I have been leading some manager workshops over the past year to help them learn how to be leaders to their teams. There seems to be a common thought process that occurs (it happened to me too) when you take over your first team: “I am the leader of the team and I need to have all the answers.” Giving your team all of the answers is not helping them grow and it is actually the opposite of what you…
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Have you had someone give you difficult feedback? Receiving that type of message is hard and you may feel defensive. If you can, remember that this is just information that you are receiving and you don’t have to respond right away. Just say thank you for the feedback. Take the time to walk away, think about it and decide if what you heard is true for you. This feedback is a clue to the perception that others at work have of…
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As a leader, it can be challenging to have to give developmental feedback to someone on your team. You may know what you want to say, but some planning should be done prior to the conversation. Some of the things to consider are: Share the feedback as soon as you can after the situation has occurred. What message do you want the person to take away? How can you give the feedback in the most direct way and focus on the facts?…
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Leaders have a limited amount of time to get everything done throughout the day. You walk down the hall and people stop you to ask you a quick question as you are heading to your next meeting. It can be really easy to simply give the answer to the person, but that is short term thinking. What if you could help them learn how to come up with their own answers instead? Your goal is to create a team that…
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We have all had critics that love to share their perspective on what we need to change or improve in our lives. They may have been our parents, teachers, friends or co-workers who freely handed out their criticisms on a regular basis. It can be challenging to see yourself in a positive way when others are constantly criticizing you all the time. Living in an environment where criticism is prevalent can also cause you to pick up those same habits….
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Each and every day we have the opportunity to build connections with other people. For some people those may be surface interactions that don’t have a lot of depth to them. What if you took the time to really get to know them? How would that strengthen your relationship with them? In a world of social media, people are connecting now more than ever, but they are primarily surface connections. Think about the followers that you have or likes on…
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A few weeks ago I shared a story in a blog about a previous CEO who lacked emotional intelligence (EI.) Although he wasn’t easy to work for because he lacked people management skills, he was good at selling. His low emotional intelligence was actually a strength for him in that part of his role. If he received a “no” from a potential client, he didn’t waste time worrying about it. He just figured out how to work through the…
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Back in 1998, Daniel Goleman wrote an article called What Makes a Leader? This article began a big discussion on a term that many had not heard before called Emotional Intelligence. Goleman also wrote some books on this topic. Years later, one of my mentors introduced the concept to me. The simplest way to explain it is the ability to perceive and manage your emotions and the emotions of others. One of the quotes from the article summarizes the importance of…
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Joe walked in the front door of the office. The mood went from happy to stressful in a matter of minutes. Everyone ran to their desks to avoid seeing him. Although emotional intelligence wasn’t being discussed back then, he would have measured very low on the scale. Some days he was pleasant enough, but you never knew what would set him off. He would yell at people to get what he wanted when there was really no need to do…
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Do you live in the land of “when” in your life? When I make enough money then I will take this trip. When I lose weight then I will buy those jeans. When I get a promotion then I will have buy that new car. What if you just did all those things right now instead? Let’s face it, if you wait until certain conditions are met, it may be a really long time. Our culture tends to focus…
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