How To Deliver What Your Organization Needs Most From You

Accomplished leadership and executive coaches Bill Berman and George Bradt have discovered over the past 30 years that:

People lose their ability to influence others and impact the organizations they work at because they are not focused on the most essential, mission-critical business and cultural priorities of the organization.

From CEOs to first-line managers, Berman and Bradt explain that too often individuals are unintentionally misunderstanding critical aspects of their job. And, to often, these individuals do not understand the organization’s top priorities.

These discoveries encouraged Berman and Bradt to write their new book, Influence and Impact, which provides an easy-to-follow, common-sense approach to building influence at any level of an organization.

More specifically, they explain how to:

Evaluate what values, strengths and capabilities you bring to your role.
How you can develop new skills to increase your influence.
Determine if you are in the right place to have the greatest impact.

You will learn how to apply well-tested coaching tools to becoming more influential and achieving impact at work. The book is ideal for executives, managers, leaders, and any professional who hopes to get a clearer picture of what their colleagues, superiors, and followers expect of them.

As you embark on the changes you choose to make to become more impactful and influential in your workplace, the authors recommend you:

Make the changes that you have identified as important to you, your manager, and your organization.
Get other people to notice that you have made a change.
Get others to believe that the changes are real rather than cosmetic.
Sell your value to others without selling yourself by talking about the work, bringing insights instead of information, putting your hand up, and jumping in to fill gaps.

All these steps will help you take on more responsibility, expand your impact, and reap the benefits.

Bill Berman

Today, Berman shared these additional insights for us:

Question: How might someone considering hiring an executive or career coach incorporate your book into the mix?

Berman: Most executive coaches will do many of the things we talk about in the book, including assessments and development plans. The Working Job Description we present in Chapter 4 is a novel and very useful tool for integrating all this information into a clear, one-page message about the person, the job and the organization. For example, not all coaches pay as much attention to the context the person works in, and the person-work fit. Influence and Impact will help people from individual contributors to senior leaders focus attention on what the person’s manager, skip-level manager, peers, and colleagues see as critical for their role. It will also help to focus attention on the organizational culture. The most successful leaders are culturally and organizationally agile – they adapt to the situation and the environment.

Question: What two or three of the best techniques you teach in the book can leaders use to help an employee have more influence and impact in their company/organization?

Berman: The good news is, Chapter 13 is called “A Primer for Managers.” It is a five-page summary of all the takeaways that managers can use to help their employees build their influence and enhance their impact.

If I had to pick the two or three things in that list that would have the impact, it would be the following:

#1, make sure you, and your employee understand what the essential priorities of the job are over the next few months.

#2, make sure you and your employee know what success looks like. Of the six things you would like them to accomplish, what are the two or three really critical elements.

#3 would be to build trust and challenge them to do more than they think they can do. I showed the book proposal to a senior manager, and he told me, “This is great. I used it with an employee. I told him he wasn’t focused on the most important part of the job.” That is what really makes the difference.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Learn The Power Of Probabilistic Thinking

Dive in for a fascinating read as you discover the life-changing power of probabilistic thinking, taught by Kyle Austin Young in his book, Success Is A Numbers Game . “Every goal that you’re pursuing has two hidden numbers attached to it—a probability of success and a probability of failure,” explains Young, “If you can make the first number bigger and the second number smaller, you can rewrite your predicted outcome.” “Whether you’re trying to start a business, run a marathon, get a promotion, earn a pilot’s license, grow a bumper crop of tomatoes, or sign an acting deal, these two percentages are always lurking in the shadows predicting what is going to happen.” But, adds Young, "Most of us never think about them. We assume our odds are unknowable and unchangeable. This dangerous lie leads millions of people to fail at goals where they were perfectly capable of succeeding. You can choose a smarter path,” encourages Young. In Success is a Numbers Game , ...

How To Become Your Best-Self Leader Everyday

“By focusing in specific ways on five key leadership elements— Purpose, Process, People, Presence, and Peace —you can increase your time, capacity, energy, and ultimately your leadership impact,” explains Amy Jen Su , author of the book, The Leader You Want To Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self—Every Day . Su shares both Western management thinking and Eastern philosophy to provide a holistic yet hands-on approach to becoming a more effective leader with less stress and more equanimity. She draws on rich and instructive stories of clients, leaders, artists, and athletes. And, she focuses on three foundational tenets: s elf-care, self-awareness, and personal agency . Most important, Su explores in depth, chapter-by-chapter the Five Ps : Purpose – Staying grounded in your passions and contributions, doing your highest and best work that has meaning and is making a difference. Process – Relying on daily practices and routines that honor your natural energy rhyt...

Critical Questions To Ask New Hires

In Paul Falcone ’s book, 75 Ways For Managers To Hire, Develop And Keep Great Employees , he recommends asking new employees the following questions 30, 60 and 90 days after they were hired: 30-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Why do you think we selected you as an employee? What do you like about the job and the organization so far? What’s been going well? What are the highlights of your experiences so far? Why? Tell me what you don’t understand about your job and about our organization now that you’ve had a month to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Have you faced any unforeseen surprises since joining us that you weren’t expecting? 60-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Do you have enough, too much or too little time to do your work? Do you have access to the appropriate tools and resources? Do you feel you have been sufficiently trained in all aspects of your job to perform at a high level? How do you see your job relating to the organization’...

