Tag: leadership
How to Handle Workplace Tantrums and Meltdowns
A manager in a creative industry wrote in to ask how she can deal with a colleague who regularly throws hissy fits, all of which follow a similar pattern. The Hisser has a periodic and... Continue reading
How Can You Get Your Manager to Let You Help?
I heard from a middle manager who struggles with his senior manager’s unclear delegation and occasional absence of direction. The senior manager constantly shifts assignments, switching up what’s urgent today and what’s important tomorrow with... Continue reading
How a Lack of Feedback Can Undermine Job Security
A seasoned executive was venting to me about her dissatisfaction with the work of a longtime employee. Over time, the employee seems to have succumbed to a combination of habitual carelessness and general lack of... Continue reading
What Happens When Customer Needs Derail Employee Work Rules?
Sometimes the right thing for an organization to do for a customer and the fair thing to do for an employee are both really obvious but in direct conflict with each other. This story shows... Continue reading
Avoid the Pitfall of Indirect Authority
Isn’t it annoying when management bobbles the ball, and then can’t understand why the rest of the team is stumbling around in disarray instead of flawlessly executing plays? Performance can be compromised when a senior... Continue reading
3 Stories: “Just Get It Done” Damages Performance
It’s not enough to announce to your staff, “Just get it done!” Because either they will or they won’t. If a manager communicates performance feedback without a real understanding of how the job gets done... Continue reading
6 Ways Not to Put a Problem on the Table
Let’s say you’ve identified a problem in your organization -- something that’s not working well or isn’t working at all, something that you know should be fixed or changed. And let’s say you’ve already analyzed... Continue reading
4 Steps to Clarify Your Assumptions in a Conflict
We may talk about the importance of not making assumptions, but we all make them, automatically, all the time. We tend to believe that other people are more like us than not, which explains some... Continue reading