Conflict comes in two forms: good and bad. Good conflict is disagreement and debate and a hard look at ideas and solutions. Good conflict results in even better ideas and solutions. Bad conflict is name calling, and personal attacks, and disengagement. Bad conflict results in team dysfunction.
A common cause of bad conflict is communication. We each have our own expectations of how we want others to communicate with us.
Really, the only way to get street smarts is to be on the street. It’s great if you can hire someone who already has the knowledge and experience you need, but that’s often unlikely. The fact is, people will grow into the job; if you let them.
In leading your team, think of diversity not as race, ethnicity, gender, or any other category. For you, as a leader, diversity refers to just one concept – individuals.
Customers complain. It’s a fact of business life. Sometimes they have a valid complaint, but often they’re just cranky, having a bad day, or upset because they can’t find what they’re looking for. Whatever has set them off, they are likely to take it out on an employee. But if… Read More »What Customer Complaints May Really Mean
“Bring your team together with these team shirts.” The commercial showed groups of happy, smiling people, all wearing the same shirts with the company logo. The narrator explained that teams would be more productive when they wore the same clothes because they would feel more like a real team. Nice… Read More »Clothes Don’t Make the Team
Does someone who has a healthy bank account seem like they are successful? Perhaps you see famous people or someone who has made it to the top of their profession as successful. How do you define success? That might seem to be an easy question to answer at first. But… Read More »What Does it Mean to be a Success?
The beach was getting farther and farther away. My arms were starting to hurt, but no matter how hard I swam, the beach continued to get smaller and smaller. I realized I was headed out to sea and panic was beginning to build. There’s a phenomenon in the ocean called… Read More »Is Your Team Headed Out to Sea?
Introvert or extrovert. Most psychological tests apply this label and in popular definitions, extroverts are seen as outgoing, fun-loving, and gregarious. Introverts are seen as inward-focused, quiet, and maybe even standoffish. The Daedalus Group uses the My HardWiredâ„¢ Leadership Styles Assessment and like most such instruments, it identifies introversion and… Read More »Introvert and Extrovert: Labels, Not Capabilities
Do you keep information from your team? How much should you share with them? It’s a topic that always generates lively discussion in our workshops. Many leaders lean toward sharing minimal information; or at least sanitized information. I’ve always appreciated bosses who will tell me what’s going on. I remember… Read More »Shhh…It’s a Secret
If you look up the definitions of responsibility and accountability you’ll find they are used interchangeably. But there is a subtle yet important difference between the two words. A good way to separate them is to consider responsibility as ownership of a task, and accountability as ownership of the results.… Read More »Responsibility and Accountability: They’re the Same, Just Different