What an amazing line-up contributions for the May Leadership Development Carnival. A heartfelt thanks to all the thought leaders who contributed to this diverse collection. I would like to also personally thank the LD Carnival founder, Dan McCarthy, for an opportunity to host this edition. This is particularly exciting for me since Dan was the first blogger I had a “real” conversation with when I started as a novice blogger in June. He offered great insights and began connecting me with others. As I put together the carnival, it was wonderful to see the submissions pouring in from so many fantastic people I have met and grown with since then.

Being a Better Boss

Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership shares his post, 6 Types of Bosses. Dan answers the question we all wonder from time to time, ” “If all of this leadership development stuff is supposed to be so great, then why are there so many bad bosses?”

Collaboration

Jon Mertz shares his post, In Collaboration We Trust from his blog Thin Difference. Collaboration succeeds when trust is active and trust is embedded in interactions, mission, connections, and progress forward.

Empowerment

Jim Taggart of Changing Winds shares his post, No Soup for You! Tales of Amazing Customer Service. This post is about customer service and how some organizations create a self-empowering workplace for their employees to provide extra-ordinary service.

Tanveer Naseer of Tanveer Naseer Leadership  asks Do You Give Your Power Away At Work? and then offers practical solutions to help ensure your voice is heard.

The Power of Letting Go

Lolly Daskal of Lead From Within shares: When we are faced with problems the first thing we want to do is identify it, define it, examine it, analyze it and seek solutions. What if we could try something new?” Read on Don’t Solve Your Problems.

Julie Winkle Giulioni also talks about letting go in her Lead Change Group post, Letting Go with Grace. Excessive attachments in today’s warp-speed world shape not only who we become – but what our organizations become. Could ‘holding on’ be holding us back?

Tim Milburn of timmilburn.com shares his post. How To Wait When The Waiting Is Hard. We all have to wait for things. Here are some ideas to make the most of those times when the waiting is difficult.

Execution

Jesse Lyn Stoner of Seapoint Center shares her insights on The Space Between Supervising Closely and Delegating Most of us know what it looks like when you are Supervising Closely or Delegating. But the space between is large and undefined and very important. It’s the space where growth occurs and relationships are forged. This post explains what leadership looks like in that space.

Susan Mazza shares her post, It Sounds Great In Theory from her blog Random Acts of Leadership. Just because something “sounds great in theory” doesn’t mean we can immediately implement it. This post explains how to lessen the gap between theory and action.

Randy Conley shares two key factors of high performance that are completely under your control. If you’re a leader, you’ll want to see how these two factors relate to the people you manage. Two Things Your Boss Should Never Have to Talk to You About from his blog, Leading With Trust

Performance Management

HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby, provides a step-by-step guide to coaching an employee in her post, HOW TO: Have a Performance Conversation with an Employee

Joel Garfinkle shares Have to Let Someone Go? Follow These Tips to Make it as Painless as Possible in his Career Advancement Blog.

Career

Mary Ila Ward of The Point, Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development shares her post, Know your Value. Part of a series of posts on personal leadership, this post discusses the importance of leaders in knowing and establishing their value in the workplace.

Learning

Julie Winkle Giulioni of juliewinklegiulioni.com writes about Unpacking Learning. Leaders dedicate considerable effort to engineer training and development opportunities their employees. The problem is that completing the experience leaves the work half done. The real benefit comes when we help others unpack the learning from the experiences they have.

John Hunter of Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog writes about The Art of Discovery. It’s a video with George Box explaining the importance of directed experimentation with informed observers to improve performance.

Change

Miki Saxon of MAPping Company Success http://mappingcompanysuccess.com shares her post Ducks in a Row: 7 Steps to Change. When you want to create change, whether of culture, process or something else, there are seven steps you need to follow whether you are CEO or a first line supervisor.

Culture

Chris Young of the Human Capital Strategy Blog asks Are You Creating an Avoidance Culture? Perhaps you have worked for a boss who was difficult to approach – a person you actually came to avoid. Chris offers ways to avoid a culture of avoidance.

Linda Fisher Thornton shares 15 Ways to Encourage Moral Growth in Leadership in her blog, Leading in Context. She has compiled a list of 15 things that we can do in our organizations to encourage ethical awareness and moral growth. These elements can be applied as part of ongoing leadership development in any organization.

Organizational culture guru S. Chris Edmonds outlines three “what” questions that can help you get traction on desired culture changes on his Blog Driving Results Through Culture. See Get Traction on Your Desired Culture

Lisa Kohn of The Thoughtful Leaders Blog presents Conflict is Good-5 Ways to Make It Even Better! She presents a few simple, but not so easy, steps to take that can help make conflict more effective and productive.

That concludes the Leadership Development Carnival For May. The June Leadership Development Carnival will be hosted by Dan McCarthy on June 3rd.