Leadership Development Articles

Learn How Otter Tail and Polaris Drive Business Transformation

MDA supports organizations with business transformation by aligning their business and talent strategy and leveraging best practice solutions. Read this Twin Cities Business article to learn how we supported Otter Tail Corporation and Polaris Inc. with this important work, leading to extraordinary growth and success for both organizations.

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5 Signs That Show Motivation to Make a Difference

How do you know which of your leaders has potential and the motivation to make a difference? When speculating about what drives leaders, organizations make assumptions all too often. Instead, Dr. Sandra Davis shares five behaviors leaders can use to spot potential in others, and how to awaken their motivation.

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Taking the Long View: Developing Future Fit Leaders

There are five leading-edge workplace trends that are driving explosive changes in the ways we connect, work, learn, and lead. Jim Laughlin presents MDA’s speculative Future Fit Leader model that leverages these trends along with futurist’s forecasts, research reports, and competency-based analysis, plus dialogue and insights from MDA’s leadership development experts and executive coaches.

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Leading Organizational Transformation: The View from the Top

As companies of all types and sizes are battered by the waves of changing technology, customer demands, and threats from potential disruptors, how can executives successfully transform their organizations? Organizational transformation can be daunting, but readily attainable, through strong leadership and solid change management practices, according to a panel of highly respected CEOs. Learn their seven organizational and personal success factors here.

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The Future Fit Organization: Transforming Through Disruption

This article is based on a presentation delivered at the Human Resources Leadership Forum on February 6, 2020. It was written the following week, before COVID-19 accelerated into a global crisis. We are now in the midst of the fifth pandemic in 20 years, and the most far-reaching. There were just three pandemics in the prior 100 years. While organizations must understandably act as “first responders” and address the acute effects of the present crisis, it is imperative that they turn as quickly as possible to developing the capabilities for a future world of work marked by disruptions.

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Buckle Up for Blended Learning

Many organizations turned to a blended learning approach that has now become the new normal in our pandemic world. But what is it, exactly? How did we get here, how do you do it well and why is it so effective that experts think it’s poised to take over corporate learning for the long haul?

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Virtual Commuting: A Leadership Practice with Surprising Benefits

There is no denying it: Commuting offers a number of benefits that many of us are in desperate need of right now as we struggle to stay resilient in this hybrid work environment. In our coaching practice, MDA Leadership’s executive coaches have begun encouraging overstretched leaders to reclaim these benefits by establishing a “virtual commute” in their work-from-home routines. We encourage you to do the same. Here are some practical steps you can take to establish your own virtual commute.

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Failing to Succeed as a Leader (Part 1)

Fearing failure and not recognizing its deep and enriching gifts may be our ultimate failure as leaders. Learn five practical strategies to embrace failure that not only allow you to develop individually, but improve relationships and transform workplaces.

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Failing to Succeed as a Leader (Part 2)

All organizations must succeed to survive. But for sustained excellence, they must balance accountability and the need for results with a bone-deep willingness and commitment to try, fail, and learn. Five practices and policies that can help achieve that balance by embracing smart failures are provided.

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At MDA Leadership, we know there are no one-size-fits-all solutions for every organization. We take the time to get to know your business and your leadership needs and recommend a range of options that are the best fit for your growth goals. Let's see how MDA Leadership can optimize your Talent Strategy for the Long Run®.