A recent medical appointment began with a medical student asking me questions. Once the student finished, the doctor arrived and she was supposed to relay what I had said. The student failed. She hadn’t been listening with an open mind. Instead, she was listening for what she expected to hear. How do I know?
Good managers develop routines that help them work efficiently and effectively. These routines extend to their direct reports and allow everyone to meet expectations and minimize unnecessary decisions, indecision, and floundering. But there is one big difference between how good managers and the best managers do this.
“A critical book for every leader! Learn to give your teams, employees and peers, the clear communication they need to be their most effective and productive in The Power of Clarity.“
My last edits for The Power of Clarity: Unleash the True Potential of Workplace Productivity, Confidence, and Empowerment (Bloomsbury Publishing, July 2021) are in! I’m so glad! And thrilled!
Everyone knows clear roles and responsibilities are important, right? That’s why we write job descriptions. That’s why managers work so hard to set expectations. That’s why smart employees make an effort to clarify those expectations. Clear roles and responsibilities matter! Unfortunately, we aren’t doing enough. These techniques simply aren’t adequate.
After almost two decades of running pretty much all of the meetings I attend, I suppose there was a danger that I might forget what it’s like to be on the receiving end. Well, it all came roaring back to me the other day as I sat helplessly in a socially distanced meeting.
Do you ever wonder how patient you should be? I’ve got executive advisory clients who struggle with this question. Some of them are naturally impatient, know they need to work at being more patient, but worry that being too patient sends the wrong message. Do you ever feel that way? So what can you do? Here is the short answer:
When the Spanish conquistador Cortés and his men first arrived in what became Mexico, they asked the people they encountered, “What is the name of this place?” The native Mayans consistently replied, “Yucatán,” which means…
I remember being given a task as a new intern years ago. The request was so vague and confusing that the first thing I did was to dig into the project and try to figure out what my manager was asking of me. A week later I went back to him with a list of concrete objectives. He agreed. I smiled and said I was finished. This is what you call lucky delegation. I had just completed the task that he expected would keep me busy for the whole summer. That’s not the norm. More common results include: Continue Reading
I’m worried sick about some businesses and totally impressed by others that have responded quickly, some brilliantly. The range of problems caused by the coronavirus could not be broader. Just among my own clients and contacts efforts span everything from shifting operations into home offices to establishing iron clad disinfecting and distancing protocols to tracking daily changes in governmental regulations across hundreds of countries to sourcing new materials and retooling machines to creating systems for online ordering and delivery to making momentous workforce decisions to switching from plated meals to take and bake options. All while the world continues to shift under their feet.