The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Donuts and Other Insights on Teaming from the Latest Leadership Caffeine Jam Session
Our March Leadership Caffeine Jam Session (recording here) was all about finding the magic with teams. As usual, the chat stream commentary from our attendees was fabulous. I’m sharing some insights from this 50-minute session. (Note: If you’ve not heard of or...
Donuts and Other Insights on Teaming from the Latest Leadership Caffeine Jam Session
Our March Leadership Caffeine Jam Session was all about finding the magic with teams. As usual, the chat stream commentary from our attendees was fabulous. I’m sharing some insights from this 50-minute session.
Just One Thing: Talent without Unity of Purpose Equals a Failed Team
The essence of good leadership includes not only bringing great talent to the party, but also creating an environment that encourages people to come together around a clear and compelling purpose. How hard are you working at moving beyond the targets and numbers to help your team discover and focus on its’ unifying purpose?
Leadership Caffeine™: How to Survive a Sudden Promotion Into Leadership
One of the oddities of organizational life is the fairly frequent and sudden promotion of individuals from competent individual contributor to someone responsible for the work of others…supervisor or manager, without any visible sign of mentoring or support for the newly in-charge individual. “Congratulations…go get ‘em Tiger.” Here are 6 ideas to help you survive this challenging new assignment:
Leadership Caffeine™-5 Priceless Lessons from Amundsen and Scott
In preparation for an upcoming presentation, I’ve become a bit obsessed with studying the 1910 expeditions and race between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott to 90-degrees South (the South Pole). The lessons for leaders and managers practically leap off the pages of this classic example of coping with risk, uncertainty and volatility. Here are 5 lessons from these remarkable expeditions that you can apply in your work-life today:
Managers: Show Fear the Door
Intuitively, one would expect most senior managers to recognize both the delicate state of people’s emotions in this uncertain era and to take some steps to both confront and mitigate this destructive force in the workplace. Based on the survey results, perhaps more than a few managers missed the memo. Here’s your reminder.
Leadership Caffeine™-Listen Harder, Please!
I doubt that anyone reading this would disagree with the theme of, it’s important to be a good listener to be a good leader. However, in working with leaders at all levels striving to strengthen their performance, listening skills aren’t an issue some of the time, they are an issue nearly 100% of the time. Here are 3 ideas to help you exercise your leadership listening skills today:
Just One Thing: Will This Make the Boat Go Faster?
The world of work may well become a better place if we would simply filter a few more activities with this very succinct and clear question: “Will this make our boat go faster?” If not, just say “no.” Here are at least 5 situations where the boat is definitely not moving any faster:
Leadership Caffeine™-4 Rules for Getting Intensity Right
Intensity is a powerful leadership tool that when wielded with laser precision, can help focus, engage and inspire your team members. Here are 4 key rules for getting intensity right:
New Leader Tuesday-Develop as a Decision Coach
The best leaders I’ve worked with and for are not only good decision-makers, they are effective decision-coaches. They understand the importance of teaching their teams how how to navigate the pitfalls and complexities of decision-making in pursuit of the best results for the organization. Here are 6 great habits of effective Decision-Making Coaches:
Leadership Caffeine™-Lessons from the Wilderness
Instead of teaching people to work within a self-contained system where the goal is to impose order, this new world demands much more of a sense and respond style of leading. Here are 5 ideas for cultivating tolerance for adversity and uncertainty on your team: