Next Level Blog

JANUARY 15, 2020

What do you want to accomplish this year? When you step back and look at your list are there any goals that scare you or just seem like a huge stretch? I’ve got a few of those myself this year. They’re based on some ideas that have been somewhere on the radar screen of my brain the past few years. They were there kind of nibbling at my attention but staying busy doing what I’ve been doing kept me from paying much attention to them. And, honestly, I was OK with that.

Engineering 132

Engineering Energy Planning Goal 132

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 8, 2020

Life is better when you have fans – people who know and appreciate you, support you and can’t wait to see what you do next. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a rock star, Instagram influencer or a professional athlete. All of us need fans. Fanocracy.

How To 141

How To Books Influence Project 141

Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 18, 2019

As 2019 winds down, I’ve been talking with a lot of clients and one thing that everyone (including me) has in common is that we’re coming in hot. The end of year cram down to get stuff done before the holiday break begins has felt crazier than ever. And, then, in a couple of weeks, we’ll wipe the slate clean and start pursuing the goals of 2020. Here’s some advice (for myself as much as anyone) before you dive into next year. Over the holidays, quit thinking so much.

Advice 147

Advice Commitment Planning Process 147

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

A few weeks ago, I opened a post with a story about one of my favorite questions for leaders, “What is it that only you can do?” Since then, I’ve asked that question again in one of my last keynotes of the year and got an answer back that was so clear and succinct that I just had to share it with you. The answer I received back from an executive in the room is actually the title of this post, “Great leaders give direction, not directions.”

Letter 150

Letter Objective Resources Project 150

Advertisement

Paycor asked more than 500 leaders of medium and small businesses to talk about the present and future of HR. Download the guide and see what they said. Their responses will surprise you!

Report

Next Level Blog

APRIL 24, 2019

How do you measure the success of a leader? How do you even define what it means to be a leader?

Servant Leader 207

Servant Leader Letter Class Politics 207

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 22, 2020

One of the things I’ve said for a long-time as an executive coach is that if you get colleague feedback that you need to be a better listener, take the feedback and start working on it. The positive leadership ripple effects from doing a better job of listening are enormous and wide-spread. Problem-solving, team-engagement, relationships and results all improve when leaders listen better.

Long-term 100

Long-term Executive Coaching Goal Creativity 100

Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 11, 2019

The best leaders I work with as an executive coach encourage open and honest dialogue. They’ve learned and understand why it’s so important for the people on their team and in their organizations to be completely comfortable with speaking up. First, you really want people contributing their best ideas on a regular basis because that’s how you win. Second, if your people aren’t contributing, speaking up and sharing the truth as they see it, you’re going to be flying blind as a leader.

Executive Coaching 131

Executive Coaching Environment Course Team 131

Next Level Blog

JULY 17, 2019

You may have seen the recent news that Mad magazine is ending regular publication. On the other hand, you may not have known it was still being published (I didn’t) or, depending on your age, have even heard of Mad. I definitely have.

Magazine 175

Magazine Leadership Fashion Definition 175

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2019

In watching and working with top executives and their teams over the past few years, I’ve come to a fresh conclusion. Preparation is the new leadership differentiator. You might argue that preparation has always been important. I would agree with you on that but would contend that preparation is in shorter supply than it used to be.

Short-term 152

Short-term Leadership Long-term Commitment 152

Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Most leaders have calendars that are what an engineer would call a tightly coupled system. Their schedules are so packed with back to back meetings and commitments that they have no margin for the unexpected but inevitable problems and issues that pop up. At that point, their calendar gets shredded and they have a fight or flight inducing crisis on their hands as they try to address the surprises while keeping everything else moving.

Management 127

Management Crisis Engineering How To 127

Advertisement

Do you really want a team of all-stars? Instead of trying to hire all Type A high performers, research shows it’s much more effective to hire a mix of personalities. In this report, Paycor will explain why and how to go about assembling, coaching, and developing effective teams at work.

Report

Next Level Blog

MAY 29, 2019

If dealing with a micromanager for a boss isn’t the number one complaint I hear from high potential leaders, then it’s certainly in the top three. Pretty much every leader I’ve ever coached or spoken to has worked for a micromanager at least once in their career. The question that everyone always asks is a version of, “How do I get my micromanager boss to back off?”. To answer that question, I’ll offer one thing you need to know and three steps you need to take.

Micromanagement 168

Micromanagement How To Operations Training 168

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 6, 2019

When you’re the leader, you have to keep things moving. To avoid being the bottleneck that slows your team’s work to a crawl, you need to make decisions on a timely basis. In a fast-paced environment, it can be hard to gather all the information you’d like to have when making important decisions. That can definitely affect your confidence in making the tough calls. The fact is that no one ever has one hundred percent of the information they’d like to have when making important decisions.

