Whether an entrepreneur, manager, or executive, there are several common leadership styles that people rely on according to the needs of the business, the economic cycle, and the goals they seek not to mention the needs of the people they are leading. There are five leadership styles that executive coaching services will use as a framework for assessing what an organization is currently using as well as what they seek to achieve through business leadership coaching.
Leadership Coaching
Leadership vs. Management – What’s the Difference?
For a business to be successful there needs to be both leadership and management. Neither competency is superior or inferior to the other; they are different but both are needed to organize, direct, and inspire a group of people. As a business owner trying to get organized, hire a leadership team including a manager, and figure out the structure of your business, you may find yourself asking: Leadership vs. Management – What’s the difference? Read on to learn specifics about each and the different roles they play within an organization like yours!
4 Books That Help Develop Soft Skills
Whether you lead a small business or a large corporation, creating a soft skills development plan will differentiate you from the mediocre.
4 Books to Read for Improving Team Communication
It’s important to have a growth mindset. Here are books that will help you with self & business management, and operational excellence.
Ken’s Top 4 Business Leadership Books
It’s important to have a growth mindset. Here are books that will help you with self & business management, and operational excellence.
6 TED Talks to Sharpen Your Communication Skills
Workplace communication is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to running a successful business. Things like limited feedback, unclear expectations, and demoralized employees are all examples of poor workplace communication. If you are not aware of how you have been communicating at work, this blog is a resource for you to sharpen up on six professional communication skills that will help you with productive workplace communication.
4 Common Leadership Pitfalls to Avoid
We All Make Mistakes As leaders, the decisions we make shape and drive the entire organization. When it comes to leadership, it’s impossible to avoid making mistakes entirely. Everybody makes mistakes. That is a given, but a good leader learns from when they make...
How Much Does an Executive Business Coach Cost?
An executive business coach offer products and services to help their clients improve their business goals and come up with solutions for issues their clients face. Executive business coaches offer support, guidance, advice, and their array of resources to help both...
Business Coaching Case Study: Mountain Mojo Group
Mountain Mojo Group is a full-service digital marketing agency located in Flagstaff, Arizona. After three years of rollercoaster revenue and team growth, Austin and Rand decided to see if a business coach could help take their business to the next level.
Ken’s 4 Best Leadership Book Recommendations
It’s important to have a growth mindset. Here are books that will help you with self & business management, and operational excellence.
10 Ways to Communicate More Effectively on LinkedIn
Effective communication can be a challenge in any context which requires interaction between two or more people from different backgrounds. These challenges are compounded when you consider the global nature of LinkedIn that spans a wide variety of beliefs, languages, and behaviors. Today, we’ll dive into ten ways to communicate effectively on LinkedIn and discuss what effective communication is in practice — and what it’s not.
3 Quick Tips on How to Connect, Communicate, and Lead Better
Whenever I’m contacted by a current or prospective client about “friction” they are confronting in their organization, or I’m feeling “tension” in some of my relationships, chances are we will be able to label it a lack of effective communication. On the surface, we probably have a sense of what is happening, yet upon further reflection, great communication skills have far less to do with speaking well and much more to do with several more important soft skills.
4 Ways to Use Talent Dynamics to Make Informed Hiring Decisions
For those in the professional HR world, they would be the first to say that there are ‘many factors’ weighed when making hiring decisions. The following are some thoughts, suggestions, and alternatives based on work with clients.
Nearly every entrepreneur, owner and executive leader that I work with is concerned about attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. The fallacy many of us come face-to-face with is twofold: hiring is a continuous process rather than a one-time event when an opening occurs; and a resume that demonstrates a quantity of ‘experience’ will translate into both skill and fit.
You can create a predictable, repeatable process for hiring talent, integrating their genius into your existing team, and tapping into the very best of what they have to offer.
Ken’s 3 Quick Tips on How to use Talent Dynamics in Your Day To Day Life
Talent Dynamics is a leading intrapersonal profiling tool used by more than 500,000 leaders and businesspeople around the world to build trust and flow. The Talent Dynamics test was created by Robert James Hamilton and is based on the Chinese I Ching philosophy. This ancient divination text also served as the inspiration for Carl Jung’s personality archetypes developed in the early 20th century.
