Reflecting on the past is a key skill for anyone who seeks to improve and meet new, higher goals in the future. We can all learn from how we responded to the challenges of 2020, but it will take focused efforts to make the most out of our reflections and apply these lessons to the opportunities of the new year. We at WLH are here to help you do just that! Read the full article here: https://wlhconsulting.com/wlh-2020-reflections/

Last month we introduced our ABC’s of Leadership for all times to reflect leadership challenges in response to the current climate. This week’s podcast continues the series as we move into the fifth necessary skills for today’s leaders: Empathy and inclusive leadership. I will speak with trusted WLH Team Member, Loretta Cate about this area that we are both deeply passionate about. Leadership empathy is the ability to build understanding around others’ thoughts, feelings, and rationale through inclusion. Practicing empathy enables leaders to seek perspectives, ideas, and solutions by encouraging involvement in thinking through a situation. Empathy is the necessary ingredient for building deeper understanding between leaders and their team members, which allows for more effective coaching through transition, coaching to higher performance, and coaching for career advancement that creates a diverse pool of candidates. This is the key to ensuring that team members feel respected, valued, and trusted -- all qualities that are paramount to pivotal relationships in both business and personal life. Empathy is particularly important in the area of transition coaching, which is all about understanding what people are thinking and feeling about a given change and the challenges and perspectives that surround it. Empathetic leadership doesn’t mean agreeing with these perspectives, but rather understanding concerns and communicating in such a way that these concerns are both acknowledged and considered in the broader scope of company movements. It is also key to career coaching, as it elevates the visibility of transparent and fair advancement criteria, creating a level playing field for all. Given the unique and growing challenges of today, empathy is an increasingly important quality for leaders to have and exhibit in all business relationships.

In this week’s podcast, we at WLH Consulting and WLH Learning Solutions want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and share our appreciation for all of you! This past year has been challenging, and it can be hard to find gratitude in these times. That is why we took the time to reflect on the small wins we’ve had along the way and thought of you and how you have helped us transform tremendously. Your needs have inspired us to grow, think outside the box, and work beyond the status quo. We thank you for being part of the journey. In this podcast, we want to do two things: Reinforce one of our primary change and thrive principles, “effective change and transition needs are to be managed at the organizational, team, and individual levels,” and ask you to apply that principle when reflecting on this past challenging year. At the organizational level, think of your senior leaders and all of the tough decisions that rested on their shoulders this year. Thank them for prioritizing the safety and health of your employees and families in a tumultuous period. As an industry, take pride in how the life sciences field has contributed to caring for patients and supporting the development of a vaccine. At the team level, reflect on how hard everyone is working while adapting to new work environments and supporting one another. Lastly, at the individual level, acknowledge your own grit and determination and how you managed to work through problems this year. Know that you are appreciated and that we are wishing you a safe and restful holiday weekend!

A month ago, we introduced our ABCs of Leadership for all times to reflect leadership challenges in response to today’s turbulent climate. Thus far, we have discussed three non-negotiable leadership skills: Agility, Breakthrough thinking, and Collaboration that is bold and intentional. This week, we move into our fourth skill: Dare to Execute higher aspirations. We define this skill as the ability to overcome barriers to boldness, bring clarity to chaos to focus on the critical few with intensity, and build commitment and accountability to drive higher success. In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Loretta Cate, a member of the WLH team and co-leader of our WIL initiative. We discuss how the leader of a pharma company that we recently worked with set high goals and executed new operating models to reset how work is done throughout their organization, leading them to surpass 2nd quarter expectations despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. This leader’s success is echoed across other leaders who follow similar paths of questioning their assumptions, thinking bigger, and letting go of historical norms in order to find ways of making the impossible possible. In addition to setting higher aspirations, leaders must ensure everyone on the team has clarity around their role, responsibilities and expectations. When this happens, trust and respect always follow and organizational synergy is cultivated. Setting high aspirations is key, but leaders must cultivate other skills in order to ensure that their organizations meet these goals. In this way, each of our non-negotiable leadership skills builds on and reinforces each other, creating a complete toolkit with which leaders can address new challenges and succeed.

