By Lisa Steingold Every leader knows that collaboration is the key to success in any business. But collaboration doesn’t just mean working together; it means harnessing the power of the sum of the parts. It’s this alchemy that produces increased productivity, more significant innovation, and problem-solving ability. “No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole … [Read more...]
6 Ways to Improve Collaboration in Your Company
Guest post by Emma Grace Brown Today, most progressive companies focus on teamwork. By allowing your employees to work as a team, you'll boost their morale and productivity. While working as a team, employees will share ideas and develop cost-effective, efficient solutions to business problems. The benefits of collaboration: Saves time and speeds up production More … [Read more...]
Avoiding Cliques on Your Hybrid Team
If you’ve become a leader in the last year or two, you’ve begun your career in the weirdest, most complex circumstances imaginable. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one of the main challenges is the increase in hybrid teams. It’s enough of a challenge when all your people are in one location. When everyone is remote, there are similar but unique challenges. But when … [Read more...]
How You Can Create Collaboration on Your Hybrid Team
by Kevin Eikenberry We need our teams to collaborate to get great results. Often, we think of collaboration as a face-to-face activity. Have you figured out how to do that at a distance from some or all of the team? Do you know what you need to do to create hybrid collaboration? Here are three things you can do right now to start changing the level and success of your … [Read more...]
What Do I Do When People Don’t Want to Change?
Joni showed up at her boss Bob’s office more frustrated than he’d ever seen her. Joni was a relatively new supervisor and had been developing well, but on this day, she seemed different. When Bob asked what was wrong, her frustration came out immediately. “What do you do when people don’t want to change,” she asked. Bob smiled and asked her to explain. “You know the new … [Read more...]
The First Delegation Question
Delegation is one of the most important skills for leaders to master. That's right, it's a skill. If you don't get this first question right from the outset, your efforts at delegating could be doomed to fail. https://youtu.be/pfxlM9in1gE?rel=0&showinfo=0 Tweet it out: Do you know why you are delegating? The wrong answer will lead to terrible results. (Hint, it isn't … [Read more...]
3 Teamwork Lessons from Our Founding Fathers
Quint Studer, author of Building a Vibrant Community: How Citizen-Powered Change Is Reshaping America has traveled across America observing communities, from the smallest towns to the largest cities. As he interacts with so many diverse Americans, he has seen a predominant theme: People who work together, win together. "In communities where people come together, put their … [Read more...]
Dealing With Creative Block
Two big ideas that have huge implications for you as a leader are swirling in my head. I am struggling valiantly (at least in my mind) to align the ideas in a way that briefly and meaningfully conveys them. I find myself in a creative block. Okay, here goes … Idea Number One: Leadership teacher and author John Maxwell says: Everything rises and falls on leadership. It seems … [Read more...]
Break a Stalemate and Start Executing
Gaining team consensus is a huge win. After all, it means everyone is on the same page, and that you can more easily move forward and begin making progress. What happens, however, when you can't reach consensus? In team settings, it's certainly not abnormal (nor it is it a bad thing) for members to disagree. What can often happen, though, is that some members refuse to … [Read more...]
6 Ways to Nurture Professional Relationships
As a new leader, how much time do you spend each day building, nurturing and maintaining professional relationships with upper management? Your coworkers? What about your employees? Too many people reach a leadership position and decide to focus only on building relationships with those people up the ladder or on the same rung as them. They seem to think that their new … [Read more...]