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 …
Leading through Uncertainty: a call to action
What does it mean to be a manager and leader in a time when everything seems to be turned upside down? Are you ready to take on the challenge? This isn’t an easy time for anyone, especially the first-line manager. I offer three key questions to help you decide what you’ll do. The choice is yours. Are you ready? Resources …
Time management tips for managers
Time management is a tricky thing! And I’ll tell you a secret: I don’t actually believe in time management. But I DO believe in a host of tools that I’ll talk about in this video that will help you get a lot more out of your time each day. Tune in and see what you think! Resources Morningness-Eveningness quiz: http://www.cet-surveys.com/index.php?sid=61524 …
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 …
Brainstorming … with a remote team
Trying to figure out how to brainstorm on video? Wondering what you can do to pull your remote team into a brainstorming session that will actually work? (Yes, your suspicion that brainstorming sessions are often less than wonderfully effective is true!) In this video, I share my two top approaches for effective brainstorming with remote team – OR in person. And …
Remote Team Meetings – 7 Quick Tips
Trying to hold meetings when everyone’s working from home, the dog’s barking, and the cat’s trying to sit on the keyboard? Here are seven quick tips to make your remote team meetings productive and enjoyable when you’re all working from home! (In fact … don’t look now, but your meetings just might be even better than they were when you …
Communication for Managers – Styles and Solutions
Communication is one of THE most important skills for managers. How you communicate impacts everything you and your team do every day. Delegation, explaining goals, defining expectations, giving feedback, handling conflict and disagreement – it’s ALL ABOUT your ability to communicate well – your communication skills. And that starts with understanding the five different communication styles, as I describe in this video. …
How to manage negative employees
Do you have a doom-and-gloom employee on your team? Someone who always points out the worst outcome, why ideas won’t work, and generally seems to have a little gray cloud following them around all the time? They might do great work, but they’re also a drag on everyone’s energy. Even if you don’t work directly with them, you can feel …
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 …
Managing gossip in the workplace
As a first-line manager or supervisor, how can you manage gossip in the workplace? How can you squash gossip without being viewed as a mean manager or as the “word police”? Workplace gossip is never a good thing – it creates anxiety, it excludes people, it generates mistrust and disengaged, anxious employees. Fortunately, there are a few simple things you …