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A frighteningly few number of people genuinely relish the idea of getting up in front of an audience at work and talking.That’s too bad, because there are few skills that will take you further and help you more in your career than developing your speaking skills.
For some reason, the work of management and of managers often is positioned as a poor second cousin to the richer, nobler tasks of leading. That's a false perspective. Good managers with good leadership skills are incredibly valuable to today's organizations. Here are a few reasons why you should be proud of your important role as a manager:
I can tell you with absolute certainty that I didn’t think about my own leadership style for a large part of the first decade of my career. I didn’t care at the time. It wasn’t relevant. Although in hindsight, I certainly had a style, it was more muscle than finesse. It wasn't until a wise and confident senior leader challenged me to think through and then apply the answers to three powerful questions, that I began to form an effective leadership style.
Far too many professionals linger in stagnant roles or struggling firms long beyond the optimal expiration date of their involvement. Instead of seeking out new challenges that support learning and skills expansion, otherwise competent, motivated individuals tend to linger in bad situations hoping for circumstances to shift more to their liking. More often than not, they are disappointed.
I’ve encountered more than a few managers who have expressed frustration over the pace of development of someone they have marked for future advancement and increased contribution. For many of these managers, it’s a vexing dilemma with no clear solution. Here are 4 ideas to help you navigate this potentially sticky situation:
To the extent that we struggle to see our own weaknesses, we are remarkably naïve and blind to our strengths. This gap in our own view-of-self is in my experience more detrimental to career success and personal-professional satisfaction than the issues surrounding our alleged weaknesses. Here are at least 4 barriers that get in the way of seeing our own strengths:
Mistakes in the workplace are inevitable. After all, we’re human, and try as we might to operate error free, our own software is far from perfect and we occasionally let one slip through the filters. In some circumstances, mistakes are a healthy part of the learning process. In others, they're a sign that is something wrong on the personal front and you need to step in and offer help. And in other circumstances, they're a sign that you're not doing your job as a manager to maintain appropriate quality and accountability standards.
Many workplace teams I observe are not much better than the typical nightmarish college class group project that most of us have lived through at one time or another. Here are 4 big reasons why workplace teams struggle and 9 ideas to help you do something about it:
Understanding the discipline and tools of project management is now de rigueur for professionals with any intention of growing in their careers. However, when I take a close look at project teams that struggle (and too many do), it’s generally not the misapplication of project management tools or practices that are at the source of the problems. Most often, it’s the absence any visible form of project leadership.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “I never heard that before,” or, its slightly more grammar challenged equivalent, “No one ever told me that before,” in response to performance feedback. It’s sad and annoying all at the same time to hear those words.