The Pitfalls of Micromanagement
According to Gallup, only 1 in 10 people possess the talents required to be a great manager. Even those with the natural talent to lead have to work to gain the knowledge and learn the skills that will help them excel in a leadership role. Great managers can help their team go beyond expectations and reach their full potential. Bad managers, on the other hand, hold their teams and employees back. Employee engagement can make or break a business, and research shows that managers account for as much as 70% of employee engagement variances. It’s said that when an employee leaves a company, they’re really leaving their manager. While every employee has their reason for leaving a job, one of the most common complaints among dissatisfied employees is micromanagement.
Unlock your Leadership Genius by Making the Cut to Take Your Business to the Next Level
Nearly every business owner or executive leader that seeks a conversation about coaching with me likely presents a variation on the following theme: what used to deliver results has stopped working. Often they cannot be more specific; they’re troubled by the feeling that something is ‘off’, perhaps the team isn’t ‘jibing’, or they are questioning whether or not they have the right priorities.
4 Books That Help You Create Better Habits (at Work)
It has always intrigued me that some people just seem to get more done, with high quality, a great attitude, and a focus that is second to none. In my pursuit of growth, books that help me be better: at work, at home, in my community, and in general, always catch my eye.
Ken’s 3 Quick Tips on How To Feel More Comfortable Saying ‘No’
No. Ne. Nej. Nee. Non. Nein. Na. No matter what language you speak, it can be surprisingly difficult to say “no.” Whether a new entrepreneur, small business owner, or seasoned executive, learning to be more comfortable saying “no” is a crucial skill to practice and, eventually, master.
Working Non-Stop? Avoid a Burnout with these Tips!
If you are anything like me, you have read your share of articles, studies, and analytics that quantifiably prove that repeatedly working long hours does not yield bigger, much less better results. Rather, working extended hours for about two weeks seems to be the limit before the detrimental effect of getting less sleep, especially in the context of higher stress, begins to backfire as this HBR article details. And while an important component of effective business coaching to combat burnout is an ongoing effort, the following are both mindset and behavior shifts anyone can adopt, adapt, and apply for immediate improvement.
6 Ways to Turn a Business Crisis Into an Opportunity
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to protect the interests of your employees, customers, and shareholders and uncover and helm any opportunities hiding amid the maelstrom. While it may sound impossible, insightful leaders are often able to guide their businesses through a crisis, so they emerge stronger than before. As former CEO of Intel Andy Grove once observed, “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” So, how do you turn a crisis into an opportunity? Below are a few of the elements seasoned leaders wield to help them emerge from challenges more robust and more successful than before.
4 Ways to Inspire Your Team to Greatness
Any elite athlete in any sport, whether team or individual, that has achieved greatness defined as winning championships, competing at an elite level, including the Olympics, and has been rewarded with the accolades that prove their performance, understood the distinction between good and great. Many entrepreneur owners and entrepreneurial-minded corporate executives would like to capture this “lightning in a bottle” to achieve greatness. There are actions you can take to create the foundation for greatness. Keep in mind that inspiration precedes perspiration; to tap into the talent of your entire team, be intentional with the following methods.
Top 8 Tips to Market Your Business Effectively on LinkedIn
While Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram provide opportunities to connect with friends and family, LinkedIn is the only social media platform solely focused on our professional lives. When used strategically and thoughtfully, a LinkedIn company page is a powerful tool to boost your business, expand your network, and gain the attention of new and existing customers.
How Does Business Coaching Work?
The most frequently asked the first question I hear is, “so, how does business coaching work?” Embedded in that question are several layers, not the least of which is, what kind of impact will this have on me and my business – more succinctly referred to as ROI. On my website, we describe the variety of ways that we work with clients and the categories that we typically cover: organization – the processes used to deliver what you think of as your ‘secret sauce’, accountability – the structure used to empower and foster a sense of ownership in every team member, and communication – including the way you onboard employees, maintain the culture, and articulate core values to employees and customers.
What is Business Performance Management?
Efficient business performance management systems are critical to business success. Still, businesses of all sizes struggle to implement them, leading to disjointed divisions and ineffective activities that don’t produce meaningful results. Some inexperienced managers will double-down on inefficient efforts and experience shock anew when they don’t yield improvements. Smart leaders, however, know when to hit pause, adjust, and put their over-extended organizations back on the track to success.
