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Articles by Skip Weisman

Browse published articles attributed to Skip Weisman, with full-archive search.

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By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Organizational Leadership Mistakes – The #1 Way Business Leaders Unknowingly Sabotage Trust

Trust is the fuel that propels teams and organizations to high-levels of success. Yet, organizational leaders today unknowingly do almost everything in their power to sabotage trust. The primary way in which trust in organizations is sabotaged is by a leader’s communication style. One particularly egregious style of leader communication, which significantly undermines trust, is called “indirect communication.” We have all fallen victim to indirect communication at one point in our professional or personal lives. For example, have you experienced…

Primary topic: Leadership

3,720 views2.1/5 (8)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Simple Communication Strategies for Business Leaders - 3 Steps to Changing Undesirable Behaviors

In a recent leadership workshop participants were asked to share all the things their peers, subordinates and bosses do that drive them crazy and make their jobs more difficult. Two full flip-chart pages were filled. Next, the same group of participants was asked to identify the things they wish they would do instead. There was dead silence for what seemed liked an ete ity. It seems to be human nature to focus on the things we don't want, especially the undesirable behaviors that we wish others would refrain from engaging in.r

Primary topic: Leadership

3,398 views2.1/5 (7)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

The Secret Formula of Confident Leaders

In today's challenging economy and the rise of a fickle and unstable workforce, leadership skills are more important than ever to combat the costs of high staff turnover. The new generation workforce have different values and expectations, and if their needs are not met, they walk. Many companies can't afford bonuses and extra perks to keep their trained workers and have to use other "enticements" to attract and keep their workforce, and they rely on strong, confident leaders to lead the way and achieve these miracles.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,322 views3.7/5 (10)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

The #1 Leadership Communication Problem That's Stopping Your Employees from Doing Exactly What You Want

Communication is a catch-all phrase for things that go wrong in companies and relationships. Unfortunately, the concept is too ambiguous to do anything constructive to fix it. I've identified seven communication mistakes that lead to mis-understandings, and cause conflicts between co-workers, and bosses and their subordinates which lead to low morale and toxic work environments. I call them "The 7 Deadly Sins of Organizational Leadership Communication." The least understood and most common of the sins is communicating with a lack of specificity.

Primary topic: Leadership

2,632 views3/5 (3)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

The 7 Deadly Sins of Organizational Leadership Communication

Upon completing a recent project I took my client to lunch to thank him for his business. We reminisced about how we first met at my End Procrastination NOW!

Primary topic: Leadership

2,163 views3/5 (3)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Why Successful Organizational Leaders Burn Their Mission Statements

What I’m about to say, will shock most organizational leaders….It’s time to retire the mission statement. • They don’t motivate anyone. • They are a waste of time and energy to develop. • They quickly become part of the corporate wallpaper. During a recent leadership workshop a participant proclaimed, “When I hear the word mission, I think of a military mission.” Not exactly the image that is going to get most employees excited about their jobs.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,635 views2.5/5 (6)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Just Because You Are “Listening” Doesn’t Mean Your People Feel “Heard”

The very first project I ever worked on to improve leadership and workplace communication, I did the only thing I knew how to do in starting the project. That was to gather information from team members. In interview after interview, I heard the same lament. It sounded like this, “we’ve had a lot of meetings in the past where everyone shared all sorts of great ideas, but there was never any follow through or feedback on them.”

Primary topic: Leadership

2,754 views2/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

3 Simple Strategies to Improve Your Bottom Line by Tapping Your Most Valuable Asset, Your People

Two startling facts regarding issues absolutely impacting the bottom line of manufacturing companies in today’s challenging economy: 1. The Gallup organization, an international research company with a division that focuses on employee engagement and motivation, estimates $300 billion is wasted every year in lost productivity at U.S. companies due to un-motivated, dis-engaged employees.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,255 views3/5 (2)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

3 Reasons Under-Performing Employees In Your Company Are Not At Fault

In today’s economy business leaders can’t afford to accept under-performing personnel in their companies. Yet, in a recent survey 44% of them reported being unhappy with the performance results of their employees. In order to solve a problem such as this, employers need to first identify the cause and then create viable options for applicable solutions. There can be many reasons why employees under-perform and some leaders may point to poor attitudes, low motivation and individuals’ inability to work with others, or accept and adapt to change.

