As you struggle to balance your work and life, two things you're likely desiring are more time and more energy. Especially, now when the lines between work and life tends is blurry—you can feel short on both. As you worry about not having enough time to do everything you want to do, your stress levels climb and your energy levels plummet. And that creates this vicious cycle … [Read more...]
When You Become a Leader Among Peers
Promotions are amazing. After all, they validate your ability and leadership skills. However, many first-time supervisors struggle with the transition from being "just one of the team" to leading the team. It can be hard to imagine managing people you once saw as friends, and you can worry about whether they will accept you as their leader. Some managers aim to overcome the … [Read more...]
The Power of Incremental Improvement
Many years ago, when asked what the most powerful force in the universe was, Albert Einstein said, “compound interest.” What I am writing about today, might be, with all due respect to Albert, just as powerful. The reason is that in many ways, they are the same thing: compound interest allows your money to grow on itself and incremental improvement allows your skills and … [Read more...]
7 Fundamentals of Successful Problem Solving
Everyone has problems. Big problems, little problems, work problems, relationship problems. Pick an area of your life, and you probably have at least one issue you are dealing with. When you step into management, you pretty much become a professional problem solver. And if you haven't received any kind of training on the subject (like many first-time supervisors), the role … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Share Bad News With Employees
No doubt, bad news has been the norm lately, and you may have already had to be be the bearer of it more than once. As a leader, especially a new leader, the last thing you want to do is deliver bad news to your employees, who may assume that you are somehow responsible for it. Unfortunately, you will have to make unpopular decisions, enforce changes that are initially seen as … [Read more...]
4 Ways to Promote Remote Team Collaboration
Maybe when you started your leadership gig you had no plans of managing a virtual team, but the pandemic forced you to adapt quickly. Maybe you were hired specifically to manage a virtual team or a hybrid team, with some employees on site and others working remotely. Or maybe as times have changed, your team has morphed in to all or partially virtual. Regardless how you got … [Read more...]
Schedule “Gratitude” on Your Calendar This Week
"Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you." – Eileen Caddy In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, and it is appropriate, perhaps even expected, to find reasons to be grateful. Of course, the reality is that we should find reasons to feel grateful every single day, and … [Read more...]
Another Way to Think About Time Management
In our Bud to Boss workshops, I often get asked about time management from a leadership perspective. How to be better at it and how to stop wasting it. While I have read much about this topic and continually try to get better at it, I am increasingly clear that we are all starting from the wrong place. When I look at a clock it just keeps ticking. It doesn’t matter what I … [Read more...]
A Simple Leadership Message on Election Day
If you live in the United States, you likely know it is Election Day. Direct mail, yard signs, neighborhood canvassers, radio and television ads and more – all add up to an important day in the life of a democracy. This post isn’t about politics, and while I have often written about what we can learn from politicians as leaders, the lesson today is different. The lesson … [Read more...]
Should You Ever Be Silly?
As leaders, we're often convinced that we need to be serious and put together all the time, but is that realistic or even recommended? I believe a certain amount of silliness and playfulness belongs in leadership. In part because being a great leader requires you to be transparent and real. All real human beings laugh, are playful and have fun sometimes, don’t they? Have … [Read more...]