We’ve all seen it before—the person driving down the highway, talking on the cell phone and performing some form of personal grooming as well. It’s called “multi-tasking” and we think we’re pretty good at it. As it turns out, we stink at doing more than one thing at a time. According to researchers Christopher Chabris…
Management
Leadership Worry Strips Away Confidence
When my eldest child entered middle school, we discussed the ways our morning routine would change, including his need to wake up an hour earlier. The day before school started he said, “Mom, you don’t even need to get up tomorrow morning with me. I’ll make my own lunch.” He was cutting all ties. He had…
Mentors: Your Words Matter
And as we head into a new year, did you know that the month of January is National Mentoring Month? Yep, a whole month dedicated to people who help others become better people. That’s a made-up holiday that I can get behind! Who has made a difference in your life? Maybe it was a high…
The Ambiguity Factor in Leadership Communication
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…
4 Ways to Gain Team Input
So I’m sitting at a large round table, talking with a team of eight senior-level leaders who work for a large corporation. These are smart, sophisticated people, who have both street cred as field operatives and many years’ experience leading various types and sizes of work groups. We’re discussing the best ways to gain team…