The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Where Too Many Managers Hit the Wall on Their Level-Up Journeys
Developing as a manager is a perpetual exercise in leveling up. Just when you think you've developed some competence at the role and are asked to take on more responsibilities, WHAM, you hit the wall of new, ambiguous challenges. In my work as an executive and...
Where Too Many Managers Hit the Wall on Their Level-Up Journeys
Developing as a manager is a perpetual exercise in leveling up. Just when you think you’ve developed some competence at the role and are asked to take on more responsibilities, WHAM, you hit the wall of new, ambiguous challenges. Here are the six big level up challenges I see for rising managers:
New Leader Tuesday—Ideas to Help You Cure Feedback Fright
While the act of delivering constructive feedback doesn’t rank up there with the fear of public speaking (stage fright) or facing an IRS audit (just pure fear), too many managers…especially newly promoted first-timers avoid this activity because it makes them uncomfortable. Here are 9 ideas to help you move beyond your own feedback fright:
Leadership Caffeine™—When It Comes to Toxic Employees, Don’t Hesitate
The toxic employee has a “special” knack of destabilizing groups, destroying trust between coworkers and stifling conversation and creativity in nearly every situation. For a number of reasons…none of which are worth much, too many leaders hesitate when it comes to purging these radioactive waste products from their teams. If you’ve been rationalizing retaining one of those characters that creates fallout with every encounter, it’s important to recognize what you’re doing to everyone else and then to take action.
High Performance Management—Courage and Business Transformation
The topic of transformation is a challenging one for all management teams. It’s not surprising that few muster the collective courage necessary to transform their organizations even in the face of sustained headwinds or looming crisis.
New Leader Tuesday—Learning from Your Communication Mistakes
You will make many communication mistakes in your formative role as someone responsible for the work of others. It takes time and more than a few mistakes to recognize your need to understand the communication preferences of your team members and to learn to tailor your approach. Here are 4 communication lessons learned the hard way and some guidance for helping you avoid these missteps:
Leadership Caffeine™ Are You Making Time for the Big Topics?
When it comes to the forward-looking issues around talent, team and strategy development, the uncomfortable answer to the question in the headline for this post for just about all of us (myself included) is, “Not enough.” Here are 4 ideas to help you manufacture time for the critical developmental and strategy discussions needed to push your business forward:
Friday Leadership Ideas to Help You Finish the Week Strong for August 7, 2015
Every week I share a few ideas to help you finish strong. For this week, I encourage you to revisit the connection between your/your team’s goals and your firm’s strategies and to reach out to your geographically dispersed colleagues. Additionally, I offer up some ideas on exciting new business books and I point you to this month’s great collection of leadership writing at the August 2015 Leadership Development Carnival. A great ending sets the stage for a fantastic new week!
Cultivating A Constructive Response to Momentary Failure
The most successful people I’ve worked with are incredibly adept at navigating those moments of mental devastation we call failure. For anyone striving to achieve something big, great or new, failure is an inevitable part of the process of striving for success. It’s part of learning and growing and while it hurts momentarily, successful professionals process the experience in a very different fashion than those who are more easily derailed. Here are 5 constructive responses to navigating a momentary setback:
Ideas for Professional and Performance Growth for the Week of August 2, 2015
Every week I offer ideas to encourage you to stretch and grow with my ideas for Do/Experiment/Explore. For this week, I offer ideas on strengthening team performance, leveraging your operations meetings to promote managerial skills development and learning to mess with your competitors just enough to keep them off balance. Use them in great professional health!
Friday Leadership Ideas to Help You Finish Strong for July 31, 2015
Every week I share a few ideas to help you finish strong. For this week, I offer ideas on mixing up your routine to spark energy, gaining much needed marketplace context and planning for success in the new month.