Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: training

  • Listen In -> Employees… What Are They Good For? #4: The Problem of Poor Employee Performance

    I’d venture that for 90% of employee performance problems, supervisors focus their solution efforts on the problem employee.

    Helping the employee change. Demanding that the employee change. Talking to the employee. Writing up the employee. Training the employee. Disciplining the employee.

    What if, though, the employee was not the problem?

    What if problems elsewhere in the company were creating a situation in which no employee would look good?

    What if their negative attitude was a self-protective response to your harsh, arbitrary and/or imperious leadership style?

    What if their uncooperativeness was a response to the competitive bonus program in your compensation structure?

    In this week’s podcast discussion, Claudia and I take a closer look at the problem of poor employee performance.

    When acceptable performance becomes a problem, are we jumping too quickly to blame and punishment?

    Could there be aspects of your corporate structure, culture, or your own leadership methods that might be setting the stage for poor performance?

    Listen in.

    Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.

  • Quote to Consider: Do It Anyway

    quote-to-consider“Being unready and ill-equipped is what you have to expect in life. It is the universal predicament. It is your lot as a human being to lack what it takes. Circumstances are seldom right. You never have the capacities, the strength, the wisdom, the virtue you ought to have. You must always do with less than you need in a situation vastly different from what you would have chosen as appropriate for your special endowments.”

    Charlton Ogburn

  • Karl Shares Six Words… #11


    Skeptical about the training retreat bribe.


    Karl Edwards

  • Dreaming of Perseverance

    Keep on keeping on.

    Both a frame of mind and the next decision.

    A blend of courage, hope and love for which there is no recipe.

    A life skill developed one obstacle at a time.

    – Karl Edwards

  • Listen In -> Good Leaders in Bad Times #3: Training People to be Better Than You

    Come on now. Do you really believe that you got the promotion because you know more than everyone else on the team?

    If you have a “more than” mentality about the tiers on the organizational chart, then this episode is for you.

    The question becomes, whose skills, capacities and energies are you quenching if you have to know more than everyone else on the team? What talents and expertise are you missing out on by not being able to hire those who have more experience than you?

    This week Claudia and I discuss the value of training people to be better than you. Imagine with us the breadth and depth of skills and experience you could amass if you didn’t need to be better than everyone else!

    Listen in.

  • Question of the Week

    For each of your high potential subordinates, what is a practical way you can extend trust before asking to be trusted?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • When To Play Your Weaker Players: The Leader’s Conundrum

    weaklingDoes anyone really play their weaker players when serious about winning the game?

    It’s a nice sentiment. But if victory is at stake, rare (probably non-existent) is the coach who decides to extend an opportunity for challenge to anyone other than their best.

    But how do your weaker players become stronger players when they get no game time?

    Experience is a vital and irreplaceable form of training.

    So do you risk the game on building a stronger future? Do you even have a future if you don’t build your weaker players?

    But will you have a future if you don’t play to win now? What if the game ends early because you bet on the future and lost in the present?

    I don’t know that there’s a definitive answer to these questions.

    And that’s the point. The conundrum. The choice every leader faces. The risk every leader must take. Does take. Takes whether he or she knows it or not.

    What are you doing to develop your weaker players? Is it worth it? How do you decide how much of the present game to risk on the future game?

    How do you deal with this leader’s conundrum?

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Listen In -> Performance Management with Jeff Hunt #2: Managing

    Has it been an entire year since you’ve talked with anyone on your team about their job performance?

    Does it feel a bit awkward to bring up that negative encounter nine months ago?

    Did you miss an opportunity to provide needed resources simply because you didn’t know about the need at the time?

    We are in week 2 of our conversation with Jeff Hunt of Goalspan about performance management, and our topic this week is “managing.”

    After establishing expectations for results having planned, our next step is to establish an on-going conversation about how we work together. Instead of performance management being a single annual event, we are going to make it a process.

    Don’t miss Jeff’s insights into the three components of managing job performance:

    1. Coaching and feedback – Establishing the ongoing conversation.
    2. Supporting learning and development – Providing the resources and training.
    3. Proactively addressing issues as they arise instead of waiting 10 months to the next evaluation.

    What is your process? Do you engage early and often? Do your performance evaluations increase or decrease employee morale, motivation and engagement?

    Listen in.

  • Question of the Week

    Instead of solving the next problem presented to you, how might you help that person become a better problem solver him or herself?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • The Gift of Work -> Chapter 2: Kingdom Living

    thought-leadersTraining for kings.

    From the outside in… practicing habits of healthy living until proficient. From the inside out… becoming increasingly open to the involvement of God in the training process.

    Such are the spiritual disciplines: twin and simultaneous trajectories toward becoming the kind of person you were meant to be.

    gift-of-work1Reflecting on the workplace, it is my stewardship of the life God has given me that determines the character of my presence and contribution there. Hence the power of Heatley’s now obvious, but usually overlooked, linkage between our stewardship within God’s kingdom with the role of kings.

    How I show up matters.

    Whether or not I choose to engage fully—authentically, energetically and creatively—matters.

    The choices I make at work improve, restore, and (more…)