Let’s take a look at two basic types of negotiation. We’ll consider the three phases of negotiation and the skills you need to become an effective negotiator.

Types of Negotiations

The two basic types of negotiations require different approaches.

The Three Phases

The three phases of a negotiation are:

These phases describe the negotiation process itself. Before the process begins, both parties need to prepare for the negotiation. This involves establishing their bargaining position by defining their BATNA, WATNA, and WAP. It also involves gathering information about the issues to be addressed in the negotiation.

It is essential to pay attention to all the phases of negotiation. Without the first phase, the exchange of information, and the establishment of bargaining positions, the second phase cannot happen in any meaningful sense because no one knows where they stand. It sets a scene for demands to be manageable and reasonable. Negotiations are, after all, about the art of the possible. Without the third phase, anything that has been decided during phase two cannot be formalized and will not take hold – leading to the necessity for further negotiation or an absolute breakdown in a relationship.

Skills for Successful Negotiating

These are some of the skills needed for successful negotiating.

Without the above factors, negotiations will be difficult if not impossible. The necessity for negotiation arises because neither party will be able to get everything they want. Knowing that there must be concessions, each party in the negotiation is required to adopt an attitude of understanding that they must get the best deal possible in a way which is acceptable to the other party. The importance of effective speaking and listening is clear; it is necessary to establish what you are looking for and what you are prepared to accept, while understanding what the other parties will be happy with.

Good negotiators understand the importance of balance. Yes, you will have to make concessions, but the point of making concessions is to secure what you can get – so you need to pay attention to your bottom line and ensure you are not beaten down to a minimum. Knowing what is realistic, and ensuring that you can get the best deal, relies on being ready to insist upon something that the other side may not be willing to give initially. Emotional intelligence, persistence, patience, and creativity can all play a part here.

This post is from July’s topic on Negotiation Skills, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Maintaining personal motivation is something essential as an important member of a company, particularly when you are responsible for the motivation of others. As a team leader or manager you will be looked to for reassurance and guidance in a job, and if you give the impression that you are merely going through the motions, your lack of motivation can become contagious. Even if you are responsible solely for yourself, personal motivation remains vitally important. Motivation is what keeps us from giving up and refusing to get out of bed in the morning. Any way we can improve on our level of personal motivation is valuable.

Identifying Personal Motivators

What constitutes motivation for one person may not be the same for others. Personal motivators are different between people; the very definition of personal means that you see things differently from the next person. The importance of identifying your own personal motivators is clear. Without a clear, identifiable set of personal motivating factors, it can be easy to fall into either an unmotivated condition or to rely on other people’s motivations to keep you going forward. There are times when we cannot rely on other people to give us the motivation we feel we need, and when we are on our own we need to motivate ourself.

Identifying personal motivators is something that takes some self-knowledge and some thinking time. What is it that you want to take from your job? Are you happy to keep cashing the pay checks, or do you wish to advance further in the company? Why did you apply for the job in the first place – and are you close to satisfying that goal? Ask many questions of yourself, and the more answers you can offer, the better your own personal motivation will be.

One motivation that works well for a number of people is surpassing themselves. Keeping a record of personal achievements attained while in your current job and attempting to do better every month is a challenge that is never completed. If this fails to motivate you, then look at other things which reward performance. Often, people are most motivated by the recognition of their achievements by others, and by setting an example to other members of staff. Whatever works for you is a valid means of self-motivation. Make sure that you have as many motivating factors as you can think of, because the more things you want to achieve, the more you will achieve.

Maximizing Your Motivators

As far as motivation in a job is concerned, it is a matter which requires regular evaluation and frequent updating. There are countless potential motivators for individuals, and as long as they work for you they are valid. What some people struggle with is ensuring that the same motivators continue to work. If you have been in the same position for a long time, it can be easy to lose the urgency and motivation that drove you to your best results when you started. Think of yourself ten years ago and the principles you held then. Do you still feel the same way now, or has life given you a different outlook?

Constantly giving some thought to what motivates you, and why, will enable you to get the best out of your motivators. When you started your job, you may have been motivated by the money; maybe you have enough money now. If that is the case, it might be helpful to think of something that you want to do which will require more money – taking a break to travel, building a new house, or whatever suits your means. This could be a way to reenergize an old motivator. Maybe one of your motivations has been recognition. In this case, perhaps seeking to mentor a newer member of staff could be beneficial. While you may have achieved almost all there is to achieve in your position, someone else could benefit from your experience.

