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.
A typical day in most workplaces is one unending series of large and small distractions that combine to keep most of us from making much forward progress on our one or two real priorities that matter. Here are 5 radical and slightly irreverent ideas to help you find more time and focus on issues that matter:
it's critical to regularly show your appreciation for the individuals operating at the front who translate all of the lofty ideas from corporate into activities that serve and please customers. 5 Big Reasons why Great Front Line Leaders are Priceless:
Most feedback discussions succeed or fail in the opening sentence. You have a chance to engage the receiver and build value or, point a finger and make the discussion feel like an indictment. Here are 6 suggestions to help you get the feedback discussion started on the right footing:
There’s no formula, no strategy, no approach to building a great business that allows you to short circuit the need for great people. If you're facing this issue, here are a few thoughts to help you get this equation for success right:
With few exceptions that I’ve encountered, most senior leaders lose sleep over how fast their organizations and employees are moving. Their minds and mantras are: faster to change, faster to improve, faster to add new capabilities, faster to explore and develop competence in new markets and with new customer groups. However, at the same time senior leaders are looking for ways for their firms and teams to move faster, most employee groups and their managers are bogged down slogging through the reality of getting stuff done. Here are 3 ideas to help you and your team strengthen the balance between the need for speed and the need for performance:
We all know and live with the distractions that pull us from our true priorities. From the personal issues that tug at us while we’re striving to work and live, to the endless number of workplace distractions, focus often seems like an abstract concept. Here are 5 ideas you can apply today to help your teams and team members find focus:
My first manager routinely asked a question that turned out to be a powerful teaching tool and a life-long reminder to pause before leaping. The question was, “Have you thought of everything?” While “thinking of everything” in a literal sense is impossible, her intent wasn’t to push us down to ground level in an endless field of details (as interpreted by my colleagues), but rather, it was to push us to think through and around a situation in as thorough manner as possible. Here are 5 situations where the questions absolutely must come first:
For many leaders, circumstances have an annoying habit of drawing our attention off of what we should be focusing on towards something more immediate or more novel. For anyone leading a team, this loss of focus (or loss of edge) is what I describe as “Leadership Drift.” Here are at least six ideas to help you and your team avoid the drift that can keep you from reaching your destination:
Some organizations seem to perpetuate a culture that generates talk and hand wringing and teeth gnashing on issues, but little constructive action. Instead of letting the heat from 1,000 smoldering fires melt away your spirit and initiative, take action, grab a hose and form a bucket brigade. Do something...just don't stand around and watch things burn.