Case Study 129

Case Study Definition Environment Information 129

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 23, 2019

This is the time of year when a lot of the leaders I work with are buckling down to write up annual performance reviews for the people on their team. This is a process that almost no one enjoys – neither the reviewer or the reviewee. Seriously, do you know anyone in any role who looks forward to an annual performance review? There are a lot of reasons why annual performance review processes usually suck. Here are three. First, they’re annual.

Performance Review 132

Performance Review Process Review Hammer 132

Next Level Blog

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

If you’re in a leadership role, there’s a pretty decent chance that when you were a kid, you were one of the smartest kids in class. If that wasn’t you, you probably remember who was. You know the smartest kid routine. They always had the right answer and wanted to make sure everyone else – especially the teacher – knew it. In organizational leadership, being right is less important than being effective. My point isn’t that you should strive to be wrong.

Class 143

Class Execution How To Management 143

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 30, 2019

One of the questions I love to ask a roomful of senior leaders when I’m delivering an interactive presentation is, “What is it that only you can do?” It’s a positional question, not a personal question. Because each of those leaders is the current incumbent in the leadership role they’re in, there are certain things that only they can do given the resources, opportunities, authority, information and access that come with the role.

Marketing 127

Marketing Team How To Goal 127

Advertisement

One of the least explored and most effective ways to drive recruiting, retention, and overall employee engagement is to establish a learning culture. If this is an area where you need help (or if you could just use a refresher) let Paycor walk you through actionable tips and insights on how you can develop the learning culture that works best for your business.

Tips

Next Level Blog

MAY 15, 2019

A lot of us grew up with the idea that if you just do good work, it will speak for itself. That’s not true in large organizations full of busy people all focused on their own agendas. If you’re a leader in that kind of place, the work doesn’t speak for itself; you have to speak for the work. How do you do that without coming off as an annoying braggart? There are seven questions you need to answer when you speak for the work: What is the work?

How To 158

How To Team Goal Report 158

Next Level Blog

MAY 7, 2019

As I’ve written here before , one of my favorite games to play with high potential managers and executives is called, “What’s on Your T-Shirt?” The way it works is the leaders in my programs or workshops review the highest and lowest results they’ve scored on behaviors in The Next Level 360 or self-assessment. To reduce the stress that naturally comes with that conversation, I ask them to pair up and review the overall results for the group first.

Stress 158

Stress Workshop Teamwork Review 158

Next Level Blog

JULY 11, 2018

This post is adapted from the forthcoming third edition of my book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success. Available in October, you can pre-order it here. Research shows that moving to the executive level is among the toughest transitions of any career.

Leadership 199

Leadership Execution Reputation Operations 199

Next Level Blog

MARCH 6, 2019

My first job out of graduate school was as a first year associate in a Wall Street investment bank whose last of the 10 corporate values they printed in their annual report was, “Have fun!” Sadly, I did not. Decades later, it remains the worst place I ever worked or have seen other people working in in 20 years of leadership development work.

Micromanagement 165

Micromanagement Banking Uncertainty Leadership Styles 165

Advertisement

On September 24, the Department of Labor (DOL) released much-anticipated changes to overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Any business that employs workers with salaries under $35,568 will be directly affected by the new regulations and face a decision: provide affected employees with a salary increase or pay them overtime. Download Paycor's latest guide to learn key details about the new rule and how it could impact your business.

Download

Next Level Blog

MARCH 20, 2019

The title of this post is the core of a few of my favorite questions. The one I want to focus on today is, in my experience, foundational to effective self-management: What are the top five words that describe me (you) when I’m (you’re) living and leading at my (your) best?

Process 158

Process Reference Technology System 158

Next Level Blog

JUNE 12, 2019

When you stop and think about it a big part of leadership is about convincing people to do things differently. It could be persuading customers to buy your product or try your service. It could be getting employees or vendors to raise their game. It could be convincing regulators and other rules makers to support what you want to do. In each of these examples or a dozen others that you could come up with, success depends on getting people to change their behaviors.

Quality 142

Quality Strategy Energy Examples 142

Next Level Blog

APRIL 3, 2019

Are you the kind of person whose facial expressions reveal everything you’re thinking? My wife, Diane, tells me I’m one of those people. Of course, she does have several decades of experience in reading me. I like to think I have a little more of a poker face when I’m with other people – especially if it’s a challenging or frustrating interaction. But, in all likelihood, I’m kidding myself on that. And, I suspect I have a lot of company on the poker face front.

How To 152

How To Participative Energy Productivity 152

Next Level Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

One of my mentors, Harvard professor Ron Heifetz, likes to say that leaders can either be on the dance floor or on the balcony. In the fast-paced world that we live and work in, it can be all too easy to spend most of your time dancing and not enough up on the balcony observing what’s working, what’s not and what adjustments you need to make to live and lead at your best. In other words, you can be so busy doing things, you don’t see what needs to be done.

Trends 120

Trends Crisis Mentor Politics 120

Advertisement

Not all HR & payroll is the same, but it can look pretty similar. If your current platform isn’t meeting your needs, let us walk you through how to differentiate between providers and give you some tips on how to select a platform that works best for your business.

