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Leadership Coaching as a Present, not Punishment

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I was speaking with another leadership coach yesterday, and we began discussing how the culture for executive coaching is slowly shifting in organizations but is still well-rooted in the past. Several years ago you see, coaching was seen by many – senior executives included – as punitive and only fit for those in need of corrective action. That’s so unfortunate though given the tremendous value coaching can offer a high-potential leader.

Leadership Coaching as a Present, not Punishment

Coaching can be tremendously beneficial for someone who is transitioning into a new leadership role. Coaching is equally beneficial for talented leaders who possess the necessary hard skills to manage a work function or task and simply need a little polishing in the area of soft skills. Read more ›

Posted in Executive Coaching, HR, Human Resources, Leadership, Leadership Coach, Leadership Coaching, Leadership Development, Performance Improvement, Performance Management

Plus Delta’s CEO Leads Webinar on “Three Keys to Success with Succession Management”

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Many see the key to success in succession management as identifying and then developing the CEO successor.  It’s not just grooming your next-generation leader that makes succession management a success though.  There are two other critical elements to succession management – Actively engaging the Board in the process and coaching the CEOs in transition to let go and embrace their “third acts” in life.  With four generations of men and women in the workforce and nearly 10,000 Baby Boomers reaching retirement age every day, succession management has never been more important!

On Tuesday, June 11th, Plus Delta’s CEO & Chief Architect will lead a one-hour webinar called “Three Keys to Success with Succession Management”. Read more ›

Posted in Baby Boomers, Executive Coaching, Leadership, Presentation, Professional Development, Retirement, Succession, Succession Management, Succession Planning, Training, Webinar, Workshop

How to Ensure Out of Sight Doesn’t Become Out of Mind

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Do you manage a virtual team? Are some – if not many – of your team members based in other sites around the city if not around the country or even around the world?

Virtual leadership may not be hard per se. It sure takes a level of effort and discipline that isn’t required with a co-located team though. Just making the time to connect with your remote workers presents a unique challenge for many virtual leaders. The following are a few suggested business practices you might consider implementing if you haven’t already to ensure out of sight doesn’t turn into out of mind for you and your employees. Read more ›

Posted in Communications, Leadership, Management, Remote Leadership, Remote Management, Remote Workers, Virtual Leadership, Virtual Teaming, Virtual Teams

3 Simple Questions and the Most Impactful Management Tool You’ll Ever See!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

One of the simplest and most impactful management tools I’ve ever seen is the Stop-Start-Continue framework. It’s so powerful and easy to use that I’ve used it quite successfully in my own business as well as with all of my leadership coaching clients before concluding our coaching programs. 

Most of the leaders I know – and yes, that includes me! – get so wrapped up in their day-to-day busy-ness that they neglect to take the time to think more critically and strategically on any regular basis. Work becomes a constant stream of unplanned conversations and reactive tasks that the year is nearly half over before you realize it. By the time you pause to catch your breath and you do realize it, it seems too late to accomplish many if not all of your strategic objectives for the year. Read more ›

Posted in Business Practice, Deliberation, Direct Reports, Leadership, Management, Management Tool, One-to-One, Performance, Planning, Reflection, Stop-Start-Continue

Start Your Summer off Right with a Positive Change Strategy Session

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

That’s right! Plus Delta is kicking off this year’s 98 days of summer by offering you – our most valued clients and colleagues – Positive ChangeSM Strategy Sessions.

These ½-day sessions are perfect for any Executive Team or functional work group that wants to create that powerful breakthrough they haven’t been able to create before now. With a little out-of-the-box thinking and a series of highly engaging activities with you and your team, Plus Delta’s CEO & Chief Architect Dr. Jeremy Lurey and our team of talented consultants will help you address your most pressing organizational issues – the ones that keep you up at night and seem to keep holding you back. Read more ›

Posted in Action Planning, Breakthrough, Consulting, Innovation, Issue Processing, Organizational Assessment, Performance Improvement, Positive Change, Strategic Planning, Strategy

How Many Leadership Coaches does it take to Change a Light Bulb?

