The Sharpening Stone – A Manager’s Guide to Getting Results
We’ve all been there. We’re expecting an employee to do something or produce a desired result and it’s just not happening. The tendency may be to think they’re goofing off or being lazy, or that they have been side-tracked by [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Next One Up
I have always had a love for sports, and especially in big games when a title or championship is on the line. It’s always been interesting to me to watch those that you expect to do well deliver in the [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Accountability is NOT a Four-letter Word
If, like most of us, you have ever resolved to engage some process of self-improvement, you have probably confronted the sobering fact that saying something, even really wanting it, is not the same as doing it. Any effort to engage [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Does Your Board Know its Job?
In our work with boards, we tend to see two extremes. On one end of the continuum is the rubber stamp board. We see this most often in organizations that have an assertive, high-performing and highly trusted executive director or [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Headwind or Tailwind? Building Your COVID-19 Sales Recovery Strategy
Hello, this is Michael Lambert with True Edge Performance Solutions, a management consulting firm in Lancaster, PA. I’d like to cover a few points about not only staying afloat today, but taking advantage of the situation and building momentum for [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Leading in the Face of COVID-19
Today we have a special audio edition of Sharpening Stone in light of the rapidly unfolding COVID-19 coronavirus situation. I’m Rob Skacel, business psychologist with True Edge Performance Solutions. Wow, it seems everything’s changed over the past few days – [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Awaken the Sleeping Giant
I'd like to tell a couple of stories today, and I suspect you'll probably nod your heads and recognize some of the scenarios. There was a sales team that I knew, and they did okay. They were close to quota, [...]
The Sharpening Stone: You Might Just Need a Rawlins
Who comes to mind when you think of the greatest American leaders? George Washington? Abe Lincoln? Susan B. Anthony? Martin Luther King, Jr? It’s been said that from the end of the Civil War through the remainder of the Nineteenth [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Saying “Yes” and Saying “No”
Have you ever stopped to realize that two of the simplest and most common words we use shape the direction of our lives and how we navigate our work and personal worlds? Those words are “yes” and “no”. What we [...]
The Sharpening Stone – High Caliber Calendar
Most leaders have a lot of things competing for their time. If you’re like me, your schedule is already filled with meetings, project work, planning sessions, and a pile of tasks that have to get done sometime. Now throw into [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Managing People Who Think They’re Special
My wife and I used to tell our kids, “You’re really special, but no more than anybody else.” Despite that, they seem to have turned out okay. At least that’s what their therapists tell us. Most of us have encountered [...]
The Sharpening Stone: Feedback and Future
So let me start by asking you a few questions about something that most organizations tend to look at on an annual basis – employee performance. Is your performance management process working? Is it meaningful to you as a leader, [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Igniting Motivation
A common question we get from our clients is, “How can I motivate my employees?” When we’re talking about motivation, we’re not merely concerned with getting people to do what you want them to do. You can produce that kind [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Safety of Confusion
There’s a local beer distributor near my home that has one of those interchangeable signs out front. Today it’s mostly used to advertise their current specials, but a number of years ago they used to post pithy sayings on the [...]
The Sharpening Stone: Think Culture First!
So have you ever received a question from someone – a colleague, a family member - “How’s it going at work?”, or “How’s your company doing?” ? If I asked you right now, how would you answer that question? Do [...]
The Sharpening Stone – The Good, The Bad, and the Boss
Most of us have experienced performance reviews delivered to us by our bosses. If that was done reasonably well, we walked away with constructive feedback that helped us grow professionally, or at least perform our jobs a little better. In [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Expectancy, Not Expectation
You may be expecting this short video to be worth your while. What if it is? What if it isn’t? what practical difference does your expectation make in the content you hear or in my presentation of it? None, right? [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Silo Busting
If you work in an organization large enough to have identifiable departments or functional units, you know what can happen when tensions arise between groups. Maybe your sales reps think that your operations people don’t do enough to keep customers [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Leading with Humility
So you’re a leader – perhaps THE leader – in your organization. You’ve worked your way up, earned your role and your title, and now you’re “the boss”. That can be pretty heady stuff if we let it be, can’t [...]
The Sharpening Stone – The Trouble with Anonymous Feedback
Conventional wisdom says that if you want people to tell you the truth, let them do so anonymously. I disagree. Anonymous 360s and workplace climate surveys have their place, but sometimes they cause more damage than good. You would be [...]
The Sharpening Stone – CYA
None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. And as a leader, you’re even accountable for mistakes that other people make. Yikes! That’s why today’s segment is on CYA. That’s right. Covering Your …Absence. When we coach leaders, we [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Lessons from Goldilocks
We’re all familiar with the children’s story, “The Three Bears” and how the young girl Goldilocks gets lost and wanders into their home where she proceeds to try their three bowls of porridge, to sit in their three chairs, and [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Preparing for Battle – Part 2 of 2
In an earlier segment, we talked about the importance of anticipating conflict with your business partners, communicating regularly, and getting tension points on the table before they have a chance to grow and fester. Today we’ll talk about some guidelines [...]
The Sharpening Stone – Preparing For Battle – Part 1 of 2
If you want a healthy business, prepare your battle plan. I’m not talking about battling your competition. I’m talking about handling conflict with your business partners. When most people go into business together, they’re not thinking about conflict. They’re usually [...]
The Sharpening Stone – An Ancient Method for Developing Others
Okay. So you’re in charge of something. You’re experienced. You’re also pretty smart. Naturally, people come to you for direction. They pop their heads in your office, ask you a question. You give them an answer. And off they go [...]