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Dec. 15, 2011
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Letter from the Editor
 The holidays are always a great time to reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for. My older daughter accepted the proposal from her long-time boyfriend and soulmate. My younger daughter was promoted at a job she loves. The recent snow storm left us without power for five days – and I was “forced” to read some of those books that I’ve been wanting to read all summer! Business is booming; our team seems to be firing on all eight cylinders – turbo-charged, in fact. Life is good.
How about you? How are things working for you? Are you pleased with your life? Is work going well for you? Are people performing to expectations? Are the people who work for you thankful that they’re working for YOU?
I’m a firm believer that in order to get thanks you have to give thanks. In fact, if you want “proof” of this, please watch this short video
(http://dontsayiloveyou.com/) by our friends Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, authors of The Orange Revolution. Their tongue-in-cheek admonition? You’re saying “I love you” too much to your significant other. Some of us say it five – maybe even ten –
times A DAY to our sweetie. Too much! WAYYYY too much … if we model it after the “appreciation program” many of us use at work.
So, today (yes TODAY) make a list of your people and why you’re thankful for that person.
Then tell them.
Thanks for being a faithful reader!
Terry
 Feedback – What is It?
As we teach in Coaching for Talent Development and Employee
Engagement, feedback is – or should be – ubiquitous. Without feedback – developmental AND positive – people lose direction. At the very best, without feedback employees may question how they’re doing or whether they’re even doing the right things.
We make clear distinctions among feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations in our training. For good reason. Used appropriately, each of these three techniques helps improve performance and engagement; used inappropriately, each of these three techniques can damage the employee-manager relationship, crush morale, and squelch performance.
So, quickly, here’s how we differentiate feedback, coaching, and difficult conversations:
Coaching is used with willing employees to develop or enhance performance. Coach to improve job-related skills, to help employees succeed. Along the way, employees become more confident and independent.
Difficult conversations are required when an employee isn’t performing as expected or an issue arises that needs to be dealt with. Perhaps it’s a violation of company policy, or repeated poor performance. Unless you tackle the issue directly, performance is likely to get worse.
Coaching happens on a regular basis – maybe every couple of weeks; difficult conversations happen only when they’re required.
Feedback, on the other hand, happens all the time. You provide feedback to tweak a person’s performance – perhaps to suggest a better way of doing something. (More on that in a bit.) You also provide feedback to acknowledge something the employee did well. You provide positive feedback on:
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Tangible contributions: “Thanks for getting that report to me on time; it was really well written.”
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Intangible contributions: “You’re such a positive influence on the team.”
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Effort: “I can see that you’re really trying!”
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Growth: “Look at how much you’ve improved.”
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Potential: “I have faith in your ability to do this.”
In our next issue of the Coaching for Talent Development and Employee Engagement newsletter, we’ll share with you the SINGLE most effective tip in providing feedback. And, I’m guessing it’s something you HAVEN’T heard!
Betting the Bank: Develop Your Managers!
Recently I had the opportunity to meet with my friend, I’ll call her Mary, who happens to be the Director of Learning and Development at a large insurance institution in Boston, a city known for its financial institutions. With some excitement,
 Mary shared with me the goals of the company for 2012; with more than a little pride she also shared with me the company’s growth over the past seven years.
It seems that the company had been struggling – as many insurance companies had during a period of demutualization. With the fate of the future of the company at stake, the powers that be determined that the key differentiator for the company was its people. Mary explained, “We all had similar products. What made us better than our competitors was our people. We decided to build on that strength and focus on hiring and retaining the best people. To do that, we focused on our managers. We created success profiles so every manager knew what was expected of him or her, and then we provided management development to ensure they had the skills to succeed. And we required every manager to attend, starting with the senior vice presidents, so they could ensure that everyone who reported to them was fully on board.”
Sounds simple and straightforward; something you’d likely hear at many companies, right? I probed further to find out that the top brass had bet the future of the company on this single strategy. There was no hedging. No spreading the risk. If the strategy failed, the company would cease to exist. Period.
Fortunately (but not surprisingly), the company is still around. Its revenues are up 300% and profit has quadrupled. All this in a bad economy. Mary’s concern now? The work that brought the company to where it is today will no longer be sufficient to take the company to where it wants to be in five years. Mary’s focus for 2012? You guessed it: create new success profiles and a new management development program. She knows that focusing on developing managers is a safe bet!
Gurus at Your Fingertips!
 If you’ve ever designed or developed management or leadership training, you know that much of the success of your training depends on the credibility of the person delivering the training. Wouldn’t it be great – we’ve all dreamed – if we could just fly in Warren Bennis, the “Father of Leadership,” to describe for us the traits of effective leaders? Or perhaps bring in Jack Welch to talk to our group about execution? Or Clayton Christensen – voted #1 Leadership Guru for 2011 – to present his ideas on innovation?
Unfortunately, the pricetag of a live presentation quickly replaces our dream with cold sweats. Now, through our partnership with Linkage – leadership central – we are able to provide you with access to Linkage’s library of leadership gurus, presenting on topics ranging from A (authentic leadership presented by Bill George) to V (vision, by mountaineer David Breashears).
As longtime readers know, Entelechy has supported Linkage in their Leadership Broadcast Series since 2004, and has worked directly with leadership gurus to support their 60-minute presentations (plus 30 minutes of Q&A) by creating learning activities that turn concept into action.
We are able to provide you with access to these recorded presentations AND the instructional material for you to embed in your training. The price is a fraction of the cost of a live engagement AND you get unlimited access to the material for a full year!
Contact Sharon at sfernandez@unlockit.com
for more information on this exciting opportunity!
Entelechy’s Newest Employee – Rich Guptill
 We recently hired Rich Guptill as our newest member of the Entelechy design and development team. Rich had been working with us as a contractor for a while and we both decided it was time to take the relationship to the next level, so to speak.
Rich is a Performance Consultant responsible for designing and developing blended learning curricula, including instructor-led, web-based, and blended training programs.
Rich has a very positive personality which has served him well during his 15+ years of progressively challenging sales, training, project management, product development, and financial services experience. Using his great sense of humor, Rich's creative instructional design motivates learners and actively engages the learner in the content.
Previously, as a Sales Manager and Product Manager, Rich developed new products with Fortune 500 companies. He leveraged his creative insights to bring new products to market - from conception to completion. Tasked with developing and implementing sales training comprising a nationwide sales force, implementing marketing and sales strategies, and honing customer service skills, these experiences have greatly influenced his understanding of our clients’ needs.
In addition to being a graduate of Syracuse University where he earned a BA in Economics, Rich also holds several professional certifications across numerous business sectors. His experience, creativity, and instructional design drive his passion to help other people succeed both personally and professionally, making his training and development contributions invaluable to our client relationships.
Please join me in welcoming Rich!
And Now for a Great Deal!
If you are interested in getting an iPad® for Christmas, I can get hold of them through a contact. These are legal, not off the back of a truck. They are from a canceled hospital contract due to the government cutbacks.
The numbers are limited - I have twenty iPads going for less than half price, so it’s first come, first served.
I have already sold one (see pic below so you can see what you would be getting).
Get back to me as quickly as you can, if you want one.
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Terence Traut, President of Entelechy "unlocking potential"
ttraut@unlockit.com
phone: 603-424-1237
fax: 603-424-6361
http://www.coachyouremployees.com
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