“Hire for attitude, train for skills” can be useful advice, but only up to a point. A person still needs the baseline knowledge and ability required for the role. You would not place someone in a specialized position simply because they are likable and enthusiastic. At the same time, a candidate who checks every technical … Read more
Trust is a big topic for us in 2024, and there’s a lot we can do to make things better. Less than half of us trust our bosses, and even fewer trust the top leaders, even though almost everyone agrees trust is super important. One thing we need more of is being open and honest, … Read more
A significant factor eroding trust is the failure to deliver, whether it’s products to customers or resources to colleagues, often due to overly optimistic promises. To rebuild and maintain trust, here’s a straightforward plan: 1. **Pause Overpromising:** If we can’t guarantee delivery, it’s better not to promise. Let’s set realistic expectations from the start. For … Read more
In fall of 2016, I learned about a simple technique to explore business weaknesses with your team. Ask them this: “If you were a competitor, how would could you put us out of business?” I was very excited about this at the time — I shared it with clients, used it with Group Dynamic, and … Read more
A few years ago, I shared a vivid phrase to describe being passive-aggressive: “Violently polite.” I think it holds up, but I had forgotten about it. I’m glad for the chance to revisit this. In the years since then, I’ve been more likely to focus on “toxic positivity,” which is NOT the same thing. Toxic … Read more
A few years ago, I wrote in Healthy Conflict Leads to Commitment that great teams can expect commitment when trust is solid and conflict is productive. Today, I want to emphasize that commitment has two other important components: clarity and buy-in. I think at the time I wrote the original post, I was looking harder … Read more
In a post I wrote called “Leaders Make Sure Results Match the Mission,” I shared Gino Wickman’s approach, presented clearly in the book Traction, called the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). I noted that measuring results against the mission is important to do on a regular basis. I’m not an official EOS implementer — those are … Read more
A few years ago, I wrote that great teams embrace healthy conflict. Does it hold up? Yes, the “healthy conflict” approach holds up. Teams still suffer from lack of productive conflict and healthy debate. There’s a lot of “sparing feelings,” and this extends into remote relationships, too; maybe even more so. The daily casual interactions … Read more
Seven years ago I wrote about what to do when you hit “send” on an email while in an agitated or emotional state, and then immediately regret it: How to Dial Back the Hasty Email Does this still happen? Unfortunately, yes. Does the advice hold up? Not quite, although I’d still handle the example situation … Read more
Seven years ago, I wrote about “the two kinds of naysayers” in a post titled: Leaders Know the Two Kinds of Naysayers. I wrote this because I was seeing a lot of leaders miss out on two things: 1) their power to make a difference, and 2) their responsibility to be a steward of their … Read more