Considering the factors that have motivated you in the past and updating them for the future is one way to maximize your motivational factors. In addition, it helps to look at your home life as it relates to your work life. If there is something you really need or really want in your home life, that your job could help you achieve?This may be all the motivation you need. Pushing yourself to achieve as much as possible will eventually pay off, especially if other people have ceased to push you only because they know how good you are.

Evaluating and Adapting

We all have things which motivate us – when we are kids, when we are young adults and when we are mature adults – and all that changes is the nature of our motivations. Even once we have retired, we will often find that there are things that we need to do and need to achieve before we can truly rest. In fact, one thing that motivates a lot of people is the need to keep their minds active. Research has proven that people who remain active through their middle and early old age keep syndromes such as dementia at bay for longer than those who do not. This makes it all the more important to remain motivated.

It is sometimes too easy to just let things pass you by through complacency, especially when you have already achieved enough to make you more or less immune to being fired. While it may be nice to remain in a job even when on auto-pilot, there is no denying that it is disadvantageous toseeing the challenge in a job, and for motivation. Should you want to make a move into another part of the company or another job, it is always useful to have a results sheet which shows continuous improvement and achievement. To this end, it always helps to have a record of achievement by which to test yourself against.

In the end, the best person to judge how well you are doing is you. Any manager to whom you answer will probably have other people to manage as well, and they may require more careful handling than you. The only way you can ensure you remain motivated is to motivate yourself – so, if you find that your motivation is beginning to wane, look at other reasons to stay in the job and work harder. There are always reasons to push yourself, and it is a matter of finding the one which does it for you, no matter how often that changes.

This post is from June’s topic on Employee Motivation, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

In any organization, there needs to be a mix of personality types. The importance of personality types is decried by some as a kind of fad science, but it is difficult to run an office or any other workplace when everyone has the same “soft skills”. The reason for this is perhaps best explained by the old saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”. When everyone has the same personality type and a problem arises, there is likely to be conflict as everyone tries to take the same role in solving it. The different personality types are not explicitly defined, and therefore there is no hard-and-fast list, but there is a set of soft skills which all workplaces require, and these are best met by different types of people.

Identifying Your Personality Type

You probably have an idea of your own personality type. A personality type is defined by the aspects of your character that emerge when around others or when doing important work. These character aspects are, as often as not, described as “soft skills”. You may have been described as “maternal”, “skeptical”, “humorous”, or any number of other things. These are issues which do not relate directly to your work but can aid or restrict your ability to do it, and can aid or restrict others. It is considered beneficial to have as many different types of personality in a workplace as possible.

There are countless tests that can be done to detect a personality type, and many different ways the results can be expressed, but there are certain things which hold true in all personality tests. Perhaps the best way in the workplace to detect a personality type is to judge your reaction to a problem which affects a whole team, or a group within it. Are you immediately looking for a way of overcoming the problem? Are you instinctively worried by what happens, and do you look to other people to help out? Do you comfort people who are stressed out by the problem? Or do you perhaps sit on the fringes, making comments and playing for laughs? Strange as it may sound, all of these elements are worthwhile in a team. The person who immediately looks for the solution is a “problem solver”; the second type is a “consensus seeker”. The third is considered a “nurturer” while the last listed is a “humorist”. All of these are classic personality types.

Identifying Others’ Personality Type

Most people know, or have an idea of, what personality type they conform to most. When meeting new people – and the workplace is one arena where this happens perhaps more than any other – it can be difficult to get a handle on what other people’s personality types are. The only way to really get a firm sight of what kind of personality you are dealing with is to speak to people and to monitor how they conduct themselves. One way of doing the latter is to hold “ice-breaking” or “getting to know you” games and sessions. By playing certain games and by monitoring people, you can find out a lot about what kind of person they are.

There are countless games designed to find out about people, one of which is the “stranded on a desert island” game. This basically takes the shape of a hypothetical shipwreck where the team is stranded on a desert island after their ship has run aground. There is a list of things which have been left on the ship, and limited time before the tide comes in and takes it away, so you have to prioritize what you will rescue, from the small, seemingly insignificant things, to the larger items which may seem to have more practical use. Different people will wish to rescue different things, and will make their reasoning known. This game is beneficial because it defines what people’s priorities are, and shows a lot about their personality when you step “outside the game”.