The Five Critical Roles You Need To Build A Winning Team

The book, Team Players , by leadership expert and New York Times bestselling author, Mark Murphy , explains why a team needs more than strong leaders—it needs the right mix of five roles and talents to succeed. In addition, Murphy reveals that the secret to extraordinary teams isn’t making everyone the same—it’s embracing and leveraging fundamental differences through those five distinct team roles. No amount of teambuilding, trust, or cohesion can overcome having the wrong mix of people in the room. The five essential roles and talents are : The Director assumes a leadership role within the team, guiding its direction and making important, difficult, and even unpopular decisions. The Achiever immerses themselves in the details of accomplishing tasks and getting things done, with a keen eye for delivering error-free work. The Stabilizer keeps the team on track with meticulous planning, processes and procedures, clear timelines, and organization. ...

Effective Listening: Do's And Don'ts

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book, The 11 Laws of Likability . They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

The Enemy Of Engagement - Book Highlights

" Frustration in the workplace is a silent killer," claim authors Mark Royal and Tom Agnew in their book, The Enemy of Engagement . Further, "in an organizational context, frustration is not as simple as failing to get something you want. Rather, it involves the inability to succeed in your role due to organizational barriers or the inability to bring the bulk of your individual talents, skills, and abilities to your job." Royal and Agnew further explain that a staggering number of highly motivated, engaged, and loyal employees quit trying--or quit, period---because they feel frustrated . And what's causing all that frustration? It's lack of enablement . According to Royal and Agnew, as employees grow in experience in their roles, they begin to focus less on learning the ropes and more on achieving desired results . In the process, they are increasingly confronted with enablement constraints...

Business And Life Lessons My Father Taught Me

On this Father's Day , I thank my dad for teaching me the following business and life lessons : Listen - Growing up, I thought my Dad was perhaps shy or quiet. Really, he was just a great listener. I believe that's what made him so wise. He would listen to anyone. Young or old. New acquaintance or friend. Provide - My Dad provided for me. Music lessons. Vacations. Summer camp. Boy Scouts. He gave. He put others' needs first. Today, I find in volunteering likely the same satisfaction he felt when he provided. Educate - My Dad's passion was education. He loved to learn. He loved even more to teach. He lived to help other people learn. In the workplace, providing learning opportunities is one of the most powerful things you can do for an employee. Mentoring is equally powerful. Train & Prepare - All those years of hearing, "Have you done your homework?" and "practice your trombone," served me well....

Daily Intentions For Leaders

Everyone can benefit from the book, Dear Friend , which features bite-sized, daily notes for contemplation, inspiration, connection, and clarity. Busy and stressed business leaders can particularly benefit from the 365 profound, heartfelt reflections from author Michelle Maros , founder of Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life and cohost of the podcast, Life Happens with Barb and Michelle . Dear Friend invites readers to go deep and use the notes as a daily practice that compounds over time, nurturing strength, resilience, and clarity. In just a few minutes each day, this book will offer you a daily reprieve when you feel burned out, beaten down, or overwhelmed by the strains and stresses of modern life. The heart of Dear Friend began in the quiet mornings Michelle shared with her mom, Barb. Every day, they would sit together, reading affirmations or passages from Barb’s beloved books. These small rituals—simple but powerful—set the tone for each day, grounding them in g...

The Five Critical Roles You Need To Build A Winning Team

The new book, Team Players , by leadership expert and New York Times bestselling author, Mark Murphy , explains why a team needs more than strong leaders—it needs the right mix of five roles and talents to succeed. In addition, Murphy reveals that the secret to extraordinary teams isn’t making everyone the same—it’s embracing and leveraging fundamental differences through those five distinct team roles. No amount of teambuilding, trust, or cohesion can overcome having the wrong mix of people in the room. The five essential roles and talents are: The Director assumes a leadership role within the team, guiding its direction and making important, difficult, and even unpopular decisions. The Achiever immerses themselves in the details of accomplishing tasks and getting things done, with a keen eye for delivering error-free work. The Stabilizer keeps the team on track with meticulous planning, processes and procedures, clear timelines, and organi...

How To Lead In An Era When Everything Is Being Displaced

Today, leaders are caught in a cascade of contradictions. The technology that promises unprecedented capability also delivers unprecedented doubt. Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes everything faster, cheaper, and more capable. It also makes the most fundamental question of leadership unavoidable: what are humans actually for? You did not choose this moment. But you are responsible for who you and your organization become in it. In Re-Placed: Answering The Call Of Leadership In The Age Of AI , leadership strategist and CEO Kari Zeller offers something rare in the AI conversation: a leadership book that starts with the human, not the technology. “The arrival of artificial intelligence doesn't have to displace us,” explains Zeller. “But it will, unless we learn to re-place ourselves first—to consciously reposition who we are, how we lead, and where we create value in a world where intelligence is no longer ours alone.” “Being re...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog