Category: Leadership
How Feedback Can Fail and What to Do Instead
I recently surprised a COO by giving him very different advice about a business problem from what he had heard from others. Here’s the situation: Through the grapevine, a bunch of junior R&D folks expressed... Continue reading
How to Cope with Post-Election Impact in the Workplace
I’m writing this post a few days before the historic presidential election of 2016. No matter who wins, an enormous number of people are going to feel horrified and upset. After all of the heated... Continue reading
How to Keep Progress Going and Be a Leadership Success
“Nothing’s happening! Why isn’t anything happening?” Strategy, planning, and communication are all crucial parts of leadership and organizational life. But it’s execution that most people really notice, from the CEO to the most junior frontline... Continue reading
These Are Tried and Tested Ways to Make Better Team Decisions
When leaders make decisions skillfully, everyone on the team wins. But when leaders are poor decision-makers, the team’s performance and culture suffer, and individual team members can lose confidence and become disengaged. Unfortunately, though, team... Continue reading
What Are the Best Ways Leaders Make Up Their Minds?
Smart, effective decision-making is one of the most important and complex parts of team or organizational leadership. Leaders make up their minds based on what they already believe and the way they operate; then they... Continue reading
Here’s How to Work with Micromanagers to Help Them Get Better Results
Some managers who’ve risen through the ranks become overly controlling once they begin to exercise authority. They squelch subordinates’ ability to take risks, develop, and contribute, both individually and collectively. Here are two examples I’ve... Continue reading
7 Surprisingly Simple Secrets to Managing Millennials
Many of my clients have expressed confusion and frustration about the challenges of working with Millennials, including their tendency to expect everything to be easy and straightforward; their need to be “spoon fed” and treated... Continue reading
When You Have to Deal with the Painful Responsibility of Staff Failure
I just got a call from a senior leader: A community outreach staffer was causing his management team some consternation. When he was hired 18 months ago, he’d approached every job with zest, volunteered for... Continue reading