Eventually, a major crisis will impact your company. It’s not a matter of “if” but of “when.” And while COVID-19 is the most obvious disruptor, it’s certainly not the last. We all face a new era of uncertainty, volatility, and disruption. Organizations are rocked by technological shake-ups, shifting consumer habits, and political and social unrest, not to mention internal … [Read more...]
Picking Alternatives to Email
by Wayne Turmel New leaders rely on the skills we had as teammates and the habits that made us successful. But what if there’s one thing you did that wasn’t as productive as you thought it was, and now is a great time to change? We’re talking about the over use and abuse of email. As team members, there’s a pretty good chance we were “that person.” You know, the one who … [Read more...]
Transitioning to Your Leadership Role with a Hybrid Team
by Guy Harris The transition from individual contributor to leader calls for changes in at least three areas of your work life: your relationships, your skills, and your mindset. Managing these three transitions simultaneously is almost always a challenge, and the challenge is made even more difficult when you work with a "hybrid" work in the office/work from home … [Read more...]
Set Expectations That Employees Fully Understand
"What do you expect?" People say that all the time in an earnest or quizzical way, or sometimes with outright exasperation. However, more often than not, people simply think it without ever taking the extra step to clarify what is expected of them. That leads to mistakes, conflict, shoddy work and productivity losses, because your employees and coworkers ask or think of … [Read more...]
The Leadership Secret to Getting More Done
One of the things I notice as I work with new leaders is a tendency to accept work practices and processes as fixed entities. In some cases, company procedures, processes and work practices are mandated from a level far removed from the front-line supervisor, and they are relatively fixed. However, in most cases, front-line supervisors have more flexibility and … [Read more...]
How to Master the Art of Respectful Truth-Telling
Most people have suppressed their true feelings to avoid conflict at work. “When you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, it’s best to be prepared,” says Jackie Gaines, Wearing the Yellow Suit: A Guide for Women in Leadership “Having an idea of the actual words you plan to use ahead of time makes the experience easier and will help you feel calm and in control … [Read more...]
How to Keep a Conflict From Escalating
When I work with clients, I often see judgment driving much of the thinking during a conflict conversation. Rather than a genuine curiosity for understanding where the other person is coming from, one or both people judge the other person's intentions. Here's how I see the difference between these two attitudes: An attitude of judgment says: “They're trying to take … [Read more...]
Focus Your Employees on What’s Important Right Now
For years I've asked people, "What's the good word today?" My intention always was to get people thinking about something positive, and if they were thinking something positive, to share it with me so I could benefit too. Unfortunately far too often people can't come up with a good word, or in many cases, a word at all. Hearing negative feedback isn't easy, especially for … [Read more...]
Helping Grief-Stricken Employees
Death is an incredibly tough subject to discuss, and one we are confronted with daily these days, but it's also been an issue that managers and leaders have dealt with for a long time. How should you act when an employee loses a loved one? What should you say? How do you respond without coming across as invasive? When one of your employees suffers the loss of a loved one, … [Read more...]
A Lesson I Learned the Hard Way: Data Tells and Stories Sell
Early in my career, I worked in the plastics industry as a process and product development engineer. At the time, I had a degree in chemical engineering, and I had just completed service as a nuclear engineering officer in the U.S. Navy. I had a pretty good technical background, and I knew almost nothing about polymers. This lack of knowledge created a bit of a problem for … [Read more...]