http://mergespeaks.com/blog/">Turning Managers into Leaders

The great folks at PDNet and CGA Canada have invited me to deliver a live webcast ” Getting Your Ideas Across to Management” on Thursday May 24, 2012 at 9 AM Pacific Time.   If you’ve never attended a live web event before, it’s a great way to get focused relevant learning right at your desk.  Using just your desktop or laptop computer, you’ll be able to view and hear the webcast.  Plus, a recorded version of the webcast will be available to all participants for one year.  Priced at just $129 ($99 if you’re a CGA member), it’s a steal of a deal!  REGISTRATION CLOSES 24 HOURS BEFORE THE EVENT STARTS. SO DON’T DELAY! To register, or get more information, go to http://bit.ly/KWtV1H.

When you offer your expertise and advice in the workplace, do your managers stop and listen? When you share your knowledge and experience, do your colleagues and team mates nod their heads in agreement and use it as a springboard for further discussion and dialogue? Perhaps most importantly, can you influence others, even senior leaders, to come around to your point of view, particularly when their minds are already made up? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then congratulations as you have mastered one of the most essential and fundamental skills of effective business relationships.   Your ability to persuade and influence, to get your ideas understood and accepted by others, particularly by those who are senior to you in an organization, is a key predictor of future professional and career success. But … if you weren’t able to answer these three questions in the affirmative, then it’s time to take action to change this state of affairs! In this fast-paced content-rich webcast, you’ll learn specific and practical ways to gain greater respect and influence for your ideas, and as a result, improve your track record in getting your ideas recognized, accepted, and implemented.

If you’re in a leadership position, then you know that it’s your responsibility to make tough decisions … but sometimes the changes that result don’t always sit well with your employees.  You certainly don’t want to alienate your team, but is it possible to communicate these unpopular decisions in such a way that your employees “buy-in” and negative responses are minimized? Absolutely!

And I can help! If you hesitate or struggle with delivering bad news, or if you’re unsure how to communicate unpopular changes to your team, then join me for one fast-paced and content-rich hour in which you’ll not only learn specific ways to communicate changes and decisions with openness and honesty, but also techniques to deal with negative employee responses.

Click here to register now

More than anything else, you need to be the boss that employees can trust, and I can show you how to develop and maintain your credibility so that you can create better working relationships and a more productive working environment.  And if you act by April 25, you can take advantage of early bird savings!

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn:

• Six specific techniques to formulate and deliver your message so that your employees see and know that you’re communicating with openness and honesty
• The one critical factor that will allow you to maintain credibility with your staff when the going gets tough
• Six proven strategies to deal with the negative responses you might get from your employees
• The well-known change response model, and how it gives you an insight into why people react the way they do when they are faced with negative changes
• How to rise above your own conflicting emotions – it’s hard to support and implement a decision if you don’t agree with it yourself!

Join me on May 2, 2012 at 11 AM MDT. Early bird pricing in effect ONLY until this Wednesday April 25!

Click here to register, or for more information.

There are times when you have to deliver bad news to your staff, or communicate unpopular decisions to your team … and let’s face it, sometimes those changes don’t always sit well with your people.  Ideally, what you really want is employee buy-in; but often you run the risk of doing exactly the opposite – alienating your team!  There’s no doubt, it’s a tough situation to be in!

And that’s exactly the topic I’ll be covering in my live Audio Conference on Wednesday May 2 in a program titled “The “Let’s Not Kill The Messenger” Manual – A Leader’s Guide to Communicating Unpopular Decisions and Changes”.  I’ll be opening the lines for questions, so I want to know —when it comes communicating, or sometimes even making, unpopular decisions or changes, what is your biggest challenge? What one thing could I help you with that would make the process easier? Go to www.AskMerge.com to ask your question and I’ll answer as many as I can on May 2.

And while you’re at www.AskMerge.com, be sure to download the free article — “Breaking Bad News: How to deliver unpleasant information with compassion and credibility” — in which I offer seven definitive things you need to consider.   Just click on the link on the bottom left of the screen.

If you mentally cringe when you think about the annual employee performance review process, then you can’t afford to miss this.  Many supervisors and managers see this process as a time-wasting form-filling activity, often accompanied by crushed egos, hurt feelings, resentment, and sometimes even anger. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, the performance evaluation process, IF conducted properly, can not only be a tool to achieve departmental goals and organization results, BUT can also be a positive motivating force for employees. Really! No kidding!

Join me, Merge, for one fast-paced and content-rich hour in which you’ll learn in-depth tools and techniques on how to make the process perpetual and painless; you’ll learn how to make this work FOR you instead of AGAINST you.  And if you act by February 1, you can take advantage of early bird savings!

Click here to register now.

Here’s some of what you’ll learn:

• A strategic four-step system to make the annual process perpetual and painless
• One easy way to ensure that you NEVER again have “writer’s block” when it comes to the annual written performance review
• The one critical factor that ensures commitment and buy-in from your employees when it comes to department goals and organizational results
• Specific techniques and how-to steps to offer both positive and negative feedback
• Simple tools to set goals, objectives and measurement criteria that employees understand and take ownership for
• How the performance evaluation process is directly linked to employee motivation (and how you can make it work for you)

Join me on February 8, 2012 at 11 AM MST. Early bird pricing in effect ONLY until this Wednesday February 1!

