The Domino Effect

Team members rely on each other. When everyone follows through on their commitments, the results can be exceptional. But when one person fails to hold up his or her end of the bargain, the domino effect can be swift and damaging.

If your organization is team-based, it’s your responsibility as a leader to ensure those teams function effectively. There’s little room for prima donnas, lone rangers, or chronic slackers. No matter how talented they may be, they weaken the team when they operate in isolation or refuse to support others.

Are You Afraid of Your Staff?

I recently led a workshop on leadership skills, during which several participants asked questions about managing people. A common theme underpinning these questions was their timidity as managers.

Several examples were related to employee entitlement and how these managers could more effectively deal with employees’ self-declared privileges.

Spring Reminders

Spring arrived a couple of weeks ago as a reminder that change is natural and timely. I think of it as an opportunity to reset. As flowers bud and days lengthen, we can translate that seasonal renewal into concrete leadership practices: reflection, realignment, and reinvigoration.

Holidays like Easter, Passover, and Ramadan deepen those themes: rebirth, liberation, and gratitude offer familiar prompts to reexamine purpose and priorities.

The Art of Executive Delegation

One of my clients suffers from executive delegation syndrome. This occurs when successful leaders can’t get out of their own way by not delegating sufficiently.

As leaders advance professionally, often into executive level functions, they can’t keep doing everything they were doing up until this point. You may have been an account executive, for example, and now you lead a department of 14 accounts executives.

What Do You Know Now?

One of the things that helps people make progress is to consciously think about what they know now that they didn’t know last week (month, year, etc.). Incremental knowledge – no matter how small or big it may be – accumulates and adds to your professional development.

Why not ask this question at your weekly team meetings? If you take time to have a quick round robin, you may be pleasantly surprised with what you hear.

Managing When You Don’t Want To

Are you suffering from too much work, not enough time, and (heaven forbid) your employees need guidance to do their jobs?

Good news, bad news, the same news: Get used to it.

“I’ll Get Back to You…”

Famous last words. How many times has someone said that they would get back to you, complete a task, follow up on a lead, or get some information to you. . . and you get old waiting to hear something?

Now, in fairness, there have certainly been times when you’ve not followed up on things, so before you start ranting about everyone else, you might want to look in the mirror.

Consensus or WIIFM?

Many leaders practice leadership by achieving consensus. They are challenged by the actual process of achieving consensus and feel satisfied when the various parties come to agreement.

Consensus is a worthy approach in many, but not all, cases. The process breaks down when the various stakeholders begin to venture down that well-travelled road, WIIFM (what’s in it for me).

Are Your People Clairvoyant?

Do your people have clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations? If they don’t, it’s not just inefficient—it’s a recipe for predictable breakdowns. When people lack clarity about what they’re accountable for and how success is measured, they’re effectively operating in the dark.

Consider these common scenarios

Prevent Holiday Tensions

As we edge towards the end of 2025, the annual recurrence of holiday tensions has arrived. December brings year-end deadlines, an abundance of holiday parties, and greater than usual personal commitments.

The result? More stress, more tension, and more anxiety which is creeping into the fabric of many organizations. What to do? Consider these tips to manage through the next few weeks.

Leadership is a Mindset

Tag: Communication