The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Leaders: Are You Coaching Your Teams for Creativity?
In group settings, when I ask senior leaders whether they've ever attended or sponsored their team members to attend programs focused on creativity and idea generation, the silence is palpable. Alternatively, it's hard to regain control of the discussion when I ask...
Leaders: Are You Coaching Your Teams for Creativity?
There’s little doubt creativity is vital in the workplace, and that idea generation is the enabler of creative problem solving and innovation. The better our teams and colleagues are at generating ideas, the better the odds of surviving and thriving in our topsy-turvy world. Yet, idea generation and problem-solving practices are stale and decidedly lacking in creativity in too many organizations.
It’s Your Career-Seize that Invitation to Growth
Some career opportunities are wrapped in gold leaf and hand-delivered on a silver-platter. Don’t let one of these precious invitations slip through your fingers. There are no guarantees you’ll remain on the invitee list.
Art of Managing-6 Ideas to Help Management Groups Develop as Teams
From long experience and ample client CEO and Board input, the typical state of a management team looks less like a team and more like a group of functional experts who occasionally gather to talk uncomfortably (and shallowly) about the hard issues confronting their organization. The behaviors and integration you might anticipate from a “team” of smart people are often absent from the equation. Here are 6 ideas to help cultivate team performance at the senior management level:
Just One Thing: Focus
Much like my topic a few weeks ago about the importance of finding time to think deeply about the big issues in front of us, it takes deliberate and sometimes herculean effort to find focus in our work lives. Focus is a key ingredient on the critical path to success.
It’s Your Career: 5 Ideas to Move from Miserable to Motivated at Work
Being miserable in a job is not the normal state of existence. If this is your prevailing mood in the workplace, something is obviously wrong and needs your attention and action. Here are 5 ideas to help you move from miserable to motivated:
Art of Managing-Hedging Your Bets Might Be Harmful to Your Firm’s Health
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do, yet as Lafley, Martin and Riel describe, the notion of giving up options or closing off familiar paths is uncomfortable for us. It’s our drive to eliminate this discomfort by keeping our options open and flexible that might just be limiting our success or even setting the stage for failure. Here are 3 powerful thought-starters to help you and your team tackle the strategic issue of finding new growth:
New Leader Tuesday: 10 Tips to Help You Succeed at Your First Executive Briefing
At some point it will happen. You’ll be invited to your first executive meeting to provide an update on your team’s initiatives and it’s important for you to be prepared to seize this golden reputation building opportunity. Here are 10 tips to help you prepare for and succeed in this setting:
Art of Managing: Tackle the Big Issues by Creating Time to Think Deeply
Sometimes, you just have to call a time-out. While our tendency is to respond to the gravitational pull of our devices and the unceasing demands of the urgent and urgent-unimportant in our work lives, some issues simply require deep thought. Here are 6 ideas to support your effort to find deep-thinking time on the big issues for you and your team:
New Leader Tuesday-Job One is to Strengthen Others
It’s not easy to move from a self-focused professional to someone who suddenly is measured by the success and growth of his or her team members.Here are 6 ideas to support your efforts on this long, arduous and rewarding journey:
Leadership Caffeine™-Coping with Critics in the Workplace
It takes courage of conviction and a strong dose of self-confidence to absorb the flak from the naysayers. Here are 7 ideas to help you better cope with your workplace critics: