When it comes to confronting our direct reports, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Constructive confrontations in the workplace are often altogether avoided either because we are afraid to get hurt ourselves or we are cautious about hurting the other person. Ironically, when it comes to holding challenging conversations, both action and inaction bring a similar set of risks. The act of confronting, however, also brings with it a greater opportunity to improve your employees’ performance, level of work satisfaction, productivity, or all of the above. It’s time that we confront ourselves about our fear of confronting. Only then, can we confidently harness the positive aspects of initiating challenging conversations with our people. Click here to download the whitepaper. We all know that coaching upwards is a precondition for sanity in the workplace –the challenge? How do to it in a way that gets results and limits fall-out. We must not lose sight of the objective of coaching, which is to help inspire personal growth that translates into improved effectiveness for the overall team. The purpose of coaching is not predicated on power or rank, yet many individuals are intimidated by the thought of coaching their peers or their boss. Third Factor Principal Trainer, Garry Watanabe, uncovers the conditions where coaching upwards is beneficial and lays out the necessary steps to build trust, credibility, and value as a coach. Click here to download the whitepaper. Real success stories of Third Factor clients are shared to help you tackle your next coaching challenge! As managers, we all seek to foster an environment where we can get along, get results, and experience growth. Read on to see how key lessons on high performance from Third Factor’s workshop were applied successfully in the work world. Click here to download the whitepaper. The lead-up to a challenging conversation is often more painful than the actual interaction proves to be. Whether the discussion is performance related, about a difficult personality, or the hard truth, when it comes to difficult dialogues the question should not be whether to confront or not, rather how you should confront. Sandra Stark explores this particular question so that you can challenge the conversation, rather than have your conversations challenge you. Click here to download the whitepaper. If the ROI of coaching is so clear, what blocks us from doing it more consistently? The hesitation surrounding creating a culture of development is rooted in three common misconceptions –that the change involved is too drastic, too slow, and not permanent enough. Third Factor CEO, Dane Jensen, debunks each myth and proves that the entire process of transforming into a coaching culture is self-reinforcing, but requires the full support of senior management. Click here to read the whitepaper. Sport can be a positive source of growth in our children’s lives, but can also do great damage. As a parent, you can make the difference. We all want our children to excel in the sports that they’re engaged in, however, we have a much greater role: to ensure that our children succeed in life. This means that it is more worthwhile to focus on building skills like teamwork and confidence than it is to focus on the win itself. Sandra Stark, having been exposed to the worlds of both motherhood and coaching, reflects on her experience so that you can be a ‘positive participant’ in your child’s athletics. Click here to download the whitepaper. Have you heard? Annual performance reviews have been rated ‘needs improvement’. From CEOs to employees, and from HBR to Fast Company to Deloitte University Press, there is an overwhelming consensus that current approaches to performance management – anchored around the dreaded annual review – are broadly ineffective. According to a Deloitte University Press report, less than 50% of CEOs believed that their performance management approach helped drive employee engagement or business results. Further, less than 10% of HR leaders believe that annual performance reviews result in accurate information, and less than 4% of employees feel that it is the best way to motivate and engage them. In response to this disappointing data, companies are moving quickly. Most large companies are actively experimenting with performance management systems, and some have eliminated annual reviews entirely. The challenge is that while the data is clear on what doesn’t work, there is no clear consensus on what does. The inevitable period of experimentation and transition to come will challenge managers – as many of them will be asked to ‘fly the plane while its being built’. Arming them with the skills to thrive during this period of transition will be vital. Click here to read the whitepaper.