One of the biggest stresses that anyone in an organization can go through is when there are going to be layoffs or reductions. You walk into work one day and your world is turned upside down. Your first thought is, “Will I have a job when this is all over?” Unfortunately, when you are the leader, you have no time to dwell on that because your focus has to be on your team. You can almost watch the stages happen….
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Have you ever heard the phrase, “you get what you give?” In the context of communication, it means however you speak to a person, their inclination is to respond to you at the same level. If you are angry, they will come back with defensiveness and their own anger simply because that is how you spoke to them. It is a reaction that happens very quickly and without much thought. Each person continues to escalate to the next level and…
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One of my clients had a big event planned with her team coming up soon. She was really excited to be leading this and wanted things to be ready to go when everyone arrived. She started getting questions from the group about what they were going to do. It was surprising to her that they were asking all these questions because she had never held an event that wasn’t well thought through and planned. Sometimes we make assumptions in our head…
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If you have ever been part of a team working on a project, you know that there is always risk. The team plans for all the possible scenarios and is prepared for what could happen. Risk mitigation is a critical part of making sure that the project team can handle the scenarios that could happen. Proactive planning gives the team time to think about it and create a plan that they are ready to execute as soon as it is…
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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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