How Do You Solve Problems?

As a small town mayor I recently had the opportunity to address a class of smart 5th graders who are launching a Future Problem Solvers group - based on an international program founded in 1974 by the late Dr. E. Paul Torrance. Future Problem Solvers serves to help students learn to think creatively and productively about critical issues. These youngsters are bright, concerned about our future world, and ready to make a contribution now. They are learning a model of problem solving to help them think through issues.

As useful as it can be to follow a set procedure to solve problems, there are some things I suggested the students keep in mind as they proceeded... things that can be useful in your organization as well.
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Speak Powerfully... coaching session 4

A speech is like a dance, with the speaker and audience as dance partners. Sometimes leading, sometimes following, effective speakers engage - dance with - their audiences. Engagement both takes energy and builds energy.

This 7 minute coaching session outlines seven ways that you can maintain and increase the engagement and energy of your audience while making your presentation.

7 Ideas Coach is a weekly series of coaching sessions,
7 nuggets of insight in 7 minutes for busy leaders

Subscribe to 7 Ideas Coach via email or through Apple iTunes
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Speak Powerfully... coaching session 3

How you start your presentation or speech sets the audiences expectation. If you begin with a strong opening, end with a powerful close, and have relevant material in the middle, listeners will forget and forgive any parts that are uninteresting or less than well done. They will perceive the entire presentation positively as a whole.

This 7 minute coaching session covers the essentials of crafting a powerful opening, and includes seven different ways to do it.

listen to the summary podcast of the Powerful Speaking series
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Speak Powerfully... coaching session 2

If you want to stand out and be heard, then you need to make sure your speech or presentation is organized so it can be followed by the listener. The following are seven things you would do well to pay attention to...
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Speak Powerfully... coaching session 1

Poor speaking is so tolerated as normal for business that perhaps no other skill gives as quick a payback for effort as learning to speak with clarity, brevity and energy. Small and basic improvements in speaking in front of others will typically elevate one well above the crowd. Plus effective speaking is one of the best tools for cultivating influence.

Acquiring the skills to improve speaking is not actually difficult to do, but takes time, practice and discipline. The following are a seven key practices to develop speaking mechanics and delivery.
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We are taking a break this week to prepare for the launch of our new 7 Ideas Coach series, with the accompanying e-book,

Powerful Speaking - Stand Out and Get Your Message Across

The topics we’ll cover in the next 7 weeks include...

• 7 Essential Mechanics of Speaking to Develop
• 7 Strategies to Organize What You Say
• 7 Ideas for Openings That Grab Attention
• 7 Ways to Engage and Energize Your Audience
• Resisting Powerpoint Mediocrity
• Using Humor and Stories
• 7 Tips to Build Confidence and Project Professionalism

To receive the summary leadership article in PDF format and email links to all the podcasts - FREE - then be sure to sign up on our email list for both THINK! e-zine and 7 Ideas Coach. Bonus - 101 Leadership Quotes and summary articles for the three previous series topics when you subscribe.

Leadership Momentum... session 7

A fundamental paradox of effective leadership is getting people to pursue excellence without thinking about it, eliciting top performance on “autopilot.”

Most people have had the experience of driving and arriving at a destination without remembering the trip. Much of human thinking and behavior is unconscious, essentially on “automatic pilot.” Expert marketers, politicians, and stage magicians are known for how they use unconscious “default” behavior to exert influence in what people think, perceive, and choose. Savvy leaders do well to adopt the same influence tools.

There can indeed be a fine line between manipulating and tricking people on the one hand, and nudging and influencing with integrity and transparency on the other. But as Thaler and Sunstein note in their book, Nudge, rarely is there a “neutral” option in choices and decisions. Leaders will invariably find themselves to be choice architects, influencing others whether they want to or not.

Listen to hear seven ways that leaders can consciously influence unconscious “automatic” behavior...

read the summary leadership article on Leadership Momentum



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7 Ideas Coach is a weekly series of coaching sessions,
7 nuggets of insight in 7 minutes for busy leaders

Subscribe to 7 Ideas Coach via email or through Apple iTunes

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Leadership Momentum... session 6

Organizations and individuals alike are constantly implored to develop a competitive advantage. Paradoxically, what may give you a real edge is a well-honed capacity to collaborate. In an increasingly complex world, leaders are more likely to face the challenge of collaborative projects and partnerships - efforts that will require different professions or different organizations to work together, including endeavors that span business, nonprofit, and public sectors.

There is hardly a better competitive advantage than being comfortable and effective in working across boundaries to achieve mutually beneficial results. Collaboration is not for the faint of heart. The following outlines seven essential ingredients leaders should include to assure success in collaborative projects.

read the summary leadership article on Leadership Momentum

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Leadership Momentum... session 5

Your network is the sum of connections you have with other people that might be used to share benefits. Networking is the intentional actions you take to build your network.

