John Maxwell’s 11th Irrefutable Law of Leadership (from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You) states that a leader’s potential is determined by his inner circle, those closest to him.

Basically, your success as a leader, whether you’re a CEO or a new supervisor, builds from the strength of the immediate team which either makes you stronger or holds you back.

It’s not that you need the brightest MBA or the savviest CPA or the most gifted COO in the circle, but more that you need strong, dedicated, forward thinking, positive players.

You need to have folks that will challenge you to achieve greater outcomes.  And the inner circle is not just comprised of people who report to you.  Friends, confidants, spouses and pastors can be players in your inner circle.

The “fun” part is figuring out who and which combinations of people will create the best inner circle for you during this season of your leadership life cycle.  Through time and change of environments, the circle will change both in size and composition.

Take Action:

• Draw three concentric circles on a piece of paper (or grab this template from our website).
• Place names of colleagues, friends and others within the circles regarding their proximity to you, noting who is part of your inner circle today, who is in the next circle out and who may be in the outer circle/band.
• Next, decide who gets arrows:  either an arrow away from the center or an arrow toward the center.
• Finally, determine what actionable steps you will take to adjust your inner circle.

You are the one that can determine when it’s appropriate to adjust the size and composition of the inner circle.  How well you anticipate, plan for and then execute the potential change in your inner circle correlates directly to the level of your success.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• Was it difficult to put people in the outer most circle?  Why?  What were you feeling?
• With your actionable items – moving people inwards or outwards among the circles – which will be the easiest? Most difficult?
• Which circle might you fall within, for the circles these people would create:  your employees, your boss, your best friend from college, a peer manager?
• 10 years from today, who will have moved among your circles?  Who would you want to have in the innermost circle?

The post Your Inner Circle: Are They a Catalyst or an Anchor? appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Investing in early leadership training is critical for fostering effective leadership, enhancing team performance, and driving financial success in organizations. In this post, we explore the value of such training, utilizing research from sources like Gallup and McKinsey & Company. We will also provide a financial analysis incorporating the cost of the leader’s time investment in the training program.

Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness

Leadership training prepares new leaders to manage teams effectively and navigate complex organizational challenges. According to Gallup, organizations with robust leadership development programs see significant benefits, including a 27% higher revenue per employee and a 28% increase in earnings per share over their peers​.

Financial Impact of Leadership Training

Early leadership training is a strategic investment that yields substantial financial returns. Let’s consider the following scenario for calculating the return on investment (ROI) of a leadership training program:

• Average starting salary for new leaders: $60,000
• Combined salaries of the team they lead: $150,000
• Cost of leadership training program: $3,000
• Cost of leader’s time (40 hours of training): $1,154 (assuming $60,000 annual salary, or $28.85 hourly rate)

The total cost of the training, including the leader’s time, is $4,154.

ROI Calculation

Improved Productivity: Gallup research indicates that well-trained leaders can enhance team productivity by up to 20%. For a team with combined salaries of $150,000, this translates to an additional $30,000 in productivity gains annually.

Reduced Turnover: Effective leadership training reduces turnover rates. Gallup reports that organizations with strong leadership programs see 24% lower turnover. For a team of four, with an average annual turnover cost of 20% of combined salaries ($30,000), this equates to savings of $7,200 annually.

Increased Engagement: Engaged employees are more productive, contributing to higher profitability. According to Gallup, businesses with highly engaged teams see 21% greater profitability. Applying this to our scenario, this could potentially add $31,500 in profits annually (21% of $150,000).

Combining these benefits, we have:

• Productivity gains: $30,000
• Turnover savings: $7,200
• Increased profitability: $31,500
• Total annual financial benefit: $68,700

Given the total training cost of $4,154, the ROI is calculated as:

This calculation illustrates that investing in leadership training for new leaders offers an exceptionally high return, making it a financially sound decision for any organization.

Early leadership training is essential for any organization aiming to enhance leadership effectiveness and achieve superior financial performance. The compelling statistics from Gallup and other research entities underscore the profound impact that such training can have on productivity, employee retention, and overall profitability. By committing to the development of their leaders, companies not only foster a culture of excellence but also secure their competitive edge in the market.

If you have a leader you believe would benefit from leadership development, we have several services which may be of interest.

• #Leadwell: Building Leaders for Tomorrow people leadership training program – $2,995
• Leadership coaching for individual development – $4,995
• 360-Degree feedback survey coaching package to gain insight on how others perceive a leader’s impact – $1,995

The post The Massive Impact of a Little Leadership Training appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Only 1 in 10 people have the necessary traits to be great managers and lead their team to achieve excellence in ways that truly impact company performance.  That’s what Gallup finds from their research.

