Key Takeaways
- Use executive coaching for personalized guidance to navigate workplace challenges and enhance decision-making.
- Attend leadership seminars to discover personal blind spots and improve communication skills.
- Adapt management strategies for remote and hybrid teams to ensure fair recognition and motivation across all work settings.
- Cultivate emotional intelligence in leaders to foster strategic feedback, better communication, and deeper relationships.
- Implement leadership training to prepare high-potential employees for advanced roles through enhanced emotional intelligence and strategic thinking.
- Regularly incorporate diverse feedback mechanisms to maintain high team performance and support continuous improvement.
Leadership Development and Executive Coaching
In today’s relentless work climate, leaders grapple with unprecedented challenges, from navigating the complexities of hybrid work environments to maintaining team cohesion across digital divides. Liz Bentley, a master of leadership development and executive coaching, confronts these pressing issues head-on. In this riveting Q&A, she unpacks how leaders often feel adrift, struggling to connect with their teams and manage effectively from afar. With her expert guidance, Liz crafts a lifeline of strategies and insights, enabling leaders to transform these challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation.
What are the most common challenges leaders face in today’s fast-paced work environment, and how can executive coaching address them?
“This year ahead is going to be hard. But, the good thing is—we know how to do hard things! A challenging environment pushes us to either grow or decline. So, if we see this as an opportunity to step into our power, we will be better in the end. Executive Coaching allows me to be a dedicated support system to help my client navigate the challenges; I’m going to offer perspective (uncovering blind spots standing in your way) and accountability.”
Can you share a success story where attending a leadership seminar significantly impacted an individual’s career or leadership style?
“The best thing that comes out of my leadership seminars are the blind spots that we uncover, the open communication, and the confidence. Seeing leaders try something new and level themselves up and their business is what makes this all worth it. I have clients that have doubled their business revenue, cultivated teams with a culture of feedback, and taken the next steps in their careers all from a leadership seminar.”
How has the transition from traditional to remote or hybrid leadership models impacted the way leaders should approach team management and motivation?
“I was recently on CBS News New York with Mary Calvin talking about this. A new study by Live Data Technologies showed that remote workers are promoted 31% less than those in office. There’s been a widespread acceptance of remote work but there is a prevailing trend where those physically present in the office tend to receive greater recognition. This can be extremely difficult for a leader to navigate, especially with a hybrid schedule or if the team has flexibility to decide on their own. It’s important to have active involvement and explore various avenues to stay connected with every single member of your team.”
In your experience, what are the key traits that distinguish a good leader from a great one in the context of organizational growth and culture development?
“A great leader has a high level of emotional intelligence with the ability to strategically give feedback and receive it without becoming defensive. Emotional intelligence allows us to communicate clearly and be able to listen and understand ourselves and others. A great leader also values people—people matter and it’s important to understand different personalities. At the core of our lives are relationships, and understanding people better, including ourselves, can have a dramatic impact on productivity.”
Building High-Performance Teams
How can organizations effectively identify and nurture high-potential employees to take on leadership roles?
“Most organizations need support training, nurturing, and promoting the next guard. We offer leadership training seminars and coaching specifically for this purpose. These high-potential employees now need to level up even further by leveraging their signature presence, enhancing their emotional intelligence and expanding their mindsets with a more strategic vision for the future. Organizations need to effectively inspire them to step out of their comfort zones. There is a new set of leadership and management skills they’ll have to learn such as navigating difficult conversations, delegation, and giving and receiving feedback. We offer leadership seminar series and individualized coaching to help organizations with this.”
In what ways can leaders leverage diversity and inclusion to enhance team performance and innovation?
“This all goes back to understanding people and having a high level of emotional intelligence. People bring different perspectives to our lives. Here, we explore the Imprinting Years. These are the first 10 years of life where those experiences make up our story from our origins, geography, beliefs, family, appearance, intelligence, talents, personality, and strengths and weaknesses. Understanding the people on your team will only enhance performance and innovation. Empathy connects us. Judgment and sympathy divide us.”
What role does feedback play in sustaining high performance, and how can leaders implement it effectively?
