It is a fact of life that we will not like everyone we work with and not everyone will like us. While workplace feuds are commonplace, effective and opportunistic professionals strive to navigate those situations in the best interests of their firms and careers. This article offers five strategies for helping you navigate awkward workplace relationships.
Much like the earlier years of this century, we seemed to have returned to an era where examples of corporate malfeasance are plentiful. In this case, the spread of "win-at-all-costs" leadership is on display in the banking and pharmaceutical industries. Is this the new model for the future of effective leadership? Is the new approach, "results count, regardless of the tactics?" I hope not.
We spend a lot of time and energy writing and reading about effective leadership, yet in many cases, we fail to practice it. In the absence of a unified theory of leadership and performance that we can easily understand and apply to our work, the model for effective leadership is on display and easy to decipher. It comes from those charged with leading in dangerous situations.
When we overweight the value of experience in hiring situations or in navigating strategy, we increase our risk of failure. The challenge we face as leaders and managers is to imbue ourselves and our cultures with a sense of curiosity and the means and confidence to experiment.
I continue to be both amazed and humbled at the reception to my book, Leadership Caffeine: Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. In celebration of the sixth year since publication, I am sharing one secret on where the book idea came from and showing my thanks for your support with 3 very special offers for free books to the first to respond.
Getting strategy right is hard work. Most management teams struggle and many play with the tools of strategy, but never finish anything. Teams that get it right share some common traits, including...
Structure is a powerful management tool when developed carefully and focused on aligning your team's superpowers with the big opportunities.
It seems like everyone I meet is in search of tools to help improve performance and find time for the things that matter. Perhaps we are looking too hard at our technology and our apps to solve what is a distinctly analog problem. Consider the example of my pilot friend and his preflight checklist. Perhaps we need a checklist for living and leading.
All of us have the option to engage with others from a transactional or a transformational mindset. The transactional manager or coworker offers the bare minimum necessary for the situation. The individual with the transformational mindset strives to add value to every encounter. The cost difference between the two styles is negligible but the return from those who opt for the transformational style potentially remarkable.
When faced with a world of constant change, "getting good at dealing with next" is essential for survival as well as success. Part of the process involves rewiring our brains to view change as opportunity and adventure.