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

None of course! A good leadership coach would never actually change the light bulb for his/her client. That could be the role for your management consultant or other trusted business advisors. A good leadership coach, though, would instead offer fresh insights and ideas to that client based on past experiences and current thinking to enable him or her to change the light bulb independent of the coach.

While this little tale may seem a little silly, it actually speaks to the profound power and impact coaching can – and often does – have on business leaders. Leadership coaches don’t get wrapped up in the political landscape and broader context of what happens in organizations. They have the privilege of being – and often uncanny ability to be – laser-focused in their diagnosis about what’s going on and bringing fresh ideas to the table for their clients to consider. I call it “challenging my clients’ thinking” – and not in a bad way by any means. Read more ›

Posted in Executive Coaching, Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Management, Management Consulting

Acting Like You’re Going to Lose Your Job Anyway

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

How many times have you not taken action for fear of losing your job? One of the things I’ve always appreciated about being an external consultant is that I don’t have to play “office politics” the same way internal employees do. In fact, my clients pay me not to play politics, expecting me to speak my mind and call it like I see it. In essence, I show up and do what I get paid to do.

That’s a rare privilege that, unfortunately, many employees in organizations don’t experience though. I was coaching a senior leader the other day, and it became very clear that for months she had been holding back and waiting for permission to do what she felt she needed to do. Her boss was not the most supportive or empowering leader, so this woman literally didn’t take action for fear that she might be fired for being insubordinate or for taking action that had not been authorized by her boss. Who would stick their neck out there under such tenuous circumstances? Read more ›

Posted in Action, Anxiety, Being Fired, Breakthrough, Breakthrough Results, Fear, Insubordination, Leadership, Power, Presence, Results, Termination

Celebrating Our Successes – One Accomplishment at a Time!

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

Did you just sign a new customer you’ve been chasing for 2 years? Find the simple billing errors that explain why your numbers are off so much this year – simply because you forgot to bill your clients? Those accomplishments can be game-changers for a small business and truly are worth celebrating.

For the past few weeks, I’ve shared with a number of my coaching clients how I can close a $1 million contract and without missing a beat immediately turn to the next opportunity as if it’s not enough and I need to keep selling more. The reality is I rarely celebrate successes to the extent I could – even when my successes are those big game changers that deserve a bottle of champagne. Imagine how quickly I gloss over those little wins in life! Read more ›

Posted in Accomplishment, celebration, Inspiration, Motivation, Peak Performance, Results, success

What to do When the Boss is Your Dad

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I coach a lot of business leaders these days. Many of these individuals are successful Directors and Vice Presidents who want to take it the next level – and fortunately for them report to bosses who believe they can!

Oftentimes, the boss is not just the boss for these leaders though. In the family businesses I support, the boss is also these leaders’ fathers. As you can imagine, this creates a very rich work environment where people tend to have very deep and intimate relationships with one another. With that said, this parent-child relationship can present certain challenges to an otherwise less complicated hierarchical structure. Read more ›

Posted in Bosses, Children, Executive Coaching, Family, Family Business, Far Side, Identity Management, Leadership, Leadership Coaching, Parent, Role Clarity, Son

Catching Spring Fever to be a Better Leader

Posted on by Jeremy Lurey

I was just in Minnesota with a couple of coaching clients and was thrilled to see – and feel – the sun shining again. I’ve been supporting the leaders in this family business since November, about the same time the sun disappears every year yielding way to grey skies, extremely cold temperatures, and oh yea lots of snow! It’s a recurring event for those who live in the area that lasts for several months. I believe they call it “winter”. Just because we have a name for the season does not mean that it doesn’t have extreme impacts on everyone, their attitudes, and especially their behaviors though.

I remember the first time I heard about – and discovered first-hand – winter depression (also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD) during my freshman year at Northwestern, a prominent university in Chicago where they also experience extreme winter weather. Read more ›

Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Inspiration, Leadership, Minnesota, Motivation, SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Spring, Winter, Winter Depression

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