Most managers want their people to achieve excellence at work. We really can’t ask for more. In fact, peak performance can be defined as a combination of:

• Excellence
• Consistency
• Ongoing improvement

How can managers bring out the best in their people?

To achieve peak performance, each person must find the right job, tasks and conditions that match his or her strengths. Facilitating the right fit therefore becomes one of a manager’s most crucial responsibilities. While every employee has the potential to deliver peak performance, it’s up to the manager to find ways to make it happen.

It’s easy to spot peak performance when it happens. It’s what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008). Employees who work at optimum levels experience a state of “flow,” typically losing themselves in a project, meeting or discussion. They may lose track of time or where they are.

Each of us has relished such moments, but it’s hard to purposely replicate “flow” experiences. Many managers struggle to find the right words to rekindle motivation in people who have lost their enthusiasm.
Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, author of Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People (Harvard Business Press, 2011) has researched behavior and performance to define a Cycle of Excellence that leads to optimal performance.

This article examines new research into five critical steps managers can apply to maximize employees’ peak performance.
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This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Two Sides of the Disengagement Coin
• Using Brain Science to Bring Out the Best
  • Step 1: Select
  • Step 2: Connect
  • Step 3: Play
  • Step 4: Grapple and Grow
  • Step 5: Shine

• Maintaining Excellence in Uncertain Times

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Competition for top leadership positions is tough. Intelligence and good social skills are the price of admission, but they’re not enough.

A high-potential candidate must master the intricacies of reading people, predicting behaviors and influencing perceptions — advanced communication skills that can be learned.

The effective CEO’s presence and essence have changed tremendously over the last two decades. There’s no hiding behind a title. What propels most executives to the top won’t keep them there for long.

Today’s effective leaders have more than presence, charisma and charm. They are strategic about managing their communication skills and adroit at reading others’ perceptions and values.

Perceptive leaders craft messages that meet their target audiences’ needs. They understand which information will be filtered out, how messages become distorted and disregarded, and how information is assigned meaning.

Psychological Icebergs

The stimuli we hear and see are merely the tip of a complex psychological iceberg. Preconceptions about body language may cause us to miss more important signals. Leaders must learn to identify how people’s values become filters for their perceptions.

Research shows that people are only 20 percent successful at reading body language. Determining the true meaning of visual, verbal and nonverbal cues requires a more complex analysis of other variables.

This article examines situational awareness as one component of social intelligence and suggests five steps to improve one’s ability to read people, influence perceptions and gain executive presence.
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This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials.

You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Social Intelligence:

o    Situational Awareness
o    Presence
o    Authenticity
o    Clarity
o    Empathy

• Body language
• People-reading
• Flight-plan for Your Career
• The invisible Iceberg
• The Bias Trap
• Optimizing Outcomes
• The Influence of Context
• 3 Context Dynamics to Observe:
  

o    The Proxemic Context
o    The Behavioral Context
o    The Semantic Context

• 5 Steps for Better People-Reading Skills

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We are most intensely motivated when we’re challenged to complete a self-assigned task that meets our personal needs. When we seek internal satisfaction, we give our best efforts, sustaining attention until resolution— no matter what.

How do we create enough autonomy at work to choose tasks that provide internal satisfaction? Granted, we don’t always have 100% control over our assignments, but we do have some freedom over where we place our energies and how we spend our time.

In manufacturing jobs, products need to be produced, packaged, sold and shipped. In these jobs, there may be little freedom.

In  knowledge-based and service industries, however, we have choices and can make decisions about how and where we spend our time and efforts.

Too many choices can lead to inertia and procrastination. Knowing what motivates us, and from where we derive our internal satisfaction, helps focus our attention and time on what matters most.

Having  more autonomy over our work sounds great, but it also presents new challenges. How can we identify our internal drives? What brings us the most satisfaction? How can we select tasks and work projects that ignite our passions and internal drives within the scope of our jobs?

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This 1000-word article discusses intrinsic drives, internal satisfaction, autonomy and how to create flow experiences in what we choose to do with our time and efforts.
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This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article discusses the following concepts:

• The Third Drive
• 3 Keys to Intrinsic Rewards
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose
• Creating Flow

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Are You the Master of Your Own Destiny?
Creating True Autonomy

The No. 1 reason why most Americans leave their jobs is the feeling they’re not appreciated.

In fact, 65% of people surveyed said they received no recognition for good work in a previous year, according to Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, authors of How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life (2004).

According to newer Gallup research, what employees want most — along with competitive pay — is quality management. When they feel unappreciated and disapprove of their managers, they leave or stop trying.

Almost 25% of U.S. employees would fire their bosses if given the chance, and about 50% of actively disengaged workers would follow suit.

Because of current economic realities, people may not be leaving their jobs. Instead, they join the growing ranks of the disengaged and “missing in action.” It rests upon managers to learn better ways of interacting with the people on whom they depend.

Based on a great deal of previous research, positive managers practice these three leadership behaviors:

1. Use a strengths-based approach
2. Provide frequent recognition and encouragement
3. Maintain a positive perspective when difficulties arise

Past studies have shown these practices have a direct effect on employee engagement, and each is an observable and testable behavior.

None of these characteristics are innate, but all can be learned. Very few executives intuitively know:

1. How to work with people’s strengths
2. How to automatically give frequent credit where due
3. How to respond with your best game face when the going gets rough

This article examines the bottom line results of a positive, strengths-based approach to improving performance.

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This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• 3 Steps to Positive Leadership
• A Strengths-Based Approach
• Focus on What Works
• The Problem-Seeking Mindset
• The Brain Power of Negativity
• When Things Go Wrong
• Positive Results

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