“Feedback is vital in sustaining high performance. Getting feedback gives us new perspectives on problem solving, collaboration, and process. Being open to feedback instead of being defensive allows us to get more and teams to work better together. Giving feedback helps us share opinions and strategies that others may not have realized. Knowing how to give and receive feedback effectively helps connectivity and innovation. Giving and getting feedback can be scary—we have services such as training, seminars, and speeches dedicated fully to feedback because people are so scared of it! Once you can expand beyond what’s holding you back, you will see more successful outcomes both in your team and yourself as a leader.”
How does team coaching differ from individual coaching, and what are its unique benefits in building cohesive teams?
For teams to strive for high performance, they need to function with fluidity, working off of each other’s strengths and mitigating their weaknesses. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. The ability to be a good team player is not always innate. In Team Coaching, people will learn how to function in their role to become a valuable asset to the group. Here you create shared goals and visions, give support where needed, give feedback effectively, share opinions, and take risks. Individual coaching offers a more customized program for that particular person based off their own goals for growth. Both are hugely important to building cohesive teams. We often will do team coaching sessions supplemented with 1v1 coaching sessions in between to really dive deep and create change.”
What role do retreats play in fostering innovation and strategic thinking among leadership teams?
“Team Retreats set the stage for growth by providing an opportunity to spend time together outside of the usual work environment to align your vision, create strategies, and get to know each other better! Retreats should always be a key part of strategic planning for the future of your business. Here, we like to cover topics such as “Creating an Environment of Excellence”, “Be a High Functioning Team’, and “Strategic Planning”. Teams typically feel a sense of letting their guard down a bit on retreats that allows for creative brainstorming, innovative thinking, building goals, and boosting morale.”
The Importance of Coaching for Real-estate and Sales Professionals
Given the unique challenges of the real estate market, what are some core areas of focus in your real estate coaching programs?
“I recently did a speech for Atlanta Fines Home & Mountains real estate teams where I shared how in order to level up in 2024, we need to upgrade our operating systems! Some trends I am seeing for the tough year ahead include a new level of sophisticated agents and speed trumps hard work. In 1v1 coaching with my real estate agent clients, we discuss how to prioritize their time, focusing their time on the right work and knowing when to move on from something. One of the great equalizers in life is time. We all are equal when it comes to time. No one gets more than another person. Time is the divider between the good and the great. I coach my clients to use their time effectively to move the business forward, prioritize, and execute!”
In today’s market, how important is it for sales professionals to adapt their strategies to changing consumer behaviors?
“It’s critical. Everything about selling is about adapting to your clients needs and understanding the shifts in the marketplace. Being agile is a fundamental quality needed in all businesses.”
What are the key components of a high-performing sales team, and how can leaders cultivate these elements within their teams?
“High-performing teams have updated operating systems! If we redefine failure as learning, we won’t be as scared to take risks. If we redefine feedback as a different perspective, we will be open to our blind spots. If we get our fears out of the way, we can allow for great focus.
High-performing teams have comprehension (the ability to listen), speed (work faster + more efficient), innovation (get creative).”
Advancing Career Development with Lessons from Sports and Business
How has your experience in competitive sports influenced your approach to executive coaching?
“Being the youngest of four brothers and playing D1 sports is all part of the way I coach today. A pillar of my coaching method is our Sports Performance Model. We train leaders in the workplace, the same way coaches train athletes to champions. I always have my eye on the end game for my clients and push them to be better versions of themselves.”
In both sports and business, mental toughness plays a crucial role. Can you discuss how you help executives cultivate this trait?
“We can’t control the environment, we can’t change what’s coming at us. We can decide what we are going to do with it. Our life gets divided by the micro-decisions we make every single day. Those decisions dictate which box we fall into—do we do what is hard or what is easy? When you keep choosing hard things, you get better at them, and then they don’t seem hard anymore. You grow. You get more confident. You build mental toughness. During 1v1 coaching with my clients, we work on making the right decisions each week that will be hard, but we will grow from and thus build confidence.”
What are some effective metrics or indicators you recommend leaders use to assess their personal growth and leadership effectiveness?
“I think 360 feedback reviews are great for uncovering areas of growth that you may be unaware of. It can unearth blind spots and help you see how others perceive you. This can then lead you to make changes in your business that will have big and positive impacts. We also like the DISC personality assessment because it not only gives you a deeper understanding of your strengths and weaknesses but it also give you insights into other personality styles and how to work best with them.”
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