Leaders & Managers
From the nitty gritty of daily management to addressing your aspirations of leadership, this section for leaders & managers tells you how to make strong leadership decisions, build effective teams, delegate and stay above the everyday management muddle.
Get tips, strategies, tool and advice on: performance reviews, preventing workplace violence, best-practices leadership, team building, leadership skills, people management and management training.
It has taken me many years to figure out how to communicate with my
employees. Shooting the breeze at a company picnic is easy, but it’s
harder to level with them about key details of the business, especially
the cold, hard facts that can put a damper on anyone’s day. I’ve found that the trick is to mix good news with bad.
The more authority you wield, the more you’ll have to fend off
criticism from peers and subordinates. That’s the price of exercising
power over others. But you can overcome that occupational hazard by
shielding yourself from their verbal slings and arrows.
An interview with Rick Smolan, the photojournalist behind the best-seller A Day in the Life of America
You never appreciate a good performer until you’ve fired a bad
performer. That’s because bad performers take so much time and
attention to manage.
Until recent years, the first rule of smart hiring was, “Match the right skills with the right job.” But today’s managers know that attitude counts more than skill when they fill most job openings.
In most polls of employees, working for an overly bossy boss ranks
among the worst management traits. A manager who suffocates you by
bearing down on your every move and intruding on your ability to think
and act independently can drain your energy and leave you gasping for
freedom.
The authors of Semper Fi (Amacom, 1998) are convinced that managers can boost their leadership skills by borrowing tips from the Marine Corps.
When you want to persuade others to side with you, it helps to select
the proper context within which to couch your remarks. By framing
comments in a way that increases your listeners’ receptivity, you can
pry their minds open and earn their approval.
If you tend not to like certain employees, you may fall into the trap of blurring the line between their unpleasant personalities and the merits of their ideas or the quality of their work product.
If you’re leading a training session with your staff, follow adult learning principles to ensure that everyone absorbs your main points.
