Focus on employees’ strengths over weaknesses for an empowered workforce. Much is made of helping employees discover and correct their weaknesses. That approach has very limited utility. It often creates defeated, deflated employees unable to add much value to the organization. Read on to learn about another approach leaders can use to create higher levels of performance and productivity by leveraging strengths. It is important to start by reviewing the significance of emotional intelligence. This is the ability to “motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations, to control impulse and delay gratification, to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think, to empathize, and to hope,” according to author Elizabeth D. Hutchinson. It is a critical factor for leaders who want to shift attention from deficits to strengths. It gives these leaders a deeper understanding of human interactions; and it helps them begin to focus their concerns on … [Read more...] about Creating a Strengths-Focused Organization
Adaptive Leadership: The Essential Competency for the Future
Identify, pursue skills, competencies to thrive and build a strong organization. As post-acute and long-term care providers continue to move into an unknown, uncertain future, it is essential that leaders do what I call “mirror work.” This reflective effort requires that leaders assess their skills and competencies to determine how ready they are to move organizations into uncharted territory. It requires an attention to developing the critical competence of adaptive leadership. Let’s begin by defining the term. Adaptive leadership centers around strategies that create the type of change that builds and enables the capacity, at the individual and the organizational level, to thrive. The interventions associated with adaptive leadership build on the past, particularly past successes. This approach relies heavily on experimentation and the integration … [Read more...] about Adaptive Leadership: The Essential Competency for the Future
What’s All the Fuss?
These conflict resolution strategies can put the ‘calm’ in your company. Conflict is one of the most often explored topics in just about every discipline, industry, and organization; and long-term and post-acute care is no exception. It seems that we just can’t seem to figure it out. We are taught to create win-win situations while working with simply irascible characters and to have candid conversations with unreasonable tyrants. No wonder there is so much fuss! In truth, most conflicts do not reflect those extremes. Run-of-the-mill conflicts are between reasonable (or semi-reasonable) people with different positions and perspectives. What follows are three strategies for addressing conflict. Notice that I did not say resolving or managing conflict. That is because I do not believe all conflicts are manageable or solvable. There are some conflicts that are simply there. Participants live in a truce state and agree to peacefully coexist. … [Read more...] about What’s All the Fuss?
Three Obstacles to Stellar Employee Performance
There are obstacles that have the potential to derail even the best employees, and you need to identify these hurdles to get over them. My article last week talked about eight areas of inquiry to help assess performance and give the manager the information required to not only enhance performance, but also to create dialogue and increase commitment. Here, we will explore three common performance obstacles and how to address them. … [Read more...] about Three Obstacles to Stellar Employee Performance
Assess Employee Performance with These Eight Conversations
Once an organization has developed a comprehensive performance management system, each manager tasked with assessing employee performance needs the abilities to build constructive dialogue. By addressing eight key areas for inquiry in the performance management conversation, you can demystify the process and have meaningful interactions. The underlying assumption is that long-term and post-acute care providers understand the relationship between enhanced performance and healthy retention. … [Read more...] about Assess Employee Performance with These Eight Conversations
