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It’s one of the worst-case scenarios leaders find themselves facing at work. You overhear an interaction between Lisa and Bob who are discussing the latest financial reports. Lisa shouts at Bob and says, “Don’t you think I know that? Let me do my job!” Lisa then storms off, slamming the office door behind her, aRead more

It’s happened again: a star performer submits their resignation and soon after, the wheels of the exit process begin to turn. From the exit interview, you find out the star performer likes their job and the company culture, but they are leaving for a promotional opportunity at another firm. You skim their employment file andRead more

It’s just another Monday morning meeting. But before you know it, someone has started a tangent that has pulled others into a separate line of conversation and now the meeting is in jeopardy of getting off track. You might recognize this classical meeting debacle: it’s when someone starts speaking extensively about something semi-related to theRead more

When working with clients to redesign their performance management frameworks, I often hear feedback from managers and employees about how frustrated they are with parts of the process. One aspect of performance management in particular – goal setting – seems to top the list. Many organizations are not getting what they need from goal setting,Read more

It can be challenging to manage up. And yet, many times in our journeys as leaders we will need to offer feedback or adjacent points of view to our own managers. Doing so requires trust and a willingness to share feedback. Harvard Business Review defines “managing up” as knowing what makes your boss tick, beingRead more

  As we look back at 2017, a lot has been heard in the news about respect at work. And in our own experiences, we might recall some of the toxic characters we unfortunately met along the way in our own leadership journeys – those individuals that required a lot of our focus, time, andRead more

Harvey Weinstein. Matt Lauer. Roger Ailes. Dozens of terminations at Uber. Allegations in the United States Government. The #MeToo Campaign. Over the last year, few industries or groups have been left out of the headlines as allegations of sexual harassment dominate the news. These recent events and allegations have left companies wondering what their exposuresRead more

Focus groups are a great source of qualitative feedback. They are carefully planned remote or in-person discussions typically consisting of 8-10 employees providing feedback to questions about a particular topic. A focus group provides the unique opportunity for employees to dive deeper into issues, opinions, or problems in the workplace. When facilitated effectively, the feedbackRead more

Often when leaders come to me for advice on tackling sticky issues with their direct reports or peers, they sometime paint a complete back story of that situation or person based on their own assumptions and filters of the world around them, which may or may not be accurate. Take this classic example. While “Jane”Read more