There will initially be a team of people with lists that differ hugely. The whole team willneed to decide what they, as a team, rescue from the ship. In doing this, team members will make their points and some ground will be given to certain items. From this you will be able to work out who is a dominant character, who is pragmatic, who is light-hearted, and so on. Some people will concede points quickly whereas others will try to make their point – whether they do so in a bullish way, a more structured way, or however else. You will also find that in many situations two or more people will vie for the “Alpha” role, while others will value their less confrontational part. From games such as this you can learn a lot about someone else’s personality type.

Motivators by Personality Type

The different personality types have different ways of motivating the people around them, as well as themselves. Someone who emerges as a conciliatory person is likely to motivate others by speaking to them one-on-one and allowing them to see where they excel, as well as where they can improve. Being able to put bad news in a good way, as well as being able to share good news discreetly, can be very valuable.

Other people, who may have a more dominant personality, will have a different way of motivating positively or negatively. They will generally tend to prefer delivering criticism one-on-one, as doing it in the open will de-motivate others, but good news will be delivered loudly and shared throughout the team, as a way of spreading the joy and motivating other people to try to achieve the same, and gain the same kind of acclaim.

Depending on someone’s personality type, they will have vastly different ways in which they can contribute to the team’s motivation. Indeed, it is becoming common practice in many workplaces to have what are known as “champions” to take control of certain aspects of the team. This empowers people in non-management roles to play a significant part without pressuring them with the responsibility of the concrete performance of the team. By assigning people the correct champion’s role, you can enable them to get the best out of themselves and others, and not let a talent go to waste.

This post is from June’s topic on Employee Motivation, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Every employee is entitled to a work environment that is safe and welcoming. The key to creating a successful and productive workplace is to embrace one another’s differences through active steps. When employees are given the opportunities to succeed, they will be happier and more prosperous. Diversity, equity, and inclusion will change the entire atmosphere of an organization. In essence, implementing inclusive practices will help to deconstruct barriers of participation and team cohesion. It’s important to carefully strategize DEI practices, in order to create effective long-term changes. Prioritizing DEI in the workplace is not only beneficial for the well-being of employees, but also for the success of the organization.

Inclusive Recruiting and Hiring

An inclusive work culture requires inclusive hiring. During the recruitment process, it is common for unconscious biases to affect hiring decisions. A recruiter may gravitate towards a particular candidate because of their appearance, background, or connection on a personal level. Inclusive recruiting and hiring involves connecting, recruiting, and offering equal job opportunities to candidates who have the expertise needed for the position from diverse backgrounds. It creates an equitable selection process that eliminates biases.

Providing Resources and Accessibility

A work environment should be functional and welcoming for everyone. The consideration of accessibility and proper resources are crucial for creating a culture of inclusivity. When employees arrive to work, they want to feel comfortable and safe. Accommodations can be put in place to meet the needs of employees, and to support any limitations in a proactive way. Reasonable accommodations can be made to equipment/software, job tasks, schedules, products, or services. Accessibility and resources must be constantly evaluated to ensure that everyone is able to perform the essential functions of their job. Employers should provide their team with communication, structural, and environmental support. When a work space is designed to be accessible to everyone, opportunities are created.

Practice Allyship

An important part of the equity, inclusion, and diversity conversation is allyship. Allyship is a powerful tool for attaining DEI related change. Being an ally involves learning and listening. It includes supportive behaviors, actions, and practices, as well as advocating with others from underrepresented groups, such as POC (people of color), LGBTQIA+, women, or people with disabilities. Allyship represents a long-lasting commitment to overcome the systemic barriers that exist. When we support others through allyship, we can work towards creating a safer workplace. Although an ally may not be a part of the marginalized group that they are supporting, they still make the continuous effort of their energy and time.No matter who we are, we all have the potential to become better allies.

Supporting Gender Identity

Embracing the fact that people identify with diverse gender pronouns will help to incorporate equity and inclusion into the organization. Gender identity is an individual’s experience of gender, behavior, and expression. The public presentation of how an individual expresses their gender is known as gender expression. By supporting gender identity in the workplace, it will create a more accepting place for everyone, especially for people who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. There are many ways to support diverse gender identities, in which most of it comes down to respect and awareness.

