17

Jan

Your Strategy Should Serve Two Purposes

3coze

engagement, goals, mission, planning process, strategic planning, strategy, vision

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Exercises, Strategy & Planning

Do you have a strategy? A real strategy, not just an objective, or a goal, or a vision? Most leaders I meet think they have a strategy, but what they have does not meet the definition. If they do have a strategy, they are not getting the most from it by using the strategy in two different ways. Today, I bring you an in-depth post on what is (and is not) a strategy, how to create one, and the two things you need to do with it.

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10

May

Pass the Accountability

accountability, coaching, consequences, high performance culture, performance, performance management, responsibility, rewards

About teams, Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Contribute, How to fix teams, Virtual Teams

Trying too hard to force accountability will only weaken it. Here are some strategies you can use to foster accountability on your team.

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26

Jan

I’m not trying to be a jerk

bad boss, collaboration, jerk, leadership, management, reflection, self-awareness

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Personal Development

Are you accidentally, inadvertently, unintentionally coming off as a jerk. These folks were.

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16

Jun

Are you spending enough time leading?

3coze

delegation, leadership, management, meetings, prioritization, responsibilities

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Personal Development

As a leader, you have choices about how spend your time. If you don’t choose deliberately, you probably get sucked into producing, and managing, rather than leading. Here are some steps to put a little more leadership in your day, week, month, and year.

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05

May

Stop Rewarding Arsonists for Putting Out Fires

3coze

accountability, fire fighting, performance management, planning, Recognition, rewards

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Be a better team member, Contribute, Horror Stories, How to fix teams

It’s all too common that we reward the heroes who save the day on our teams without stopping to think that they might only be rescuing us from problems they created. Stop rewarding arsonists for putting out the fires.

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01

Apr

How to (inadvertently) start a fight

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3coze

development, feedback, feelings, leadership, Mistakes, personality, potential, training

Bad Leaders, Be a better team leader, Communicate, conflict, Connect, Horror Stories, Personal Development, Right Words to Say

I’ve been flying across the country delivering a leadership development program about the mindset and skillset leaders require to unlock the potential of their people. As I watch them role play with one another, I notice the things they say that create a negative reaction. Most of the offending statements include one of these three […]

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04

Mar

The Value of Struggle

2 comments

3coze

conflict, cross-functional, culture, project management, self-reliance, success theatre, vulnerability

Bad Leaders, Connect, Horror Stories

In last week’s post, I talked about the risk of creating a “success theater” in your organization. The term had come from a Wall Street Journal article about General Electric and their culture of sharing only good news. This topic continued top of mind for me and I really wanted to understand why I found […]

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14

Jan

Disagree with your boss without getting fired

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3coze

conflict aversion, conflict avoidant, Fired, organizational culture, power struggles, standing up to your boss, values

Bad Leaders, Be a better team member, conflict, Personal Development, Right Words to Say

This is the last of a series of posts exploring the causes and impact of our profound conflict aversion. I’m exploring how the things we were told as children, taught us that conflict was bad.  “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” or “Mind your own business!” or “You made him […]

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15

Oct

Weinstein and how we stop powerful predators

1 comment

3coze

bullying, Harvey Weinstein, office politics, power, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, victims

Bad Leaders, Be a better team member, Horror Stories, How to fix teams

I wrote an article for Quartz last week on the Harvey Weinstein case. In it, I talked about the need to change our perspective about acting on office rumors, particularly when rumors might be the only protection against an abusive predator in the office. The article started many conversations and has kept me thinking about […]

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21

May

Curtailing your need for detail

1 comment

3coze

delegation, detail, goals, leadership, management, micro-management, micro-manager, targets, thresholds, weeds

Bad Leaders, Contribute, Personal Development, Right Words to Say

Do you have micro-managing tendencies? As a leader, do you only feel confident when you feel like you have your finger on the pulse of your organization? Do you love getting to the root of an issue, no matter how far into the weeds it takes you? Is your favorite part of the meeting the […]

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