Assessing Power and Politics in Your Organization

Much of the writing about leadership leaves out two of the most critical topics: power and politics. That’s a problem, because the political environment defines the playing field and those with the power dominate the organization’s agenda. Ignoring these facts of organizational life is a formula for futility. Here's a checklist of 10 questions to get you started on forming a better picture of your firm's political environment:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:06-05:00November 10th, 2015|Career|3 Comments

New Leader Tuesday—Quit Walking on Eggshells around Boss Bullies

Almost every person who’s ever held a managerial position has spent time walking on eggshells around a deliberately difficult employee to avoid inciting a confrontation. I describe these individuals as “Boss Bullies.” They’re particularly fond of first-time managers because their tactics tend to work on the new managers for a period of time. Here are 6 ideas to help you navigate this sticky situation:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:07-05:00August 25th, 2015|Leadership|1 Comment

New Leader Tuesday—Ideas to Help You Cure Feedback Fright

While the act of delivering constructive feedback doesn’t rank up there with the fear of public speaking (stage fright) or facing an IRS audit (just pure fear), too many managers…especially newly promoted first-timers avoid this activity because it makes them uncomfortable. Here are 9 ideas to help you move beyond your own feedback fright:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:08-05:00August 18th, 2015|Leadership|1 Comment

New Leader Tuesday—Learning from Your Communication Mistakes

You will make many communication mistakes in your formative role as someone responsible for the work of others. It takes time and more than a few mistakes to recognize your need to understand the communication preferences of your team members and to learn to tailor your approach. Here are 4 communication lessons learned the hard way and some guidance for helping you avoid these missteps:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:08-05:00August 11th, 2015|Career, Leadership|0 Comments

New Leader Tuesday—Learning to Adapt Your Approach to Individuals

You will cultivate a leadership style over time…in large part by learning from trial and error. You can accelerate the learning process and improve your effectiveness by remembering to adapt your interaction style to the behaviors and preferences of others, while never compromising your commitment to fairness, your firm’s values or your obligation to drive results.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:11-05:00January 6th, 2015|Leadership|0 Comments

New Leader Tuesday—4 Big Benefits of Coaching Your Teams

Too often and with the best of intentions, we assemble a team of our best and brightest to tackle an important issue and then assuming our job is done and the task is in the hands of these capable people, we step away and wait for the results. And all too often, instead of something magical, what we get back looks and feels a lot like flailing heading towards failing. Here are 4 big reasons why assigning a coach to your project team might be the difference between success and failure:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:15-05:00February 25th, 2014|Leadership, Project Management|1 Comment
Go to Top