Team leadership in a hybrid working context
Leading teams in a hybrid working context requires a different approach than traditional team leadership, but with the right tools and strategies it can be just as successful, if not more so...
Make performance reviews highly valuable – Part IV
Make appraisals mot effective by converting them into a continuous developmental experience for your direct report
Make performance reviews highly valuable – Part III
Performance reviews done well intrinsic motivation will increase. To make a feedback conversation most effective 9 aspects should be considered
Make performance reviews highly valuable – Part II
review conversations done well require preparation! A lot of managers don’t pay enough attention to that
Make performance reviews highly valuable – Part I
Research into intrinsic motivation shows very clearly the value of annual performance review conversations when done well. I will share how they can be highly valuable
To work or not to work from home?
As a leader you have the responsibility to create the best working conditions no matter what the ways of working are, whether from home or in the office.
Four tips to avoid people being fed up with your online meetings
Many people are fed up with online meetings even though they have become an essential part of collaboration in the "new normal". To avoid frustration be very conscious of the necessity when calling for a meeting. Let me explain ...
Working from home – does it really work?
Some leaders are convinced working from home is not productive. Others consider employees to be highly productive working from home. For me it’s best practice giving people the freedom to choose where to work from. Why? It’s about autonomy.
Purpose at work
Is the discussion around purpose at work just a fad? If you are interested in high engagement at all levels, you better act on it. Let me explain…
A customer’s voice about the Executive Coaching experience
Listen to the interview with Karl Knipfelberg, VP at Kion, talking about his experience working with Bernhard as his coach
The jab against the online meeting pandemic
Working from home has great benefits but also shadow sides - the meeting pandemic. Rethink your approach to planning and conducting online meetings. Apply an old trick with new technology effectively…
The missing element?
One effect of working from home is that the number of online meetings has exploded. Some leaders seem to overstep lines pushing even more meetings to stay in touch. Watch out for the impact…
AI should not replace good leadership
Artificial intelligence, used in a positive way, can help leaders to be more effective in what they do. It should never replace bad leadership, though, as in the example mentioned here.
Customer voices on our Online Coaching
People, understandably, can be sceptical about being coached online and not face-to-face, as it is a very personal, often intimate experience. Hear Alan Graff, one of our customers, how his perception changed when working through virtual connection with Bernhard.
My monthly tip for virtual leaders: how can you best care for your people whilst we all distance physically
I am offering some tips to maintain or strengthen the social cohesion and personal connection in your team, i.e. simulate the coffee corner online
Empowerment with a coaching attitude
Empowerment has been around for a very long time. It's often missunderstood as straight delegation of tasks. To make it really work it requires leaders being a coach! Let me show you how...
Food for thought: “The Leadership Crisis”
the world needs a new type of leadership which is a mix of courage and humility to deal with the world’s challenges present and ahead. Organisations in which these leaders are positioned must have a moral compass with a strong social element
Can annual appraisals be enjoyable even? Part IV
Make appraisals mot effective by converting them into a continuous developmental experience for your direct report
Can annual appraisals be enjoyable even? Part III
Appraisals done well intrinsic motivation will increase. To make a feedback conversation most effective 9 aspects should be considered
Can annual appraisals be enjoyable even? Part II
appraisal conversations done well require preparartion! A lot of managers don’t pay enough attention to that
Can annual appraisals be enjoyable even? Part I
Research into intrinsic motivation shows very clearly the value of appraisal conversations when done well. I will share how this can work best
How can you lead the “old dogs” in your team?
Effective tips for young leaders leading people who have been in place for a while Over the last few months a number of young leaders have approached me asking for support in their new leadership role. They had been newly appointed taking on a team…
Enhancing employee engagement and motivation
My tested and proven ways to grow and sustain increased engagement of people in organisations The following ideas and tips are based on the assumption that intrinsic motivation is one of the key contributing factors for employee engagement. Intrinsic motivation comes from within a person and…
Advancing your leadership in the virtual world – Part 3 – Effective Communication
Leadership is mostly about communication. So, effective communication is also a key competency for virtual leaders. This is now post #3 of an 8-post-series on the subject after the introduction and the one on self-leadership. And today, I would like to present you the second…
Is your leadership ready for future disruptions?
Leaders need to be able to disrupt their business in a controlled way before new competitors do it! A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a webinar offered by Korn Ferry about the future of leadership in disruptive times. This webinar covered…
Management and Leadership are both needed!
It is important to pay attention to both the short AND longer term In my work over the years I noted that a lot of companies, people and organisations use the words management and leadership interchangeably. However, as pointed out by several big thinkers and…
Kill that meeting bug!
