Leadership Archives - Price Associates

Are we solving the right problem?

By David Quinlan

Imagine an iceberg floating in the middle of the sea. Above the surface sits the impressive tip and rugged edges. What you do not see is what rests below the surface – a massive glacier with peaks and valleys and mass that comprises 90 percent of the entire body.

Defining a problem is like an iceberg. Many organizations make the mistake of trying to fix what they can see above the surface and ignore the root of a problem that sits below the surface.

Just like an iceberg, the deeper we go into the world of innovation, the more we discover. And as leaders, it’s our job to find the truth and identify a problem for what it really is versus what we think it is.

How to Build a Team That Will Transform Your Company

By Dr. Evans Baiya, allbusiness.com, July 2019

Are you looking for the next big thing? Searching for an idea that will attract new customers, improve your offerings, or simply give you a leg up on your competition? The good news is you probably have most of what you need already at your fingertips: Your employees will be the defining factor to your success. And creating new value can be easier than you think if you get the right tools and processes in place.

You may have the inspiration or the original idea, but it is your employees who will execute that vision—and maybe even improve upon it—if you give them the right tools. It is impossible for a leader to single-handedly transform a company, thus the adage: “Leadership is the art of getting things done through people.” Large-scale change requires the work of a team.Read More

Legitimate Leadership Authenticity: The Great Debate

By Chip Scholz

I hear a lot of buzz around the words “authentic leadership”. Some demand more, while others debate its meaning. Regardless, smart leaders recognize the cries of dissatisfaction and seek ways to engage others with passion, authenticity and long-term value.

Legitimate leadership authenticity begins with self-knowledge: your values, thoughts, and actions. It carries with it a set of moral obligations. Leaders must avoid deception, contradiction, hidden agendas and ulterior motives.

Leadership experts like Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, have studied how authenticity impacts organizations—and how a lack of it destroys them. Distant and insincere leadership repels people, causing multiple dysfunctions. Only legitimate authenticity works.Read More

Opposites That Feed Each Other

Tips to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone and Be More Productive

By Jalene Case

Bring to mind your last off-the-grid, disconnected-style vacation. If you can’t think of one, you’re not alone. Even though we know (somewhere deep down!) that taking a complete break from work will increase our work productivity, we often resist.

I recently returned from a one-week vacation during which I fasted from email and social media. The urge to check-check-check was mighty. It reminded me of a chicken’s endless drive to peck-peck-peck its food. The problem was that my habit of continually checking was not nourishing me! Instead, I was doing a great job of sustaining a constant level of alertness mixed with anxiety, which was depleting my energy.

My coach wisely challenged me to leave my phone at home. I involuntarily gasped and wondered to myself, Could I do that? After negotiating, I agreed to take my phone so I could use the travel apps, and hide the email and social media apps so I wouldn’t check them for a week.

A Direct Approach to Resolve Conflict with a Coworker

By Whit Mitchell

It probably won’t surprise you that in my line of work, I tend to do a lot of team conflict resolution. Coworker disagreements and conflict are common in most workplaces, as we attempt to blend a variety of personalities, preferences and behaviors into a single team.

When I get a call that two colleagues are not working well together, I have a process that I follow—and it’s produced successful results over the years. I start by having both parties complete the TTI Success Talent Insights Assessment, which measures their behaviors (the “how” they do something) and their driving forces (the “why” they do something). I have each of them take this assessment before I even meet them. I take a look at those two reports, and I can pinpoint with accuracy what’s going on, even before I hear the whole story.

An Aware Team is an Effective Team

By Dr. Francis Eberle

One of my clients recently asked for help improving the effectiveness of his team. He reported that the team was not readily sharing information, not treating each other with respect, and not pitching in when one member was unable to complete his or her work.

These concerns probably sound familiar. I see them, or some version of them, often in the companies I work with. So how can you overcome issues like this and create an effective team?

The ADP Research Institute recently completed a study of teams, and discovered that the key to increased engagement is not in the perks, but in people. Data continues to report that effective teams have several things in common: a clear sense of purpose, a commonly held notion of what’s important, feelings of psychological safety, and confidence about the future (The Power Hidden Teams, Harvard Business Review 2019).

The Leader as Innovator

Host Dale Dixon and Executive Advisor Ron Price discuss the role of the leader as an innovator. Ron tells the story of how he and Dr. Evans Baiya connected to write The Innovator’s Advantage and details the two types of innovation. He also shares steps for leaders to create a culture of innovation, and the impact of ideas as the currency of the innovation economy.

My Personal Civil War: What Happens When Behaviors or Motivators Clash

By Dave Clark

Some people call it an internal struggle. Others call it a “me-me” conflict. I like to call it my personal civil war. Many of us have one (or more) of these internal conflicts and they tend to cause us mental anguish, often on a daily basis.

This “me-me” conflict comes when either primary behaviors or motivators are contradictory to each other and clash. These conflicts make us want to go in more than one direction at the same time, creating internal discord. Learning to manage these internal conflicts is necessary in order for us to maintain our sanity, let alone be productive.

These conflicts explain why some people want to win the lottery but won’t buy a ticket. Or, why others who pledge to get in shape in the morning are spotted at the donut shop and fast food restaurant by lunchtime. With these opposing mental forces pushing and pulling us in different directions, we often concede to the behavior or driver that is strongest.

Take Ownership with Accountability Questions

By Steve and Jill Morris

Organizational Accountability is owning the consequences of your choices in delivering the agreed-to results that everyone owns but no one person controls, and helping other people do the same.

This definition requires that you to set up clear accountabilities based on agreed-to results, otherwise you are leaving accountability to chance.

Are you taking the time to define, in the appropriate detail, exactly what you want others to agree to and deliver?
Are you asking for agreements or are you just assuming that they exist?
Are you confirming those agreements?
Are you tracking agreements people make with you?
Are you following up in a timely way to hold people accountable for the agreements they made with you?

There is nothing you have to learn to implement these ideas. To quote Yoda: “There is only do, or don’t do.” They just take practice.

Innovation in Finance

In this short video, Michael McAllister provides insights to apply innovation and explains how ideas don’t have to shake up the industry to have an impact.

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