The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Leadership Caffeine™—Rethinking Your Team’s Business Reviews and Operating Approach
I came across an excellent article by Ron Ashkenas writing at HBR: Big Theatrical Meetings Are a Waste of Time. (tiered subscription model). This is mandatory reading for any manager leading business review sessions. And yes, the article generated a flood of...
Leadership Caffeine™—Rethinking Your Team’s Business Reviews and Operating Approach
While I’ve not attended your business review session, I can tell you with confidence born of experience that most of these events are painful time, productivity, and morale killers. And, in this world where COVID has taught us that quarters are like centuries and the world shifts in hours and days, I increasingly find the ubiquitous quarterly business reviews anachronistic. It’s time to change your team’s operating approach.
Leadership Caffeine™: Time to Take out the 360-Degree Trash
Note: today’s rave is brought to you by one too many conversations with frustrated managers and employees over their firm’s evaluation systems. While I’m certain there’s a good 360-degree feedback program out there somewhere, the trash frequently heaped upon unwitting corporate victims by misguided management groups via their HR departments is….well, it’s trash. Please place it in a proper container and dispose of it before it starts to stink.
Coming Soon: A Saturday Serial & A View from the Millennial Perspective
During the next few weeks, I will kick off two new features here on the blog. The first will be a Saturday Management Serial…an on-going story involving fictional firms and companies and the buffet of leadership, management and business issues that require solving by you, the readers. The second new feature will offer a view from the youngest generation in the workforce on the realities of leading, managing and developing a career. We’ve heard a great deal from the 40-something management group on the challenges of leading the generations…now, we’ll hear the story from the other side of the age fence. Coming soon!
Management Week in Review for February 18, 2011
Every Friday, I share three thought-provoking management posts for the week. Fair warning: I take a broad view of management, so my selections will range from leadership to innovation to finance and personal development and beyond. This week’s selections feature content on gaining control of your body language, ensuring that your participative leadership approach is genuine, and dealing with employee and management communication challenges during periods of change. Enjoy!
Management Excellence Toolkit Part 2: Mind the Decision Traps
Part 1 of this series emphasized the importance of developing, updating and referencing a Decision Journal as part of your program to improve your decision-making effectiveness. In Part 2, we focus on understanding a bit more about how we make decisions, and I introduce the topic of decision traps.
Leadership Caffeine™-Get it Right When Starting Up with Your New Team
Stepping into the role of new (to the team) leader for an existing team is a daunting task. It’s also a time rich in opportunity for everyone involved, if the new leader executes a proper start-up strategy and avoids the most common start-up pitfalls.
Management Week in Review for February 11, 2011
Every Friday, I share three thought-provoking management posts for the week. Fair warning: I take a broad view of management, so my selections will range from leadership to innovation to finance and personal development and beyond. This week’s selections feature content on corporate struggles in a changing world, ideas on creating organizations that drive remarkable commitment from their employees and customers, and a buffet of great leadership reading options at the February Leadership Development Carnival. Enjoy!
It’s Time to Burn the Old Script Used by New CEOs
It’s Time to Burn the Old Script Used by New CEOs. Now playing at a theater or office near you… .
Management Excellence Toolkit: Part 1-Create a Decision Journal
Your decisions define you as a leader and a manager, yet we spend very little time in our busy lives finding ways to improve our abilities in this area. This Management Excellence Toolkit Series will help you recognize the challenges and pitfalls of individual and group decision-making and offer ideas on improving performance for you and your co-workers. In Part 1, I offer guidance on creating a Decision Journal for key and strategic decisions to monitor your effectiveness over time.
Leadership Caffeine™: Learn to Make Quick Connections
In a typical day fast moving day, there are dozens of small opportunities for leaders to make or strengthen connections with team members and peers. Effective leaders strive to leverage these fleeting moments or as golden opportunities to show respect, strengthen connections and even support coalition building. The trick is to execute a deliberate “connection” strategy throughout your day.