That’s not 1 in 10 managers, that’s 1 in 10 people! 

And are those talented people the same folks who were promoted to the management roles? Unfortunately, probably not.

But surely your boss was hired into their role because they are one of those 1 in 10!

Here’s what the research says are the talents of great managers:

• They motivate every single employee to take action and engage them with a compelling mission and vision.
• They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.
• They create a culture of clear accountability.
• They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.
• They make decisions that are based on productivity, not politics.

48% Higher Profit

These necessary traits are found in perfect combination in only 1 in 10 people and when these special folks are put in manager roles, they “. . . naturally engage team members and customers, retain top performers, and sustain a culture of high productivity. Combined, they contribute about 48% higher profit to their companies than average managers.”

Some Good News

The good news for some of us is that 2 in 10 people can function at a high level in the company because they exhibit some of the characteristics of basic managerial talent.  But they can only become more effective if their company invests in developmental and coaching plans to help gain the insight and wisdom required.

Not Such Good News

Most managers get thrown into management because they were good at their jobs as individual contributors.  Then they get promoted again because among their peers, they had better skills or were more effective.  Companies take for granted that once promoted, every manager has the same chance of success as long as they work hard.

Unfortunately companies are promoting from positions of weakness because they have created a pool of young managers who are more likely to not have the natural characteristics to be highly successful.  And the companies are not investing in the these young leaders with training and coaching to improve their odds.

How about anecdotally?  How effective is your boss as a leader?  How about their boss? Their boss’ boss?  Hmmm, seems like there may be a trend line here of mediocrity in management.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• Which trait is the most challenging for you?
• Grab a peer and review the list of traits.  In what ways could you develop some skills to help amplify – or compensate for –  the listed traits?
• How do those statistics make you feel?  Do you agree with the research?

Gallup: Why Good Managers Are So Rare

The post Are You Afraid of Failing as a Manager? You Should Be! appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Then a few weeks went by. And nothing changed.

People could tell you their style. They knew they were a D or an i or an S or a C. But when the hard moment actually showed up — the tough feedback conversation, the conflict that needed handling, the change everyone was nervous about — that self-knowledge just sat there. Useful in theory. Absent in practice.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re running into the single most common reason DiSC training fades.

Self-awareness isn’t the finish line

Here’s the thing most people get backwards. Knowing your style is the starting point, not the destination.

Understanding that you’re a fast-moving D who can steamroll a quieter teammate is interesting. But it doesn’t automatically change how you show up in next Tuesday’s 1-on-1. Awareness and behavior are two different things, and the gap between them is where good training quietly dies.

The session didn’t fail. It did exactly what a session does, it gave people insight. What’s missing is the layer that turns that insight into a changed habit in the actual moments that matter.

What closes the gap

That layer is Everything DiSC® Worksmart.

Worksmart takes the DiSC insight a person already has and points it at five of the highest-stakes situations people face at work:

• Giving constructive feedback
• Managing conflict
• Empowering your team
• Helping your team navigate change
• Motivating your team

Instead of leaving someone to figure out, on their own, how to use their style in a tense feedback conversation, Worksmart walks them through that exact scenario with guidance tailored to their style and the style of the person across the table.

It comes in two formats:

Trainer-Led Modules — five one-hour facilitated sessions for people managers and leaders, delivered live by Bishop House. Each one combines personalized DiSC insights, small-group discussion, and an action plan you can use the next day.

Self-Guided Modules — five 20-minute on-demand modules for everyone, from individual contributors to senior leaders. Completed at your own pace on Catalyst, with structured reflection and personalized action planning.

Both build on the Everything DiSC Workplace® assessment people already took. If your team is already on Catalyst, you add Worksmart without anyone retaking anything.

Why this is what makes it stick

The reason just-in-time application works is that it fits how people actually work.

Only 63% of employees say they have enough time to do their work well (Wiley Workplace Intelligence, 2026). Nobody has room for another standalone training event that lives in a binder. But pulling up a 20-minute module right before the conversation you’re walking into? That fits the flow of work.

Because Worksmart lives on Catalyst and includes on-demand options, learners can open the relevant module in the moment, right before the situation they’re about to face. That’s the difference between a fact someone memorized and a habit someone actually built.

And the Self-Guided format means this isn’t just a manager tool. It extends DiSC application to every employee, at 10 EPIC credits per learner.

The bottom line

If your DiSC training didn’t stick, the problem wasn’t the training. It was that nobody bridged the distance between knowing your style and using it when it counts.

Worksmart is that bridge. Self-awareness gets people to the starting line. Application is what gets them across.

