I’m sure you’ve been given that advice at some point. “Fake it till you make it!” I actually had a therapist tell me that many years ago. Oof. It’s the worst possible advice. Because here’s the thing: “fake it till you make it” is a sure-fire, guaran-damn-teed way to land yourself in the middle of imposter syndrome, unconfidence, insecurity, and …
Time: the ultimate NFT
Time. It’s ubiquitous – it’s everywhere – we swim around in it like the proverbial fish oblivious to the water it swims through and breathes. And that ubiquitousness, that everywhereness, that swimming-in-it-ness, means we usually don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it. Even as we bemoan the lack of time, and wish we had more, and try to …
Why are you promoting me?
I heard that on a podcast episode recently. And I’ve heard variations on the theme from – let me think to make sure I’m not overstating this – yes, from everyone I’ve ever asked about that moment of stepping from individual team member into a leadership role. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the skills required to excel …
Why should they stay?
I suspect we’ve all gotten a little tired of hearing about the Great Resignation. But it’s still happening – and there are still important questions that need to be asked, even as you scramble to hire replacements. WHY are they leaving you? And WHY should they stay? There’s an old old saying that “people leave managers, not jobs.” You can probably find proof …
How do you define “culture”?
We can agree that a company’s culture is important – that it has a huge effect on employee experience, the ability to hire good people and then retain them, and ultimately on the customer experience and the company’s success. But what IS culture? Is it how you feel about going to work every day? Is it measured by your turnover …
Is it really burnout?
~ Values ~ ~ Ethical behavior ~ ~ Burnout ~ ~ Meaning ~ What do these four things have in common? They’re all related to how we feel about our work. And of course they’re related to leadership as well. So let’s start at the top. Values Whether we take the time to identify them or not, we all have …
We are not okay
I heard a horrifying and profoundly sad statistic this morning. Over 60,000 school-age kids have buried a parent during the pandemic. Sixty thousand. There have been over 889,000 deaths in the U.S. from covid, and over 5,616,000 deaths worldwide. Eight hundred eighty nine thousand in the U.S. Five million six hundred sixteen thousand worldwide. Someone on your team is dealing …
Who makes the decisions?
Who makes the decisions in your company? It’s a cultural question, isn’t it? Hierarchical command-and-control organizations keep decision-making firmly at the top. And that means there’s generally a lack of trust, plus a lack of rank-and-file understanding of, and commitment to, strategic goals and objectives. This in turn leads to a lack of context for the people doing the work …
Debunking “normal”
Normal, according to Merriam-Webster, means “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern: characterized by that which is considered usual, typical, or routine.” Predictable. Stable. A sense of certainty, of knowing what’s likely to happen. None of that ever truly existed, of course, but at least we could pretend, act “as if.” We could set strategy, make five-year plans, look to …
Setting goals amid uncertainty
How can we set goals when everything seems to be changing from one week – one day! – to the next? One minute we’re all ready to head back to the office (at least some of the time), and the next minute we have a new covid variant and a whole new set of questions to answer. Reality can be …