I’ve worked in cultures like those ascribed to Amazon.com in the recent and controversial New York Times article, "Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace." These battle-zone firms exists and they can be very successful. And for the adrenaline junkie career climber, these cultures are perfect. For the rest of us, not so much.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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:
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!
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:
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!
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.
