The Doug Noll Show

Leadership is a quality that many claim to have but unfortunately seems to be in short supply. How many of us can say that our bosses inspire us, support us, help us improve, and motivate us to do our very best? And honestly, how many of us really work at leadership ourselves, at home, at work, or in the community? Leadership is important and its particularly important for solving problems and effectively working out disputes and conflicts in the office. We are going to look at leadership through the eyes of an expert.
Craig W. Ross is President of Pathways to Leadership Inc., a leadership development company in business for over 15 years. For almost a decade, Craig has partnered with CEOs and high-level executives around the world to increase productivity and bottom line results through the development of healthy work cultures. Craig brings high energy and a dynamic approach to executive coaching, keynotes and the transformational Pathways to Leadership® program he facilitates to companies worldwide including Owens-Illinois, Procter & Gamble, Gerber, Nestlé, Mazda Motor Company, CIBA Vision and many others.Craig has a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota and M.A. in Curriculum Instruction and Design from Colorado Christian University. The three attributes of great leadership are self-awareness/self-control, the ability to communicate with some charisma, and the ability to focus people’s minds on what is important.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Focus-foward questions are one way to focus minds out of the past and into the future. He ability to ask well-phrased and well-timed questions is a leadership skill that pays huge dividends. We will always focus on a good question and leaders learn to use our innate curiosity through good questions.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Jerks in the office are a huge problem. Dysfunctional office behaviors cost billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, not to mention lawsuits and claims. The real secret to dealing with the elephant in the office is to not fix people. Instead, develop some self-awareness. Am I focused on that jerk? If so, why? Can I put my focus in a more productive place? Teaching people how to do that is a critical part of leadership. Trying to fix people or setting down behavioral rules are simply not effective. Thus, leaders have to be thinking about working with the minds in the office to deal with the elephants.
The Peacemaker’s Bookshelf looked at the book Mediating Dangerously by Kenneth Cloke.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

A caller asked if the elephants ever go away. Doug felt that the elephants never go away and always provide us with lessons to learn about being aware, conscious, and even spiritual. Craig agreed and felt that elephants come in different shapes and sizes. As we learn to deal with the elephants through our own increasing awareness, they become less of a problem.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Sex, politics and religion—the three subjects you don’t raise at the office. Yet these topics and the values they represent define what it means to be human. So often, however, conflicts arise over sex, politics and religion, especially at the office. Is it possible to develop healthy attitudes towards sex, politics and religion at the office? I will be talking about these common experiences in this show. Why are these such hot topics? Does anyone really think that repressing sex, politics and religion works? These are about what makes us human and our basic values are formed from and around them. Why aren’t we allowed to bring our values to work? I talk about all of this and more.

The law establishes five protected classes of people from employment discrimination. Employers may not discriminate because of age, disability, gender, race and national origin, or religion. The law does not make being a jerk illegal, however. So there is a lot of room for unhealthy attitudes around sex, politics and religion to develop and destroy a company.

There are key leadership characteristics that support a healthy attitude towards sex, politics and religion at the office. These are being nonjudgmental, being noncritical, being nonreactive, valuing balance and seeking balance, and being selfless. Learning how to ask questions to make people reflective is another leadership characteristic I talk about.

You can learn to listen by following the listening checklist I outline for you. If you follow the checklist, you will model respectful, caring behaviors that you want people to have around you. Finally, help people talk about sex, politics and religion by finding the deeper meanings those topics have to people. If sexuality is about looking and feeling good, how does the workplace help or hinder each of us looking and feeling good? That alone can lead to healthier attitudes.

What are the three topics your mother said never to raise in polite company? And what are the three topics that drive human resources managers crazy? And what are the three topics that define us as human beings in terms of the most important values and beliefs. You got it — Sex, Politics and Religion. In this show, we talk about sex, politics, and religion at the office. Why are these hot buttons? Is it possible to even talk about these issues without drawing the ire of HR or bringing down a lawsuit? How do we build healthy attitudes towards sex, politics, and religion at the office?

In this show, we talk about sex, politics, and religion at the office.

In this show, we talk about sex, politics, and religion at the office.