Wake-Up Calls for Managers
For the hard parts no one prepares you for
When the path isn’t clear, the stakes are high, and the answers aren’t obvious—this is where managers struggle most.
Wake-Up Calls for Managers delivers practical, real-world guidance for navigating:
- Tough conversations
- Leading through uncertainty
- Building influence without authority
- Driving results through others
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Four Ideas to Improve Workplace Communication
In approximately 800 hours of executive and manager coaching each year, the one issue that arises in almost every call is a communication challenge. CEOs are struggling with tough conversations with board members. Vice-Presidents don’t seem to have the ear of the CEO...
Four Ideas to Improve Workplace Communication
In approximately 800 hours of executive and manager coaching each year, the one issue that arises in almost every call is a communication challenge. Here are four sets of ideas you can implement yourself or with your team to strengthen communication effectiveness.
Free Webinar and Early Bird Pricing for First Time Managers Academy
We’ve got two great professional development opportunities launching over the next few days. Our free webinar, Think Differently in a World Where All the Rules Have Changed runs on 9/9 at 11 AM Central. And, our live-online First-Time Managers Academy kicks off on 9/10. Early registration pricing for the Academy ends at 11:59 PM on 9/3.
Leadership Caffeine™—For Virtual Teams, Success is Still a Full Contact Activity
We talk a big game about teams in business, yet often they disappoint. Raise your hand if you’ve been on a so-called team that devolved into a debating society that went nowhere. Regardless of outcomes and experiences, we continue to throw teams at issues expecting or hoping for magic. It turns out, hope is a lousy strategy because team development demands deliberate focus and hard work.
Why the New Manager Failure Rate is So Ridiculously High (Guest Post)
Most everyone agrees it’s critical to build a leadership pipeline in our firms. Unfortunately, when it comes to new managers at the front of this pipeline, without proper care and support, the failure rate is abysmally high. Here are five areas where new managers flail and fail along with some help to improve the situation.
I Know Something You Don’t About Your First-Time Managers
In every cohort of our live-online First-Time Manager Academy, I know something that no one else knows. In this group, there are people who will change the world.
Leadership Caffeine™—15 Simple Things You Can Do Today that Will Help
Every day, you have countless opportunities to exhibit behaviors that leave people and situations a little bit better off than you found them. Here’s a list of fifteen behaviors that will help you improve the situation for everyone:
Use Strategic Message Design and Proper Posture to Cultivate Influence
Cultivating influence in your firm and industry is a long-term process. However, there are a few communication adjustments you can make immediately to ensure you are properly projecting yourself when it counts:
Asking the “Six Whats” Will Help You Strengthen Workplace Problem Solving
It’s an understatement to suggest this is a time for creative problem-solving in our organizations. Yet, too often, we react to symptoms or throw solutions at poorly defined problems. The failure to get to the root cause and underlying assumptions behind something that seems to be a problem results in half-measures and new, resultant problems. Here’s a technique to stop the madness!
Set the Stage for Fierce Listening With the Artful Use of Questions
While listening is essential for successful communication, the behavior that sets the stage for Fierce Listening is artful and empathic questioning. Our use of questions—type and tone—controls the direction of the dialog.
Want to Lead Change at Work? Focus on Growing Your Influence With a “Clean Power” Approach
If your mission is to get work done through and with others across your organization, you need to develop and apply influence. In this article, I share ideas and approaches you can use to engage and succeed in your organization’s political environment without compromising your values.