Want to talk about adding Worksmart to your team’s DiSC experience? Reach out at leadwell@bishophouse.com or 518.885.9064.

The post The Training Didn’t Stick. Here’s Why and What Actually Fixes It appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Two friends have recently told you that living a healthier life is very important to them. While at the grocery store, you see both friends checking out with different cashiers.

One is buying nachos,  French onion dip, a 12-pack of Coke, and a box of pastries.  The other friend is buying fresh celery, low-fat yogurt, bananas, and organic apple juice.  Clearly, one friend has aligned his behaviors with what he says he believes.

Your leadership decisions and behaviors reveal your true beliefs, purpose, and what’s most important to you.

Many leaders talk a good game about how they lead, inspire, and motivate their employees, but only a few self-actualized, hearty leaders actually lead in ways that support what they say. The evidence for this is striking:

• Empowered employees will surround a leader who empowers others.
• Confident employees will surround a leader who has instilled confidence in others.
• Energized employees will surround a leader who has inspired others to a great cause.

If you’re buying celery and healthy foods, you don’t need to tell me you’re trying to live a healthy life, I’ll already know that you are.

The same goes for living out good leadership. If you are wondering where the good leaders are in your company, just find the pockets of highly engaged, energized, and empowered employees.  They will point you directly to the better leaders.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• Take a few minutes to look at the leaders in your life: do they pass the celery test? Now do the same for yourself: do you?
• What beliefs form the core of your leadership principles? How do they shape the way you treat your employees, peers, and bosses?
• Is there one small behavior you could change today that would reveal more of the leader you want to be?

The post The Celery Test of Your Leadership appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Great leaders learn the art of crafting the story in which employees can place themselves.

The story has historical underpinnings, heroes, villains, a bit of drama, obstacles to overcome and a goal to be achieved that is just beyond the capabilities of the team but is within reach.

Great leaders give purpose to employees and reveal the behaviors and opportunities which exist.   And the greatest of these great leaders are front line supervisors and managers in their first management role.

Day by day they need to motivate and lead employees on the front lines of the company.  It’s much easier to be leading the VPs through a strategic planning process than it is to walk every day with employees who so often do the same type of work every day of the year.

To be successful at crafting the story, Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, provides us with 6 questions that need to be answered in order to help your employees – and you – believe in the obtainability of the future state to which you are leading.

Perfection is not the goal in this process; you want to be directionally correct.  A good answer is tremendously better than waiting for the perfect answer to be developed.

Here are the questions. . .

1. 1. Why do we exist?
   2. How do we behave?
   3. What do we do?
   4. How will we succeed?
   5. What is most important, right now?
   6. Who must do what?

My advice: Skip a meeting today and leverage that saved hour to develop your answers to these questions.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• What time horizon is in your head as you read and think through question #5?
• What is the story line for your team?  Where’s the journey leading?  Who are the heroes and the villains?
• Get together with a peer leader and talk through your and their answers to the six questions.

The post Crafting the Story: The Critical Questions You Need to Answer as a Leader appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

I think one of the biggest mistakes seemingly well-intentioned organizations make is promoting someone to supervision/management and giving them just a single direct report.

The logic seems to be that by giving them a single employee to manage, they can learn how to lead with less risk and more time to get the hang of it.

But the reality is that these young leaders struggle desperately with how to become a leader and learn how to lead well.

Here are my problems with this approach:

Micromanagement

The leader will have way too much time and energy focused on the “managing” of the single employee.  Laser focusing on the performance and activity enables and almost encourages micromanagement.

Lack of Comparison

Leading well is an outcome of experiences and wisdom gained.  Having to manage more than one employee provides a comparison of tactics, conversations, motivations, and styles from which the leader can begin to gain appreciation for the impacts of different approaches.

Lack of Relationships

The leader will miss out on learning how to guide/influence the relationships among people with a common purpose and goal.  It’s the dynamics within the team that provide the real fun in leadership.

Are We Still Peers?

Since usually the promotion was over one of their former peers, you have added enormous complexity into a relationship that previously was likely cordial and productive.  The new leader is a “working” leader and has similar tasks as before.

The two interact in much the same way and probably still sit in cubicles next to each other or or are on speed dial for Zoom conversations.

But something has changed and it can be quite awkward if not unhealthy.

Great, healthy organizations are good at identifying, building and deploying great people leaders.

They understand the breadth and depth of knowledge and experiences that are required to build effective people leadership behaviors.

They understand that growing leaders who lead well has a tremendous impact on the engagement and productivity of employees.

