This is a refresh of the article Giving Feedback that I blogged back in 2007. Giving feedback is a lot more challenging in practice than it seems. It requires attitude, timing and technique. Let’s look at attitude first: What’s the purpose in giving someone feedback? To let off steam? Then, I button my lips. To…
Tag Archive: tools
The Leadership of Letting Go, Part 9
The second path to curiosity for leadership is to view things from another person’s perspective. It’s a common pitfall not to do this. In a recent coaching conversation, a manger was telling me about how one of their direct reports had turned hostile and rude. They couldn’t understand why. As we talked further, it became…
The Leadership of Letting Go, Part 8
Managers have answers; leaders ask questions. Lawyers only ask a question (in court) when they already know the answer; leaders ask questions to which they don’t have the answer. They are curious. This curiosity pays dividends. By asking questions, leaders engage their followers and tap into the knowledge and experience of their team. They have…
The Leadership of Letting Go, Part 7
When leaders operate under the illusion of control, it’s a sign that their ego is running the show. Sometimes this is a good thing (it reminds them to get to a meeting on time), sometimes it leaves no space for a good way to emerge to meet their current challenge. However, this show running…
The Leadership of Letting Go, Part 6
In Part 3 of “The Leadership of Letting Go” I touched on the role of trust in leadership. People want to be able to trust, and be trusted by, their leaders. This demands that leaders be authentic. One roadblock on the road to authenticity is that what we say may not match what we really…
The Leadership of Letting Go, Part 5
Leadership is increasingly challenging: more demands in less time. Upping the number of hours doesn’t help either since the time to recharge and be fresh for the next day’s challenges gets eaten away. During the rest of the week, we look at some simple tools that leaders can use to help them let go of…
How much initiative do you want?
When discussing with clients how to lead subordinates, one question that arises often is, how much initiative should my people show? In their classic HBR article, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey? Oncken and Wass lay out a five-level scale of managerial initiative (1 – 5 in the figure). My clients’ staff are more resourceful…
No Agenda = No Meeting
Seth Godin recently distilled a great list about getting serious about your meeting problem. It highlights the problem that many people in companies face: being in meetings all day. If you’ve wondered when the work gets done, for some people the answer is that they have forgotten what work involves. The day is taken up…
Putting things in perspective
Over the past few months we have been renovating the house we bought last Autumn, so that I and my partner can have our own practices on the ground floor. Last Sunday our architect passed away suddenly. There’s been lots of speculation about how and why. That’s not helpful at this time. Some comforting thoughts…
Does it have to be this tough at the top?
If you’ve ever wondered why your boss hates you, then read this article from today’s Guardian; it lists ten common reasons. The boss, as described, could do with some sculpting, or at least some leadership development. They seem to be victim to the all-too-common phenomenon of naming someone to a post and assuming that that’s…
