The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Ten Questions to Support Continuous Career Growth
During our recent Leadership Caffeine Jam Session (recording and session materials/#18), I shared the ten questions I ask myself (and answer) about my career at least twice yearly. The late, great management thinker Peter Drucker suggested five questions; the other...
Ten Questions to Support Continuous Career Growth
During our recent Leadership Caffeine Jam Session (recording and session materials/#18), I shared the ten questions I ask myself (and answer) about my career at least twice yearly. The late, great management thinker Peter Drucker suggested five questions; the other five are my add-ons.
Why Workplace Teams Struggle—And What to Do About It
Many workplace teams I observe are not much better than the typical nightmarish college class group project that most of us have lived through at one time or another. Here are 4 big reasons why workplace teams struggle and 9 ideas to help you do something about it:
Art of Managing—Sometimes You Have to Slow Down to Go Faster
Today’s management literature is filled with references to speed. If we’re following the trends, we’re all growing more “agile” and likely “lean” in the process. We’re working in “sprints” and “bursts,” and of course, we’re “teaming” whenever possible. All of this motion may be helping our waistlines, dancing moves and cardio health, but I’m not convinced that speed is always the right answer. Sometimes you just have to slow down to go faster.
Here are 4 key situations where pausing before acting makes good business sense:
Art of Managing—Shiny Objects and the Senior Management Team
One of the value killers found inside many organizations is the out of control pursuit of too many new initiatives. The root cause of this undisciplined pursuit of new initiatives rests squarely on the collective shoulders of the management team.
Just One Thing—Cultivate Your Project Leadership Skills
Understanding the discipline and tools of project management is now de rigueur for professionals with any intention of growing in their careers. However, when I take a close look at project teams that struggle (and too many do), it’s generally not the misapplication of project management tools or practices that are at the source of the problems. Most often, it’s the absence any visible form of project leadership.
Eliminate “I never heard that before” from Your Workplace Conversations
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “I never heard that before,” or, its slightly more grammar challenged equivalent, “No one ever told me that before,” in response to performance feedback. It’s sad and annoying all at the same time to hear those words.
It’s Your Career: Learn to Embrace Ambiguity as Opportunity
I’ve long believed that one of the core capabilities of successful senior leaders and individual contributors is their ability to cope with and leverage ambiguity as a tool to create. While many of us stop or even freeze when faced with unfamiliar situations, others recognize the opportunity to leverage uncertainty as a means to showcase our problem-solving and informal leadership capabilities while solving a vexing workplace challenge. Here are 5 key do’s and don’ts when faced with an ambiguous situation in the workplace:
Guest Post: The Art of Cultural Fluency in Leadership
When it comes to navigating across differences, managers tend not to have the conversation. We recruit diverse people into our organizations and expect that they too, will figure out the rules. But goodwill and positive intent alone is not sufficient for tapping the potential of your multicultural talent. Without a more nuanced understanding of the differences between people, as well as tools to bridge the communication gaps, managers will be at a loss to bridge the distance between themselves and those who think differently.
Leadership Caffeine™: Use Daily Conversations to Promote Development
Too many bosses leave discussions about professional development to one or two occasions during the year, usually syncing them with the annual performance evaluations. Follow this formula and you’re doing your team members and your firm a tremendous disservice. Rather than keeping professional development talk locked to the calendar, I’m a big fan of frequent “on the fly” conversations that directly support an individual’s developmental needs and goals. Here are 6 ideas to help you jump-start more effective and more timely development discussions with your team members:
5 Radical and Irreverent Ideas to Help You Find Focus at Work
A typical day in most workplaces is one unending series of large and small distractions that combine to keep most of us from making much forward progress on our one or two real priorities that matter. Here are 5 radical and slightly irreverent ideas to help you find more time and focus on issues that matter: