"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...]
Lessons From a Lifeguard: A Drowning Man Doesn’t Care About You
Communication, conflict resolution and leadership, at times, resemble working as a lifeguard. In all these situations, you can, like a lifeguard, be in the position of approaching someone else when they are under distress because their needs are not being met. Picture a drowning man. He is flailing in the water. He is grasping at everything and everyone within reach. He has … [Read more...]
Tips for a Fun, Energizing, SUCCESSFUL Summer
While it's not officially summer for a couple of weeks, many of us already feel like the season is here. Hot weather, the close of school for summer break, cook outs, and vacations have us in a summer state of mind. As leaders, we must understand all that summer brings, while still keeping a focus on productivity and results. The challenge, as is often the case in life, is … [Read more...]
Three Questions to Ask on Your First Day as a New Leader
Many new leaders start their leadership journey with one, big question: “Where do I start?” It’s a great question with an answer that is often clouded by uncertainty, overwhelm, and, doubt. To help you sort out the answer to that question, I propose you ask three other questions on your first day as a new leader. After you answer these three questions, you can focus on the … [Read more...]
New to Leadership? Take These Steps Immediately
Every day people are promoted into new positions of leadership. If you are among those ranks and taking on your first leadership role—whether you will occupy the c-suite, a corner office or a cubicle on the shop floor—here are the very first steps you should take to ensure your success in your new supervisory role. #1 Take a leadership assessment Ask your boss, coworkers and … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Recharge Your Mind, Spirit and Productivity
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...]
The Compassion Paradox
Effective leaders are comfortable with paradox. They can call on skills and work in ways that seem to be contradictory. Dictionary.com defines paradox as “a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.” As I study the field, I find many paradoxes associated with leadership. I see that developing the skills of a great leader requires us to work in apparently … [Read more...]
5 Communication Red Flags
People desperately want to feel connected, especially now when so many are working remotely. Helping employees feel like they’re an integral part of a caring, trusted team is not just a nice thing for companies to do; it’s more like a survival strategy. The highest levels of performance require that people care about and understand each other and feel cared about and understood … [Read more...]