Author Archives: Larry Janis

Losing your top talent to your competitors? 3 easy strategies to hold on to them

 

 

 

by Dominic Ashley-Timms

 

According to the latest Gallup State of the Workplace report, employees are seeking new jobs at the?highest level?since 2015. This trend has been coined “The Great Detachment.”

A key reason for this is increasing employee dissatisfaction with management. For instance, Gallup’s research shows that those who work in companies with?bad management practices?are nearly 60% more likely to be stressed, and stress is the second most-cited factor influencing employees’ decisions to quit.

People’s values have also changed post-COVID-19. Employees prioritize well-being. They expect their contribution to be recognized, and if they aren’t valued or supported, they aren’t prepared to tolerate it.

The rise of Gen Z in the workplace also needs to be considered. They now make up 27% of the workforce across the 38 high-income countries that make up the OECD. This generation wants to be coached, not directed, and if they don’t feel that they’re progressing or that their employer wants to cultivate them, they’ll simply leave.

Yet, management practice has remained unchanged, with managers still using outdated and clunky methods unsuited to today’s workplace. Managers are ill-equipped to give feedback and handle challenging conversations in this rapidly changing work environment and consequently default to directing employees rather than enabling them.

Companies need to upskill their middle managers urgently to keep employees engaged and stop hemorrhaging talent. After all, talent is critical for success—companies in the top quartile of employee engagement achieve?23% higher profitability?than those in the bottom quartile.

If you’re losing your top talent to your competitors and suspect poor management may be a cause, here are three things to do: (more…)

5 Servant Leader Strategies to Boost Impact

 

 

 

 

by Peter Economy

Research shows that this leadership style can enhance team performance and satisfaction.

Too many employees know what it’s like to work for a boss who’s more focused on the bottom line than on the people who actually get the work done. Servant leadership turns that all-too-common scenario on its head. It focuses on the needs of employees, customers, and other stakeholders instead of focusing on their own needs. Here’s a secret: Research shows that this leadership style can enhance team performance and satisfaction.

When Robert K. Greenleaf first developed the concept of servant leadership during the 1970s, others considered it too gentle for a competitive business environment. Successful organizations today understand that sustainable performance relies on people-oriented leadership. Throughout my own professional journey, I have personally witnessed these transformations, and their results clearly demonstrate their effectiveness.

Here are five practical strategies to adopt servant leadership principles that will boost your team’s effectiveness—and your happiness as a leader.

1. Listen with intent.

How often have you attended meetings where leaders solicit opinions but only pretend to listen until they can get in their own two cents? People can easily distinguish between listening that is just for show and listening that comes from true interest.

Establish routine meetings with team members that have no specific agenda and focus solely on understanding their viewpoint. When someone presents a challenge to you, avoid the instinct to propose solutions right away. Ask open-ended follow-up questions that demonstrate interest, such as: Can you tell me more about that? How is that affecting your work? You’ll be amazed at the knowledge gained when your people experience authentic listening from you.  (more…)

How to create leaders who coach, rather than command

 

 

 

 

By Aneesh Raman and Teuila Hanson

 

We’re facing a career confidence crisis. Work is changing fast, yet many employees feel stuck. At LinkedIn, our data shows workforce confidence has dropped to a five-year low, and only 15% of employees say their manager has supported them with career planning in the past six months.

Managers can play a big role in righting the ship—helping employees build the new skills they need to stay relevant and develop into future leaders. But this requires a fundamental shift: transforming them from task-overseers to coaches developing talent and sparking the best ideas from their teams. There are some key steps any company can take now to develop a culture of coaching that starts with your managers—but extends well beyond them.

Start to develop your managers as coaches 

If you want your managers to become coaches, that starts by coaching your coaches. Just like elite athletes rely on coaches to reach peak performance, managers also need coaching to unlock their full potential. Coaching is a skill that needs to be intentionally developed. Executives are starting to grasp this opportunity. Nearly 80% of global CHROs agree their managers in the future will spend less time managing tasks and more time coaching teams.

Leading companies are doubling down on this already. For instance, IBM supports first? and second?line managers to grow through targeted programs, assessments, and skill-aligned badges. Manager Impact, for example, is an interactive learning experience that coaches new managers on how to lead with confidence, create meaningful employee experiences, and navigate real-world leadership challenges. Managers who complete these programs achieve significantly higher employee engagement scores, says IBM.

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5 tips for eliminating big egos at work

 

 

 

 

 

by Aytekin Tank

 

 

Freud once wrote, “The ego is not master in its own house.” He argued that the ego, which controls your thoughts and behaviors, is influenced by the id (your most basic impulses) and the superego, which consists of the rules and norms of society. Having a balanced ego is key to personal well-being. Similarly, having and leading with a balanced ego is key to professional and team success.

Leaders with inflated egos can cause irreparable harm to workers and companies. Less willing to entertain contradictory ideas, they stifle innovation and make poorer-quality decisions. Because their egos crave positive attention, they’re susceptible to manipulation. What’s worse, the traits of egocentric leaders often trickle down through an organization, potentially undermining its very fabric. That’s why it’s key for leaders to practice leaving their egos at the door.

Here are five strategies for releasing your sense of self-importance and leading with less ego.

Train your active listening ability like it’s a muscle

If you’ve ever been to a therapist, then you’re familiar with active listening. A good therapist listens attentively, interprets when appropriate, and endeavors to understand what you’re saying. They don’t just hear you, but they make you feel heard. In doing so, they allow their own ego to fall away.

Like strength training at the gym, you can train your active listening ability as if it were a muscle. The core components of active listening are comprehending, retaining, and responding. By working on these skills, you can become a better active listener.

You should also get in the habit of clarifying misunderstandings in the moment, for example due to slang or technical explanations. Ask questions and seek further explanations. If necessary, request that someone break down a concept into terms a child would understand. Tune out any distractions and try to be aware of your own biases. And finally, communicate that you’ve understood what someone has said.

Active listening takes effort, but like weightlifting, it gets easier with repetition. (more…)

How great leaders use curiosity to drive innovation

 

 

 

 

by Tony Martignetti

Curiosity isn’t just a good personality trait or an indulgence—it’s a leadership superpower. In a business environment where innovation dictates success, curiosity serves as the catalyst for breakthroughs and industry reinvention. Yet, despite its transformative potential, it remains one of the most undervalued tools in leadership today.

According to a Harvard Business Review study, curiosity fosters openness and collaboration while reducing decision-making errors. Yet only 24% of organizations actively encourage it, leaving a wealth of untapped potential on the table. The best leaders don’t just seek answers; they reframe problems. Instead of asking, “How do we fix this?” they ask, “What if we reimagine this entirely?” Leaders who embrace this mindset uncover opportunities for reinvention that others overlook because they only focus on immediate challenges.

Curiosity begins with observation

In the world of art and design, curiosity begins with observation. Georgia O’Keeffe once remarked, “Nobody sees a flower, really—it is so small we haven’t time, and to see takes time.” Her words offer a lesson for leaders: True insight comes from taking the time to observe and understand what others overlook. The design thinking process mirrors this ethos, emphasizing empathy, iteration, and a willingness to embrace failure. Leaders who adopt these principles uncover unmet needs and rethink stagnant paradigms.

For instance, I once worked with a biotech executive who revitalized their R&D team with a single question: “What are we missing in the data that could change the trajectory of our discovery?” This curiosity-fueled inquiry led to a cross-disciplinary exploration, resulting in a groundbreaking treatment that shifted the company’s competitive position. (more…)