Category Archives: Management Training

When Did Empathy Become a Bad Thing

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If you look up empathy in the dictionary, it means being aware of and sharing another person’s feelings, experiences, and emotions. Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, and being sensitive to the feelings and thoughts fully communicated in an objectively clear manner, thereby vicariously experiencing them. Why is trying to see things from another person’s point of view considered taboo? When did empathy become a bad thing?

We have two ears but only one mouth. Some people suggest that it is because we should spend twice as much time listening as talking. Others suggest it’s because listening, really listening to what is being said, is twice as hard. – Dr. Ralph Nichols.

There is a big difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is that you heard something – listening is that you understood what you heard. Having the ability to really listen to someone is an acquired skill. We are not ‘wired’ to be a good listener. A recent survey revealed that individuals listen about 25 percent of the time, most people only recall 50 percent of what they hear, and 70 percent of all misunderstandings occur because people don’t truly listen to each other. The good news is we can learn to be good listeners.

In the industrial age, the CEO sat at the top of the hierarchy and didn’t have to listen to anybody. However, in the information age, you have to listen to the ideas of people, regardless of gender, generation or position within the organization. – John Scully.

To become a great listener, master these three key listener skills.

1 – Pay attention. Give the speaker your undivided attention. Do not interrupt.

2 – Paraphrase what the speaker said so they know you understood their point of view. If need be, ask open-ended questions for clarity.

3 – Pause and reflect on what was said. Do not become emotional.; respond respectfully in a professional manner. Remember Covey – ‘I listen to understand, not necessarily to agree. We are adults and we can agree to disagree.’

Always keep this in mind. Active listening, receiving the message as it was intended, is as essential to effective communication as speaking. You won’t learn a thing if you keep talking. Pay attention – paraphrase what the speaker said – pause and reflect before responding respectfully and professionally. When did empathy become a bad thing?

Copyright 2025. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you searching for a keynote speaker for your next event, or planning a training session at your location? Brian specializes in soft skills training and leadership development. He works with people who want to learn how to communicate and interact more effectively, resolve conflicts, build collaborative teams or motivate others to perform at their best.

Do You Have The Skills To Lead In Uncertain Times

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The world of work is changing. What are you doing to help yourself and your management team keep pace with those changes? Are the leadership skills that got you here the same skills that will get you and your team to where you need to go to manage and lead in uncertain times?

Quotes Worth Remembering – ‘Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others.’ – Jack Welch.

Here are four skills that will distinguish you from a so-so leader to an exceptional one. Which ones are you good at – and which ones will you have to learn?

Connecting. Exceptional leaders can bring people together with diverse backgrounds and skill sets, and have them perform as a team. Exceptional leaders understand that teamwork makes the whole thing work.

Communicating. Exceptional leaders have the ability to communicate in a way that everyone will understand. Exceptional leaders understand that if they can’t communicate up, down and across the organization regardless of gender or generation, then they can’t manage or lead them.

Educating. Exceptional leaders understand that you rarely get to hire someone who is fully trained. Exceptional leaders realize that their role is to fill the skills gap by teaching others what they need to know to sustain and grow the organization.

Delegating. Exceptional leaders understand that they must relinquish control to gain control. Exceptional leaders know that they can’t control everything and be everywhere all at once. They understand that they must delegate some of their tasks and responsibility to others, and stay out of their way and let them do their job.

Quotes Worth Remembering. – ‘The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what needs to be done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.’ – Theodore Roosevelt.

You now have the potential to work with four generations simultaneously. Each generation – Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and the newest generation to enter the workforce, Alpha prefer to be managed and led differently. People skills, often referred to as soft skills, are essential skills. Without the ability to connect with others, communicate in a way that everyone understands, educate them on what they need to know, and delegate when necessary, you stand little chance of managing or leading them. Do you have the skills to lead in uncertain times?

Copyright 2025. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you searching for a keynote speaker for your next event, or planning a training session at your location? Brian specializes in soft skills training and leadership development. He will customize a session that is right for you and your organization.

