Musings with Mitch : Reflections on Leadership
Importance of Engaging Talent Is Not a Myth
posted by: Mitch September 1, 2010
Recently, a colleague shared with me a graphic depiction of six myths often used by leaders to engage talent. I think the topic is worthy of discussion and the graph is attached for your review. The six myths are as follows: 1. Compensation is the key driver of employee engagement 2. Most high performers are high-potential employees 3. The performance review is the most important part of the review process 4. The best business leaders are great at inspiring their employees 5. “Sales” oriented employees want a different employee value proposition than “technically” oriented employees 6. Organizations need to “buy or build” business leaders in order to improve leadership performance Of these six myths, three of them – the even-numbered ones: 2, 4 and 6 – stand out to me as the most interesting to expound upon. Let’s take #2 for example, the myth that most high-performing employees are also high-potential employees. The author of this chart rightfully suggests that the reverse is true, but shares as fact that only 29% of high-performers are also considered high potential. High performers can all be defined as demonstrating strong ability, but… Read More »
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The Unimportance of Being Right posted by: Mitch August 25, 2010
Okay, I’ll admit it; the unimportance of being right is a fun topic for me to discuss. Many times in my life I have known people whom I would describe as, shall I say, “perfect?” Classmate or teacher, colleague or supervisor, client or vendor; some people always seem to have the right answer to every question, and they know it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind dealing with smart people; in fact, I relish it. They challenge me to be better for a couple of reasons: One, I greatly enjoy learning something new and two, it allows me the opportunity to, perhaps, enlighten them. The hardest part about being right is simply that what may be good for one person may not be good for another. I’m of the opinion that no one knows everything, and no one always has the best answers all the time. Life just doesn’t work that way. For an individual to be “right” all of the time they must see a particular problem from their perspective as well as from… Read More »
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Recently, a colleague shared with me a graphic depiction of six myths often used by leaders to engage talent. I think the topic is worthy of discussion and the graph is attached for your review. The six myths are as follows: 1. Compensation is the key driver of employee engagement 2. Most high performers are high-potential employees 3. The performance review is the most important part of the review process 4. The best business leaders are great at inspiring their employees 5. “Sales” oriented employees want a different employee value proposition than “technically” oriented employees 6. Organizations need to “buy or build” business leaders in order to improve leadership performance Of these six myths, three of them – the even-numbered ones: 2, 4 and 6 – stand out to me as the most interesting to expound upon. Let’s take #2 for example, the myth that most high-performing employees are also high-potential employees. The author of this chart rightfully suggests that the reverse is true, but shares as fact that only 29% of high-performers are also considered high potential. High performers can all be defined as demonstrating strong ability, but… Read More »
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The Unimportance of Being Right posted by: Mitch August 25, 2010
Okay, I’ll admit it; the unimportance of being right is a fun topic for me to discuss. Many times in my life I have known people whom I would describe as, shall I say, “perfect?” Classmate or teacher, colleague or supervisor, client or vendor; some people always seem to have the right answer to every question, and they know it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind dealing with smart people; in fact, I relish it. They challenge me to be better for a couple of reasons: One, I greatly enjoy learning something new and two, it allows me the opportunity to, perhaps, enlighten them. The hardest part about being right is simply that what may be good for one person may not be good for another. I’m of the opinion that no one knows everything, and no one always has the best answers all the time. Life just doesn’t work that way. For an individual to be “right” all of the time they must see a particular problem from their perspective as well as from… Read More »
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Archive
- Importance of Engaging Talent Is Not a Myth
- The Unimportance of Being Right
- Leadership Requires Flexible Styles
- Meeting Expectations
- Kid Brothers Grow Up Too
- Freshman Year Lesson Continues to Teach
- The Opportunity to Lead
- 3 Communication Tactics Every Leader Should Use
- Leading by Example
- Leaving the Leadership Vacuum
- Motivation by Inspiration, Part II
- Motivation by Inspiration, Part I
- Importance of “I think” vs. “I feel”
- Life Lessons from the Heart
- A Few Kind Words Make a World of Difference
- Evolving Influence of Business Strategies
- Growing A Garden of Leaders
- Developing Potential On and Off the Field
- A Sense of Purpose
