September 2010
Take the Time to Listen and Provide Feedback

Good listening and feedback skills are essential to any manager's success—but they are in short supply these days, according to Dr. Vicki Halsey of The Ken Blanchard Companies. With today's managers struggling to find the time required to get their own jobs done, it's easy to move listening and providing feedback to the back burner.

The net result is a coolly efficient form of interaction between managers and direct reports where the goal is to solve the problem as fast as possible. On the surface this may seem like a good goal, but in practice it leads to the increasing use of short cuts to speed up the process. With that attitude, a manager listens just long enough to understand the problem, organize his or her thoughts, and prepare a response.

As Halsey explains, "Well-meaning managers are trying to achieve the tasks before them as quickly as possible. Because they are so results oriented, it's easy to focus only on the destination and not manage the journey properly. It's important to remember that listening and feedback are part of the development process. The most successful leaders are going to be those who focus on both the end result and the process used in getting there." READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Client Spotlight
Genentech

Learn how one of the world's most successful biotech firms improved leadership capacity and leadership skills at all levels in the organization by removing barriers and developing an integrated leadership curriculum.
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Special Event! University of California, Berkeley MBA Leadership Development Series, Walter A Haas School of Business

Ken and Margie Blanchard will be speaking as a part of Berkeley's MBA Leadership Development Series.

Building High-Performing Teams: What Great Leaders Know and Do
Sunday, September 26
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UPCOMING EVENTS

Free Webinar!

The Manager's Tool Kit, Part One:
Listening and Feedback
September 23, 2010

In this complimentary webinar, Blanchard Senior Consulting Partner and author Dr. Vicki Halsey will show managers how to improve their listening and feedback skills in a way that leaves direct reports feeling feel cared for, listened to, and supported in their work.
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Ken Blanchard in Canada
The Changing Face of Leadership

Learn how to harness the excitement, diverse opinion, and potential of people from different backgrounds.

October 19, Calgary, Alberta
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October 22, Ottawa, Ontario
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Scott Blanchard in Germany
Creating an Engaged Workforce

Learn how to create a high-energy, high-performance work environment that drives bottom-line results.

December 9, 2010, Frankfurt
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Blanchard Leadership Workshops

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Leadership Development for the
Public Sector

The Ken Blanchard Companies is now offering over 30 products, including Situational Leadership^® II and Leading People Through Change under the GSA Schedule 874-MOBIS.
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