When a Leader Is Causing Conflict, Start by Asking Why

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Tuesday, 12 February 2019 15:42

Not long ago, I received a call from an HR manager at a large corporation seeking an executive coach for one of their senior leaders. He was described as arrogant, tactlessly blunt, and lacking empathy. Despite his challenges, all of which hadn’t improved much despite several previous coaching interventions, the…

How to Manage Morale When a Well-Liked Employee Leaves

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 30 January 2019 12:49

It’s a dreadful moment when a well-liked member of your team tenders their resignation. You experience a cocktail of emotions ranging from fear about how the rest of the team will react, to frustration at having to add recruiting to your already hectic calendar. The worst is the lingering feeling…

Why Leaders Need to Cultivate Complementary Strengths

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 09 January 2019 13:35

Robert is a strong leader. How do I know? When he left one company to join another, many in his top team followed him to the new company because they wanted to keep working for him. That’s a pretty strong testimonial. “Yes, he pushes us hard,” one of his direct…

If Your Innovation Effort Isn’t Working, Look at Who’s on the Team

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Wednesday, 09 January 2019 12:15

An all-star team is making headway with a new initiative that could alter the future of the organization. Spirits are optimistic and the team is successfully maneuvering through new, yet very promising, territory. Then, the results begin taking longer than anticipated to prove, and after too much time spent outside…

How to Manage an Employee Who’s Having a Personal Crisis

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Thursday, 20 September 2018 11:17

We all have life events that distract us from work from time to time — an ailing family member, a divorce, the death of a friend. You can’t expect someone to be at their best at such times. But as a manager what can you expect? How can you support…

What to Do When Your Boss Won’t Advocate for You

Category Leadership
by CoachMatching
Monday, 10 September 2018 14:36

Having a great boss is a potentially life-changing gift. On the other hand, many of us know firsthand that having a bad boss can cause a lot of drama, headaches, and stress. While it’s easy to love the great bosses and flee the bad ones, there’s one kind of boss that’s much less straightforward…

How to Nourish Your Team’s Creativity

Category Leadership
by Ron Carucci
Tuesday, 17 October 2017 10:19

CEOs in a recent poll agreed that creativity is the most important skill a leader can have. What seems less clear is how to actually cultivate it. Every leader is hoping for that next great idea, yet many executives still treat creative thinking as antithetical to productivity and control. Indeed, 80% of American and British…

The Problem with Saying “My Door Is Always Open”

Category Leadership
by Megan Reitz & John Higgins
Thursday, 12 October 2017 15:40

If you are in an influential position, you have probably said words to the effect of “My door is always open.” You likely meant this declaration very genuinely. You might well feel that you are a pretty approachable sort of person and that others feel comfortable coming to you with…

How to Tell Leaders They’re Not as Great as They Think They Are

Category Leadership
by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Wednesday, 04 October 2017 10:06

Although we live in a world that glorifies self-belief and stigmatizes self-doubt, there are really only two advantages to thinking that you’re better than you actually are. The first is when you’re attempting to do a difficult task. Believing that you can do something difficult is half the battle, but if…

5 Questions to Ask About Corporate Culture to Get Beyond the Usual Meaningless Blather

Category Leadership
by Bill Taylor
Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:40

There aren’t many leaders who would disagree with the idea that a healthy, productive culture is a defining element of business success. Yet I’ve seen so many companies with lofty-sounding “mission statements” and “core values” that have the most toxic workplaces imaginable. I’ve met so many leaders who are brilliant…

Root Out Bias from Your Decision-Making Process

Category Leadership
by Thomas C. Redman
Tuesday, 08 August 2017 16:48

We’ve all experienced the disappointment of an important decision not going our way. The feeling is far worse when you feel that the decision was somehow “rigged” against you — that you never had a chance, that your input wasn’t given its fair due, or that only some of the data was considered.…

Want Your Employees to Trust You? Show You Trust Them

Category Leadership
by Holly Henderson Brower, Scott Wayne Lester & M. Audrey Korsgaard
Tuesday, 01 August 2017 08:56

Executives and managers invest a lot of effort and time building trust in their teams: both establishing trust in their employees and ensuring that their employees trust them in return. But many employees say they do not feel trusted by their managers. And when employees don’t feel trusted, workplace productivity and engagement often…

How to Handle Underperformers on a Team You Inherit

Category Leadership
by Ron Ashkenas
Tuesday, 04 July 2017 15:43

Recently I was talking with a new manager about the team she had inherited. While she thought that most of the team members were doing a good job, she was concerned that one or two people were not pulling their weight. She wasn’t sure what to do about them. She…

Changing Company Culture Requires a Movement, Not a Mandate

Category Leadership
by Bryan Walker & Sarah A. Soule
Friday, 23 June 2017 10:46

Culture is like the wind. It is invisible, yet its effect can be seen and felt. When it is blowing in your direction, it makes for smooth sailing. When it is blowing against you, everything is more difficult. For organizations seeking to become more adaptive and innovative, culture change is…

Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?

Category Leadership
by Daniel Goleman and Richard E. Boyatzis
Tuesday, 06 June 2017 09:26

Esther is a well-liked manager of a small team. Kind and respectful, she is sensitive to the needs of others. She is a problem solver; she tends to see setbacks as opportunities. She’s always engaged and is a source of calm to her colleagues. Her manager feels lucky to have…

How to Get People to Collaborate When You Don’t Control Their Salary

Category Leadership
by Heidi K. Gardner
Friday, 26 May 2017 15:28

Most of us assume that if we want to change people’s behavior, we need to change their incentives. For example, after I published research and advice on collaboration in professional service firms, I heard from a surprising number of people who wrote to ask questions like, “Maybe it’ll work in a partnership, like a law…

Women at the top still face prejudices

Category Leadership
by Susi Astengo
Friday, 19 May 2017 09:22

A new gender revolution is becoming the trending topic of this decade. After many predictions giving women hope that there is an end to the diminished value of women in leadership positions, the right of women to expect equal consideration for equal work is at the forefront of the new…

Being a Strategic Leader Is About Asking the Right Questions

Category Leadership
by Lisa Lai
Tuesday, 16 May 2017 16:30

If you asked the world’s most successful business leaders what it means to “be strategic,” how many different answers do you think you’d get? Consider this number: 115,800,000. It’s the number of unique links returned when I searched online for “strategic leadership.” There’s a good reason for all of those links: Strategy…

How to Deliver Criticism So Employees Pay Attention

Category Leadership
by Deborah Bright
Friday, 12 May 2017 10:39

In my college days I ranked among the top 10 women divers in the United States. I got that far not just because I worked hard — practicing every day in four-to-six-hour sessions — but also because I had an extremely tough coach who routinely offered both caring support and sharp criticism.…

Onboarding Isn’t Enough

Category Leadership
by Mark ByfordMichael D. WatkinsLena Triantogiannis
Wednesday, 10 May 2017 09:23

An executive we’ll call Lucas Jacobsen was ready for a new challenge. So after more than a decade at a Fortune100 diversified manufacturing firm, where he had risen to lead product development in the power systems division, he decided to move on. He accepted an offer to head up R&D at…

Leadership