Love the wrongdoer, hate the wrong. As leaders, we should keep this in mind whenever dealing with performance issues. A HR manager I knew was involved in firing someone for gross misconduct. Afterwards, she met the dismissed employee in the car park. She checked in…
Do you have an everyday management or leadership dilemma that you’re grappling with? Our new advice column – The Guide – coaches readers through the ordinary difficulties of leadership life. in each edition, we will answer a reader’s question about a management problem, big or…
It pays to be respectful. It’s the right thing to do. But it’s also usually the smart thing to do. Here’s why. Imagine two debt collection agencies. One uses high pressure tactics to get people to pay their money back. While the other tries to…
Managers often wish their team members were more coachable. What’s the best way to make that happen? Be more coachable ourselves. Why? First, it’s good role modelling. Second, demonstrating this will attract more coachable people to our teams. Here are two ways to demonstrate greater…
It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. Steve Jobs I’ve managed plenty of smart people. And I’ve told many of them what to do. But, it’s…
Hard conversations are called ‘hard conversations’ for a reason. They’re hard. But they’re critical to relationship building. And they’re the price of admission to meaningful relationships. When we shy away from tough conversations, we limit the depth of connection we create (whether it’s with a…
I used to love saying, “if you want a job done properly, do it yourself”. But what that really said was, “I’m a terrible delegator”. And I was. When we first move into management roles, we’re typically bad delegators. We’ve often been promoted because we’re…
Can you trust someone who only tells you good things? I don’t think so. Here’s why and what it means for leaders. If someone is only sharing good news with you (including feedback on your performance, opportunities you’re seeking or anything else that could personally…
Taking total responsibility means measuring communication at the listener’s ear, not the speaker’s mouth. This is what former Google executive Kim Scott talks about in her book Radical Candor. If we seek to take total responsibility, we must accept that – if someone doesn’t understand something –…
The book in a paragraph The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni identifies five key temptations that leaders often face: prioritising personal status over organisational results, valuing popularity over accountability, choosing certainty over clarity in decision-making, preferring harmony over productive conflict, and avoiding…
You can’t be a kind person and criticise someone, right? And you definitely couldn’t sack them, right? Wrong. You can be a kind manager and still: Take criticising someone as a common example. Some managers criticise people and they are unkind. Some managers criticise people…
The book in a paragraph American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce Hoffman chronicles the remarkable turnaround of Ford under the leadership of Alan Mulally during a period of financial crisis. The book delves into the profound leadership…
Being influential is a key leadership quality. Making persuasive arguments is critical to leading your team forward. And to managing upwards. What drives influence? There are three things: The first lever takes time. But the better and more consistently we do 2 and 3, the…
You are never too small to make a difference. Greta Thunberg, Activist You don’t have to be a CEO or executive to make a difference. You don’t even need a manager’s title. Leaders exist at all levels of organisations. And society. We don’t need anyone…
It’s been 15 years since I first managed people. And, when I look back at my past self, I cringe at the way I thought and went about some things. It’s uncomfortable. But I think that’s a good thing. Because it means I’m growing. If…
The difference between management and leadership is confusing. They’re distinct, but related disciplines, which overlap with one another. There are no hard fast rules, but here’s five differences to help you distinguish the two. 1. Leadership leans to vision and purpose. Management is more goals…
What do you do when a team member does something ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’? Instinctively, we want to write them off and judge their character (this is called fundamental attribution bias). Sometimes our instincts are right. The misdeed was a wilful attempt to cause harm. But…
There are few things more certain than things going wrong. As a leader as it is in life. I’ve made plenty of mistakes. And I’ve regularly been confronted by my own limitations. And – no matter how much I meditate, reflect, talk it out (i.e.…
Here’s a controversial test of our leadership ability: we’re only as good as our worst performing team member. It feels horribly uncomfortable to consider. I hate the idea. But… I think it might be true. Here’s why… Because, if we have a chronically underperforming team…
We all want to be leaders who deliver strong results while creating an engaging work environment for our team. But often we just don’t know where to start. Reading can help. Because – as author Ryan Holiday says – “Reading is the only way [we]…