This week I had the amazing opportunity to work with a team. A real team. A soccer team. A group of individuals that must work together to achieve a collective goal. I reference ‘real’ not to be hyperbolic, but because sports offer a window into what teamwork really can be. A truly collective effort. I say this, as compared to organizations that can function under the veil of ‘team’, but often times can achieve their goals with, or without the collective effort of everyone. M

My son asked me a question yesterday (as he’s apt to do) that had seemingly come from nowhere…. “Dad, do you think I should have kids when I’m old enough?” Before I gave him my reply I said, “…where’s that question coming from?” “I was just wondering if it’s worth it… (wait for it) … “I mean, you have to buy me birthday presents and stuff and it’s expensive. You could just buy yourself stuff instead.” Fair enough I thought. If not for he and his sister, I could spend my money

Today I received an email from a dear friend. I’ll be facilitating a “leadership values” key note for his team soon. He required some additional information in advance of my presentation. Seemed simple enough. Well, my friend’s manager wanted to know exactly what content would be delivered during my ‘talk’. What would I be saying? What would I be telling the attendees? Look, I understand the need to affect a measure of control in a managerial sense. I understand the need to e

Last week I started a discussion on the different leader types that we typically see in the workplace, offering a summary of the first five from our list. This week I would like to continue the discussion and provide a quick summary of the next three leader types. As a quick review, at Pathways Training & eLearning we offer many programs that focus on excellence in management, where often part of these programs includes a discussion on the various leader types and how they

Over the past month I have been spending most of my time in the classroom, leading a few of the many courses Pathways Training & eLearning offers related to excellence in team management, professionalism in the workplace and project management. As such I thought it would be interesting to discuss this week and next, one of my favorite topics that is part of our management training, and that is “What type of leader are you”? Next week I will spend more time discussing why thi

In the next few weeks a few members of the Pathways Training and eLearning team will be speaking at a conference hosted by the Ontario Professional Planners Institute. At the conference, we will be facilitating engaging sessions on a variety of topics which I have listed below, along with a brief summary. While the focus of the Pathways Training and eLearning team tends to be more on the eLearning side of the training business, this conference is an excellent reminder of wha

Change management is an organizational term used by many and executed by few. By way of a definition, change management is the process of recognizing and supporting the human capital impact of change on a project, initiative or undertaking. However, more often than not, change management is wildly underrepresented on any given project plan. Truth be told, it usually amounts to a line item or two on a Gantt chart. Project Milestone 1 – Send email informing employees of change

Take a moment to reflect back. Reflect on those moments in time where you were most uncomfortable, most afraid of unknown situations in your life. What did you do? How did you handle them? Were you paralyzed with fear, unable to move past insecurities and doubt? Or were you able to fight through the situation and learn from the experience? We all have had feelings of uncertainty at times. Moments where we hold ourselves back from speaking up at work for something we believe i

High School probably seems like an odd place to begin writing about leadership; truthfully, it is. It’s also an honest place, because social politics and its unwritten rules thwarted many from sitting at the “cool” table during those formative teenage years. I attest, the impact of those rules move well beyond high school and right into the workplace. This is a difficult thing to rationalize, because we tend to think that we leave childish social dogma behind us when we “prog