4 Ways to Ease the Pain of Interdepartmental Conflict
When departments operate in silos -- say operations wants to streamline processes while sales seeks to please customers by customizing -- the result can be repeated misunderstanding and extreme mistrust. Even otherwise reasonable employees can... Continue reading
How to Get the Best from Your HR Department
Too often, I hear leaders and staff in all kinds of organizations express a lack of confidence in their human resources departments. For many senior executives, this lack of confidence is actually a lack of... Continue reading
This is a Surprising Twist to Try When You Give Feedback
Standard guidelines for performance feedback call for content that’s specific, behavioral rather than personal, consistent, and delivered immediately after the triggering situation. But I’d like to suggest an alternative approach. If the behavior you’re trying... Continue reading
2 Never-Fail Rules to Make Change Initiatives Successful
Last week I facilitated a senior staff meeting that focused on silo-busting and improving cross-departmental collaboration. The group leader wrote to me afterwards to say he was very happy with how things went, and asked... Continue reading
Warning! Coaching Won’t Resolve These 5 Problems
Lately, more and more leadership development, employee feedback, and general management is being outsourced from actual business decision-makers to Human Resources business partners and professional coaches. But coaching isn’t necessarily the answer for every employee... Continue reading
What Can You Do When a Customer Explodes?
I just watched a customer take offense in a situation where no one was actually in the wrong. She reached into an awkward -- although salvageable -- circumstance, and pulled out a negative experience for... Continue reading
What to Do When You Have Trouble Praising Employees
Practically every executive knows that praise is a crucial management tool. Gallup research shows that when managers recognize employees’ strengths and positive characteristics, rather than focusing on their weaknesses and negative characteristics, employee engagement goes... Continue reading
In HBR: How to Manage Someone Who Thinks Everything Is Urgent
This article originally appeared on hbr.org. We’ve all been in situations in which we couldn’t wait for a slow-moving or overly cautious employee to take action. But at the other extreme, some employees have such a deep... Continue reading