How To

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

One of the things I’m doing with my blog posts this year is to try to provide you with simple, practical and immediately applicable insights you can apply to be a better leader.

Reputation 154

Reputation Engineering Career Team 154

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Every so often I hear a phrase so well turned that I say to myself, “I wish I had thought of that.” That happened a few months ago when I was talking with a top executive of a Fortune 500 company to get his feedback on a colleague who was one of my executive coaching clients. This exec loved my client and compared him quite favorably to his predecessor who, the exec said, regularly “inspired his team to underperformance.”.

Team 152

Team How To Short-term Long-term 152

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

When I asked communications expert, Dr. Nick Morgan , for his one best piece of advice for anyone who wants to be a more effective virtual communicator, his answer was quick, simple and powerful, “Don’t assume the worst.” Here’s the back story on why Nick offered that advice and how you can apply it for positive outcomes.

Conference 152

Conference Video Advice Information 152

Next Level Blog

AUGUST 30, 2017

In 2017, it can be difficult to find examples of great leadership. Today, though, I want to offer two of them. The first is of neighbors, volunteers, first responders, law enforcement, the National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard pulling together to rescue each other in the greater Houston area.

Leadership 212

Leadership Video Travel Report 212

Advertisement

Companies with the right mix of benefits saw a 138% drop in employee turnover. Learn how you can lower your employee attrition rate and retain top talent.

Company

Next Level Blog

MARCH 13, 2018

Think about the last time you made a big purchase like a car, a major appliance or a mattress. With the possible exception of the car, there’s a pretty good chance you bought the product online after reading a lot of customer reviews. Why was that the case? Of course, one reason is that Amazon and other online retailers make it really easy to buy things online. Another likely reason is that you would do anything to avoid an aggressive sales pitch at the dealership or the store.

CIO 189

CIO Chief Technology Officer How To Incentives 189

Next Level Blog

MARCH 6, 2018

Earlier this year, I was talking with an executive coaching client about everything that was going on at once in his business life.

Stress 189

Stress Short-term Long-term Executive Coaching 189

Next Level Blog

JUNE 19, 2019

Let’s face it. There’s way more to do in any given week than you can possibly do. What you can do, however, is manage your week in a way that gives you the best chance of living and leading at your best. For example, I recently talked with an assistant general counsel during a leadership workshop that I was doing for the big company she works for. We were talking about time management strategies and she shared how she organizes her week.

How To 127

How To Workshop Energy Participative 127

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

What do you notice about your thought process when you’re about to start something that’s difficult or intimidating? Is your inner monologue helpful or hurtful? Here’s a hint – your self-talk is highly predictive of the result you’re going to get. There’s a simple mental shift you can make that almost guarantees a better result when you have to do something you’re not totally excited about or find a little bit scary.

Audience 188

Audience Energy Conference Advice 188

Advertisement

An attractive benefits program can be a highly effective recruiting and retention tool. But to make benefits a competitive advantage, employers must get creative with their benefits strategy or risk losing out on the best talent. Learn how to build a benefits package that your employees will love.

Competitive Advantage

Next Level Blog

JULY 10, 2019

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may remember the post I wrote back in April after my dad, Jack Eblin, passed away. One of the things I mentioned early on in that post was that my mom and dad were together for a total of 69 years. They dated for seven years starting at age 14 and were married for another 62 years after that. So, not surprisingly, I’ve had a lot of friends and readers ask me over the past few months, “How’s your mom doing?”.

Leadership 122

Leadership Quality Examples Course 122

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 9, 2019

No doubt, you’ve heard the phrase that the perfect is the enemy of the good. That doesn’t just apply to other people; it applies to you and your team too. And, the thing is, a lot of the time what you expect as a leader is your version of perfect. There are some cases when perfection is truly an objective measurement but most of the time it’s subjective and good enough is good enough even if it doesn’t meet your version of perfect.

Team 103

Team Micromanagement Reputation Morale 103

Next Level Blog

MARCH 12, 2019

A few months ago, I was in conversation with a group of senior director and vice president level leaders in a client company. I asked them, “Before you were promoted to senior director or VP, what did you used to say about the people who had those titles?” What I heard in response was pretty telling: They don’t get it. They don’t understand what’s really going on. They’re arrogant. They’re presumptuous. They think they’re better than us.

CFO 137

CFO How To Call Center Mentor 137

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2017

In my work as a coach and speaker to corporate leaders, I hear a lot of stories about how many balls people are trying to juggle at once. There are at least three big factors driving these stories. First, most leaders in most organizations are expected to continuously do more with less. Second is the ability to do practically anything from your smartphone that you could do at your desk.

Welch 193

Welch How To Long-term Stress 193

Advertisement

Learn the 11 proven strategies that you can implement quickly to get every employee innovating and contributing to the growth of your company.

Innovation