Primary topic: Leadership

2,336 views2/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Great Leaders Master “Level 2 Leadership Communication” – Motivating the Team as a Team

Legendary stories abound about locker room oratory as 21st Century coaches channel Knute Rockne to rally the players before heading out on the field for the Championship game. Yet, if you ask many coaches and athletes what the pre-game speech is like prior to most big games you would learn that the talk was rather subdued and matter of fact.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,154 views3/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Level 1 Leadership Communication – Becoming the Leader You Want/Need to Be

You've probably heard the phrase "be careful what you wish for", haven't you? Let's assume you have. That was my exact thought at the age of 26 when I was thrust, unexpectedly, into the role of Vice President/General Manager of one of Minor League Baseball's most successful franchises in the mid-80s in Greensboro, North Carolina. Ove ight I went from being comfortable in my role as assistant general manager into the top position of a $3 million business.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,060 views3/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Why 44% of Today’s Leaders Are Unhappy With Their Employees’ Performance & their Own Communication Style

Forty-four percent of business leaders at various levels and a variety of industry categories reported disappointment in the performance results of their employees, in a survey recently conducted by Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert Skip Weisman. In the survey, whose results were released this week, 70% of those struggling business leaders also believe they need a new approach to how they communicate so they can better motivate for better results.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,461 views2/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Great Leaders Master “The 3 Levels of High-Performance Leadership Communication”

National Hockey League Hall of Famer Mark Messier is recognized as one of the greatest leaders in the history of professional team sports. This reputation is backed by the fact Messier is the only player to captain two separate teams to the Stanley Cup Championship. So, when Messier talks leadership, people should pay attention. After winning his sixth Stanley Cup in 1994, and the first for his New York Rangers in 54 years, Messier was quoted in a Sports Illustrated article on how he gets the most out of the players as a team captain:

Primary topic: Leadership

1,299 views2/5 (1)

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

40-Year Old Communication Myth Busted, Words Not Body Language, Are the Foundation of Successful Communication

Whoever spent time as a child on a school playground and been the victim of name calling knows the deflective phrase used to counter those slurs, “sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me,” isn’t enough to overcome the impact of those bullying communications to youthful, developing ears. The messages young children hear in those early years often become part of their psychological makeup for years to come, and sometimes lead to visits to therapists as adults.

Primary topic: Leadership

2,502 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Teamwork Never Fails, Individuals Fail Teamwork

In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the Australian Women's Eight rowing team stood in fifth place, three seconds behind the leading Romanian crew team 500 meters from the finish line. When the Aussie’s were inside 400 meters one of the eight women quit rowing. She dropped her oars and laid back resting her head on the lap of the rower seated behind her. The Aussies finished dead last, 10 seconds behind the next closest finisher. Ever feel like one of your teammates isn’t pulling their weight in your company?

Primary topic: Leadership

2,298 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Is Being a “Mind Reader” Part of Your Organization’s Job Descriptions?

The Law of Specificity States: “To the degree that you are not specific in your communication that is the level of guessing or mind-reading the receiver of your message needs to do.” If people in your organization feel like they have to continually guess what is expected of them, or ‘mind-read’ the individual who just left them directions for a delegated project, performance and results are going to suffer.

Primary topic: Leadership

2,062 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

The 3 "C's" of Leading with Confidence

It is the rare human being who can maintain confidence 100% of the time. Even the best of leaders experience dips in confidence from time to time, from context to context and from situation to situation. The key is building your 'confidence' muscles.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,685 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

A Simple Step to Improve Teamwork at Your Workplace

I’m getting ready to begin a new client project this week and in discussing the scope of the project, one of the desired objectives identified was improving teamwork among the small staff. In investigating the issue further during our discussion, another objective we uncovered was the breaking down of the silos in the organization. When the concept of “silos” was mentioned, I as flabbergasted! I almost fell out of my chair. “Silos?” I exclaimed back to my prospective client, “you have less than 10 employees, how is that possible?”

