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managers

More deliberate practice for managers, not less

by amiel · Apr 7, 2014

Professor Phil Rosenzweig of IMD thinks that deliberate practice—using feedback and correction to improve skills—can can help executives perform better. I couldn’t agree more.

However, he cautions against applying the laws of deliberate practice too widely. “We do ourselves a disservice,” he writes at strategy-business.com, “by implying that we can practice our way to success in all circumstances.”

I beg to differ.

The reality I see in organizations today is not too much deliberate practice, but too little. How many managers do you know who spend excessive amounts of time practicing new skills, asking others for feedback, and reflecting on how to improve? How many are applying the laws of deliberate practice to situations that don’t call for them and therefore producing negative business results?

These problems don’t exist in any of the organizations where I’ve spent time over the past twenty years. In these organizations, managers spend 99 percent of their time in performance mode. Intentionally practicing managerial skills, reflecting, and getting feedback  are, at best, afterthoughts. [Read more…] about More deliberate practice for managers, not less

Filed Under: Books, Deliberate practice, Leadership development, Uncategorized Tagged With: deliberate practice, Leadership, Leadership development, management, managers, practice

Prof. Samuel Cuthbert’s take-down of the performance review

Prof. Samuel Cuthbert’s take-down of the performance review

by amiel · Jan 6, 2014

performance review

In an excellent interview with Mark Graban, Professor Samuel Cuthbert of UCLA has this to say about the performance review:

Performance reviews, in my mind, are a dishonest, fraudulent practice carried out and justified on grounds I have no idea, they never hold any water and they work against everybody.

It sounds at first like hyperbole…that is, until you realize that he has been studying this the performance review for decades and has quite a case to make. Here is my summary: [Read more…] about Prof. Samuel Cuthbert’s take-down of the performance review

Filed Under: Accountability, Bosses, Performance management Tagged With: Accountability, bosses, executives, managers, performance, performance management, performance reviews, reviews

In the zone…with the boss

by amiel · Oct 15, 2013

Recently, I sat down with a leader I’ve been coaching and his boss to discuss the leader’s progress in raising his game. The leader–let’s call him Bill–was in the zone: confident, visionary, and fully engaged. He spoke with conviction, asked questions with curiosity, and had three times more “executive presence” than in any of our previous 2-on-1 meetings. As we walked out afterwards, I said to him, “Wow, you were on fire!”

What’s remarkable isn’t that Bill did this–after all, he is a visionary with a passion for ideas–but that he did it in the presence of his boss.

And Bill isn’t alone. Have you ever noticed how often talented people lose their mojo when talking with their bosses? Why is this? And what allows people to buck the trend and stay in the zone? [Read more…] about In the zone…with the boss

Filed Under: Bosses, Possibility Leadership, Uncategorized Tagged With: boss, bosses, Leadership, manager, managers, supervisor, supervisors

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