The Leadership Caffeine Blog

Explore by Category:

Fresh Lessons from the Latest Feedback Boot Camp

Fresh Lessons from the Latest Feedback Boot Camp

I run the 3-hour Feedback Skills Boot Camp program six times per year, and in every session, I’m reminded how motivated good managers are to find ways to both praise and encourage growth with their team members. Here are some of the key insights shared by the most recent cohort:

read more
The Leader’s Guide to Fighting Fatigue in This Era

The Leader’s Guide to Fighting Fatigue in This Era

In the best of times, leading and managing is hard work. In this era, the demands are unceasing, and it’s easy for fatigue to set in and dull a leader’s thinking. Here are seven ideas to help combat this sense of creeping fatigue:

read more
Leadership Caffeine™—Are You the Cause of Your Team’s Creativity Deficit? 

Leadership Caffeine™—Are You the Cause of Your Team’s Creativity Deficit? 

Creativity—the ability to look at complicated situations and identify novel solutions that solve problems, advance initiatives, or rewrite old rules—may be the most critical skill of all in our workplaces. As leaders, we need to foster it, stimulate it, and do everything we can to ensure we’re not the ones suppressing it. Sadly, creativity is something that many leaders trample all over in their daily activities. 

read more
Leadership Caffeine™—Lessons for Transformation Learned in the Northwoods

Leadership Caffeine™—Lessons for Transformation Learned in the Northwoods

Our organization changes don’t feel like the work of transforming a shoreline or beach, but maybe they should. Imagine if the transformation team members viewed themselves as stewards of the environment and not experts playing with boxes on an organization chart in pursuit of trivial outcomes. I suspect more of those initiatives would succeed. 

read more
Leadership Caffeine™—Rethinking New Manager Training and Development

Leadership Caffeine™—Rethinking New Manager Training and Development

If you consider the myriad activities that form the role of manager, including the novel and often vexing situations presented by humans in the workplace, it’s easy to see where attempts at classroom training inevitably fall short. Use the time initially to teach them to think differently about their roles and their work at start-up using these five sets of operating instructions

read more