The Leadership Caffeine Blog
A Unique (free) Manager Development Event—Friday, May 12 at Noon Central
Solving Managerial Challenges Together—Friday's Leadership Caffeine Jam Session Join me and a cast of your peers from across industries and organizations on Friday, 5/12, at noon central when we come together for an hour to identify and develop solutions for some of...
A Unique (free) Manager Development Event—Friday, May 12 at Noon Central
Join me and a cast of your peers from across industries and organizations on Friday, 5/12, at noon central for the latest Leadership Caffeine Jam Session, when we come together for an hour to identify and develop solutions for some of the most vexing challenges all managers face
Can Leadership Be Reduced to an Algorithm?
As machine learning and brain science advance with remarkable speed, it’s not implausible to imagine leadership behaviors reduced to a component of a master algorithm. Thankfully, there are some distinctly human attributes that may be difficult to capture in this format. Use them as if your survival as a leader depended on it.
First-Time Manager #4—Navigating the Drama Storm
It’s too easy to let the personal problems of our coworkers or employees become our problems. Beware the emerging drama storm as a new manager, and take steps to keep the discussion focused on the business of business.
Leadership Caffeine™—4 Keys to Building Your Great Team
The general guidance on building effective teams is right, it’s just often not specific enough. Here are 4 keys to building your great team that don’t get enough consideration in most workplaces:
Uncover Your Backstory to Supercharge Your Professional Purpose
It turns out, a good part of success is tuning in to our true purpose and mission. It’s a lofty or squishy sounding topic that is made tangible if we spend some time uncovering our unique backstories. The events that have shaped us as humans give life and purpose to us as professionals.
Focus on First-Time Managers #3—Overcoming the Discomfort of Delivering Feedback
Cultivating the skills and confidence to navigate constructive (negative) and positive feedback discussions is a game changer for any manager. Unfortunately, most first-time managers have received little to no training for this important performance tool. The good news is that armed with an understanding of the building blocks of effective feedback discussions and ample practice, you can learn to master this important management skill.
Focus on First Time Managers #2—Avoid These 9 Mistakes
I can predict with near certainty the likely mistakes you will make as a first-time manager. While no one learns to manage or lead without making mistakes, these nine potentially dangerous missteps are easy to avoid with a bit of advance warning. Consider this your advance warning.
Leadership Caffeine™—Extraordinary or Mundane? Your Choice
There’s no shortage of those in leadership roles who might reasonably be described as mundane. They focus on performance, but fail to inspire the pursuit of potential. That’s too bad, because there’s nothing secret or particularly difficult about pursuing extraordinary as a leader. Small changes in behaviors have the potential to yield big outcomes.
Focus on First-Time Managers #1: Getting Started
Starting out successfully as a new manager is challenging. However, there’s one thing you can do to improve your odds of success from the first moment of your new role. Invest time to…
Leadership Caffeine™—What’s It Like to Be You?
Learning to appreciate and value differences on your team takes effort on your part. An open-door policy isn’t enough. You need to stretch. A good question to keep in mind is: “What’s it like to be you?”