The Leadership Caffeine Blog
For Managers—Part 2 of Creating Clarity with Your Coaching and Evaluation Discussions (Feedback)
Note from Art: here's the lead-off article in this series. Feedback and Your Coaching Toolkit Feedback—both positive (appreciation) and improvement-oriented–is a vital part of your coaching toolkit. It's also one of the most troubling, vexing areas for managers...
For Managers—Part 2 of Creating Clarity with Your Coaching and Evaluation Discussions (Feedback)
Feedback—both positive (appreciation) and improvement-oriented–is a vital part of your coaching toolkit. It’s also one of the most troubling, vexing areas for managers because the improvement-oriented (aka constructive) feedback is simultaneously awkward, stressful, and potentially emotionally fraught for all parties. Here are ten ideas to help:
The Promise Behind First-Time Manager Academy
I created our online/on-demand program, First-Time Manager Academy, to fill a gaping hole in the market for practical, actionable new manager development, and, to fulfill a career-long promise to myself.
Leadership Caffeine™— Rocket Fuel for New Manager Success
Once you’ve reached the level of managing managers on your team, your professional development focus shifts considerably. It’s up to you to provide the environment, context, and motivation that serves as rocket fuel for your new managers.
Free Mini-Course Helps New Managers Start Successfully
The transition from individual contributor to new manager is awkward and filled with unexpected challenges. Our free mini-course, Overcoming and Succeeding with the Top 5 Challenges of New Managers, is filled with practical advice to help smooth a few of the bumps out of the journey.
You Know Your Leadership is Working When You Can Let Go
As leaders, we often fall victim to the belief that our teams need us to survive and thrive. In reality, if we’ve done our jobs right in selecting, developing, and placing people in the right positions, and worked hard to create a healthy environment, what they need is less of us.
Leadership Caffeine™—Fear the Conversations You’re Not Having
The conversations I genuinely worry about are the ones that aren’t taking place. As a leader, just thinking about what’s not getting talked about should scare the daylights out of you.
Career Reinvention Journal—There’s a Process, But It’s Messy
The decision to embark on a career reinvention process is non-trivial. If you do, prepare yourself for a process that includes ample learning and regular iteration between the stages. Much like running a marathon, your commitment to sustaining the process determines your outcome.
A Beginner’s Mind Helps Solve the New Manager Conundrum
My online dictionary defines conundrum as a confusing or difficult problem. The dictionary editors might as well use the act of moving from individual contributor to new manager as the leading example.
For the Big Decisions, You’ve Got to Wrestle Ambiguity
The struggle over the big decisions is the inherent ambiguity. The unknowns are overwhelming. Fear of getting it wrong floods our minds and our brains struggle for traction in the muck. Nonetheless, these are the times when you have to stand up and cut through the fog of ambiguity.
For Success, Cultivate a Communication Style that Shows You Care
From feedback and coaching discussions to interchanges with coworkers who can say, “Yes” or “No” to your requests for resources, process changes, budgetary allocations or fresh ideas, there’s no end to the critical communication situations we encounter at work. I find that just a few common-sense, authentic communication tactics improve your success and strengthen your credibility as well.