Insights

Bob is an energetic leader in a large firm. His days are filled with a multitude of meetings and conferences. Many of these meetings are his weekly one-on-one sessions with his direct reports and peers. Bob has on several occasions expressed how important and valuable it is for him to do these weekly one-on-one meetings with his employees and colleagues to give them space to share their concerns, brainstorm ideas, and provide update on their accomplishments. Yet, despite Bob’

Salima Hemani, PCC, SHRM-SCP President, SZH Consulting LLC Many successful organizations do a great job of protecting, investing in and nurturing their top leadership . Fewer among those have the strategies and systems in place to identify and develop the next generation of leaders through succession planning programs. However, for companies to compete, survive and thrive in this increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, the important “work”

Salima Hemani, PCC, SHRM-SCP President, SZH Consulting LLC Accountability and responsibility are two wheels of the same cart. You need both in place, working together, to move forward. Yet, many leaders and organizations tend to use these interchangeably. Or worse, they often assume that just delegating the responsibilities without setting up clear accountability measures will lead to success. Unfortunately, lacking a culture of accountability in the workplace can spell doom

The pace of change and disruption that our communities, organizations and we as individuals have experienced over the past several months is unprecedented . And this type of unwanted, overwhelming change can stunt us in our paths. We think less clearly, and we may see threats that do not exist. Our perception gets narrower. We become more self-protective and tribal versus open and collaborative, and we may be tempted to focus on transactional tasks versus taking a step back a

One of the most important capabilities that any strong leader needs to demonstrate is their ability to build effective relationships . And one of the most critical relationships, which doesn’t get enough attention, is a leader’s relationship with their boss — whether that be one person or a board. Your relationship with your boss could be pivotal to your success or failure as a leader. You can leverage that relationship in several ways, from obtaining valuable information and

In today’s VUCA world, leaders are under pressure to continuously evolve and transform their organizations unlike we’ve seen in the past. The expectations are high, budgets are slim, and employees are often not ready to embrace the change. The combination of these factors creates an uber-stressful environment for change leaders in which their tenacity, resilience and patience to endure these conditions long term, and successfully implement the change gets put at risk. Many y

Highly engaged leaders are not only great at giving feedback, they also know how to receive feedback well. In fact, leaders are more influential when they actively seek, listen to and understand feedback from others. Receiving feedback and letting others into their safe space requires leaders to be vulnerable, which in turn helps build intimacy. On the other hand, if leaders always keep feedback at bay, they don't allow themselves to grow, learn and build stronger relationsh

Giving feedback is an essential part of any leadership role. The act of providing feedback can be a strategic communications tool to build trust, motivate change and influence positive outcomes. However, in my work as an advisor and coach to organizations and leaders, I have seen firsthand that the ability to give feedback effectively, especially tough feedback, continues to be a challenge for many managers and leaders. Judith Glaser, in her book Conversational Intelligence :

Storytelling is an incredible asset that we have at our disposal! We all have the ability to tell stories; it’s part of our DNA, passed down to us through generations. In the organizational setting, stories provide an incredibly powerful means to connect with and influence the workforce , inspire change and support the alignment of organizational culture to the organization’s mission and vision. Stories promote engagement at a deeper level so that ordinary work becomes extrao