As a leader, have you planned for the Ambiguity Factor in your leadership communication plans? When it comes to communicating about change, there are oodles of reasons why the launch of a new system goes awry— competing values, unclear objectives, unrealistic deadlines, budget constraints and so on. From a social psychology standpoint, here’s another reason…
Expectations
Why Employees Hate Development Plans and How to Fix It
I once had a coaching client confide to me that professional development just “wasn’t his thing.” His point: some people don’t see the value in the extra effort required for formalized self-improvement activities at work. This individual was a highly educated, hard-working and effective professional; I wouldn’t characterize him as a slacker. What is an…
9 Questions to Help Your Team Create Vision
Think back to the last project you led. How did you begin? Were you successful getting people on board, or was it more challenging than you’d planned? No matter what you’re leading, getting people to line up behind a vision is the first order of business when you take on a new leadership role. Satirist…
The Promise of Leadership
People expect things of you when you become a leader. “When we step into leadership, we may not be aware that it comes with implicit promises in the form of expectations,” says Bob Anderson, co-author of the recently published Mastering Leadership. When I interviewed Anderson in advance of the book’s publication, he shared his perspective…
Don’t Let Those “Best of” Lists Create Employer Envy
Have you ever worked for a company that was listed as “best of?” You know, “Best of XYZ Industry” or “Top 100 Companies to Work for” and so on. No? Well then you might have wondered: just how cool is it to work at one of those companies? Yet another “best of” list came out…