Bryan Shelton

Common Leadership Error: Being Vague and Expecting Perfection There is no doubt that how results are produced is just as, or more important, than the results themselves.  How work is done, the…

This is the first in a new blog series from Bryan Shelton. Check in on the first Tuesday of every month for new blogs in the series. Our brains are designed to learn and adapt quickly to our…

Many people make New Year’s resolutions dedicated to making themselves better in some way. Whether it’s to lose weight and get fit; become a better leader; or be a better spouse, parent, or friend.…

“People learn more from their mistakes” is an old saying that should be put out to pasture. Not only is this statement untrue from a learning standpoint, but relying on people to make mistakes to…

Recently during a leadership workshop I was facilitating, a participant approached me at a break and told me he wanted more out of his direct reports. He wanted to know why his current approach was…

When it comes to influencing behavior in organizations, there are two truths that need to be considered. These truths relate to two major aspects of the organizational culture: the systems operating…

What companies do in the near-term to improve the employee experience will have a significant impact on their future success. “The Great Resignation” is causing a disruptive change in how companies…

There is an old saying that has always bothered me: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. If it's just a proverb to point out how important community is, I get it. …

How many times a day does this scenario happen in your organization? A Manager walks into the office and asks one of his direct reports, “Did you review progress against the quarterly goals in your…

Many people underestimate the complexity of being a good leader while simultaneously overestimating their own leadership skills. According to Psychology Today, “The Dunning-Kruger effect is a…

In the book Measure of a Leader, the authors state, “The best predictors of leadership are found in the behaviors of the leader’s followers.” Measuring a leader by the success of the people he or she…

Based on the positive response to my blog on Increasing Meaningful Behaviors, I thought it worthwhile to extend the discussion. As you now know, values can play an important role in our lives and…

For most of us in the US and for many throughout the world, our lives have been turned upside down by stay-at-home orders. We’ve lost access to many of our favorite places to spend our time.  For me…

Think of discretionary effort as the more in the “I got more” GEICO commercials.  Discretionary Effort is defined as performance that is above and beyond the minimum requirements of a job. More…

Language is truly a double-edged sword.  Language allows us to cooperate, plan, coordinate, describe the future, talk about the past, and it even allows us to describe interactions between the…

We have all heard of the Peter Principle—“Observation that in an organizational hierarchy people tend to rise to "their level of incompetence." Thus, as people are promoted, they become progressively…

When it comes to developing employees and improving performance, coaching and delivering feedback are critical actions for achieving desired results. In fact today, most organizations expect their…

Most of us have had the opportunity to work under great, and unfortunately not so great, leaders. More than likely when you worked with great leaders you delivered high levels of discretionary effort…