Tag: Managing People

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.

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Create a Blame-Free Environment

One of my clients has an employee who consistently blames others for anything that goes wrong in his department. And, if he is criticized by his manager, he has an artful way of ignoring the message and pointing the finger elsewhere.

A culture of accountability offsets an environment of blame. This employee (we’ll call him Samuel) has unique technical expertise. Certainly, this talent is recognized and appreciated, but by not paying attention to the team leader’s guidance, Samuel has created more problems with clients than he has actually solved.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Love in the Workplace

Did that title get your attention? Alas, I’m not talking about romantic encounters, rather, this is about appreciation. This being the “love month” – highlighted by Valentine’s Day on Saturday – makes this topic worth elevating.

Be generous in expressing appreciation to colleagues, team members, and clients – and anyone who provides service that you value. This can be as simple as “thank you.”

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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

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