What Disney’s Howard Ashman Can Teach Us About Leadership
Reading Time: 6 minutes If you grew up in the golden age of Disney animation, you probably didn’t think much about the people who made our beloved childhood classics. It seemed like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin simply sprang from Disney’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of brilliance. But in reality, those three films, and the animation […]
96% of Employees Think Their Workplace Has Management Bias. Make Sure That’s Not You
Reading Time: 8 minutes Ninety-six percent of employees feel that management bias affects performance-review scoring, according to a 2019 Brandon Hall Group study. At first blush, that statistic seems shocking. But when you think about it, what’s really shocking is that the number isn’t 100%. Because, hey, everyone has unconscious biases. They’re natural quirks of the human brain that […]
5 Leadership Communication Skills to Teach New Managers
Reading Time: 7 minutes Making someone a manager may feel like you’re waving a magic wand and turning them into a leader, but that’s not exactly how it works. Getting a new title (or in Cinderella’s case, a new wardrobe) doesn’t automatically grant great communication skills (such as telling the prince your name before leaving the ball). New managers […]
One-On-One Training, Choose Your Own Adventure-Style
Reading Time: < 1 minute Do you ever look back at one-on-one meetings and wonder what would have happened if you’d behaved differently? Should you have pushed your team member harder about their missed deadlines or offered to pitch in and help? Did you spend too much time talking about personal issues and neglect to cover professional goals? Could you […]
16 Essential Leadership Articles to Read in 2020
Reading Time: 8 minutes Can we all agree that there is nothing standard about 2020? Good, because leadership articles from 2019 just won’t cut it in a year like this. Teams need leaders who are ready to support them through challenging current events, like the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and sudden shifts to remote work. Every article on […]
15 One-on-One Meeting Questions to Revive Stale Check-ins
Reading Time: 7 minutes Managers the world over struggle to make one-on-one meetings meaningful. If you have any doubt about this, just check one of the most popular forums for managers: Rands Leadership Slack. “One-on-ones” is among the most active channels and it’s filled with managers grappling with how to ask the right one-on-one meeting questions. Many worry that […]
An Impostor Syndrome Quiz for Managers
Reading Time: 7 minutes Becoming a manager is weird. Overnight, you go from being a member of the team to the person people look to for answers. You’re not just responsible for your own performance anymore. The professional life of each team member rests in your hands. Meanwhile, you’re afraid of people seeing the all-too-human man(ager) behind the curtain. […]
15 Skip-Level Meeting Questions to Identify High Performers [Free Template]
Reading Time: 5 minutes As a senior manager, skip-level meetings are a rare opportunity to talk to the team members on the front lines of your organization. You may have only a few minutes with these people, so you have to make each one of your skip-level meeting questions count. Use the following questions to quickly spot your most […]
Managers, Your Team Is Starving for Real-Time Feedback
Reading Time: 5 minutes Here’s some good news (remember that stuff?) for every manager: your team members want to talk to you more. It’s true, especially of your younger team members! A recent survey of millennials found that 85% would feel more confident at work if they talked to their manager about performance more often. A separate survey found […]
18 Performance Review Ideas from Google, Netflix, and Other Top Companies
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s official: the annual performance review is no longer the gold standard of the business world. In a recent Gallup survey, only 14% of respondents felt that annual reviews motivated them to improve. But that doesn’t mean you should eliminate any form of review. It means you need to change your approach. Use examples like […]