Across the United States, nearly every nonessential business big and small has been forced to go remote. This puts people in leadership positions in a unique spot. As academic director of the Columbia Executive M.S. in Technology Management program, I interact with and coach hundreds of emerging leaders each year. The global health crisis…...
9 Ways Leaders Can Support Their Team During a Crisis
Your team is looking to you to help lead them through this adversity, and even though you definitely have a lot on your mind, you have to find a way to juggle all of your responsibilities while supporting your team. Here are nine ways you can achieve that goal. 1. Prioritize health and well-being. Your team is…...
Boost employee engagement with these key people skills
With all the talk about “employee engagement,” it’s only fair to ask, “Can I really get all the people in my organization to give their best – every day?” The short answer is probably not “all.” But with the right amount of effort you can get “most” of them to…...
The Plate-Drop Challenge: How to Respond to Failure
The only way to learn how many plates you can spin is to break some plates. The question of capacity guarantees failure. T.S. Eliot said, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” The idea is scary, even if…...
5 Tips to Build Loyalty During COVID-19
As the global pandemic continues, people across the world have been adversely affected by its calamitous grip. While some are mourning the loss of loved ones, many more have been negatively impacted by the socioeconomic effects of the lockdown. As employees’ transition to working from home, the process has…...
8 Job Skills To Succeed In A Post-Coronavirus World
As most of us are in lockdown at home, we are left to wonder what a post-coronavirus-world might look like. There’s a lot unknown about how the world will transform after we get the novel coronavirus under control, but it is extremely unlikely that things will just go back to…...
3 best practice strategies to drive diversity & inclusion leadership
HR leaders need to look at diversity and inclusion from both the recruitment and succession planning perspectives to ensure the lifecycle of diversity leadership continues and grows, writes Purnima Nandy Organisations across industries and geographies are waking up to include diversity and inclusion in their strategic plans as an answer to…...
Beware of using qualifications as a proxy for skills
The release of a new analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has sent the higher education community into a frenzy of excitement. The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data allows us to understand better than ever before the impacts of different qualifications, institutions and, to some extent demographics, on individuals’…...
What makes a good manager (and what makes bad managers so bad)
Most of us have had bosses that made us want to eat bubble wrap at some point in our career. But is it possible that those horrible managers were just an exception to the rule? An overbearing, micro-managing minority we were unlucky enough to cross paths with? Turns out, great managers are not few and…...
Excellence in Leadership is More Than a Trait
Leadership is more than learning the characteristics and habits of effective leaders. Truly effective leaders ensure the organization has clear direction and an infrastructure which will enhance the probability of the organization successfully achieving their vision. Additionally, the best leaders know how to fit the people they have into the…...
When to Just Shut Up and Do It
Just shut up and do it:Discomfort is the path to success, but not all discomfort is the same.Sometimes discomfort means STOP. You’re uncomfortable with fudging the numbers, for example. In ethical areas discomfort means stop.In the area of development, discomfort means press forward. The only way to increase capacity is…...
When to Give Second Chances and When to Cut Someone Loose
Don’t give second chances when:Response to failure is excuse or blame.People don’t appreciate the impact of their poor performance on others. Employees who minimize poor performance don’t own the negative impact they have on teams.Don’t give second chances to excuse-makers unless you want a culture of excuse-making.Give second chances when:#1.…...
Ten Ways to Screw Up Your Next Meeting
Ten ways to screw up your next meeting:#1. Don’t state the purpose of the meeting.#2. Don’t declare how the meeting aligns with organizational goals.Long-term goals establish direction. Short-term goals enable execution.#3. Don’t get input from key participants before the meeting.Some team members believe they have the right to help steer…...
The Top Ten Toxic Behaviors of Lousy Leaders
Top Ten toxic Behaviors of Lousy Leaders:#1. Neglecting relationships. A short conversation about someone’s family while getting coffee isn’t a waste of time. If you want great results, build strong relationships.#2. Tolerating bad apples. Time makes bad apples rot. They don’t ripen with time. Your team is waiting for you…...
4 Practices Guaranteed to Energize Tired Teams
4 ways to energize tired teams:#1. Establish direction that matters to each team member.Can everyone describe what rowing-with looks like?Point out anyone who is rowing sideways. Do this in private. Explain what rowing-with looks like.Understand each team member’s reason for caring about the team’s direction. Why does this matter to…...
A Premortem: Reverse Positive Thinking for Success
Get into the habit of doing PREmortems, because a POSTmortem by definition happens after the fact, which is too late for the current situation, although it will undoubtedly help similar situations in the future. What might go wrong:A year from now, imagine your project is a colossal failure.…...