Click here to register, or for more information.

Do you mentally cringe when you think about the annual employee performance review process? If so, you’re not alone. Many supervisors and managers see it as a time-wasting form-filling activity, often accompanied by crushed egos, hurt feelings, resentment, and sometimes even anger. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In fact, the performance evaluation process, IF conducted properly, can not only be a tool to achieve departmental goals and organization results, BUT can also be a positive motivating force for employees. Really! No kidding!

It’s exactly this frustration that so many leaders face that prompted the topic of my next live Audio Conference.  On Wednesday February 8, I’ll be leading Mastering the Performance Evaluation Process – You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure; and I’ll be opening the lines for questions. So tell me — what is your biggest challenge when it comes to the employee performance evaluation process?  What specifically causes you the greatest amount of frustration? Go to www.AskMerge.com to ask your question and I’ll answer as many as I can on February 8.

And while you’re at www.AskMerge.com, be sure to download a copy of my free article titled Effective Evaluations – Tips for conducting performance evaluations.  Just click on the link on the bottom left of the screen.

Our survey deadline is 11:45 PM MST on December 2, 2011, only five days away! This is your chance to win one of four valuable prizes, and our chance to get your input for our topics and content for our 2012 Leadership Skills Series Live audio conferences.

Click here for our quick ‘n’ easy survey

In return for your time, we’ll enter your name in a draw for four chances to win one of my Leadership Skills audio programs, either in downloadable mp3 or CD format, a $197 value. There are fifteen you can choose from, and you can preview them all here.

Do it now – in won’t take more than 5 minutes, we promise! We’ll announce the winner here as well as in December’s issue of Merge’s Monthly Mega Minute.

We need your help! We’re developing the topics and content for our 2012 Leadership Skills Series Live audio conferences and in return for 5 minutes of your time, we’ll give you four chances to win!

Just complete this quick ‘n’ easy survey

In return for your time, we’ll enter your name in a draw for four chances to win one of my Leadership Skills audio programs, either in downloadable mp3 or CD format, a $197 value. There are fifteen you can choose from, and you can preview them all here.

The deadline to enter is 11:45 PM MST Friday December 2, and we’ll announce the winner here as well as in December’s issue of Merge’s Monthly Mega Minute. Do it now – in won’t take more than 5 minutes, we promise!

Click here to go to the survey.

We want your help in planning our 2012 Leadership Skills Series Live audio conferences, AND we’re giving away PRIZES in return for your help! It will take less than 5 minutes of your time!

Click here to complete the survey

For four years now, you, our clients, have helped make our quarterly learning series hugely popular, so in return for your help, we think it’s only fair that we give you four chances to win your choice of one of my Leadership Skills audio programs, either in downloadable mp3 or CD format, a $197 value. Fifteen to choose from, each one offers specific, practical and hands-on skills to become a better leader. Whether it’s delegating the right way, overcoming negativity in the workplace, having difficult conversations with employees, or just learning to communicate more persuasively, each one gets right to the heart of the issue and gives you what you need to know! If you want to see what you’ll be making your prize selection from, click here.

We’ll take your responses until 11:45 PM MST Friday December 2, and then we’ll randomly draw for four winners. We’ll announce the winners here on my blog, and also in December’s issue of Merge’s Monthly Mega Minute.

Do it now – click here – and thanks for your help!

Diverse personalities and working styles can be the source of immense conflict OR the foundation of team effectiveness! It depends on your perspective AND what you do to capitalize on the differences. If your workplace team is dysfunctional (and driving you crazy), then it IS possible to stop the suffering! It IS possible to turn the differences into highly productive strengths!

Join me, Merge, for one fast-paced and content-rich hour in which you’ll learn in-depth, step by step, how create high-performing teams.

Click here to register now.

Even if your people seem to be working well together, there is always room to make things even better.  Learn specific and practical tools to take your team from storming to performing.  And if you act by November 9, you can take advantage of early bird savings!

Here’s some of what you’ll learn:

• An in-depth understanding of the four essential working styles that are fundamental to a high-performing team
• Three definitive actions that YOU can take build and support your high-performing team
• Why lack of conflict on a team often points to team ineffectiveness AND how to get past the pitfalls that accompany too much conformity
• Two easy questions to ask yourself to quickly determine what strengths (and weaknesses) each of your employees brings to the team
• How to pinpoint exactly where you are on the team development life cycle (and why it matters)

Join me on November 16, 2011 at 11 AM MST. Early bird pricing in effect ONLY until this Wednesday November 9!

Click here to register, or for more information.

Aaah … a team of talented results-oriented people who are tight-knit yet self-sufficient; resourceful and imaginative, yet keenly focused on your departmental and organizational goals; collaborative, yet openly welcoming of healthy conflict.  Only a dream you say?  Why?  Why can’t it be a reality?

On Wednesday November 16, I’m leading a live Audio Conference on exactly this topic — how to create a high-performing team in YOUR workplace — and I’ll be opening the lines for questions. So tell me — what is your biggest challenge when it comes to creating a dream-team in your workplace? Go to www.AskMerge.com to ask your question and I’ll answer as many as I can on November 16.

And while you’re at www.AskMerge.com, be sure to complete the self-scoring evaluation — Do You Have A High-Performing Team? Find out how you’re doing right now.  Just click on the link on the bottom left of the screen.