A couple of weeks ago, I was challenged to provide five minutes of content that would make a difference for leaders. Because of the power of questions, I decided to come up with three questions that are easy to explain but would have a lot of power. Here’s what I presented: Leaders move fast and … Read more
In The Effective Manager, Mark Horstman shares data on the value on one-on-ones. In their research, which has been replicated multiple times, they found that results and retention improve by about 10% when managers implement weekly one-on-ones. Another finding is that managers who are consistent with one-on-ones with their people tend to get promoted at … Read more
I was re-reading the outstanding Flawless Consulting by Peter Block and appreciated how he outlined the issues underlying phrases like: “These people” OR “Those people” (followed by) “don’t understand” OR “need to understand.” WHAT THESE PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND… So, what’s wrong with this? It separates the leader from the people they lead, diminishes a leader’s … Read more
Rubrics are such a nice way to organize and prioritize. But I’ve changed my mind about one thing since I wrote the first blog post on rubrics over four years ago. Now, I like a four-point rubric for most decision-making and prioritizing, instead of a 3-or- 5 point rubric. For my purposes, it usually looks … Read more
Last week, I introduced you to Chris McQueen, current Head of Community—Created Content for ServiceNow, former Google employee. This week, I want to share something else from McQueen that I think you’ll find helpful. Any time you cite a problem, turn it into a question that starts with these three words: How Might We… First … Read more
Chris McQueen, former Google employee, delivered a keynote address on some of the best practices his unit has learned, and I’ll share two of them with you. This week, I’ll offer some thoughts on generating solid team relationships. Next week, we’ll touch on the magic of three particular words. As most of you know, I’m … Read more
I’ve written before about insights from Fred Kofman’s The Meaning Revolution, and I will keep doing so from time to time. It’s full of gold. But one page, one paragraph specifically, made me kinda mad. From page 50: “Study after study concludes that a caring manager is essential to employee engagement. Employees want their managers … Read more
It can be helpful for leaders to use feedback from their teams in order to become more effective. Getting feedback from your team, however, comes with obstacles. One such obstacle is that people are often reluctant to be totally honest with their boss. They may be skeptical or feel like it’s not completely safe. Relationships … Read more
In July of 2009, my family and I sat reading in a quiet lobby in a small inn in rural Prince Edward Island. It was about 9:45 p.m. This kind of thing is often hard for me. I like to move, change activities quickly, and have my senses stimulated. Those are all reasons I love … Read more
Recently, I worked with a CEO and his immediate team in a very fast environment. We spent time processing thoughts and feelings the whole enterprise was experiencing during current major changes. This is a relatively small business, and the group I worked with comprised of 80% of the company. So, we had a very good … Read more