By the way, the only thing worse than throwing a young leader into a role with one direct report is not getting them trained-up in a good people leadership skills through a dynamic management training program.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• Do you agree with the points made?  Grab a peer manager and discuss your thoughts.
• Are there additional reasons why organizations promote someone to a role with a single direct report? Are these good reasons?
• Rank the four points in order of the worst impact from your perspective – or experience.  Grab a peer manager and review your rankings and rationale.

The post New Manager With One Direct Report = Failure appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

When a leader holds onto a project or work that could be delegated, is he being selfless or selfish?

• Is he supporting and protecting his employees or is he limiting their growth potential?
• Is he making sure things are done right or is he limiting the opportunities for innovation in work product and/or processes?
• Is he buffering his employees from too much work or is he doing work he prefers to do instead of his employees?

Effective empowerment and delegation may just be one of the most difficult behaviors for leaders to master.  There is a tension that exists for leaders in knowing how much leeway to provide and for how long.

Do any of these statements ring true for you. . .

• Once I get a handle on blah, blah, blah then I’ll hand it off to them.
• I know what I want the outcome to be from blah, blah, blah project, so it’s just better for me to work through it.
• I’ll work the extra time to get the work done because I don’t want my employee working the extra time.

The law of tension of empowerment states an employee’s growth in capability is accomplished on the margins of their current capability.  Through healthy delegation and empowerment, employees grow and they enable leaders to lead at higher levels.

Thoughts on healthy tension of empowerment. . .

Delegate Until it Scares You

As the leader, you need to empower and delegate until it hurts and scares you.  Likewise,  you need to empower your employees and delegate until it scares them.

Growing Muscles

You will grow your leadership muscles with the healthy tension.  Pushing yourself to delegate to employees will challenge your margins of capability and push you to learn how to lead empowered employees rather than manage busy employees.

Recognize the Tension

Talk with your employees about the tension, how it feels, why it’s important to stretch for both of you.  The goal must be to create a more effective and productive team which can only be led by an effective and productive leader.

It’s Not a Balance

It is a tension to be managed.

You are being paid to get the most productivity from your employees in a healthy and sustainable way.  Investing in building their capabilities, their expertise, and their belief in themselves produces unbelievably, satisfied and engaged employees.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• How would you describe the relationship between delegation and empowerment?  Go to lunch with a peer leader and discuss your and their thoughts.
• Do you believe it’s right or wrong to delegate until it scares an employee?
• Which of these statements ring true for you:
  • Once I get a handle on blah, blah, blah then I’ll hand it off to them.
  • I know what I want the outcome to be from blah, blah, blah project, so it’s just better for me to work through it
  • I’ll work the extra time to get the work done because I don’t want my employee working the extra time.

The post The Tension of Empowerment and Why You Should Love it as a Leader appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

Your manager briefs her team on a new initiative. Everyone engages. Two weeks later, they’re working at cross-purposes because they understood the “why” so differently that the what fell apart.

Here’s what HR and L&D leaders tell us: “Our teams communicate regularly. But they still can’t trust each other, communicate effectively, or align.”

It’s not a communication frequency problem. It’s a communication language problem.

Why “More Communication” Doesn’t Work

We’ve spent years pushing more communication. Real-time chat. Async updates. Daily standups. Overcommunication became the default response to uncertainty.

But the problem isn’t that people aren’t hearing you. The problem is they’re interpreting what they hear through their own behavioral lens.

Think about your last team meeting. The Direct person heard an urgent call to action. The Influencer heard an opportunity to energize the team. The Steady person heard potential change and got nervous. The Analytical person heard ambiguity and started noting details that need clarifying.

Same message. Four different interpretations. Four different levels of trust in the direction.

The Real Cost of the Gap

A culture trust gap kills performance. When people don’t trust that others understand them, engagement drops. Psychological safety evaporates. People stop speaking up.

But here’s what most leaders miss: the trust gap doesn’t happen because people are bad communicators. It happens because people are speaking in different behavioral dialects and nobody’s translating.

Most organizations respond by adding MORE structure, MORE process, MORE communication. They build project management systems and governance frameworks. These help a little. But they treat the symptom, not the disease.

The disease is this: Your people don’t have a shared language for how different types of people think, prioritize, and work.

Enter: The DiSC® Common Language

DiSC describes four behavioral styles based on how people approach tasks and relationships:

D (Dominance): Direct, results-focused, decisive.

i (Influence): Energetic, collaborative, expressive.

S (Steadiness): Supportive, patient, loyal.

C (Conscientiousness): Analytical, detail-oriented, quality-driven.

None of these is “better.” But they’re different. And when people understand the difference, communication shifts.

