Soft Skills Revolution. A Guide for Connecting with Compassion for Trainers, Teams, and Leaders

A practical resource, this book combines tips, checklists, exercises, and stories to outline concrete processes that improve the way leaders, managers, and anyone within an organization responds to conflict. Beginning with a series of questions and self-diagnostics, the authors show you how to: maintain emotional balance in the face of conflict; implement constructive communications techniques; help others deal with conflicts that are causing organization problems; establish norms for handling conflict; use specific approaches for addressing conflict more effectively. «A must-have guidebook for the new age of global business. This book shows every leader how to turn feelings of fear into feelings of safety, suspicion into trust, and competitiveness into collaboration.» –Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the best-selling book The Leadership Challenge and Dean's Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University «Craig Runde and Tim Flanagan use their vast experience to give us Developing Your Conflict Competence. Move beyond negative workplace conflict to positive and constructive outcomes with the simple tools and suggestions in this must-read field guide!» –Marshall Goldsmith, best-selling author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There, Succession: Are You Ready?, and the upcoming MOJO «I've read the authors' first two books, Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader and Building Conflict Competent Teams. Their latest book pulls it all together by providing models, examples, and thought-provoking insight. It will be required reading for my senior management team.» –Deborah Jallad, president/chairman, Accredited Surety and Casualty Company, Inc.

Every successful organization needs high-performance teams to compete and succeed. Yet, technical people are often resistant to traditional «touchy-feely» teambuilding. To improve communication, performance, and morale among NASA’s technical teams, former NASA Astrophysicist Dr. Charlie Pellerin developed the teambuilding process described in «How NASA Builds Teams»—an approach that is proven, quantitative, and requires only a fraction of the time and resources of traditional training methods. This «4-D» process has boosted team performance in hundreds of NASA project teams, engineering teams, and management teams, including the people responsible for NASA’s most complex systems – the Space Shuttle, space telescopes, robots on Mars, and the mission back to the moon. How NASA Builds Teams explains how the 4-D teambuilding process can be applied in any organization, and includes a fast, free on-line behavioral assessment to help your team and the individual members understand each other and measure the key driver of team performance, the social context. Moreover, these simple, logical processes appeal strongly to technical teams who eschew «touchy-feely» training. Pellerin applies simple, elegant principles from his physics background to the art teambuilding, such as the use of a coordinate system to analyze the characteristics of team performance into actionable elements. The author illustrates the teambuilding process with entertaining stories from his decade as NASA’s Director for Astrophysics and subsequent 15 years of working closely with NASA and outside business teams. For example, he tells how the processes in the book enabled him to initiate the space mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope’s flawed mirror. Free downloadable resources will help you: Identify your teammates’ innate personalities Diagram your culture (And compare it to your customer’s) Measure the coherency of your project’s paradigm (Get this wrong and you will be fired!) and Learn to meet people’s need to feel valued by you. Further, you can download and use Pellerin’s most powerful tool for influencing the outcome of any difficult situation: the Context Shifting Worksheet.

Praise for Development for Academic Leaders «Penny Hunt has opened the door on what many academics consider the mystery of fundraising success. In a straightforward and direct way, the book explains what is most important for academic leaders to do and understand. It articulates roles and responsibilities and offers practical counsel for long-term success. Penelepe's own highly successful and collaborative approach to fundraising shines through on each page. This should be given to every new dean and department head who hopes to make a positive contribution to philanthropy for their academic program.» ?Lynette L. Marshall, CFRE, president and CEO, University of Iowa Foundation «Development for Academic Leaders is a significant addition for deans and academics of every rank who know a great deal about academic research but who know nothing about raising money. This book will get boundary spanners outside of their campus silos and serve as a bridging instrument to the outside world. With its conceptual framework, its illustrations, its metrics, its model conversations/ discussions, and its breadth, it will help any campus official who works with the public to raise the right kind of awareness and to help potential donors find the right fit for their giving.» ?Don Chu, dean, College of Education, Health, and Human Services at California State University, San Marcos; author, The Department Chair Primer, Second Edition «Everything I know about development work I learned from Penny Hunt! I have been privileged both to be her colleague and to attend her seminars on development, and am thrilled now that other academic leaders will be able to benefit from her sage but practical advice in this indispensable guide.» ?Dwight A. McBride, associate provost and dean, The Graduate School, Northwestern University; former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago «Any academic leader who wants to master the development process will benefit from reading Development for Academic Leaders. Penny Hunt's thorough experience, her empathy and her sheer intellect position the work of fundraising in a way that is manageable, friendly, even fun, for the scholar who has made the transition to chair, dean, provost, or president and is daunted by new responsibilities and bottom lines. Development officers will gain insight on working with academic leadership to navigate the internal political landscape and bring greater results in the short term and stronger institutions in the long term.» ?Thomas J. Minar, vice president, Development and Alumni Relations, American University