Networking is a lifelong endeavor, likely to play a vital role in making the achievements you desire a reality. There is no time like the present to take the initiative, and begin networking wisely. This session outlines seven fundamental principles of successful networking for long-term value.
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Leadership Momentum... session 4

Poor speaking is so tolerated as normal for business that perhaps no other skill gives as quick a payback for effort as learning to speak with clarity, brevity and energy. Small and basic improvements in speaking in front of others will typically elevate one well above the crowd. Plus effective speaking is one of the best tools for cultivating influence.
Acquiring the skills to improve speaking is not actually difficult to do, but takes time, practice and discipline. This session gives leaders seven key points to remember...

Listen to the new 7 Ideas Coach series that expands the material covered in this session > Powerful Speaking Series

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Leadership Momentum... session 3

Effective leaders develop agility in understanding themselves, interacting with others, and managing their life endeavors by intentional development and application of specific modes of thinking. This coaching session outlines seven modes of thinking that are of particular importance to leaders.
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Seven Practices To Accelerate Influence and Achievement


How Do You Learn Leadership? Through experience. There is no other way.

So how do you get the kind of experience that builds your leadership skill faster and with better results? How do you find leadership opportunities, and how do they find you? Through regular cultivation of the right practices, habitual activities related to a particular purpose.

Skill in the following seven practices help you benefit your organization, field, or profession, and at the same time foster opportunities for you to gain important leadership experiences. These practices often go beyond the minimum requirements of your job or role. Cultivate them anyway, and over time watch them accelerate your ability to influence others and achieve results. (Note: each practice described in this article is explored in more detail in a corresponding 7 Ideas Coach audio podcast (available free on the web at www.ThinkLeadershipIdeas.com and from Apple iTunes. An e-book, Leadership Momentum - 49 Ideas to Accelerate Leadership Influence and Achievement includes the podcasts, a 7-point executive summary of each practice, and links to related articles).

Leadership competency is gained through a developmental process, i.e. occurring through experiences over time, passing through a predictable series of stages. For leadership, this entails learning to become...

• a contributing individual
• an effective team member
• a competent manager
• a results-effective leader
• a shaper of the “ecology” of one’s organization or field of endeavor.
  

Moreover, the developmental process of becoming a leader parallels the developmental process of maturing your character. These practices are applicable wherever you are in your development of leadership and character. They are lifelong endeavors, worth polishing no matter how well you already do them.
Seven practices to gain Leadership Momentum...

Generate Credibility
Credibility generates an assumption of your capacity to accomplish objectives. Moreover, credibility generates trust, which automatically gains a leader the benefit of the doubt. People carry on with their efforts, look beyond mistakes, and work around annoyances and inconveniences. go to podcast

Focus on Strengths
Individuals and companies alike still persist in approaching development and performance management by identifying relative weaknesses and then trying to shore them up. The trouble is, if you do everything generally well, you will probably avoid failing but certainly fail to achieve excellence.
go to podcast

Sharpen Thinking
Thinking comes in many forms, and effective leaders develop agility in their thinking by intentional development and application of specific kinds of thinking: e.g., critical, emotional, disciplined, ethical, strategic, possibility, and reflective thinking. go to podcast

Speak Powerfully
Poor speaking is so tolerated in business as a norm, perhaps no other skill gives as quick a payback for effort as learning to speak with clarity, brevity and energy. Small simple improvements in speaking will typically elevate one well above the average, as well as build capacity for influence.

Cultivate Your Network
Your network is the sum of connections you have with other people that might be used to share benefits. Networking is the intentional actions you take to build your network. Not all networks are created equal, and what will make the difference in the value of your network is following essential principles that make networking effective.

Develop a Collaborative Advantage
Organizations and individuals alike are implored to develop a competitive advantage...but what may give you a real edge is a well-honed capacity to collaborate. In an increasingly complex world, leaders are more likely to face the challenge of collaborative projects and partnerships - efforts that will require different professions or different organizations to work together, including endeavors that span business, nonprofit, and public sectors.

Leverage Automatic Behavior
A fundamental paradox of effective leadership is encouraging people to pursue excellence without thinking about it. Savvy leaders accomplish this through careful design of organizational structures, cultivating the company culture, and attention to psychological “defaults” of human behavior.

***
by Tom Stevens (c)2010
Tom Stevens helps leaders create and sustain exceptional organizations. To contact him, visit www.ThinkLeadershipIdeas.com

This article may be freely reprinted in your company, association, or publication (or website) under the following terms: that the author attribution, copyright notice, contact information, and this reprint notice be included; and that you inform us that you are using the article (samples appreciated).

** ** **
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Leadership Momentum... session 2

If you truly are driven by escaping mediocrity and accelerating achievement, you have to resist what most people do, which is focus on weaknesses.