Primary topic: Leadership

1,663 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Simple Steps to Begin Transforming a Negative, Toxic Workplace

Last weeks’s blog article on the 3 Reasons Employees Undermine Co-Workers, Stab Each Other in the Back and Act Passive Aggressive struck quite a nerve. I received a number of direct e-mail comments, not so many here on the blog, though. Interesting. Anyway, comments were in the vein of “Skip, this is great stuff, but what can we do about it? How do we fix this problem?” Well, the good news is that solution is simple. The bad news is, its not that easy to implement.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,485 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Leading Is Like Playing the Guitar

Every time I’ve picked up the guitar to play or practice I’ve first had to tune it. Then there is the varied humidity during the summer months, which makes the string tensions more varied than at other times of the year. If I don't tune it, it's off-key. Leading people is a lot like tuning a guitar. Each string has to be adjusted differently. Some are very far out of tune while others just need a slight tweak to get them back. This morning with the guitar hanging from my neck I looked down at the tuner on the edge of the guitar’s body and began to test and adjust each string.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,436 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Indirect Communication and How It Undermines Trust in Organizations

There are many different things within an organization that can kill trust and one of the biggies is ‘communication’. Further, one of the most destructive communication sins when it comes to trust is what I call ‘indirect communication.’ Most of us have both experienced ‘indirect communication’ and/or have practiced it, at one time in our lives.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,405 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Ask Skip: What Are Some Specific Tips to Improve Teamwork in the Workplace?

This question comes directly from a blog subscriber who has been reading my articles on teamwork the past couple of weeks. He thought the article last week (A Simple Step to Improve Teamwork at Your Workplace) offering one very specific tip to improve teamwork was a good one but was looking for more, so here are 5 more:

Primary topic: Leadership

1,384 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Lack of Confidence Causes the Costly “Avoid & Tolerate” Leadership Style

It was the summer of 1995 and I was in the middle of my 10th season leading a professional baseball franchise, when I was forced to face my shortcomings as an organizational leader. After a very destructive altercation between key members of our organization’s leadership team, I had to address the fact that I was steeped in a leadership style built on “avoiding and tolerating”, challenging employee performance and behavior issues.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,340 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

The “Science” of Workplace Communication & Performance Management

When I was in school I did virtually anything I could to avoid science classes. For some reason they didn’t interest me and bored me to death. The interesting thing was as a young boy I was totally enamored with astronauts and the United States efforts to put men on the moon and return them safely to earth. I loved the Apollo space program. Yet, I couldn’t make the leap to the science and engineering to make it all happen. Somewhere there was a disconnect.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,285 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

A Simple Step to Improve Teamwork at Your Workplace

I’m getting ready to begin a new client project this week and in discussing the scope of the project, one of the desired objectives identified was improving teamwork among the small staff. In investigating the issue further during our discussion, another objective we uncovered was the breaking down of the silos in the organization. When the concept of “silos” was mentioned, I as flabbergasted! I almost fell out of my chair. “Silos?” I exclaimed back to my prospective client, “you have less than 10 employees, how is that possible?”

Primary topic: Leadership

1,278 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

How to Improve Your Work Environment & Business Results One Thought at a Time

When delivering my 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication keynote address and seminar breakout sessions recently I’ve begun asking my audience to commit to becoming a more conscious communicator. After all, these 7 deadliest of all communication mistakes that are killing trust and team commitment in virtually every work environment are habits that have become our default way of communicating.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,265 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Are You Trying to Make Pigs Fly (or Expecting Employees to Do Things They’re Not Cut Out to Do)?

A common complaint is about employees who repeatedly fail to follow through on specifically requested tasks. The reason for the lack of follow through is often something like “not enough time, couldn’t get to it.” I cringe when I hear business leaders admit they begrudgingly continue to “accept” this excuse. (Accept is in quotations because they don't really accept it, they became frustrated with it and want it to change as the status quo is unacceptable and negatively impacts on business results.)

Primary topic: Leadership

1,199 views

By Skip WeismanRecently published1 topic

Do You Want to Train Your People or Do You Want to Fix the Problem?

When I ask Human Resource directors and corporate training directors, and even CEO's about how they feel “training” is going to help their organizations, I usually learn that they have grossly over-estimated what “training” can be expected to do. Often there are issues occurring in the work environment that training can not help and can even make the problems worse. A lack of directness in communicating can be devastating to a work environment.

Primary topic: Leadership

1,175 views

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