Praise for On Being Presidential «This is the best book I've ever read on being a college president.»—Arthur Levine, president, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and president emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University «A must-read for anyone involved in higher education. Susan Resneck Pierce's cautionary tales and commonsense approach to college management present, in a very entertaining way, the 'dos' and 'don'ts' of effective postsecondary academic leadership. Highly recommended… I am so enthusiastic that I plan to share On Being Presidential with two new university presidents!»—Barbara Young, vice-chair, Sweet Briar College Board of Directors, and two-time appointee to the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees «Susan Pierce provides an insightful guide to the successful presidency, lessons based not on theory but gleaned from meaningful experiences. Nearly every page contains pearls of wisdom both for college and university presidents and for those who aspire to lead campuses.»—Constantine W. Curris, president emeritus, American Association of State Colleges and Universities

An invaluable resource for HR professionals and executive coaches, this book focuses on how to reduce the time needed to prepare high-potential (HIPO) leaders for next-level positions. Providing the leading trends, tools, and techniques in the industry, the book demystifies the process of HIPO development. It includes a powerful five-step process for increasing leaders' readiness, as well as a complete set of tools for running workshops on developmental planning and coaching. This text also serves as a core text for the author's Executive Coaching Certificate Programs.

The importance of emotional intelligence as a critical factor in personal and business success is now well established. Emotional Intelligence in Action, Second Edition shows how to tap the power of EI to build effective emotional skills and create real change for leaders and teams. This book breaks new ground in providing a cross-reference matrix that maps sixty-five exercises to four leading emotional intelligence models – the EQ-I 2.0 or EQ360, TESI and TESI Short, the MSCEIT, and EISA – making it easy to use with all the models. Revised to respond to the significant changes in EQi-2.0 and to add two new instruments, TESI and EISA, this Second Edition now offers in-depth coverage of such emerging topics as emotional expression, as well as twenty new exercises, accompanied by reproducible handouts for your participants. Ideal for both individual or team coaching or as part of a wider leadership and management development program, Emotional Intelligence in Action, Second Edition provides highly-effective experiential learning, drawn from real life, that will help you enhance emotional intelligence competencies in every organization.

The only nonprofit orientation to coaching skills available, Coaching Skills for Nonprofit Leaders will provide nonprofit managers with an understanding of why and how to coach, how to initiate coaching in specific situations, how to make coaching really work, and how to refine coaching for long-term success. Coaching Skills for Nonprofit Leaders offers practical steps for coaching leaders to greatness and complements the academic and theoretical work in nonprofit leadership theory. The book can be used by the coaching novice as a thorough topical overview or by those more experienced with coaching as a quick reference or refresher. Based on the Inquiry Based Coaching? approach, Coaching Skills will strengthen and expand the reader?s ability to drive organization mission, while retaining the intrinsic values of the nonprofit culture and working towards outcomes that create a culture of discipline and accountability and empower others to be even more responsible, accountable, and self-motivated. This book uses accessible language, examples, case studies, key questions, and exercises to help: Promote better relationships Know when to delegate, direct and coach. Balance directive and supportive styles of leadership for productive partnerships Overcome fears and deal head-on with difficult situations and conflict. Use coaching for performance improvement and on-the-job development. Support independent thinking and personal reflection Gain commitment and accountability from others and build teams

