Do you sometimes feel that your Board meetings are a waste of time? Join the club. Board meetings are often viewed by participants as necessary evils, perfunctory, and filled with “blah, blah, blah” reports. Here are some ideas to make your Board meeting more strategic, engaging, and worthwhile. *First, make sure that you have a Strategy for the future! The … [Read more...] about Your Strategic Board Agenda
Coaching Your Team to Success
Some people – like Dilbert’s Boss – think “managing” is all about telling people what to do. Others of us think of it more like “coaching.” Here are some great ideas on “managing like a coach” from a recent Harvard Business Review article that uses a COACH acronym: Care, Organize, Align, Challenge, Help. Care: Build Understanding and Trust. Trust is fundamental in … [Read more...] about Coaching Your Team to Success
How You Can Stop Micromanaging
You don’t have the time to follow-up with everyone and also do your own work. Maybe you are micromanaging. People with high standards often fall into the micromanaging trap. If this is you or if you have a “friend” who may be doing this, here are some solid suggestions: *Focus on Outcomes. Identifying the outcomes that you want each of your direct reports to produce … [Read more...] about How You Can Stop Micromanaging
Overcoming Burnout
You realize you are burned out. Or maybe it’s someone on your team. Either way, it is important to understand the cause of the burnout before you can address it. A recent article in Harvard Business Review suggests that there are three types of burnout, and each has a different remedy. *Overload Burnout. This is the classic type of burnout where a person simply … [Read more...] about Overcoming Burnout
Improve Your Critical Thinking
Surveys of Chief Human Resource Officers list Critical Thinking Skills as #1 attribute they are looking for in new hires. We can all make improvements in this area. Here are three excellent suggestions from an HBR article on how we can improve our Critical Thinking. 1. Question Assumptions. This can be difficult since – by definition – our assumptions are in the … [Read more...] about Improve Your Critical Thinking