...leveraging the strategic power of soft skills®
Subscribe to one of Pat Wiklund's Electronic Newsletters		Reprinting and Reposting Taking Charge When You're Not in Control Newsletter Articles   Developing a Culture of Accountability The first step in achieving accountability is knowing, and understanding, expectations and consequences. While 'company policy' or 'The Employee Handbook' may set expectations, it is the day-to-day interpretation of expectations that are primary in guiding employee behavior. Published expectations are always trumped by what is done.   Emotional Intelligence: It's Not Just "How Are You Feeling?" The dust has finally settled after Daniel Goleman's landmark best-seller, Working with Emotional Intelligence, was published in 2000. There were innumerable follow-up discussions about who really came up with the concept, what's the right model, what's appropriate -- and what's not appropriate -- about feelings and emotions at work. Today, main-line corporations, academic institutions, government and not-for-profit entities are finding the power in this core strategic soft skill. Read more...   The ROI of Executive Coaching In today's challenging business climate, every unnecessary perk is routinely trimmed from corporate budgets. However, thousands of business owners, managers, and professionals still retain their executive coaches because they correctly view them not as personal perks but as corporate benefits. Read more...   It's Not Always "A Communication Problem"! Virtually every consulting project I've worked on -- and many of the training programs I've been asked to facilitate -- are described to me in the same terms: "We have a communication problem." Sometimes the phrase means "We know we could be better but we're not sure what or how to do it." Read more...   Working Together to Get Back on Track Usually the phone rings early in the morning . . . most often on a Monday. "Can you come now?" the caller says. "We need you today." Without needing to ask even one question, the story spills out -- predictably a sad tale of lost productivity, ineffective work processes, warring employee factions, irate customers, and/or exasperated executives. Read more...   Good People . . . Unworkable Organizations After the last issue about the high cost of difficult people, several subscribers suggested that sometimes it's the organization that's difficult, not the people who are trying their best to get good work done. Valid point. Read more...   The High Cost of Doing Nothing About Difficult People "You just don't understand. I'm not good at dealing with conflict. It makes me uncomfortable." I heard this from a manager who had been plagued by an industrial-strength difficult person, a man who hadn't responded to her gentle hints to clean up his act. The manager had watched her department go way off track as an increasing number of employees avoided, backfilled, and tried to placate their difficult colleague. Read more...   When Disturbed People Disturb Your Organization Difficult people. Disturbed people. One term is often used interchangeably with the other as if they were the same. That perception couldn't be further from the truth. There are distinct differences between difficult and disturbed. By identifying the differences, you can determine the best action needed to temper and neutralize the impact they have on your organization. Read more...   Character Still Counts Character. Honesty. Integrity. Trust. Accountability. Those were the answers I received most often during a survey of Silicon Valley executives on the subject of corporate leadership. Read more...   SFR: A Shot in the Arm for Your Company SFR stands for Strategy Focus Review and if your company hasn't had one recently, you're overdue. You'll find it makes a huge difference in keeping you on track, productive and growing. When I conduct a Strategy Focus Review, it's both a process and an event, involving evaluation, pre-work and follow up. I collect data, run an organizational audit scan, as well as modify and refine as the action items are implemented. Read more...   Don't Poke Holes in Your Net! As I've gone to professional meetings, and have informal meetings with colleagues, the tenor of these times is clear. Many independent professionals are challenged by the downturn in the economy…and upping their marketing, and especially networking, as they work towards increasing their billable time. Read more...   What's the problem? Twice in the last few weeks, I've received calls from potential clients...to implement a solution. They both said, "I just want you to..." They went on to tell me what they had prescribed for the problem they had defined and diagnosed. Read more...   Operationalizing Values…Check Your Assumptions Empowerment has been embraced as a business practice de jour. Both managers and employees "know" what empowerment means. Or at least they think they do. And assume everyone shares their meaning. Recently I was facilitating employee meetings as a part of a post merger integration project. The company's value statement read they "…empower their employees…." Read more... Reprinting and Reposting An electronic version of these articles is available if you wish to reprint or repost one of them. Please contact Dr. Pat Wiklund for permission to reprint, and to see if there is a royalty required for reprint. If permission is granted, we request a hard copy of the publication in which the article appears. We request you include Pat's bio at the end of the piece, along with contact information, and preferably, a photo. We'll happily supply a 5x7 black and white or color photo if you can use it.
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