Regular Check-Ins

To establish inclusivity, it’s important to check-in with employees regularly. Checking-in will help to understand what needs to be changed or improved, as well as the current state of the workplace culture. Inclusivity and equity cannot exist in an environment where they are not encouraged to thrive. Regular check-ins support a continuous feedback culture that will help to gauge how employees are feeling. It sends the message that everyone is being recognized and heard, through honest conversations. This creates an opportunity to build trust amongst the team. While it is important to check in with team members, it is also important to encourage them to do the same.

This post is from May’s topic on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Every human is different; we all have different backgrounds, personalities, and aspirations. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) embraces people from every walk of life. It recognizes the value of diverse voices and inclusivity as key factors of success. Each component of DEI is aimed to create a more welcoming, fair, and respectful environment to everyone. To successfully create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace culture, it’s critical that leaders invest in resources, time, and courage. The positive encouragement of participation and representation of diverse groups will significantly impact an organization. Ultimately, DEI is vital in creating a successful workplace where everyone is able to grow and thrive, both personally and professionally.

Defining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) represent an important movement within society and growing organizations. Collectively, DEI will create an environment where individuals feel supported and welcomed, and are given the resources needed to succeed, regardless of their background, identity, or differences.

Since diversity, equity, and inclusion all represent a different type of change, it’s valuable to look at each term individually:

Diversity: The ways in which individuals are different, both visibly and invisibly. This includes characteristics, experiences, opinions, and personalities. Diversity in the workplace is the practice of valuing differences of social and ethnic backgrounds, gender, sexual orientation, age, language, education, religion and more.

Equity: Creating fair access and respectful treatment. Equity does not mean that everyone is treated the same, but rather treated according to individual needs. It is the process, whereas equality is the result.

Inclusion: Ensuring a safe space of belonging, support, and respect. In an inclusive environment, every individual feels valued and all voices are heard.

Classifications of Diversity

Humans are diverse in a variety of ways. There will always be differences that exist between individuals, whether they are visible, or not. Some factors that play into diversity are those that we are born with, whereas others are built throughout our life experiences. While there are many dimensions of diversity, these dimensions can be divided into four classifications, including internal diversity, external diversity, organizational diversity, and worldview diversity. It’s important to acknowledge these differences, in order to build a positive and encouraging workplace.

Components of Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion depend on each other; inclusion introduces ways to integrate everyone and make diversity work. The biggest challenge in building an inclusive company culture is to ensure that everyone feels included. After all, no one likes to be judged, or feel left behind. People experience inclusion in a variety of ways. There are many ways to make an organizational setting more inclusive, and allow the differences of individuals to coexist in a way that is beneficial for the whole company.

Role of DEI in Organizations

The changes related to embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion will significantly improve an organization. DEI creates an environment where people from various backgrounds are able to share different ideas, skills, and insights. This environment ensures that every team member feels involved and supported. It is not simply an environment where diverse individuals are present, but rather where diverse individuals are involved, empowered, and developed. A diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization requires respectful efforts from every team member to work towards success. It’s important that employees feel safe working together in a space without fear or discomfort. When everyone is involved, potential grows and professionalism thrives.

Equity vs. Equality

Equity and equality are terms that are often used interchangeably. Although similar, equity and equality carry different meanings, especially in the context of social systems. Equality is providing the same resources and levels of opportunity to everyone. It holds the assumption that every individual should be treated the same and given the same value and rights, regardless of their needs or circumstances. Equality displays a ‘one size fits all’ system, which is only effective if everyone has the same needs, and are starting at the same point.

This post is from May’s topic on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

The responsibility for mitigating these biases and creating a healthy and productive work culture, lies strictly with the organization’s management teams. A positive work culture starts at the top and is taught to the employees that follow this leadership. And although unconscious biases will never disappear, their affects can be lessened with the correct approach.

An owner or employer cannot just state that any type of bias will not be tolerated. This statement must be followed up with processes and policies that echo these sentiments. The workplace must supply training and education for the employees to combat unconscious biases. There must be a safe place to report suspected unconscious biases in the decision making department of the company. All these things must be utilized to mitigate unconscious bias in any workplace.

