You don’t need a title to be a leader. Every workplace needs non-leader leaders with these three traits. Use Others’ Talents. Do what you are good at and draw on others for what they are good at. If you tend to do everything, know everything, and be everything, stop it. Not only is it egotistical
The final month of 2022 demanded me to reprioritize. An unexpected hospitalization of my Father meant I needed to take time to help him navigate many questions, post-hospitalization appointments, and ongoing needs. It was a good reminder for me to slow down and be fully present with family over the holidays. My Father is back
“Rumor has it you got advisor of the year. Congratulations.” This above was a sterile email I received from my boss in 2008. No greeting. No signature. No encouragement. It was demotivating. I have never understood why my boss didn’t walk the 50 feet from her office to my office and personally congratulate me. My
Have you ever been part of an extraordinary team? Have you ever been the leader of one? I have been part of one extraordinary team in my career. Yep. One. That’s it. I’ve been on good teams, bad teams, and okay teams. But I’ve only been on one extraordinary team. The reason the team was
In the 25+ years that I’ve been teaching leaders how to be better leaders, I’ve heard a lot of colorful words used to describe bad bosses. Here is an interesting list of them with definitions from various dictionaries-- Dictator – uses authority in an unjust way Unsupportive – does not care enough to help Micromanager
If you are perfect, stop reading. There is nothing here for you. On second thought, this article is probably more for you than it is for anyone else. Keep reading if you: avoid risk are afraid to fail get annoyed when people screw up have difficulty owning up to your mistakes hold yourself to high
Criticism creates anxiety. Coaching creates autonomy. Criticism creates fear. Coaching creates courage. Criticism creates robots. Coaching creates critical thinkers. Criticism creates mediocre performers. Coaching creates high performers. When leaders have metrics to meet, deadlines to hit, and bosses to answer to, the pressure can be too much. Sometimes that pressure comes out sideways, shifting their
Employees need more. Before you say, “There isn’t money in the budget” “We’re all expected to do more with less right now” “I’m too busy” let me ask you this – what will it get you? At best, you will get unhappy + unproductive = disengaged employees. If you are concerned about employee engagement, you
Should it be shocking that I’ve talked with 4 people recently who were onboarded during COVID and still don’t really know their coworkers? They don’t like it and neither do I. Trust promotes loyalty, creativity, and innovation. But how can trust be built if employees aren’t given time to build connection with each other? Last
Bad communication. There. I said it. I know there are other reasons we don’t trust leaders, but as a communication expert, bad communication is something I hear employees complain about over and over. Sporadic and non-transparent communication leads to employees feeling devalued and negative because the human brain is prone to catastrophic thinking. On a
