I learned this week that a client started a program in which every manager is part of a team to help less-experienced staff learn basic project management techniques. The overall intent is to not only enhance the project management skills of the less-experienced participants, but to also identify and implement efficiency enhancement opportunities throughout the organization. This will enable more employees to take lead positions on future projects, to develop their individual skills, and to obviously support the company. Terrific right? Well in theory it sounds great. However, in application it's not so great. Why? Management's not showing up.

A key element of "knowing thyself" is sorting out what's really important to you. Without a clear sense of our personal principles and priorities, it's almost impossible to bring the picture of our preferred future or vision sharply into focus.

ICE Leadership President Angela Mondou, founder of the prestigious 2007 gold award-winning ‘Mission Critical Leadership” workshop [Canadian Society for Training Development (CSTD)], is proud to announce the recent partnership with ‘The Art of Business’ based in Doha, Qatar.

When you start out in life or in business, it may seem as though you are doing everything yourself, and, in reality, you may be; however, there will come a day when you will discover new dimensions of your own talent and have people on your team whose talents will complement and not compete with yours. 

You Can't Build a Team or Organization Different from You

Too many managers who aspire to lead and develop others haven't learned how to lead and develop themselves. They are trying to build organizations or provide services that are different than they are. These well-intentioned managers are trying to improve their teams or organizations without improving themselves. Many seem to be living along the lines of Mark Twain's observation, "Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits."

Psychologists studying stress in the workplace have done over 400 studies on “Resilience” and what keeps individuals in a company healthy despite adversity. Here is a summary of their findings you can use as a checklist to get through this next wave of business.

Hillary Clinton + Anticipatory Rejection + Fearful Aggression = Lost Presidential Bid

Before I get into the above formula and something you should never do, I want to begin with something that is its polar opposite and something you should always do.

In part one, we looked at five questions leaders ask to create a winning environment. In this lesson, we'll pick up where we left off by exploring five more questions posed by leaders concerned about the climates they are orchestrating.

A free e-book from www.TheLeadershipHub.com . Pass it on.

Consciously or unconsciously, leaders cultivate the environment in their workplaces. Some are lush climates where leaders flourish and thrive, while others are toxic environments where leaders either leave or wither from the pollution. My goal is to help you nurture a winning environment in your organization.

Please don't tell me HRD/Training Managers that you're still hanging those "Employee of the Month" plaques in your lobby that make even the most professional employee look like a felon -- let alone valued and important!  Alas, don't admit that your training manuals would even put a die-hard reader of Popular Mechanics to Sleep!  Do your Employee Retirement Parties bring tears to everyone in the room, particularly the retiree, because of a lack of imagination or real thought?  Well, perhaps it's time to get funny (literally) and create WOW! Training Materials and Recognition Programs that engage us and capture our attention. 

It would be easy if we could all become leaders by following a simple set of steps. But the journey of personal growth means finding our own way. There are, however, critical areas of personal development based on timeless principles. The distance we need to grow along each leadership dimension will differ for each of us, but defining and continually growing along each of these paths is the way of the leader.

We recently started a six-month leadership training program with a new client. The participants are accepted into the program only after they have been nominated by someone at or above their position in the company, and they have successfully passed the program's interview process. The interesting part of this process has been that several participants have indicated they were surprised they were nominated, but they are grateful to whomever nominated them. That's nice. But I believe it's a rather odd approach to nurturing talent.

I truly believe a highly profitable company can be both competitive and victorious while maintaining its integrity. My 2008 New Year's challenge for all leaders, whether you're a leader of a Fortune 1000 company, the owner of a privately-held business, or a not-for-profit, is to commit to these 11 Essential Resolutions and stick to them no matter what.

Most of the time, when we think of 'the elements' or specific Seasons, we think of things like whether it's raining or snowing, or whether it's Spring or Fall. But the seasons, cycles, rhythms, paces, and wisdom of Nature is also evident in our own lives, livelihoods, and businesses. When we're aware of and connected to these, and cooperating with them, things seem to flow more gracefully and smoothly, and the results are far richer.

At a recent corporate management awards program, the honored recipient took the podium to the applause of his colleagues.  When it came his turn to speak, Ralph admitted that he had taken some major risks: “I followed the example of my mentor: when it was his turn, he chose to do the job now, and if necessary, apologize later.”

What would authentically (truly) conscious enterprise look like? This more holographic vision of 'conscious business' requires a significant degree of commitment and authenticity of the enterprise creators and leaders — who need to 'know themselves' and do the inner work to experience the outer 'manifested wisdom' — as well as a thorough revisiting and revamping of many underlying assumptions, institutionalized limitations, and other 'perceptual prisons'.

ICE Leadership is proud to announce that it’s Mission Critical Leadership Workshop has received a Gold Award from the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) Angela Mondou, ICE Leadership’s founder and the creator of ‘Mission Critical Leadership: Thriving in the Hot Seat!’ is thrilled with this distinguished award from CSTD recognizing learning and performance programs for originality, design and overall value.