Set Expectations

The first step to mitigating unconscious biases in the work culture of a company, is to firmly and clearly state that this type of behavior will not be tolerated, outline what training will be offered to employees, and that violations will have consequences. A quick, brief statement to the employees and shareholders of the company is the first step of the process. This position must be stated firmly, without any waiver.

This statement should also state the training program and policies that will be included. The mandatory requirements should also be included in the expectations for this program. Encourage participation through marketing the program as pro-diversity, rather than anti-bias. Highlight the positive effects of this training in the opening statements for the program.

Get Feedback

The next step to implementing the anti-bias training program is to gather feedback from the employees. After the statement is released to the company and shareholders, the management can then begin to collect data based on the feelings of the employees. This information can be used in the planning of the training and the presentation of the information later in time.

The easiest way to get a genuine reaction to the anti-bias policies and programs from the employees is via a survey. This survey can be on paper ballots, via the email, or any other company wide communication that the organization uses. Every employee must be given the opportunity to participate in the data collection. These surveys not only gather information, they also increase the employee interest and participation. The survey that is easiest to use is the sliding scale from one extreme to another.

Encourage Participation

Let’s be honest, ever since childhood, we have hated to be told what to do and when to do it. It sets off a little rebellion in our minds that causes some people to put up walls and fences in defiance. Mandatory meetings and training are everyone’s least favorite thing to do during the workday. Anti-bias training needs to be mandatory for all employees, but how can an employer encourage participation, without causing employees to feel forced to attend.

Invitations should state that all management will be present for the event. Maybe provide a lunch and snacks for meeting. Speak to the employees’ desires and what would make it worth their time to attend. Include the question in a survey to the employees. An important step to a successful unconscious bias training seminar for the employees is encouraging participation, not only in the meeting itself, but also in creating updated workplace policies.

Train Employees

Training employees is so much more than reading and presenting a slide presentation at a day-long meeting. Employees have to not only accept the information presented, but use this information. The first tip is to know the audience and which training materials will work best for this particular group. This training needs to be interactive and informative.  It should have clear goals.

One way to begin this session is to administer one of the many implicit biases tests that are available to all the employees. The Harvard Implicit Awareness Test assists in identifying fourteen unconscious biases that the employees possess and inadvertently allow to affect their daily decisions. Even though it is not comfortable, this test highlights the biases that each employee can then move forward and change.

This post is from April’s topic on Unconscious Bias, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

What is it and how does it affect our day to day lives? To be able to discuss the unconscious bias that everyone possesses, the basic idea must first be defined. From there, the causes, the effects, and the possible necessary changes can be better addressed.

There are different types of biases, and most importantly, it must be remembered that biases are not limited to just race or gender biases. The subject of unconscious bias is detailed and needs to be fully understood. Unconscious biases are collected over a lifetime, and often affect decision making, especially in the moment that a snap decision needs to be made.

Definition

There are two categories of bias in studies today: conscious or explicit biases and unconscious or implicit biases. Unconscious bias is usually thought of as social stereotypes, and is more common than conscious bias.

How Does it Work?

Unconscious biases are deeply rooted in the human brain. The brain is constantly collecting data and categorizes it. One of the categories that is automatically made is between good and bad.  Think about caveman, who had to judge between a good situation and a bad situation, in a moment’s notice. As humans have evolved, this type of decision making has been engrained in us.

Today, these assumptions, or biases are often the result of social conditioning; life experiences. Some researchers believe that these biases often began in early childhood. These judgements or biases can affect both our personal and work lives. They can hinder decision making, which can greatly affect our lives. In the business world, unconscious biases can affect an organization from the top executive to the last hired employee.

Triggers

What triggers the type of decisions we make so often every day? In a word: history. Here is a partial list of experiences that may play into the development of our unconscious biases:

This list does not include all the ways data and information have been absorbed throughout our lives. This information and the biases we have developed, affect most of the decisions we make in our lives.

Impact

Unconscious bias impacts how we engage with others. A recruiter or hiring manager may look at hundreds of resumes for one open position; they must decide simply by looking at the information provided who to interview. Often, based on an applicant’s skill set, work ethics, their name, their degree, or affiliation, unconscious bias will have an effect on the interview/hiring process. Hiring practices based on unconscious bias may result in a workplace that is narrow minded, lacking diversity, and likely lacking creative and innovative new ideas. The work culture in organizations that allows bias to influence business can be negative and toxic. The work force is aware of the lack of diversity and forward movement and may soon move on to healthier companies.

