Tag: leadership

  • The Encouragement Index by Barry Pozner and Jim Kouzes

    The Encouragement Index by Barry Pozner and Jim Kouzes

    Expanding on the “Encouraging the Heart” segment of their bestselling The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have now devised The Encouragement Index, a 21-item survey that measures how frequently a leader engages in encouraging behavior. It is designed to be a personal development tool which will give leaders an idea of their strengths and opportunities for improvement in the practice of Encouraging the Heart.

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  • Encouraging the Heart Workbook

    Encouraging the Heart Workbook

    Getting things done in today’s workplace is hard work. The climb to the top is demanding and long. Employees become exhausted, frustrated, and sometime entirely disenchanted. Often, they are tempted to simply give up.

    It’s clear from the research conducted by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner over the last two decades that successful leaders find ways to combat these negative feelings by encouraging the hearts of their team members. They inspire others with courage and hope.

    This hands-on workbook helps leaders to do just that, whether in the workshop environment or on their own. Delving deep into the behaviors that make up this important practice, readers will gain a better understanding of how they can recognise contributions and celebrate the values and victories.

    The workbook guides readers through 7 essentials of encouraging the heart: set clear standards, expect the best, pay attention, personalize recognition, tell the story, celebrate together, and set the example. NOTE – The 21-question self-assessment Encouragement Index is now sold separately.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • Encouraging the Heart –A Leaders’ Guide to Encouraging and Recognizing Others by Jim Kouzes and Barry Pozner

    Encouraging the Heart –A Leaders’ Guide to Encouraging and Recognizing Others by Jim Kouzes and Barry Pozner

    All too often, simple acts of human kindness are often overlooked and under utilised by people in leadership roles.

    Advising mutual respect and recognition of accomplishments, Encouraging the Heart shows us how true leaders encourage and motivate those they work with by helping them find their voice and making them feel like heroes.

    Recognized experts in the field of leadership, authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner show us that, through love, leaders can encourage, and indeed allow those around them to be their very best. Both practical and inspirational,

    Encouraging the Heart gives readers a thoughtful approach to motivating individuals within an organisational structure.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • 1501 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson

    1501 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson

    Today more than ever, businesses need fresh ideas to nurture talent and retain employees—enter 1,501 Ways to Reward Employees, thoroughly revised, updated, and even more chockablock with ideas than 1,001 Ways to Reward Employees, the groundbreaking national bestseller.

    Adapted to meet the needs of an evolving workplace—especially to deal creatively with virtual employees, freelancers and permalancers, international colleagues, and the rule-bending expectations of millennials—its 1,501 low-and no-cost rewards and strategies are drawn from thousands of companies across the globe. Ideas range from the informal (Wells Fargo’s thank-you e-cards) and the offbeat (JS Communications two free “I Don’t Want to Get Out of Bed” Days) to the formal (J. C. Penney “affirms” new managers in a moving ceremony) to the totally nutty (the legendary honor of having your office “sodded”—literally, grassed over—at Microsoft).

    For bosses, managers, entrepreneurs, small-business owners, consultants—anyone who’s responsible for working successfully in an ever-tougher economy—this is the rewards bible.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute Paperback by Ken Blanchard

    Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute Paperback by Ken Blanchard

    Empowerment is not about giving power to people but releasing the power people already have. So say the authors of Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute. Now more than ever, organizations are maximizing their effectiveness by tapping their most vital resource — the talents of their employees.

    This book presents a game plan for empowering employees by defining three essential keys: sharing information, creating autonomy through boundaries, and replacing hierarchy with teams.

    Revised throughout, this edition uses more contemporary examples and language to address concerns specific to younger employees.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself!: The Power of Effective Delegation by Donna M Genet

    If You Want It Done Right, You Don’t Have to Do It Yourself!: The Power of Effective Delegation by Donna M Genet

    In this delightful, quick-to-read, business-management allegory, Donna M. Genett, Ph.D., uses an entertaining narrative about identical cousins, James and Jones, to introduce her successful six-step program for effective delegation.

    Whether you are the one delegating or you wish to help your boss become a better delegator, these six simple steps are guaranteed to lighten your workload and give you more time to focus on what’s really important–on and off the job.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers: Developing Change-Driving People and Organizations by Robert Kriege

    Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers: Developing Change-Driving People and Organizations by Robert Kriege

    Sacred cows are outdated and costly business practices such as the reports that are never read or a slow-down of innovative ideas. They exist in every company. Inspired by insights gained from more than 450 programs conducted with all types of organizations, the authors of Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers show how corporations can kill off the sacred cows that are crippling them.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

    Sacred Cows Make The Best Burgers

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  • Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution by Michael Hammer

    Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution by Michael Hammer

    The most successful business book of the last decade, Reengineering the Corporation is the pioneering work on the most important topic in business today: achieving dramatic performance improvements. This book leads readers through the radical redesign of a company’s processes, organization, and culture to achieve a quantum leap in performance.

    Michael Hammer and James Champy have updated and revised their milestone work for the New Economy they helped to create—promising to help corporations save hundreds of millions of dollars more, raise their customer satisfaction still higher, and grow ever more nimble in the years to come.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen

    The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen

    “Absolutely brilliant. Clayton Christensen provides an insightful analysis of changing technology and its importance to a company’s future success.” Michael R. Bloomberg

    “This book ought to chill any executive who feels bulletproof —and inspire entrepreneurs aiming their guns.” Forbes

    The Innovator’s Dilemma is the revolutionary business book that has forever changed corporate America. Based on a truly radical idea—that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right—this Wall Street Journal, Business Week and New York Times Business bestseller is one of the most provocative and important business books ever written. Entrepreneurs, managers, and CEOs ignore its wisdom and its warnings at their great peril.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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  • Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

    Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

    Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organisations, great leaders are creating environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.

    In his travels around the world since the publication of his bestseller Start with Why, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams were able to trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives were offered, were doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why? The answer became clear during a conversation with a Marine Corps general.

    “Officers eat last,” he said.

    Sinek watched as the most junior Marines ate first while the most senior Marines took their place at the back of the line. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefield: great leaders sacrifice their own comfort—even their own survival—for the good of those in their care.

    This principle has been true since the earliest tribes of hunters and gatherers. It’s not a management theory; it’s biology. Our brains and bodies evolved to help us find food, shelter, mates and especially safety. We’ve always lived in a dangerous world, facing predators and enemies at every turn. We thrived only when we felt safe among our group.

    Our biology hasn’t changed in fifty thousand years, but our environment certainly has. Today’s workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But the best organisations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

    The Circle of Safety leads to stable, adaptive, confident teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities.

    Book Reviews are provided by Will Phillips from REX Roundtables, represented in Australia by JT.  If you would like to join a Roundtable or know more, contact JT.

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