There is a bigger difference between management and leadership than most people realize. Not all leaders make good managers and vice versa. Whereas leadership is about providing clear direction through strategic thinking, decision making, and planning. It is about the macro. Management is about executing leadership initiatives through directing, organizing, coaching, and holding people tactically accountable. It is about the micro. A good manager knows his/her people well and is committed to their success individually and collectively.
The Growth Trap There is a dangerous assumption many business owners make when things start moving in the right direction. They see revenue increasing, backlog growing, new opportunities appearing, the…
Meetings Aren’t the Problem—Misunderstanding Leadership Is Why CEOs and Business Owners Need to Rethink Meetings and Their Role I’m always fascinated by leaders who complain about being in too many…
“Building Your Own High-Performance Organization” lays out a practical path for leaders who want to turn strategy into…
4 Styles of Coaching—and When to Use Them Mastering the art of adaptive leadership to elevate every team…
Forget the Dread — Performance Reviews Can Motivate. Here’s the Research to Prove It “People want feedback not…
Whether you’re a new manager learning the ropes, a seasoned executive reflecting on your approach, or an HR…
Despite working hard and meeting our goals, sometimes it’s not clear why we aren’t getting ahead at work.…
Traditional advice for leaders who want to increase meeting participation call for clarifying expectations, setting clear agendas, and…
Approaching a conversation about improving an employee’s performance requires preparation, empathy, and a focus on collaboration. Even though…
The autonomy that many knowledge workers have in the workplace can come with the drawback of professional and…
Watching the clock drags performance down, and optimism about the future does the opposite. Managers who understand this…
Decades of scientific research show that stress and anxiety are prevalent problems at work, contributing to deficits in employee morale,…
Successful transformations harness the collective wisdom of middle managers and teams. To increase your company’s chances, you need…
Gartner research has found that managers today are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they can effectively manage…
Motivating employees begins with recognizing that to do their best work, people must be in an environment that…
More and more organizations are looking to create flatter, less hierarchical models to increase collaboration, agility, and employee…
When you’re part of a company’s management structure, there will be moments when you’ll have to represent a…
A lack of constructive feedback is detrimental to your team, depriving them of mentorship and growth opportunities. And…
In a new analysis, we found that strong middle managers aren’t just nice to have for all the…
Good one-on-one meetings between managers and their direct reports address the practical and personal needs of the employee,…
As the pandemic rewrote the rule book for coworking and office culture, new processes and untested systems allowed inefficiencies…
In the Harvard Business Review article “How ‘Perspective Swaps’ Can Unlock Organizational Change,” author Rebecca Hinds introduces the…
What exactly is psychological safety? It’s a term that’s used a lot but is often misunderstood. In this…
Failing to use time with direct reports in a meaningful way — or, worse, skipping these meetings altogether…
Managers can help employees turn fears into fleeting thoughts as opposed to permanent restraints. Many high-achieving people we…
There are a ton of different productivity tools out there. How do you know which ones to choose?…
Employees are drowning in excessive or misaligned goals set by too many external stakeholders with competing needs and…
What should you do if your employee comes to you with a mental health challenge? While you will…
While leaders have always performed emotional labor, this demand has increased dramatically over the last few years. Organizations…
The authors of this piece have been studying how organizations can make the right things easier and the…
Ever since workers moved from offices to work-from-home setups, companies have worried about how they’re spending their time.…
Being a perfectionist does not mean that you are doomed as a manager. Organizational research on perfectionism is…
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