Most people have been introduced to the idea that they should emphasize building on their strengths. Even so, Individuals and companies alike still persist in approaching development and performance management by identifying relative weaknesses and then trying to shore them up. The trouble is, if you do everything generally well, you will probably avoid failing but certainly fail to achieve excellence. This session offers seven ideas to focus on strengths as a way to generate Leadership Momentum.
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Leadership Momentum... session 1

Credibility generates an assumption of capacity to accomplish objectives. Moreover, credibility generates trust, and trust automatically gains a leader the benefit of the doubt. People carry on with their efforts, look beyond mistakes, and work around annoyances and inconveniences.

Savvy leaders know that multiple credibility indicators are more compelling than any single credential or quality. The seven assets and qualities discussed in this session are not exhaustive, but certainly among the most likely to broadly gain leaders credibility.
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Arriving Soon...

We are in the last stages of preparations to launch our new 7 Ideas Coach series, with the accompanying e-book, Leadership Momentum - Strategies to Accelerate Influence and Achievement.

The topics we’ll cover in the next 7 weeks include...

• 7 Strategies for Generating Credibility
• Actions to Resist Mediocrity and Focus on Strengths
• Seven kinds of thinking that leaders must know and sharpen
• Rev up your Speaking Power and Influence
• 7 Essential Principles of Networking
• Gaining a Collaborative Edge
• Secrets to Leveraging Automatic and Default Behavior

To receive the summary leadership article in PDF format and email links to all the podcasts - FREE - then be sure to sign up on our email list for both THINK! e-zine and 7 Ideas Coach. Remember, only subscribers receive the PDF articles free, you can unsubscribe anytime, and we never, never share our list with anyone else.

Trust is not neutral - it either accelerates or decelerates what you can accomplish.

If you engender high levels of trust as a leader, you get the benefit of the doubt. People carry on with their efforts, look beyond mistakes, and work around annoyances and inconveniences.

On the other hand, if trust is low or absent, people will question everything. They do just enough to get by in relative safety. They won’t believe information you provide and will ascribe negative intention to your actions.

Effective leaders constantly and consciously act in ways that cultivate trust. How? This leadership article describes seven strategies that you can start using today.

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Change Leadership... session 7

Culture is what people do when the boss isn’t looking. It’s the behavior, attitude, and atmosphere that happen unconsciously.

Want a culture that embraces change and innovation? Then cultivate an appreciative culture.

I use the word appreciative to describe a company culture where people both contribute to a positive climate AND take care of the business. Appreciative cultures highly value competency, excellence, and results as much as feeling good about their workplace. Two meanings of appreciative fit: to recognize with gratitude, and to increase in value.

Appreciative cultures are resilient to change, not resistant. They seek and reward change that adds value. This session outlines seven actions leaders can take to encourage and reinforce a culture of change...


7 Ideas Coach is a weekly series of coaching sessions,
7 nuggets of insight in 7 minutes for busy leaders

see THINK leadership article on cultivating an appreciative culture
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Change Leadership... session 6

In the 21st century, increasing complexity is a hard fact for almost all organizations - whether large or small, or business, public, or non-profit.

The combination of knowledge-based work plus increased complexity calls for a different kind of action to move organizations forward, which in turn impacts what kind of leadership styles are most effective and what kind of leaders are needed for the future.

The ideas in this session explain 3 different kinds of complexity, as well as appropriate leadership responses to varying levels of complexity...
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Change Leadership... Series Overview

Essential Competencies for Shaping Your Organization’s Future
Change touches the essential core of leadership. Nothing tests leadership acumen like surviving and thriving the waves of change while shaping your organization’s future.

Do you need people to work well beyond minimum effort? Do you want them to stick with changes once they are implemented? Do you need people that embrace innovation, and are ready for the next change when it comes down the road?

Then crank up your skill in change leadership!

This leadership article outlines seven essential actions explored in my e-book, Change Leadership: 49 Ideas for Mastering Organizational Change and Transition. Each action is further explored in a corresponding 7 Ideas Coach audio podcast. (links provided in article)

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Change Leadership... session 5

Too many change initiatives suffer from what preeminent executive coach Marshall Goldsmith calls the 1 2 3 7 problem - implementing change is a 7 step process, but leaders often leave out steps 4, 5, and 6.

To detail, leaders too often (1) Assess the Situation, (2) Identify Solutions, (3) Plan Action, but then leap to (7) Implement Changes - leaving out efforts to (4) Seek Buy-in Up, (5) Seek Buy-in Across, and (6) Seek Buy-in Down. Oops.

Effective leaders are intentional about creating buy-in for expected change. This podcast covers seven things leaders need to know...

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Change Leadership... session 4

There is fundamental paradox of effective leadership - people make their best effort only when they voluntarily choose to do so. Leading is the art of giving people a genuine choice to follow, while making the choice to follow irresistibly compelling.

A true act of leading is determined not by the “leader” but by the person who chooses to “follow”. Leading can be defined as the act of gaining willing followers for a course of action when the way forward is uncertain or unknown. At its core, leading is about creating conditions where people willingly change - this session reviews seven ways how...

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