The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide In this dynamic resource, Tom Adams (an expert in succession planning who has worked with hundreds of organizations) shows how intentional leadership development and properly managed leadership transitions provide nonprofits with the rare opportunity to change direction, maintain momentum, and strengthen their capacity. This accessible guidebook is filled with illustrative stories, instructive lessons, best practices, and practical tools that can be used to ensure a successful nonprofit leadership transition. «It is terrific to have a book which so effectively addresses the unique challenges and opportunities of leadership in the nonprofit sector, replete with sound advice and concrete examples. Tom Adams brings a wealth of experience and savvy to the topic. Paid and volunteer leaders of nonprofits at all levels will benefit from reading it.»—Irv Katz, president and CEO, National Human Services Assembly «The guide is one of its kind in providing a realistic frame for the world of nonprofit leaders. It is long overdue in the sector as a real tool for leaders. Maybe even more important, it helps nonprofit boards of directors and philanthropic organizations to understand the connection between their investment in leadership and achieving organizational goals.» —Diane Bell McKoy, CEO, Associated Black Charities «Rich with instructive examples and advice, this book is grounded in the reality of nonprofits. It will be an extraordinarily useful guide to nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes.» —Ruth McCambridge, editor in chief, Nonprofit Quarterly «Make no mistake: attracting and retaining top talent should be priority number one for the nonprofit sector. Adams's book offers practical advice for how to embed this priority into the sector's DNA. All who care about nonprofit effectiveness would be well-served to give this book a close read.»—Kathleen P. Enright, president and CEO, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

Praise for Best Practices in Faculty Evaluation «Jeffrey Buller, a leading and respected voice in higher education, has written a truly practical and highly useful book on the increasingly important topic of faculty evaluation. This highly readable book is a 'must have/must read' book for every dean, chair, and faculty member in all institutions of higher education.» —Robert E. Cipriano, author, Facilitating a Collegial Department in Higher Education: Strategies for Success; former chair of Southern Connecticut State University's Recreation and Leisure Studies Department «Buller has done it again. This latest book meets a never-ending need of all colleges and universities. It's the best treatment I've ever found of the critical dynamics of faculty evaluations—the associated history and philosophy, but especially how to get it right when conducting pretenure, tenure, and posttenure reviews. Every P&T committee, every chair, every dean will welcome a copy.» —R. Kent Crookston, author, Working with Problem Faculty: A Six-Step Guide for Department Chairs; director of the Academic Administrative Support Program at the Brigham Young University Faculty Center «Finally, a comprehensive volume replete with practical ideas and seasoned advice about how to effectively handle faculty performance evaluations. This author really understands the lack of preparation and confidence that most academic administrators feel when asked to function as both judge and coach. If you need concrete strategies for dealing with all aspects of the evaluation process, this book won't disappoint you. The content and case studies are right on the money.»—Christine Licata, author, Post-Tenure Faculty Review and Renewal; senior associate provost, Rochester Institute of Technology

Managing Facilitated Processes Managing Facilitated Processes helps people make thoughtful decisions about managing successful gatherings. The book's ten chapters are divided into three parts: From Contact to Contract—building customized agreements; eighteentypes of facilitated processes, their deliverables and unique features Approach and Style—ensuring integrated, customized, and systematic elements; a forget-me-not prompter; effective management styles Management x 5: Participants, Speakers, Logistics, Documents,Feedback—practice guidelines, examples, and time-saving tools Managing Facilitated Processes also includes a companion Web site with handy e-versions of the book's tools and templates. Praise for Managing Facilitated Processes «This book honors the importance of the details and care that every gathering deserves.It should be a standard reference?for people who come together to produce results.» —Peter Block, author of Community: The Structure of Belonging, and consultant and partner, Designed Learning, Ohio, USA «The authors' combined experience of nearly 60 years in process facilitation is generously shared in this clearly written guide.» —Sharon Almerigi, certified professional facilitator (CPF), Barbados International Association of Facilitators, Latin America and the Caribbean «In a world of 'expert-centered' workplaces, Managing Facilitated Processes offers a much-needed focus on the process of creating effective, customized environments for learning and work.» —Marilyn Laiken, professor and chair, Department of Adult Education and Counseling Psychology, The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada «A comprehensive and practical guide to making group sessions effective and outcome driven—great insights from cover to cover and a terrific 'go to' reference guide.» —Gabriella Zillmer, senior vice-president, Performance Alignment and Compensation, BMO Financial Group, Canada «A time-saving gem for planning facilitated sessions effectively. It is unique in its thoroughness without being overwhelming. To be pulled off the shelf over and over again.» —Julie Larsen, associate adviser for social policy and development, United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA