So, after a few months driving the struggle bus up Mount Endless E-mail Reminders & into the Valley of Performance Improvement Plans, you finally break down & admit that maybe you could possibly benefit from one of those management classes. You get about 30 flyers a month from them anyway, so obviously they have the answers. The selection of their training is quite impressive! Managing the Difficult Employee? Check! Management for First Time Managers? Check, double check! Managing the Diverse Workplace? Speak to my soul! How to Get Your Team to Bring Baked Goods on Fridays & Feed You Grapes from the Slim, Milk White Hands of a Gaggle of Virgins? Sign me up!

            The problem with these training classes is that they focus on the same thing that landed you in the predicament of being responsible for leading people but having no leadership skills – they focus on behavior. You were promoted for the way you acted & what you produced. And while this is very important, because the success or failure of an organization depends on what you can produce, the motivation behind your behavior is entirely separate from the actual behavior. The same is true whether this is a behavior that’s judged as good, like meeting a deadline, or a behavior that’s judged as bad, like not meeting a deadline.