Critical Thinking in Business & Why Your Company Needs It
In our work as an Executive Coaching Firm, we describe our focus as organization, communication, and accountability. An integral part of any conversation assessing the current set of leadership skills nearly always turns to critical thinking. Entrepreneurs and executives nearly always point to that skill above others as a key indicator of a team member’s value and contribution.
Ken’s 3 Quick Tips On How to Improve Your LinkedIn Presence
In a world where a single tweet can become breaking news, social media influences us all. Whether you enthusiastically engage on every new platform or choose to eschew social media engagement, there’s no denying how much it has changed the ways we live and work. LinkedIn might seem like one more social network on its surface, on par with Facebook and Instagram, but with a professional tilt. While the map of LinkedIn might resemble other social media, the terrain couldn’t be more different. If you’re interested in how to improve your LinkedIn presence, the first step is to check if your methods fit the medium.
How to Elevate Your Presence on LinkedIn
To intrinsically understand how the LinkedIn ecosystem is different, let’s call out what it is not. It is not Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, or any other social platform. It is business, plain and simple. And while it’s not the place to post a witty political meme or a photo of lunch, it is a platform to connect the business community in a genuine, transparent, engaging, and relevant way by being strategic, consistent, and intentional in how you use it with a non-automated, personal touch in all you do. There are several ways that we have been working to serve our clients in this purpose – read this blog to learn more.
5 Things to Do When Trying to Make Tough Business Decisions
“I don’t have time for this.” – nearly every leader, business owner, and executive at one time or another. Time is a fixed resource, therefore using it the most effective way possible benefits all involved. And methodically calling out the issues, courageously seeking the root, and making a decision to solve it will allow you to move on.
8 Leadership Tips for Introverts
Only extroverts make good leaders – that is a falsehood. Many people think that in American business culture, leadership is synonymous with being an extrovert, that the top tiers of leadership are reserved for those who have no trouble addressing a large crowd, who live for schmoozing with other business owners and potential clients at networking events, and who immediately voice their loud opinions in meetings.
5 Great Leaders to Learn From
While there is much to be learned from a famous leader like Melinda Gates, there is inspiration in knowing about the leaders that walk among us. Acknowledging their impact is critical to anchoring the power of strong leaders who may never write a book, or testify to Congress, or be interviewed by Oprah. Nonetheless, these elite leaders make a tremendous contribution to their teams, their companies, their communities, and their families. Therefore, this is a tribute to five people that I have worked with, admire, and have learned from. They continue to lead, learn, guide, and inspire.
Ken’s 3 Quick Tips On How to set SMART Goals
SMART goals – do you have them? The importance of goal setting cannot be overemphasized, but do you ever wonder how it is that you set goals and just cannot seem to achieve them? Do you find yourself constantly pushing your goals back or spinning your wheels feeling stuck like you cannot make progress towards your goals?
Take stock of your current goals and assess whether they are SMART goals
Accountability vs. Responsibility – Setting Your Business (and Team) up for a Successful Year
Every business would like to be successful by showing great financial results. They would also like their team members to deliver above and beyond their defined role, contributing to their ability rather than simply delivering the requirement. This is where we call out the difference between responsibility and accountability and more importantly, why business owners and leaders ought to care. One will deliver what’s required and defined, while the other has the potential to yield exponential results. Consider this: an elite athlete, whether in an individual or team sport, has a coach; there are zero examples of an athlete winning a championship without a coaching relationship. That said, there are many athletes that play in intermediate or amateur leagues that perform well, yet do not win. Elite businesses incorporate coaching to make the transition from responsibility alone to the mindset and execution of accountability.
How to Set Leadership Development Goals for Your Management Team
Want results and retention? Stop micromanaging and start developing.
Business has always fascinated me; most notably, businesses that deliver a commodity, yet perform exceptionally well against their competitors. In nearly every case that I have directly experienced or closely analyzed there are some themes that emerge. In this article, the focus will be on how these highly successful businesses approach their human capital, most importantly the development of their talent.