How I fight the infectious disease of meeteritis More often than not when I start engaging with a new client scheduling the first meeting seems a challenge for the leader. And indeed, if you look into the diaries of these people they are overcrowded with…
Leading People is an art not a trick
Developing the leadership competencies of your staff can have a high positive impact As a consultant and trainer I am frequently involved in training programmes to develop the leadership capabilities of employees in companies and institutes. In large companies there is often an in-company training…
Feedback tools can boost personal development
Checking your self-image using feedback instruments can help your personal development Looking in the mirror every now and then to check how you see specific elements of your leadership and how people around you perceive them can be painful but is also very helpful. Although…
The key to effective feedback
The wrong kind of empathy prevents you from giving effective feedback! Regularly, I work with leaders who struggle with giving open and honest feedback to low performers in the team. They all have one thing in common: they believe that giving honest feedback to their direct report would…
Don’t let the shadow of one personal value become too large
Exaggerated focus on a single value bears the risk of creating an imbalance in leadership behaviour Working as a coach I experience sometimes phases where clients from different industries or organisational levels bring the same challenge into the conversation. In recent weeks, such a theme…
What makes a Matrix organisation work?
Behaviour is key to make any Matrix structure work Years ago I worked in a multinational company where we used a Matrix Organisation to run all global and local projects. This is of course a well-known approach and we spent quite some time to make…
How I boosted the engagement in my dispersed teams – Part II
The recipe for delivering a compelling vision In last week's blog I had reasoned that as the leader of a virtual team you can boost the engagement in your team through a compelling vision. I had also outlined the 5 ingredients necessary to make a…
How I boosted engagement in my dispersed teams – Part I
The ingredients for a compelling vision As mentioned many times before, organisations are getting highly dispersed. One of the biggest risks in dispersed organisations is that members are far less engaged than in co-located organisational units. Over and over again this challenge surfaces in conversations…
Importance of Team Kick-Off
For the creation of High Performing Teams a proper Team Kick-Off is essential Over the years I had the privilege to work with many teams in a wide range of settings. They varied from localised, national project teams to globally dispersed international teams, ranging from…
In need of new leadership
We live and work in "VUCA" surroundings Many companies are operating in a business context which is more volatile than ever. Uncertainties of market dynamics have been boosted through America’s steps towards trade wars. With all the complexity we face in a global economy and…
Emotional Intelligence: essential for outstanding leadership
Although high IQ is a must have to be successful in your job, a high EQ, emotional intelligence, is the factor required to stand out as a leader. The concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been spread widely since the mid 1990’s partly due to…
Vision: the power pack for Virtual Leaders
How I made my leadership more impactful when leading remotely Leading over a distance in today’s reality bears risks and challenges which can have a negative impact on the effectiveness of a leader. Because of the omnipresent high workload, the natural reaction of the human…
Help: virtual work is becoming viral …
... and not limited to multinational companies Some years ago it was my firm belief that virtual working was only found in multinational companies: people across the globe working on the same task or project need to work in a virtual way. Those dispersed teams…
How mindsets make big differences: knower vs. learner
The mindset shift that helps you to be more effective as a person and leader Different mindsets I want to share some thoughts with you on mindsets that drive our behaviour especially in relation to how we deal with the external world. This is important…
How my challenging conversations became effective
Communicating in difficult times 5 things to ask yourself and 4 steps to enhance your effectiveness We are living in times when leading people and organisations can be a very challenging job. We have to make tough calls with budgets, people and programmes – tougher…
Blaming others doesn’t help anyone
How I got myself and people around me out of a blame attitude There were times in my life when an attitude of "blaming others" had served me well in not feeling guilty and avoiding to accept responsibility for the situation I was in. On…
Know your WHY! – Part 2
It is a key element in leadership effectiveness. In the first part of this blog I outlined the WHY, our purpose in life, and explained why I believe it is important for you to know and talk about it. In this second part, I will write about how you…
Know your WHY! – Part 1
It is a key element in leadership effectiveness I have split this blog in two parts. In this first part, I will write about what I mean with the WHY and explain why I believe it is important to know about it and to talk about it. In the second…
Review VLD-Café session #6
The original theme of this 6th VLD-Café session was the development of talents in a virtual context. In other words, how to deal with the development of human capital in dispersed teams where you as a leader have only limited line responsibility for the person…
Emotional Intelligence: how to calibrate your compass?
In previous blogs we wrote about the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the use of feedback instruments. In this contribution, we want to combine these two aspects which lead to a very powerful combination for people in leading roles to strengthen their leadership. …
No R.O.I. without the investment – …
- that applies to business relationships too! It comes as no surprise that everyone who is in a leadership role knows how important relationships are. When I have conversations with leaders their focus is mainly on how to build relationships, whether it is in…
Business concept isolated on white
Three tips to keep engagement in virtual meetings high
How often have you led or participated in virtual meetings where the engagement of the other participants seemed to be low and discussion limited only to two or three persons? In a recent discussion with a virtual team leader we discussed exactly this challenge. It was not…
Review of VLD-Café session #1
Review of the launch session of our VLD-Café - an online meeting point just like the coffee corner in your company, only using the computer and therefore with the option of meeting people from different places and companies at the same time.
We are launching the VLD Café – come and join us online
Are you one of those people who believe that great discussions take place around coffee corners in businesses? Unfortunately, they don't exist in our virtual world. Or should we say, they didn't exist, because now we are offering a virtual coffee corner, so to speak.…
