What’s at the root of so-called “poor performance”? We tend to look at an employee’s – or friend’s, family member’s, customer’s, a stranger’s – behavior as a “thing,” an entity unto itself. But is it really? We look at an employee’s behavior, whether “good” or “bad,” and call it “performance.” But performance doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s always based …
How do you want to be led?
Has anyone ever asked you that question – how do you want to be led? Have you ever asked your team that question? If you were fortunate enough to be offered training in leadership, you’re probably familiar with the concept of situational leadership, which suggests providing different levels of support and guidance to your people based on the … ahem … situation. …
Who supports you?
There’s a recurring theme I’ve observed in listening to successful people interviewed on podcasts, or whilst reading their books. They talk about the meaningful, vital support they received as children, as teens, as young adults. There are plenty of people who had very difficult childhoods – poverty, violence, abuse, learning difficulties – and who nonetheless became successful. So I’m not …
But what can one manager do?
During a recent podcast interview (which I’ll post when it’s released), I was asked a tough question: If you’re working for a company that has, let’s say, a somewhat questionable culture, where it’s not as safe as it might be to raise questions or make mistakes, it’s easy to think that you’re stuck: your options are to either accept the …
Don’t drop that ball!
If you’ve ever complained about being overwhelmed, overbusy, or burned out, some helpful (?) person has undoubtedly advised, “You need to drop some of those balls you’re juggling!” These days, with so much about burnout in the news – and, more to the point, in our organizations and lives – “Drop those balls!” must be ringing down office corridors and …
What is an authentic leader?
Authenticity is one of those words. There’s a lot of talk about it, it’s become a buzzword in management and leadership, and … what does it actually mean? Obviously (I hope!) it’s not “letting it all hang out.” TMI (too much information) is still TMI, no matter how “authentic” someone’s experience and feelings may be. It may be completely authentic …
Microaggressions, gaslighting, and other toxicities
I wrote this article for my LinkedIn newsletter The Leadership Leap. I don’t typically cross-post LinkedIn articles here on my blog, but this is an important topic, so I felt it deserved to be here as well as there. See the end of the article for links to subscribe to the Leap. There’s nothing “micro” about an endless stream of …
Is there room for Captain Obvious?
So much of what I see written about leadership, management, and corporate life in publications such as Harvard Business Review, FORTUNE magazine, Fast Company, and others, seems startlingly obvious to me. “Aye, aye, Captain Obvious”-level obvious. Yet these are well-respected, even venerated, publications. Which makes me wonder: maybe I’m missing something. (Who, me?!) It seems some things require repetition for us …
The power of a Pink Elephant
“Don’t think of a pink elephant!” The problem, of course, is that you first have to think of what a pink elephant is before you can “not think” of it. On one of Brené Brown’s recent podcast episodes, she mentioned training lifeguards. They were taught to say “Please walk!” instead of “Don’t run!” Apparently, every time the whistle blew and someone …
A different end-of-year question
It’s coming up to the end of the year. Which means there must be the obligatory end-of-year article, right? But let’s look at things a little differently. I tend to notice (or at least, I try to notice) when I’m hearing the same message from multiple sources – and recently two people whose opinions and ideas I respect have been …