Top 4 Books to Level Up Your Business in 2021
Whether when mentoring, speaking about executive business coaching, or describing my personal philosophy behind Leader’s Cut, the question often arises, “what books do you recommend.” And while I always have a current favorite, there are four timeless classics that I tout as foundational for business success.
Why Attitude is Everything – A Successful Business Start to the New Year
As a business coach, I have seen first hand the difference between positive and negative business owners. I have seen how their attitude towards the current economic climate impacts the performance of their business. If you are feeling negative, don’t worry as that attitude can be changed. It takes work, you can absolutely turn things around, but you must start immediately. Here is why attitude is everything – a successful business start to 2021 begins today!
Ken’s 3 Quick Tips On Effective Time Management
We have 24 hours each day (168 hours per week), with an ideal work day of 8 hours per day for five days. How often do you wish you had more hours in a day?! Do you know how to get the most out of every minute of your work day? Effective planning and time management is the backbone of productivity for you and your business. Have you investigated where you are losing time? Do a time audit by tracking time to identify time thieves.
4 Effective Ways to Stay Motivated & Achieve Business Goals
Every business owner and business leader hits a ceiling from time-to-time; in fact it often occurs and recurs over time, wondering how to get motivated. In pre-pandemic times we would normally be focused on finishing the year as we were reaching goals. That may or may not be true in 2020 as so many were forced to pause, change, or completely evolve from what it was in January. The great news is that the same techniques we use to get motivated to work in our current climate will also work in “normal” times when your effort doesn’t yield the results it used to, when you love your work and still seem frustrated, or when you feel like you need a vacation – sometimes on the day after returning home from a vacation.
8 Eye-Opening Reasons to Hire a Small Business Coach for the New Year
As 2020 comes to a close and the uncertainty of this year spills over into 2021, it’s no wonder why businesses around the world are working with business coaches to prepare for whatever might happen next. Before you close your books for 2020, take a hard look at your business – where it is, where you want to go, and whether you have a clearly defined roadmap of how to achieve your goals. Working with a small business coach will help you create a plan for 2021 and help you adapt as things come up. With a year of uncertainty behind us and another ahead, having that support will be crucial for the short and long term future of your business. Here are the top 8 reasons to hire a small business coach for 2021.
Many companies are getting their team together and want to make sure that they are united in the effort to move forward in the next month, quarter, and year. Even a global pandemic does not change the forward-looking nature of setting an agenda, inspiring a team, and demonstrating appreciation for both past and future efforts. In fact, many are realizing that unifying in an effort by all rowing in the same direction, could mean the difference between success and failure.
Standing Still Will Knock You Down
We are all living through a global pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in 100 years – meaning few (if any) people living today have any memory of what the last pandemic was like. That said, our reactions to crises vary widely be they economic (recession, depression, etc.) or a health crisis like this one that has created severe economic pain.
Why is Change so Challenging?
The key reason CEOs, Business Owners, and Executive Leaders hire me, whether as their Executive Business Coach or as their EOS Implementer® is because they seek to change. They understand that what got them this far can only get them THIS FAR. A new outcome will require a new way. Yet, we all know how difficult change is: over 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned within a week. As the saying goes, if change were easy, we’d all be wealthy, fit, and happy. Why is it that we may know exactly what we want from ourselves or our business, but we cannot seem to get our new habits to take root and remain consistent? Even when we know this new behavior would benefit us greatly, why isn’t the change easy in that circumstance?
5 Ways Business Coaching Programs Enhance Productivity
Business coaching appeals to the highly motivated. Just like high level athletes (and those aspiring to be high level athletes) hire accomplished coaches in their athletic disciplines, so do business owners who want their businesses to succeed and to get an edge over their competition. So what is business coaching? Business coaching offers personalized support, guidance, and mentorship for leaders in small business. Improving leadership skills and productivity of the entire leadership team creates benefits throughout the organization as those skills permeate throughout. Investing in your team members, and thus your business, through a business coaching program tailored to your needs yields tremendous return. Here are the 5 ways business coaching programs enhance productivity.
How Business Leadership Coaching Leads to Company Growth
Strong and effective leaders within a company are what make or break the success of a business. Developing strong leadership skills within the workplace requires more than just an annual or quarterly performance review of employees, thus many businesses struggle to keep their best employees engaged or help them reach their full potential.