While I support your team members’ development through workshop programs and one-on-one coaching, my primary job is listening. Without violating our sacred commitment to confidentiality, here are some of the big themes I heard this year that might just help you manage more effectively.
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Discovering the Right Approach for Leading in this Era
Much like the alchemist’s search, discovering the “just right” leadership style in today’s maelstrom of issues and wicked problems is elusive. Yet, for those striving to lead successfully, there is hope, and it comes in the form of a blended, adaptive model of leading.
Wrestling With Feedback Part 3—Conduct Feedback Discussions with Empathy and Clarity
In Part 3 of this series, the emphasis is on managing the discussions successfully with empathy and clarity. It turns out when the feedback discussion goes off the rails, as happens all too often, it’s because empathy and clarity were nowhere to be found.
Wrestling with Feedback Part 2—Seven Actions to Help You Succeed
For many managers, giving and receiving feedback is challenging. However, when feedback is approached properly, it can be a powerful tool for strengthening individual and group performance. Here are seven actions you can take to succeed with feedback:
Wrestling With Feedback, Part 1—Why We Don’t Like the Idea of Giving or Receiving It
We all can benefit from the right type of specific, behavioral, task, or situational-focused feedback. Unfortunately, our natural fear of either giving or receiving feedback often gets in the way of harnessing value from this input.
Leadership Caffeine™—5 Things You Can Do to Help Navigate the Crisis
We place extraordinary amounts of pressure on our leaders to solve the big problems in front of us. In reality, they don’t have the answers. They are looking for individuals to provide ideas that point to solutions. Here are five ideas you can use today to help and start leading without authority:
Leadership Caffeine™—Now is the Time to Double-Down on the Fundamentals of Effective Leadership
In the face of complexity and risk, the simplest solutions are generally the best ones. These are indeed challenging times for anyone responsible for managing and leading initiatives, teams, and functions. It might seem as if answers are hard to come by, yet, the...
Four Big Ideas to Help You Cultivate Influence in a Sharp-Elbowed Environment
I love the “clean power” approach to cultivating influence because it’s how I choose to conduct myself. Many others have adopted their version of it for similar reasoning. However, not everyone plays by rules you deem fair, and not everyone has your interests at heart. Here are four ideas to help you survive and thrive when you find yourself working in a sharp-elbowed environment.
Thinking Differently About What It Means to Lead
We’ve barely scratched the surface of the areas in our organizations where thinking differently is essential for survival and success. Teaming, strategy and problem-solving all loom large and merit this treatment. However, starting with the role and work of leaders and the processes for adding talent to the team and supporting their development are perfect entry points.
Free Webinar and Early Bird Pricing for First Time Managers Academy
We’ve got two great professional development opportunities launching over the next few days. Our free webinar, Think Differently in a World Where All the Rules Have Changed runs on 9/9 at 11 AM Central. And, our live-online First-Time Managers Academy kicks off on 9/10. Early registration pricing for the Academy ends at 11:59 PM on 9/3.










