Tag: leadership
To Make Change Successful, Focus on Talk and Trust
Change is often seen as creative and necessary. It can be invigorating, in the sense of a fresh start. But change is also almost irrepressibly hard. When we first try to give up a personal... Continue reading
Manage Better by Understanding Mistakes and Why People Make Them
Many companies use some kind of program for “measuring quality,” but the result of these assessment is typically expressed in “error rates.” Error rates are pretty worthwhile when they’re used to identify process steps that... Continue reading
Are You Coaching? Or Just Waving Your Arms?
A lot of what passes for coaching -- in workplaces, in homes, even on kids’ sports teams -- is really just a lot of exhortations and fervent repetitions of normative statements. It doesn’t help the... Continue reading
A Positive Charge for a Negative Employee
How do you handle a perpetually negative employee? You may get an idea from this bit of conversation that I had with a distressed client about a pivotal but consistently negative staff member we’ll refer... Continue reading
Can You Lead the Way Out of Bad Behavior?
In any organization -- and it only takes two people to make an organization -- you’ll be exposed to bad behavior from time to time. This is true in all kinds of settings: at school,... Continue reading
Are You a Leader Who Knows How to Listen?
For the past six weeks I’ve been writing about why employees need to be able to give their bosses feedback -- and what both managers and organizations lose when they discourage that feedback. Now it’s... Continue reading
Don’t Be a Leader Who Makes People Powerless
If you manage others, you may find it hard to believe that your subordinates aren’t comfortable engaging with you about the work and the workplace. But don’t assume it’s because they’re apathetic or weak. Leading... Continue reading
When, Where, and How to Give Your Boss Feedback
How do you get someone to hear you when it’s not their tendency to listen? If you want to speak candidly with management, give yourself the best chance of having an impact by choosing timing... Continue reading