That technical person asking clarifying questions isn’t being difficult—they’re being conscientious. The colleague who wants to jump into action isn’t being reckless—they’re being direct. When your team has a shared DiSC language, they stop personalizing behavioral differences and start normalizing them. Trust follows.

How Everything DiSC® on Catalyst Makes This Real

Here’s where most DiSC implementations fail: People take the assessment, have a “wow” conversation or training session, then forget about it.

Not with Catalyst. Everything DiSC on Catalyst is a platform that lives in your daily workflow. After your team completes the assessment, they get access to:

Your DiSC Style: A personalized narrative showing how your style shows up under pressure, in conflict, and under change.

Your Colleagues: Look up colleagues and see how to work more effectively with them. Before a 1:1, pull up your manager’s profile. Before a kickoff, map everyone’s styles and anticipate friction.

Your Groups: See your team’s collective profile, strengths, and where the style mix might create friction. Design how you communicate so everyone feels heard.

Ongoing Modules: Interactive content on workplace priorities, managing conflict, building relationships, and adapting to other styles.

The result? 74% of learners return to Catalyst repeatedly. It’s not a one-time event—it’s an everyday tool.

What Changes When Your Culture Has a DiSC Foundation

Better Onboarding: New hires know their style and their team’s styles on day one. They stop guessing how to work with their manager.

Fewer Misunderstandings: When conflict happens, people have a framework. “She’s direct-wired to make fast decisions” is a very different conversation than “She doesn’t trust my judgment.”

Stronger Cross-Functional Collaboration: You can design decisions so both voices—the data-driven person and the speed-focused person—get heard. Collaboration becomes partnership, not negotiation.

Real Change Management: When change happens, you can communicate it in ways that land for different people. You’re not just announcing change—you’re building confidence in it.

Why This Time Is Different

You might be thinking: “We’ve done personality assessments before. Nothing really changed.” Fair point.

DiSC Catalyst is different for three reasons:

It’s built for organizations, not individuals. Your whole team takes it together, so the shared language is immediate.

It lives in the work. People pull up Catalyst before meetings, before decisions, before conflicts. It’s an everyday tool, not an annual training event.

It drives measurable outcomes. Organizations that adopt behavior-based approaches see increased team performance, better talent identification, reduced turnover, and stronger cultures.

Coaching Thoughts

Your teams talk. They just don’t align. And that gap costs you in engagement, retention, and performance. But it’s fixable. It’s not about changing people. It’s about helping them understand each other differently.

The question isn’t whether your teams will communicate differently when they have DiSC as a common language. The question is: What will change when they finally understand each other?

Start there.

Lean more about Everything DiSC on Catalyst.

The post The Culture Trust Gap: Why Your Teams Talk But Don’t Align—And How DiSC® Fixes It appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.

There’s your boss swaggering down the hallway on the way to his next meeting.  He has no clue how much he doesn’t know about leading well.

You’ve just completed your super impactful #Leadwell people leadership training program and now you know just how far from a great leader your boss really is. 

Instead of sliding into the dark vortex of cynicism, you should look for ways to help train your boss from the following list.

Share Your DiSC Style/Profile

Give him a copy of your DiSC profile and talk to him about your style, how you are motivated/demotivated, how you react under stress, and all your insight on different styles.  (See video on DiSC)

Ask Him

Look in his eyes and ask him. . .

• how he’s doing today
• how’s he surviving the battle of meetings
• what’s the best thing to happen so far today
• how’s his daughter doing with her college search
• what one task could you do to help him

Prompt with Success & Stumble

Send him a daily email with very brief bullets:  one success you had the previous day as a leader and one stumble you had as a leader.

Say Thank You

Find something that you appreciate about his leadership – yes, you may have to look hard – and compliment him with a sincere, appreciative thanks.

Give a “Twitteresque” Article/Podcast/TED Talk/Blog Review

Send him a link to a leadership article you’ve just read and your 140 character review revealing what you learned.

LinkedIn Profile

Review his profile and summary of current position.  Share 2 or 3 things you’re impressed with in his job/background.

While your boss may truly be leadership challenged, it’s more likely that he just never had the opportunity to participate in good people leadership training so he’s unaware of the role he could play in your life.

Coaching Thoughts – For You and Your Peers

• How do you think your boss will react to your attempts at training him?
• Assume you’ve moved forward on all the ideas and your boss is leading better.  Would you expect him to say thank you?  Why? Why Not?
• If you turned the tables and performed all these ideas with your employees, how might they react?

The post 6 Ways You Can Train Your Boss to Be a Better Leader appeared first on Bishop House Consulting.