Author: Steve
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“Great leaders don’t…” Or do they?
“Great leaders don’t tell you what to do; they show you how it’s done.” That was the social media post that made me do a double-take. “Wait!” I said to myself. “Showing people how it’s done was one of the biggest mistakes of my career.” I still remember some very pointed feedback I received from…
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Don’t change your leadership approach…
In a Manager Tools podcast, Mark Horstman once warned, “never introduce a change to how you manage your directs without first introducing that change.” By that, he meant formally announcing and advertising the change that you intend to make before you make it. Here are two good reasons why that’s important: 1️⃣ Unexpected change generates…
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The language of appreciation
One of the questions was to rate, on a scale of 1-5, the truthfulness of the statement, “My partner and I show appreciation for what the other does.” As I reflected, I realized that over the last several months, I had often told him about the specific impact he had had on me. In some…
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What does “future you” want from “present you”?
This post is NOT about the time-travel novel my son and I are writing. Although, you really should ask me about that. I’d love to tell you more. Instead, this post is about an insight my son Nathan shared with me during one of our co-author planning meetings. And I thought it was worth sharing…
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The weird currency of collaboration
When your position on the org chart doesn’t give you the role power to have someone do something for you, you must rely on your influence or your relationship to foster collaboration. When you became a new manager, you entered a new arena where, more than ever, you’ll need the support of peers and members…
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When it’s time to let someone be wrong
“What a waste of time. This is stupid.” More than once in my corporate job leading engineering teams I had a customer make unreasonable demands that led some people to react that way. In one case, the client replaced the project manager on their side just a few weeks before go-live on a months-long project.…
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What gets measured isn’t always what gets done
“What gets measured gets done.” No. Peter Drucker didn’t say that. The original quote was, “What gets measured gets managed.” Oh. Wait. That’s not it, either. It’s “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” But apparently Peter Drucker never said that either. Why are we so obsessed with measurements, then? Well, because under…
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The rare case for the feedback sandwich
Most leaders have heard of the feedback sandwich. It’s supposed to soften negative feedback. The idea is that you first share a positive observation, then you give the corrective feedback to help someone improve, then you follow it with more positive feedback. It often looks something like: “Good job today. It would have been good…
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Not every goal must be S.M.A.R.T.
I get it. S.M.A.R.T. goals are part of organizational DNA They’re treated like the gold standard. But not every goal needs to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic *and* Time-bound. Here are three types of goals that may be even more helpful than S.M.A.R.T. goals, and some strategies for adopting them: ✅ Habit Goals: These don’t…
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New Managers, Invest Here
When you move from from a technical leadership role to a formal people manager role, there are two crucial, but often overlooked, levels of relationships for you to invest in. The first level of relationship is that of your new peers – those who report to the same person you do. Here’s why those direct…
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How do you set high standards?
A few years ago, I dropped my youngest child off to begin her freshman year at an out-of-state university. Her mother and I attended her initial orientation meetings with her. As we listened, I was struck by how much was similar to when I first attended college and how much was different. There was one…
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Set ethical decision making as your default
“We’ll handle the downtime penalty. Take the production system offline immediately.” About ten years ago, I remember our CEO declaring that decision within seconds of hearing that a bug in our portal software had the potential to display lab results associated to the wrong patient. We had an “uptime” guarantee. We paid penalties to our…