Susan Scott's Blog, page 103

Fierce Resources: How to Hold Departments Accountable to Their Budgets

This week’s Fierce Resource was published on Monday on Proformative.com website. Written by Sheryl Nance-Nas, the article features Fierce CEO & President, Halley Bock.

How to Hold Departments Accountable to Their Budgets explores how to move from the conceptual stage of setting a budget to the implementation stage and stay accountable.

“We can’t make people accountable,” says Halley Bock, CEO and president of Fierce Inc., a leadership development and training company. “Accountability is something we try to legislate, but it is not a process or a tool. It is a choice that each individual needs to make to be responsible for his or her results.”

To read the full article click, here.

The Upside of Showing your Humanity

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the LAMP conference hosted by GAMA International. During the conference, I attended the LAMP Celebration of Excellence dinner, in which New York Life Partnering Manager, John Baier was awarded the GAMA International Management Hall of Fame award.

After learning more about him from others and having the pleasure of hearing him speak, I could see why this man was not only prosperous at growing his business, he was a person people committed to on a deep level.

John Baier, to me, was a perfect example of a leader who sees the upside in showing his human side to those he leads.

Somewhere a rumor was started that leaders should keep their emotions to themselves – that revealing their humanity would cause their employees to lose respect for them. This is a nasty rumor and one that I’m here to squash immediately.

Effective leaders, who influence both the top and bottom line, know that strong relationships drive their success. To build these strong relationships they turn their nose up at the idea that it is lonely at the top, and instead, surround themselves with people who are willing to authentically and honestly show up.

Fierce Tip of the Week: Be Kind

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” ― Henry James

Showing kindness in the workplace can get a bad rap. It can be mistaken as a weakness. Some believe it is an emotion we should not show.

Don’t let this old school way of thinking misguide you.

Being kind is the greatest gift we can give one another. It is an attribute that encompasses empathy and sympathy, while simultaneously building trust and respect. Kindness goes a long way and often takes very little energy on our parts.

This week take every opportunity to be kindhearted to those you spend your days with. No act is too small and if the week provides you the chance to show your humanity in a large way – seize it!

Fierce Resources: A Conversation with Fierce Facilitators

This week Fierce hosted our first ever Fierce Summit, where clients, partners, and fans came from all over the world to share ideas and exchange thoughts about leadership development and using fierce. The theme was Collaborate, Innovate, Elevate. There were robust, energetic conversations with the facilitators and guests who attended.

This week we chose to highlight two Fierce interviews. First published on the Fierce Blog, they are interviews conducted with two of our celebrated facilitators who attended the Fierce Summit: Dr. Suzi Kalsow of Buena Vista University and Jill Kohler, Founder and President of Penrose Academy.

Both women are dedicated to creating a different type of learning experience for the students whose lives they impact.

To read Dr. Suzi Kalsow’s interview click here, and to read Jill Kohler’s interview click here.

Cracking the Code: Conversations Build Productive Teams

In a world moving as a fast as ours, who doesn’t wish they could just snap their fingers and create more collaboration, innovation, and productivity within their teams? Even if you tried to streamline the process and assemble all your top performers into one team, this does not guarantee you a productive team.

Why?

Productive teams don’t get to the next level because of how proficient each member of the team is as an individual. Team success relies on the ability to collaborate and work together as a unit.

So how, as a leader, do you build this type of fruitful unity?

You have the conversations.

At the helm of every productive team are leaders who take the time to coach, confront, solicit perspectives, and have all the necessary conversations to develop those who they lead. They’re tireless in their quest to be a resource and realize that individual strength means very little if the collective is failing.

What conversations are you having with your team?

Fierce Tip of the Week: Put the Time In

With daylight saving time, this week we turned our clocks one hour ahead and sprung forward. This got me thinking about the idea of time and how, with a click of a button, we can lose or gain an hour.

This week’s fierce tip is about making the best use of the time you have and putting in the necessary work. Connection and relationships are the currency of our modern world, and they do not magically build themselves. Have the conversations, both enjoyable and difficult, that need to happen in order to enrich the relationships most important to you.

Don’t let this opportunity go by. This week invest in those who surround you.

Fierce Resources: How to Determine the ROI of Training Programs

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published on Managing Your HR website and was written by Fierce CEO & President, Halley Bock.

How to Determine the ROI of Training Programs explores three specific ways you can measure the tangible ROI of your training efforts. These examples can help you show the leaders within your organization the value of investing in your employees.

“Successfully measuring training ROI can seem more difficult than it is for hard expenses, like a new piece of equipment or a recent hire. One key reason is that uncertainty exists around what to expect from the training program in concrete terms that directly relate to the organization’s strategies and goals. In addition, organizations often have no base against which to measure the changes training will bring about.”

To read the full article click, here.

The Key to Collaboration? Encourage Questions

Collaboration is a major buzz word. It’s quite common to hear that having multiple minds around an idea is better than only one.

So how do you, as a leader, encourage your team to collaborate and innovate with each other?

Encourage questions.

Are all questions equal? No. The questions we’re talking about rise above the day-to-day asks. The questions consist of employees looking at an idea, situation, or problem and exploring all the possibilities that could be on the other end. They do this with their leader, with their team members, and with others inside the organization. They get curious!

This is true collaboration – exploring and working together. Teams that ask questions and push back on their leaders and their team, trust and respect their relationships enough to be able to have the sometimes difficult conversations that arise when you venture into the unknown.

The skill that leaders need to practice is learning to truly listen to these multiple competing realities and harness their team’s energy. If you shut questions down, you will find your team keeping to themselves very quickly.

Not sure, as a leader, how strong you are at creating this environment? Now is the perfect opportunity to ask!

Fierce Tip of the Week: What is Possible?

This past weekend I was hit with many hard realities. Some of those realities are awesome, some are less than awesome. Even though it can be hard, surfacing truths allows you to look forward toward the future and ask yourself: What is possible?

This week’s tip encourages you to focus on having the conversations necessary to interrogate your reality. The purpose of these conversations is to realize that any plan based in fantasy will fail. The benefit of understanding the reality of a situation is that when you begin the journey forward your goals are achievable.

Another bonus ? Sometimes when you explore your reality you learn it is even better than you imagined.

Fierce Resources: Expert Advice on Mastering the Art of Delegation

This week’s Fierce Resource was first published on February 14th on the Intuit Small Business Blog. Written by Sheryl Nance-Nash, Expert Advice on Mastering the Art of Delegation features Fierce President & CEO, Halley Bock.

Exploring the art of delegation, Halley recommends using the Fierce Delegation Decision Tree model to delegate clearly and foster accountability within your workplace.

“Someone can be delegated a responsibility at four different levels of the decision tree (leaf, branch, trunk, or root). Each level has a clear, concise definition of what is expected for that project and sets guidelines on how to interact with the leader.”



To read the full article, click here.