The Leadership Caffeine Blog
A Simple, Powerful Fix for Feedback Problems on Your Team
Feedback is Confusing to Get Right Of all the challenges managers at all levels face, delivering constructive (and even positive) feedback is near the top of the list. There's good reason—it's a confusing topic that even the experts who study human psychology and...
A Simple, Powerful Fix for Feedback Problems on Your Team
Of all the challenges managers at all levels face, delivering constructive (and even positive) feedback is near the top of the list. There’s good reason—it’s a confusing topic that even the experts who study human psychology and neuroscience disagree on, despite mountains of research. Here are four ideas to help strengthen your feedback culture and effectiveness.
New Leader Tuesday-The Power of Paying Attention
I once inherited a team previously managed by a person who reportedly filled her days with conference calls and meetings, but somehow never seemed to have time to meet with her team members to hear about their ideas and concerns or to discuss professional development opportunities. Paying attention was not a part of this manager’s style. The process of engaging with this new team taught me some important lessons about leading, including how critical it is for us to truly pay attention to our team members… .
Getting Ahead-Part 1: Taking Ownership of Your Professional Presence
Whether you are responsible for the work of others or your “team” stares back at you in the morning mirror, there are many key skills that you must cultivate to help differentiate you from your internal competitors and to successfully grow your career. Professional Presence, is one of those slightly squishy to define but critically important topics. Professional presence is that amalgam of qualities…confidence, authenticity, positive body language, proper vocal management, empathy etc. that others perceive in you and about you.
Here are 6 Key Questions and 5 ideas for assessing and deliberately strengthening your professional presence:
The Curious Habits of Big Idea Hunters in the Workplace
The most successful professionals I’ve worked with all share at least one common attribute…they are all innately curious and in search of ideas to solve problems and exploit perceived opportunities. These people are Big Idea Hunters, and they view problems, challenges and even the status quo as giant invitations to change, emblazoned in neon lights. Here are some of the curious habits of these creative individuals and how you might apply the lessons yourself or with your own team:
New Leader Tuesday-The Key to Motivating Your Team and 4 Ideas to Avoid
Motivation is one of those squishy topics that leaders at all levels deal with and often struggle with in their pursuit of high performance. Here are 4 ways practically guaranteed to do the opposite of “motivate.” And read on for the not so secret key(s) to motivating others.
Leadership Caffeine™: 5 Ways Leaders Can Promote an Outside-In View
Overcoming the gravitational pull of the office requires extraordinary effort. Succumb to this powerful tractor beam and your life is an endless stream of internal meetings and activities that lack any context for the realities of customers and the marketplace. Spend too much time inside your own walls, and you create your own alternate reality…one that lacks proper connectivity to the issues that should define your team’s priorities. Here are 5 ideas to help you and your team members change the view and cultivate critical marketplace context:
4 Reasons Why Questions are a Leader’s Best Friend
The best leaders I know wield questions like a surgeon wields a scalpel…carefully, precisely, respectfully and always with an objective in mind.
4 Reasons Why Questions are a Leader’s Best Friend:
New Leader Tuesday: A Mistake is a Horrible Thing to Waste
Beyond the certainty of death and taxes, one other absolute in life is that as a leader, you will make mistakes. A great number of them. From misspeaking to making a decision that turns out wrong to a million other areas to show off your humanness, mistakes are part of the learning to lead process. How you choose to deal with your mistakes will help determine people’s perception of you and speak volumes about your leadership character. Here are 6 ideas to help you leverage those moments effectively:
Best of Leadership Caffeine™-How to Deal with Positive Praise
It’s easy to start believing the praise you hear in the hallways about your leadership approach. Easy and dangerous. I’ve always been leery of the unfounded and saccharine-sweet praise that is bestowed upon leaders. While you may call me cynical, I prefer to think of myself as pragmatic. Here are 5 ideas for delicately and appropriately coping with positive praise:
August Leadership Development Carnival and Reading List
This month’s excellent edition of the Leadership Development Carnival is being hosted by Sharlyn Lauby, aka the H.R. Bartender! In addition to a great variety of posts, Sharlyn asked each contributor to share what they are reading this summer, and the results make for a great reading list for the final weeks of pre-Labor Day book consumption.