consider them seriously and even adopt them. So many also give up on their ideas too quickly - they fail to understand what the process of change requires and how to stick with the message in order to see success. Tune in for a real example of substantive change and allow with an approach that might work for you.

You know you need time to think and to plan, you know you have a very important future-focused task to work on in the next 6 months, and you probably are so busy you have no time to do what matters for long term success. Tune in for fabulous tactics and advice on how to change that pattern for yourself for good.

How can you understand and grow the power you have? What are the good ways to use your power? What are the ways you give your power away? If you feel stuck with a boss who isn’t giving you what you need, caught between too many stakeholders or struggling to exert influence among your peers, this is the episode for you.

How can you motivate others, and by implication yourself? That is one of the most common questions I hear from leaders and for good reason. The research on motivation is complicated and unclear. Tune in to hear the latest highlights and insights on how to motivate yourself and others.

Far too often, new leaders are not prepared for the leadership role and thus are frustrated, disillusioned and ineffective. This is a fixable solution. Tune in to hear what you need to know about leading effectively whether you are a new leader or a seasoned one.

Resilience, adaptability and agility are becoming even more essential skills for leaders. But, in the face of change is it better to stick (i.e., persist, persevere, show grit) or to switch (i.e., change course, adapt, flex)? Turns out it is a critical question that gets to the heart of what it means to be agile. Tune in to here what the science is saying about how to develop your own resilience and make wise choices.

What do you need to do to experience more happiness? It turns out there is strong link between a finite amount of discretionary time and happiness. Beyond mindfulness and mediation, what else can you do? Tune in to find out what research says about this link, how to have more happiness in your life without quitting your job.

So many of the cultures that we interact with are not truly understood – no less so than China and the West, in particular the US. We compete and we collaborate. What are the key differences in perspective about life, work, meaning, and society? What are the similarities? If you are doing business globally, you need to hear this perspective.

When most people prepare for a negotiation, they worry about how high to start the “bidding”, what information to withhold and who is taking advantage of whom. As a result, most people don’t produce a great outcome that feels fair to all sides. There is a better way. We will talk about a radically different way to think about negotiation – one that emphasizes fairness to all and reframes the pie that we should split. Tune in to hear how.

Our minds are always in high gear - interpreting events, watching for blockers, protecting us and more. That activity can make destressing extremely difficult and often leads to poor sleep and more. How can you quiet your mind? Why should you try? Tune in to hear more.

As a leader, you ask questions of your team, potential hirees, your customers, your peers and sometimes even your competitors. Just think about the number of times each day you ask someone for information that you need to know. What if the source isn’t exactly forthcoming in the way you would hope? How can you ask in a way that allows you to find out anything from anyone? Tune in to hear the techniques for real life master interrogators and the implications for you as a caring leader.

The questions we ask ourselves as well as the questions we ask our team ultimately drive our thinking, our engagement, our sense of satisfaction and our results. How do you ask better questions to get a stronger learning mindset? Tune in to hear what works.

Of course as a leader you strive to give feedback to your team and to develop them. But, are you coaching enough? Or are you instructing? What does coaching mean to you as a manager? What should you do to coach effectively? How do you create a coaching culture? Tune in to hear more.

Nothing seems to raise concerns like pay and benefits. If you think you should be paid more or if you want to ask for a pay increase, this session provides information need to know about how pay systems work.

Curiosity – gentle curiosity – is an essential skill for leaders and teams. Whether it is the curiosity to ask why before leaping to a conclusion, to try to understand where someone else is coming from, to ask what if or to explore new territory; curiosity fuels so much of performance. How do you develop it? How do you nurture it in your team? What is curiosity and why does it matter for human connection? Tune in to hear more.

Tune in to hear one leader’s experience inspiring people in his organization to do more, make change and reach a higher level of performance.

So many books to read and no time to read them – listen in for insights from some of the best leaders and authors. What is their key message? What is their insight? And, what’s the one question you should be asking yourself?

While anxiety has always been a part of the human condition, today more and more people are talking about anxiety in themselves and in their team members. What is a normal level of anxiety? How does anxiety work in the brain? What can you do about it as an individual and as a leader? Tune in to hear.