This post is from April’s topic on Unconscious Bias, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Introduction to Leadership Development:

Leadership development stands as a beacon of growth and progress. It’s not just a set of strategies or programs; it’s a journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and transformation. So, let’s embark on this journey together, exploring what the development of leaders truly means, why it matters, and how we can nurture leaders through coaching, mentorship, and purposeful programs.

What is Leadership Development?

Leadership isn’t just about climbing the corporate ladder or acquiring new skills; it’s about becoming the best version of yourself as a leader. It’s about unlocking your potential, honing your strengths, and embracing growth opportunities that shape not only your career but also the future of your organization.

Why is Leadership Development Important?

At the core of organizational success lies the nurturing of effective leadership. It serves as the catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and the cultivation of a vibrant company culture. Empowered leaders equipped with the necessary skills and mindset serve as beacons, igniting inspiration within teams, fostering creativity, and gracefully navigating through challenges with resilience.

Coaching – A tool for leadership development

Coaching is like having a trusted companion on your journey—a guide who listens, challenges, and supports you every step of the way. Through meaningful conversations and personalized guidance, coaches help leaders tap into their potential, overcome obstacles, and achieve their goals with confidence and clarity.

Role of a Mentor in Leadership Development

Mentorship is a timeless tradition—a passing of the torch from seasoned leaders to aspiring ones. Mentors offer wisdom, perspective, and encouragement, helping mentees navigate uncharted territories, learn from mistakes, and grow into confident and capable leaders themselves.

How to create a leadership development program?

Creating a program isn’t just about ticking boxes or following a template; it’s about crafting a personalized roadmap tailored to the unique needs and aspirations of your leaders. It involves understanding your organizational goals, assessing individual strengths and areas for growth, and curating experiences that inspire learning and development.

How do you measure Leadership Development?

Measuring  isn’t just about metrics and KPIs; it’s about understanding the stories, the transformations, and the ripple effects that resonate throughout the organization. It’s about capturing the moments of clarity, the breakthroughs, and the newfound confidence that leaders bring to their roles every day.

Conclusion

The development of a leader isn’t a destination; it’s a continuous journey—a journey of growth, resilience, and purpose. As we navigate this journey together, let’s embrace the power of coaching, mentorship, and purposeful programs to cultivate leaders who inspire, innovate, and ignite positive change in their organizations and beyond.

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In this post, we will discuss how to explore options that will enable your employee to move towards the goal that was set before them. This is the next component or the “O” in the GROW model. This is the pivotal step in the coaching process. If done correctly, you will engage your employee and create a desire for them to improve. If done incorrectly, your employee will disengage and they probably will fail again. It is the coach’s job to create this participative environment. Let us look and see how. 

Identifying Paths

Many times, we feel that we have to outline the specific actions and employee has to take in order to reach the stated goal. While this may make you feel better, the likely hood of this action becoming meaningful to your employee is close to nil. Let us quickly review what we have done so far. You established what the goal is. There is usually very little wiggle room when it comes to a performance goal. It is the plain, unchangeable business reality. Next, we established the current state of affairs with respect to your employee’s performance. This historical and factual reality is also unchangeable.

Now, let us take it from the employee’s perspective. How in control do they feel? Would they shut down if we, as their coach, solely determine the action steps they are going to take? They might. It is imperative to keep the employee engaged. If not, the rest of the coaching session is just a one-way discussion, leaving your employee powerless in his or her own development.

When you allow your employee to participate in the development of their options, you get B.I.G. results. B.I.G. results stand for the following benefits:

Choosing Your Final Approach

Deciding on which option to implement could be frustrating. The best thing to do is to implement a consistent method to determining the best possible option. The APAC section of the B.I.G. template is designed to help you come to a quick decision on which option to implement. Here is how it works.

After you have brainstormed your options with your employee, assess the pros of each option. Determine the benefits and possible rewards to selection that option. Write those benefits in the template. Next, assess the cons for each option. Here are some things to consider:

All of these factors could rule out an option. Once you identify the cons, place those in the corresponding area on the template. Next, determine the top five options that are feasibility to implement. Use a rating scale from 1-5 and place that in the rating column. Now, you are ready to rate the relevancy of the options identified as feasible. Rate the relevancy of the options to the goal. Here are some things to consider when rating this category:

Once you determine the relevancy, you are able to multiply the feasibility rating with the relevancy rating. The highest number is possibly your best option. Remember to gain consensus from your employee on this option.

