Leadership Development

Align4Profit Leadership Development Blog

Helanie ScottLeadership development may be the most important activity in any organization. In my quest to helping men and women become more and more effective leaders, I share weekly articles that are a quick read with a promise to give your leaders actionable tips they can implement immediately.

It’s my goal to share my experience together with candid and pragmatic advice founded on deep research.

Read and enjoy! To make sure you don’t miss any updates, let me send you a weekly article to your email.

August 17, 2015

Time to play Intimacy Bingo!

The game that measures just how intimate you might be as a leader. I’m your host, Helanie Scott, and I say “might be as a leader,” because Intimacy Bingo is […]
August 3, 2015

Urgent vs. Important Priorities

One of the most important leadership skills any leader can develop is managing priorities. In other words, using priorities to make yourself more productive. When you face many demands on […]
July 27, 2015

12 Ways to Give Great Feedback

Too often feedback afflicts both managers and employees with fear and loathing—the fear of an upcoming feedback session and the loathing that follows. All of it unnecessary. Keeping ten positive […]
July 13, 2015

Why Women Leaders Still Fall Behind

Women are making huge strides around the world. As I write, the victorious women of the United States national soccer team are enjoying their ticker-tape parade in New York City—the […]
July 6, 2015

Five Ways Extraordinary Leaders Motivate

Some leaders motivate much more effectively than others. The greatest examples come to mind immediately. Born in South Africa, I think first of Nelson Mandela. But we have many examples […]
June 29, 2015

How Rudeness Ruins Work

Christine Porath, an associate professor at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business, has been studying the rise of rudeness in the workplace for nearly 20 years. Her disturbing findings […]
June 15, 2015

When to Coach. When to Mentor.

Coaches and mentors perform very different functions in the development of the people they help. Their responsibilities overlap, because both are concerned with another’s development. But leaders must recognize the […]
June 8, 2015

How to Lead Like an Octopus

The octopus could teach some leaders a thing or two about leadership. Specifically it can help leaders who micromanage, those who worry over the smallest details of the direction they […]
June 1, 2015

Six Ways to Gain Discretionary Effort

The difference between the effort an employee can invest in their work and the minimum effort they have to invest in order to keep their job is called Discretionary Effort. […]
May 25, 2015

Construal Leadership: How employees construe your direction

In psychology a concept called “construals” looks at how individuals interpret the world around them, and especially the way they expect others to behave with regard to themselves. You’re right […]
May 18, 2015

Coffee, Tea, and Leadership Intimacy

It’s practically impossible to watch a British movie or TV show without someone inviting someone else to sit down and, “Have a nice cup of tea.” All around the world, […]
May 4, 2015

Nine Nasty No-nos for Smart Global Leaders

As the world shrinks, leaders are expected to lead teams consisting of professional people living and working in cultures spread around the globe. As a result, inevitably and innocently, cultural […]
May 1, 2015

Align4Profit Wins for Leadership Excellence Again

Once again this year Align4Profit was awarded the Top 3 Leadership 500 Excellence award for Midsize Leadership Partner & Providers. For over 30 years, Leadership Excellence, now in association with […]
April 27, 2015

Why Leading Is Not About Winning

Yes, the university catalog cover you see below was a huge, insensitive, socially out-of-touch blunder. We don’t even have to go into the gender and racial insensitivity it conveys. But […]
April 20, 2015

13 Traits of Courageous Leaders

Courage can be obvious, as demonstrated by the firefighter who rushes into a burning building to save a life. But you don’t have to throw yourself on a grenade to […]
June 1, 2018
safety

A 4 step-process to create psychological safety during feedback.

In order to effectively influence others, it is essential to communicate in a way that ensures involvement and commitment. Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina has found that […]
May 31, 2018
performance feedback

Want your managers to be seen as more effective?

Guide them towards dishing out WAY more positive feedback. Research shows that people see leaders as more effective when they give praise. Obviously the feedback of a job well done […]
March 9, 2018
lead2018 award

Align4Profit Wins Top Leadership Partner Award

LEAD2018 goes to CoachQuest We have just learned that once again our CoachQuest Leader-as-Coach program has earned a LEAD2018 award under the Top Leadership Partner category by HR.com. The LEAD2018 […]
February 5, 2018
providing essential performance feedback

How to Share Feedback Effectively

It’s one of the most critical job of any leader. Whether working with a colleague, direct report, or even with your boss, every manager needs to know how to provide […]
February 2, 2018
ubuntu

Develop an Inclusive Organizational Culture

Using Ubuntu as your guide. In 1993 when I left South Africa to move to the U.S., the country was transitioning to a free democracy after years of apartheid. With […]
January 29, 2018
embracing diversity

Let’s deepen and widen the conversation of diversity and inclusion

And bring about real change in your organization. We have all read the research that confirms the organizational benefits of diversity. Your leaders know that diverse teams and organizations are […]