Are You Leading or Just Managing

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True leaders develop more leaders, not grow more followers. True leaders understand that their role is to bring people with different skill sets together, empower them by teaching them what they need to know, and then get out of their way and let them do it. Are you leading or just managing?

Worth Remembering – Bury your ego. Don’t be the star. Be the star maker. – Bud Hadfield.

Whether you are a first-time team leader, supervisor, manager or a seasoned veteran looking to enhance your ability to manage and lead others more successfully, you must master these four leadership skills – Connecting, Communicating, Educating and Delegating.

Connecting. To have or establish rapport. Connect – to join together – to join with or become joined with something else. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Your success as a manager or leader begins and ends with your ability to bring people together. If you can’t connect on an emotional level with others, you stand little chance of managing or leading them.

Communicating. To convey knowledge of or information about. To cause to pass from one to another. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. If you can’t communicate in a way that others will understand, then you can’t manage or lead them. There isn’t a more valuable skill for managers or leaders to have than the ability to communicate effectively up, down and across the organization.

Educating. To train by formal instruction and supervised practice, especially in a skill, trade or profession. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. You rarely, if ever, get to hire someone who is fully trained. Your role as a manager or leader is to fill the skills gap by teaching them what they need to know and do to sustain and grow the organization.

Delegating. To entrust to another. To appoint as one’s representative. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. If you fail to delegate some of your responsibility to those on your team, you are robbing them of their opportunity to grow. You can’t be in all places and do everything by yourself. You must learn to relinquish control to gain control. You must resist the urge to micromanage them.

Worth Remembering – To create human capital, a company needs to foster teamwork, communities of practice, and other social forms of learning. – Thomas Stewart.

Are you leading or just managing? If you haven’t mastered connecting, communicating, educating and delegating, you aren’t leading. You are just managing.

Copyright 2025. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. If you want to put these four leadership skills into practice, Brian’s book – ‘Leadership Lessons from a Reformed Control Freak – A 4-Step Guide to Developing 21st. Century Leaders‘ is available on Amazon and includes a 4-week online leadership development workshop. – ASIN – 0987845926.

Management is Leadership Practiced Well

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Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and author of nearly two dozen books on management, first coined the phrase – Management is Leadership Practiced Well – in his groundbreaking book – ‘Managers NOT MBAs – A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development.’ published in 2004. When you get right down to it, whether you hold the title of manager or leader, the common denominator is people. In today’s multigenerational workplace, soft skills are essential.

Worth Remembering – Success depends not on what the managers themselves do, as allocators of resources and makers of decisions, so much as on what they help others do. – Henry Mintzberg.

A manager or leader must excel at communicating, educating and delegating effectively to complete tasks on time and to sustain and grow the organization.

Communicating. If you can’t communicate in a way that others will understand, then whatever you say will mean nothing. Take the time to find out how they prefer to receive information and then send it in a way that suits them. Ken Blanchard said it best – communication is the breakfast of champions.

Educating. Do you hire stupid people, or do they just get stupid after working for you? Your role as a manager or leader is to fill the skills gap. Your role is to teach them what they need to know to deliver results on time and on budget.

Delegating. You need to learn to relinquish control to gain control. It’s bigger than you. You can’t accomplish everything on your own. Teamwork makes the whole thing work. You don’t need more followers – you need to help them to grow and then get out of their way and let them do it. Resist the urge to micromanage them.

Worth Remembering – Drop the idea that you are Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. The world will go on even without you. Don’t take yourself too seriously. – Norman Vincent Peale.

We are not born knowing how to manage and lead others successfully. But we can learn how to communicate in a way that others will understand, teach people what they need to know and delegate when necessary. Management is leadership practiced well.

Copyright 2025. Brian Smith – Power Link Dynamics. Not to be reproduced without permission. To learn more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization, contact him directly. Brian works with individuals who want to learn how to communicate and interact with others more effectively, regardless of gender or generation, build collaborative teams, resolve conflicts or motivate people to perform at their best.