We know that the current pandemic and the impact to the economy is forcing organizations to revisit their business strategy and make in some cases small and in other cases, large, fundamental shifts in how they do business. I am pleased to be joined by Rich Smith who is a long-time client, trusted friend and VP of HR Strategy and Management for Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare providers and insurers in the US. Kaiser Permanente is at the forefront of all these challenges – delivering healthcare both for Covid and other pressing needs, concerned about the costs of care and policy shifts as a result of the pending election, financial implications of many people loosing coverage, all while creating a positive engaging workplace. Another trend impacting workplaces is the more heightened need to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. As the leader for the people strategy and management of the HR function, Rich sits at the table with other executives grappling with these difficult challenges and seeking to chart a new path forward. Listen to today's episode now! #changeandthrivepodcast #wendylheckelmanphd

This week’s podcast is a continuation of our series on the ABC’s of Leadership for All Times. This framework applies our ongoing research to the unique challenges that businesses now face and are expected to confront in years to come. Today, I speak to Dr. Loretta Care, a member of the WLH Team and co-leader of our Women in Leadership Initiative. We will share key insights about the third facet of our paradigm: Collaboration that is bold and intentional!

Leaders that collaborate in bold and intentional ways seek diversity of thought, capabilities, experiences, and resources. These actions spur creative problem solving and innovation in the face of unforeseen obstacles and unmet needs. These leaders also challenge each other to think beyond their typical boundaries and work with other leaders, functional groups, and peer networks to align their organizations across shared goals and accountability. When leaders boldly and intentionally collaborate, the benefits are seen throughout the entire organization, as the organization sets higher aspirations and achieves accelerated market performance, finding more resilient and efficient ways of leading and redirecting manpower and capital to address unforeseen obstacles.

Collaboration itself must be accompanied by two other leadership skills: Coordination and Communication. Collaborating on solutions and strategies is of the utmost importance; however, the innovation that spurs from this act must then be coordinated and aligned to create synergy throughout the organization. Lastly, consistent communication including feedback and the exchange of ideas is the key to turning these processes into tangible success and driving the free flow of creative thinking. This process of the 3C’s is critical in driving success in today’s ever-changing world. 

Two weeks ago, we kicked of our series on the ABCs of Leadership for All Times, a set of research-backed guiding principles for leaders to elevate their capabilities both now, when they face unique challenges caused by the pandemic, and in the years to come. Last week, we dove into “Agility” and its importance in the leadership context. This week, Loretta Cate, D.Ph., CPCC and I will move into “Break-through thinking” as a method for effective and innovative leadership. #changeandthrivepodcast #leadership #organizationalculture

Last week we introduced our ABCs of Leadership for all times in response to our ongoing research and the pandemic which has created business challenges unlike any we have ever faced. Add to this the massive humanitarian challenges and up swelling of social justice, this unique moment requires a new set of leadership imperatives with great potential beyond this crisis.

The opportunity is now for re-calibration, with profound implications for the organization on how they identify and develop leaders for the future and beyond. As a result, we have a new leadership paradigm: The ABCs of Leadership for All Times!

Collectively, these behaviors enable leaders to inspire followership that drives the organization’s strategic and cultural priorities to achieve financial outperformance now and in the future. They inform and expand each other in a way that although alone they are important, together they are powerful!

Today’s I am pleased to have Dr. Loretta Cate, who is the member of the WLH team and co-leader of our WIL initiative. We'll discuss AGILITY! #changeandthrivepodcast

In today’s podcast, we are going to focus on a new leadership paradigm that is required for today and beyond. Today’s I am pleased to have Dr. Loretta Cate, who is the member of the WLH team and co-leader of our WIL initiative. #changeandthrivepodcast

In this week’s episode of Change and Thrive, we will be focusing on women in leadership and how leaders are uniquely positioned to play a critical role by providing direction during times of personal and professional transition. Specifically, leaders can empower their female employees through Coaching, Mentorship, and Sponsorship. I will be speaking with Lisa Brooks-Greaux, a trusted client, friend, and colleague who has been named one of the “25 Most Influential Women in Business,” and is the author of “Don’t Abdicate the Thrown,” where she shares tips on how women can to take control of their lives to grow and develop.

Lisa will share her experience with leading women, as well as working alongside women leaders. She explains how women are uniquely exceptional leaders as they are able to balance a strategic mindset with creative vision and have the ability to execute on their plans. She explains that these skills are increasingly important in a time where uncertainty demands inclusion of all perspectives and collaboration, as well as strong agility in order to overcome unprecedented obstacles. To highlight this point, Lisa notes how women leaders of countries around the world have had success in navigating these new challenges by mitigating the spread of COVID-19.