Blanchard LeaderChat

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast we interview Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter.

Drawing on some of the key points from the new revised and updated edition of her acclaimed Wall Street Journal bestseller, Wiseman explores why some leaders, whom she calls diminishers, drain capability and intelligence from their teams while others, multipliers, amplify it to produce better results.

Wiseman explains that leading others begins by leading self.  She shares stories from her early work career where she learned that she did her best work when she was being challenged and felt she was a little bit in over her head.

Wiseman also shares some of the top questions she has been asked since the initial release of the first edition of Multipliers. She discusses some of the ways to bring out the best in others—while avoiding diminishers—and especially how to avoid being an accidental diminisher yourself.

Wiseman's advice to leaders is to be a multiplier of people by seeing your job as helping to bring out the potential in each person.  Accidental diminishing happens when well-meaning managers unknowingly micromanage or rescue their people and deprive them of a chance to learn and grow.

Be sure to listen to the very end of the interview to hear Ken Blanchard’s takeaways—what he learned and will remember from the interview.

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast, Chad Gordon interviews Dr. Brené Brown, researcher and author of three #1 New York Times Bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection (2010), Daring Greatly (2012), and Rising Strong (2015). Brown and her work have been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, and at TEDx Houston, where in 2010 she presented one of the top five most viewed TED talks of all time.

Brown describes her work with large organizations on the topics of vulnerability, empathy, courage, and values—and how to make skills in these areas a part of your leadership development efforts.

Drawing from fifteen years of research, Brown shares how to be a courageous leader. Her findings?  Vulnerability is courage in the face of risk, uncertainty, and emotional exposure.  According to Brown, you have to be willing to show up, be seen, and be all in—even when you can’t control the outcome.

As Brown explains, “What do transformational leaders have in common?  A capacity for discomfort and a keen awareness of both their own emotional landscape and the emotional landscapes of others.”

Brown also shares key points from her most recent book, Rising Strong—teaching leaders how to get back up when they fall in the service of being brave.

Be sure to listen to the very end of this 35-minute interview to hear Ken Blanchard share his thoughts and personal takeaways on Brené’s ideas.

What are your beliefs about customer service—and how are they driving the customer experience in your company? That’s one of the key questions Kathy Cuff and Vicki Halsey, coauthors with Ken Blanchard, explore in their book Legendary Service: The Key Is to Care.

Cuff and Halsey share a four-part CARE model to help readers and listeners explore the key concepts.

1. Committed to Service. “It has to be intentional,” says Cuff. Cuff and Halsey share a story about how they helped Petco Park—the baseball home of the San Diego Padres—develop a service vision. Working together with 3,500 service providers at the park, they created a shared commitment to creating Major League Memories.
2. Attentive. “Attentiveness is about noticing others,” says Halsey. “It means being present and others focused—and drawing out what is important to them.”
3. Responsive. Responsive includes acknowledging feelings. While this is important in all aspects of customer service, it is especially important when things go wrong. “The key is to be ready and have a plan,” says Cuff.
4. Empowered. “If you treat your people as valued internal customers, they will take care of your external customers,” says Cuff. “That includes empowering people to make decisions and give feedback,” adds Halsey.

Halsey and Cuff discuss how social media has increased the opportunity for disgruntled customers to share negative stories—which makes it absolutely critical to do your best with every single customer interaction. The authors share stories from their day-to-day interactions to illustrate how important the actions of individual employees are. “Customers assume their experience with one person is indicative of the entire organization,” say Halsey and Cuff. “That shows how important every interaction is!”

They also share how rectifying a difficult situation on the spot can turn a negative into a positive.

“If you can resolve a problem on the spot, you can save 95 percent of relationships, says Cuff. “And that usually results in a stronger relationship than existed before.”

Halsey and Cuff encourage listeners to apply the CARE approach in non-profit, government, and small or large business—all kinds of organizations.

“The principles remain the same, says Cuff. “Your products can be replicated; and price is always competitive—the differentiator is going to be the service you deliver to your customers.”

Be sure to listen through to the very end of the session, where Ken Blanchard shares his key takeaways from the interview!

In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast Chad Gordon interviews Patrick Lencioni, author of The Ideal Team Player as well as nine other books on teams and motivation—which have sold nearly five million copies! Lencioni describes leadership as a calling that requires putting the needs of others ahead of your own. That begins with identifying people with the right qualities and developing those qualities to the fullest extent.

Building on the concepts he first explored in his best-selling first book,The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni recommends taking a moment to consider your own behaviors when working on a team. He teaches how using a Humble—Hungry—Smart model can help you and others become more effective team members.

Lencioni shares how leadership development experts can identify these traits in potential new hires along with sharing his own personal story of using these principles in his work and other areas of his life.

Be sure to listen to the very end of this 30-minute interview to hear Ken Blanchard share his key takeaways and the areas that he most plans to work on.

How do you decide when to take on a new task or a new job? Could we thrive with a little bit more intentional thought? According to best-selling business author Dan Pink, there is a large and growing amount of research that gives clear guidance on how to get systematically better and smarter about making decisions on when to do things.

“We all experience Peak moments, Trough moments, and Recovery moments.  The key is to schedule the right type of work for each of these times. Our cognitive abilities change throughout the day. Do your analytic work during the Peak, administrative work during the Trough, and creative work during Recovery.”

Simply following this pattern can result in a 20 percent improvement in how people perform a job, says Pink.

Peak times should be used for analytic tasks and those that require head-down, focused attention and energy—for example, writing a report or analyzing data.  Save Trough time—which usually occurs later in the day—for routine administrative work.

“That’s when we should answer routine emails, fill out expense reports, or do the kinds of things that don’t require a heavy cognitive load,” says Pink.

Recovery time is best suited for certain types of insight work or brainstorming.

“Our mood is higher, but at the same time we tend to be less vigilant.”

Pink also shares insight on research that highlights the importance of taking breaks throughout the day. He offers a couple of best practice guidelines.

1. Something beats nothing. “Even a one- or two-minute break can restore energy and mental acuity.”
2. Moving is better than stationary. “Get up and move around—don’t sit at your desk and look at your phone.”
3. Social beats solo. “Breaks with other people are more replenishing than breaks on our own—even for introverts.”
4. Outside beats inside. “Nature has incredible replenishing benefits on our mental acuity and on our well-being.”
5. Fully detached beats semi-detached. “When you take a break, leave your phone at your desk.”

Finally, Pink shares timing recommendations for starting new projects and keeping teams performing at their best, and also discusses how to be intentional when setting up the beginning, midpoint, and ending of projects.

Be sure to listen through to the very end of the session, where Ken Blanchard shares his key takeaways from the interview!

The Blanchard LeaderChat podcast provides the perfect way for you to stay up-do-date on the latest ideas, insights, and innovations that impact you and your work.  Each episode features an expert sharing their ideas about helping people become the best leaders they can be.