In today's business world, the complexity and pace of change can be daunting. Adaptability has become recognized as a necessary skill for leaders to develop to be effective in this environment. Even so, leaders rarely know what they can do to become more adaptable and foster adaptability in others. This guidebook contributes to a greater understanding of adaptability and the cognitive, emotional, and dispositional flexibility it requires. Leaders will learn how to develop their adaptability and to become more effective for themselves, the people they lead, and their organizations.

Active listening is a person's willingness and ability to hear and understand. At its core, active listening is a state of mind that involves paying full and careful attention to the other person, avoiding premature judgment, reflecting understanding, clarifying information, summarizing, and sharing. By learning and committing to the skills and behaviors of active listening, leaders can become more effective listeners and, over time, improve their ability to lead.

This guidebook is about changing the way you think about setting goals. It is about identifying goals that are important and meaningful. Creating those kinds of goals means taking stock of your values--what you believe and how you act to carry out those beliefs--in five key areas of your life: career, self, family, community, and spirit. Once you've identified what's really important you can create goals that will help you improve and carry out those values through your actions. The goals you create will be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timed. Setting meaningful...

If you are a manager who has just completed a leadership development experience, such as attending a program or receiving feedback from a 360-degree instrument, or have just experienced a career transition, such as a promotion or a lateral move to a more challenging position, this guidebook can help. You now realize that it is necessary to develop some new skills, use skills that haven't yet been tested, or hone current skills and abilities. Such skill work requires ongoing feedback from others to help track progress and give an indication of how much more needs to be done.

You have just completed a formal feedback experience--perhaps a management development program, performance review, or 360-degree instrument--and through your feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates you have learned that you have some behaviors that need changing or skills that need development. You've set goals for improvement and your impulse is to start working on them as soon as you can. This guidebook describes three strategies to use as you continue to develop your capacity to lead: seeking challenging assignments at work and away from the job, training for specific skills, and...