As leaders, how are we to handle events that happen outside the company, but have a significant impact on our employees? This is a question that comes up more often than one might prefer. On 9/11, I was still working in corporate, an executive in a midsize technology company on the U.S. West Coast. We had a number of employees …
Stress, anxiety, exhaustion – it’s Pandemic Brain!
“What’s wrong with me?” More than one client has said that to me in the past few weeks. “What’s wrong with me?” One client is exhausted. Another is anxious – “for no reason.” And then there’s the lack of normal productivity, the difficulty thinking clearly, the unexpected challenge of making decisions. “I’m really lucky. I have a good job. I’m healthy. …
The most important leadership skill?
As a leader, which is more important: good people skills or good communication skills? Perhaps they’re inseparable. Perhaps it’s impossible to have good people skills without good communication skills – and if you’re a good communicator, you’re probably also good with people. “Communication” is often viewed as the ability to convince, negotiate, explain, and so on. Those are all great …
Helping First-Line Managers with Stress
Your first-line managers are an incredibly valuable – and vulnerable – asset. They have the most direct impact on your individual employees, and therefore on productivity, engagement, and results. And right now they’re squashed between their own stress, their team’s stress, and their boss’s stress. What are you doing to help them not burn out? In this video, I offer …
Improving team morale … in difficult times
When your team is distracted, drooping, upset over what’s happening (whatever it may be), what can you do to get them back on track, engaged and productive again? How can you raise your team’s morale, even when things are hard? In this video, you’ll learn five non-cheesy tips to help boost your team’s morale and get them focused again. Resources …
Humor in the workplace
Have you ever had a joke or April Fool’s prank go really wrong? It’s hard to know what people find funny, and it’s all too easy to go very wrong with humor at work. Here are some alternatives to pranks and other ways to celebrate April Fool’s at work – including, if you stick through to the end, an out-of-the-box …
But what about the baggage?
If you’re an adult, you’ve got some. Baggage. Issues. Triggers. Hot buttons. Whatever you want to call it. Because no one gets into adulthood without at least a little baggage – and some have a lot. And we bring this baggage into the workplace with us, whether we like it or not. So do our employees and team members. But …
Is empathy important for leadership? (Hint: YES!)
Empathy isn’t just for close friends and family members going through hard times. Empathy is also for our teams, co-workers, and leaders. It’s a crucial leadership skill. Watch the video to learn about the three levels of empathy and why understanding someone doesn’t mean you agree with them! ShareShare
Can you learn empathy?
Some of the foremost leaders in business and science believe in the importance of empathy in the workplace – and in the world. “People will try to convince you that you should keep empathy out of your career. Don’t accept this false premise.” ~ Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc. “The reason why I use the word ‘empathy’ is because …
For or about? It matters.
We say we care about someone. Sometimes we care for someone. There’s a difference, and it matters. When we care about someone, they’re a person for whom we have a certain regard. We probably like them, respect them, appreciate them, admire them, maybe even love them. But we might not actually know them. We can care about a charismatic leader. We can care about someone …