Min Work Max Life

We speak a lot about supporting your team and giving your team the space and trust to work things out on their own.  We talk about being the pit crew versus the driver.  We talk about having the courage to lead.  We also need to talk about being firm with your team.

As a leader you...

Imagine waking up, going through your morning routine, heading off to work, sitting down at your desk, and BAM!  You receive that email, the one where there is a problem, and you and your team need to fix it.  There are a few emails already flying back and forth, no one knows what is...

What makes you comfortable?  What do you stick to?  Do you have friends or people at work that you tend to gravitate towards, while others you don’t see or talk with often or at all?  What about tasks and jobs at work, are there certain things you typically have no problem...

What do you do when there is conflict between people?

Do you walk the other way?  Do you get involved and join in as a heated participant?

This is your time to shine!  As a leader you get to help resolve the conflict.  No more running away, and definitely, no joining in.  You...

Are you serious about listening?  Silence is a key element to listening to your team.

It can be difficult not to give advice.  It can be difficult to sit back and listen, but it is crucial to allow your team to share and address their problems.

Staying silent both audibly and in your...

Good or bad, if your folks have rumors swirling about the office, follow up on them.

Have you ever been walking down the hall at work and overheard a co-worker speaking about one of your team members?  You couldn’t help but slow down a little bit could you?  Maybe you even found...

I read somewhere recently, sorry don’t remember exactly, that January was just the free trial for the year, and that he would get started in February.

How true?

For most, you may set up some goals for the year. For others, you may just be getting off of the holiday and new year celebrations...

All the spokes are the folks

A leader’s role is to coordinate activities.  It isn't necessarily* to act on the activities.  (*check out our “Eat Your Own Cooking” post)

You need to get the right people to do the actual activities, specialists trained in the different...

Never ask a question you don't know the answer to does not mean to not ask questions. You absolutely should ask questions in order to learn, discover, grow, and become a better person, leader, and manager.

What I mean by this phrase is that when you are leading folks, you need to be able to...

Find your environment.

Are you an eagle or a lion?  Maybe you are a dolphin or a frog.  I am not asking you about your spirit animal or which animal you most closely relate to.  I am asking you to think about what environments you thrive in.

An eagle soars in the sky, a lion roams...

Trust your team.  Trust then verify.

As a leader, it is vital to trust your team.  Your team is what helps your organization accomplish great things.  If each individual worked alone much less would get done and the quality of the work would diminish.

Trust keeps the team together....

People aren't always going to like you.  You need to be able to stand up for what you believe in and go after the things that you wholeheartedly want.

Being a new manager or being placed into a new leadership role comes with some downsides.  One of those downsides is that not everyone...