Structuring a Plan

Since you have your employee’s attention, it is best to begin the planning process. Structuring a plan as soon as possible sends the message to your employee you mean business when it comes to implementing the option. For example: your SMART goal may be to increase the sales attempt rate from five percent to seven in 30 days. Next, you and your employee may have agreed to focus on asking open-ended questions during a sales call as their option, giving them more information to help them attempt better. When are they going to start asking those questions? How many are they going to ask? These are action items you want document in a preliminary plan.

The 3T questioning technique helps you document three major milestones. Basically, you ask, “What are you going to do”:

You may need to guide your employee when answering the first question. Remember the more time you let pass from the time you coach them and the time you implement your first action step, you could be losing precious information discussed in your coaching session.

This post is from March’s topic on Coaching and Mentoring, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Before getting deep into the subject of coaching, it is prudent to discuss mentoring and what it tries to achieve. Understanding the difference between coaching and mentoring will help you be clear on your coaching objective. Many times, these two concepts are misunderstood.

What is Coaching?

A coach tutors or instructs a person to achieve a specific goal or skill. In baseball, a batting coach only focuses on the mechanics of hitting the ball. They spend time instructing the hitter how to change their swing to improve their performance. They give exercises and goals to the hitter that target the swing of the bat.

In the office environment, you may see similar coaches helping others improve a skill. They may be sales coaches or customer service coaches. No matter what the area of focus is, a coach specializes on improving one or two areas of development at a time.

Here are some characteristics of a coach:

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring has a different purpose and goal. Mentoring is the act of guiding, counseling, and supporting. This is vastly different from coaching. It is fundamentally teaching. However, the objective is slightly different.

Mentorship is more voluntary in nature and is less formal than coaching. The mentor and protégé endeavor on a broad development goal like becoming a leader. Mentoring encompasses many complex areas of development.

In your matching activity, we learned that coaching scenarios include the following:

Likewise, we learned that mentoring scenarios include the following:

In this workshop, you will learn how to effectively coach; however, later, there will be a discussion on how to transition from a coach to a mentor. It should be a manager’s goal to develop their people in a way that furthers their career. Mentoring does this. For now, we are going to focus on coaching people for specific goals. The next lesson discusses an easy-to-remember coaching process.

Introducing the G.R.O.W. Model

Having a consistent and uniform approach to coaching enables you to coach more effectively with strategy and direction. Using a coaching model will also instill confidence in your employee, because they see a methodical approach. When we approach coaching haphazardly, we become disorganized and this creates frustrating coaching sessions.

The GROW model helps you organize your coaching process in a flow that identifies the goal first and ends with putting a plan together. Here are the details of the GROW model:

GROW is simple yet powerful. Following the GROW process consistently will develop a natural process for you. Coaching should be natural. This puts you and your employee at ease, making the process more valuable and rewarding. Let us unpack the GROW model over the next few chapters and see how to incorporate it into our daily work lives.

This post is from March’s topic on Coaching and Mentoring, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

What are Managerial Ethics?

Managers have a responsibility to behave ethically and manage ethically. They set the example for all employees and will determine how effective ethics management can be. Managerial Ethics promotes a number of benefits, both to the company culture and financial gain of the organization.

Ethical Management

Ethical management balances the different responsibilities of modern business organizations. 

Responsibilities associated with Managerial Ethics:

Identifying the Characteristics for Managerial Ethics

There are many different characteristics of ethical management. There are three traits, however, that people identify with ethical management:

Ensuring Ethical Behavior to promote Managerial Ethics

Because ethics and values are extremely personal, it is difficult to ensure that all employees will practice ethical behavior. There are ways to promote ethical behavior, however, by simply instilling a few basic rules. 

It is not enough to simply create codes, programs, policies, and procedures. All rules must be enforced in order to be effective and curb unethical behavior.

This post on Managerial Ethics only begins to uncover the depth of insights available on this topic. Our membership offers access to this topic and a wealth of other leadership development resources, tools, and exclusive content to help you grow as a professional and empower your team. Don’t miss out! Become a member today and take your leadership journey to the next level.