One of the less than pleasant surprises many first-time supervisors or managers encounter as they navigate their new roles, is a sudden immersion in the personal problems of their team members. Here are 7 ideas to help you navigate these sticky situations:
More than a few people I know (present company included) have created a problem for themselves by prematurely hitting the “send” button on an e-mail written out of anger or frustration. Once sent, the damage is done and these instantaneous communications have a long shelf life in the memories of the recipients. Here are 6 ideas the Rail-Splitter himself might have approved of for the toughest of communication situations:
There was a time when prevailing wisdom for teaching people to swim involved chucking them in the water and letting them flail and flounder. This Sink or Swim (S. o. S.) method of teaching is likely responsible for more than a few really bad moments for the unwitting victims and a lifetime of terror-inducing flashbacks for many. Oddly, we subject a good number of first time supervisors and managers to a similar rite of passage in what I describe as S. o. S. Leadership Development. If you are on the receiving end of this method of new leaders development, here are 7 suggestions to help make the swim a bit more bearable:
There are few environments more hostile to forming something resembling a functional team, than a group of people comprised of senior managers. Whether you are a member of one of these groups or the CEO in charge, it’s healthy to recognize some of the facts and myths of senior management teams and adapt your behaviors and approaches accordingly.
The bookshelves and blog posts are filled with great advice on how to lead effectively, yet, mostly what I hear in workshops and classrooms are the stories of the lousy habits of Grade A Jerks. Since there are clearly many people who aspire to this lofty level in the world of Jerks, I thought I would make your job just a bit easier by offering up this starter list. Here are 14 ideas guaranteed to help you succeed in being viewed as a Grade A Jerk:
It’s often politically unpopular and seemingly risky to hire for a key role outside of the boundaries of your firm’s industry. It also might be just the right thing to infuse your team or organization with fresh perspectives and new ideas.
Respect. It’s a complex concept filled, filled with nuance and subtlety and gesture, all buried in a simple word. Most of us are wired to appreciate respect and to reciprocate in kind. And vice-versa. One of the most powerful and effective ways to show respect is to extend our trust. Of course, for all of us, particularly new leaders, that feels risky and almost counter-intuitive. It’s not.
Too many strategies and corporate plans (and even our personal improvement plans) outline lofty challenges in heady words, but they fail to provide the clarity necessary for us and for our teams to move forward in an integrated fashion.
While there’s no substitute for live-fire action in learning to develop as a leader, well-honed skills of observation can provide useful perspectives on the actions and reactions of people to various leadership styles and approaches. Here are eight sets of questions/topics that will hone your leadership anthropology skills and support your own professional development program:
It’s typically good advice to “be yourself” and “be authentic” when it comes to leading others. Unfortunately, for many starting out as leaders, it takes time and experience to develop the confidence necessary to let the world see us as in our leadership skins au naturel. Here are 5 ideas to help you cultivate the confidence necessary to show yourself as you are:
