One of the most successful executive coaches in the country is Marshall Goldsmith. He wrote a great book that I would highly recommend What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.
The simple thesis of the book is your competency and skill set is what has got you to where you are now as far as promotions are concerned. What it will take to get you where you need to be in the highly participative leadership culture of the future will be your people skills. This area is where the overwhelming majority of executive men and women hit the wall.
A key tool in helping people with people skill problems is to use some form of 360-degree feedback. This should involve superiors, peers as well as subordinates and sometimes even clients.
If you are one of the executives that clearly sends the message that I don’t like bad news and you consistently shoot the messenger who delivers it then you are probably in the dark about all your serious blind spots.
Everyone involved in the process must commit to the following four things:
- Let go of the past-forgive.
- Tell the truth-even if it hurts.
- Be supportive and helpful-not cynical or negative.
- Pick something to improve yourself-so everyone is focused more on “improving” than “judging.”
Feedback will tell us what we need to change. Then the moment of truth, Are we willing to do it?
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