What is the difference between the terms leadership and management? Sometimes the two terms are misused or confused. Often they are used interchangeably in the same conversation. Though to do so can be misleading in most cases. In this brief 3 minute video, KC&A principal Whitney Tate discusses the differences between leadership and management. She explores how leadership can be completely independent of management and how management can be implemented without leadership. She also demonstrates when the two can align together, as well as, when and how doing so can lead to great effectiveness in the workplace. Our company has been providing effective Leadership Development services to companies and organizations for over 40 years. If we can be helpful to you, please let us know. 

We are pleased to announce the launch of our podcast, Brain Chatter. Click here to listen. Episodes will also be uploaded to major podcast platforms, so you can access them where ever you listen to podcasts.   WHAT IS BRAIN CHATTER? Effective leadership in our daily life and work requires each of us to wisely sort through a tremendous amount of ‘daily noise.’ We all want to become better at hearing and processing what matters and hear past what doesn’t, without disruption or derailment. Brain Chatter is a series of interviews with organizational leaders on the front lines of leadership who are skilled at doing just that. These are leaders who lead themselves, their teams, and their organizations with clarity. In each episode a guest offers their insights into what works and what doesn’t at the critical intersection of Leadership, Workplace Culture, Profit, and Sustainability. Among the front line leaders…

Performance Management and the Disciplinary Conversation by Ken Chapman, Ph.D.   Listen to an audio version of this article by clicking here: Ken Chapman and Associates, Inc. · Performance Management And The Disciplinary Conversation   Almost inevitably, one or more of the people who report to you will act in an unacceptable way.  An hourly worker is repeatedly late; a service rep blows up at a customer; a manager makes an inappropriate comment to a report.  Occasionally, such actions are so egregious that the offending employee must be discharged.  Far more often, though, the faulty behavior doesn’t call for such an extreme step, but it is up to the leader to take appropriate corrective action. The first thing to be clear about here is what you want to achieve.  Should the goal of company disciplinary policies be to punish, to mete out some form of justice?  Or instead should it…

Leaders embrace change because they know opportunity resides within every change. Without change, there would be no prospect for growth, development or advancement. Leaders help others accept change and grow through it. ─Deb Miller─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

Rumors spread around the workplace are often sensational. Despite the adage, smoke is not always accompanied by fire when it comes to rumors. Sometimes there is just a smoke screen of jealousy, insecurity, misinformation, or confusion. A leader separates rumor from truth, does not spread rumors, and holds accountable those who do. ─ Derek Conrad Brown ─ Ken Chapman & Associates

Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce the selection of Derek Conrad Brown as president of the forty-year-old firm.  Derek originally joined KC&A in 2012. Previously, he was owner of a startup tech company, which he managed with his business partner for nine years in Anniston, Alabama. Derek is a graduate of Samford University, was a member of the Alabama Leadership Initiative’s Class of 2008, and holds a professional certificate in Longevity Training from the University of Southern California. He is the past president of the Rotary Club of Anniston and has served as a vice president of the Rotary Club of Birmingham. He is currently the chair of the non-partisan Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama’s Roundtable. In addition to having served on a number of charity boards of directors, Derek volunteers with the Freshwater Land Trust’s Adopt-A-Trail program and the American Legion Alabama Boy’s State. Derek…

Ken Chapman and Associates, Inc. · The Role Of Trust In A Safety Ownership Culture The Role of Trust in a Safety Ownership Culture By  Ken Chapman, Co-Author of Safety Beyond The Numbers When asked, most people list trust as the “must have” of personal and professional relationships. For most people, it is hard to overstate the value of trust. And in a safety ownership culture, trust is indispensable. In fact, nothing matters more! In a safety ownership culture, trust has all the characteristics we usually associate with it — and much more. Telling the truth, accepting full responsibility for one’s self, keeping ones promises and talking to others not about them are obvious ways of earning trust. But in a safety ownership culture the less obvious ways of earning trust are just as essential. The less obvious ways of earning trust begin with a particular way of thinking about…

You may recognize the letters “QWERTYUIOP.” If you think about your keyboard, you will recognize them as the sequence of the first row of letters. Because the keyboard is a product of the machine age, you would assume its letters are arranged to make typing easy. You’d be wrong. In fact, the opposite is true. The first keyboards, which appeared in the 1800s, had a different sequence. Typists were learning to type so fast that the original machines would jam up. Until the machines could be made faster, the design engineers rearranged the letters into an illogical sequence to slow the typists down. However, by the time keyboards were made more responsive, everyone had learned the new layout and did not want to change back. Leaders know the phrase “We’ve always done it that way!” is a red flag — signaling the need to thoughtfully consider a newly proposed approach.…

The Latin phrase age quod agis loosely translates, “Work hard at what you do well.” We’ve all been told at some time or another we should work on our opportunities for improvement. While it’s important to minimize behaviors which may not serve us well, leaders know their strengths and work to enhance them. The great philosopher Dolly Parton put it another way: “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” ─ Deb Miller ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.

Leaders value truth. They understand that the greatest courtesy they can extend to their team is to speak the truth about performance. Leaders avoid falling into the trap of misplaced compassion — while trying to avoid hurt feelings, and thus, hurting the person by failing to be truthful. Leaders know that the human need to make sense out of things requires that they know where they stand. ─ Christy Beem ─ Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.