“Yes” men, “No” men, or some happy medium (“men” used for convenience, and is in no way gender-specific)??
Do we want our closest and/or brightest to agree with us merely because it was our idea? Or are we actively seeking constructive, challenging dialog??
Must we always have complete, obedient agreeance (not a real word, but my baby sister Elizabeth always used it, so here it is), or do we really want diversity of thought? (more…)
Some CEOs make a lot of money.
Their Vice Presidents don’t usually make as much, and the directors, managers, and other leadership positions still further down the organizational food-chain make even less.
I know, I know… you’re thinking “Well duh, Kevin; did you come up with that ‘blinding flash of the obvious’ on your own, or did you have help?”
My question here isn’t about the dinero, per se. And it’s not about relative value among leaders. No, my question is about the absolute value of leadership. Is the absolute value of a senior leader greater than that of a less senior leader to those s/he leads?
A colleague in Human Resources recently asked me… if given the opportunity to directly educate line managers on things important for compliance, what should they include?
Never mind my aversion to HR being the compliance cops. Never mind that.
Never mind my distress at HR wasting quality time with line managers discussing solely compliance issues. Never mind that.
So, “never minding” those things about the question that really, deeply bug me, I told her “Here’s what I would want them to know:” (more…)
Sometimes leadership and policies are mutually exclusive.
Don’t get me wrong — workplace policies have their place.
They can help bring clarity to ambiguity, for example. They can create some level of consistency in management. And well-written (uh,oh, there’s a nasty qualifier) policies can make leaders’ jobs simpler, as they provide somewhat standardized solutions to simple, mundane, and repetitive issues.
It’s frustrating. We put people in charge of departments, functions, shifts… in charge of people.
Then, nothing.
Of course, I don’t really mean “nothing,” as that would make the decision a bit easier. What I mean, of course, is nothing much. They may handle some perfunctory management tasks, maybe some rudimentary (and elementary) supervision of people who don’t really need much. They probably even take care of most of their own personal performance responsibilities.
(more…)
What can we do to better manage our workday, to free up time for what’s important to our life?
This is a constant challenge for me as a small business owner, and for my clients. I have some things that seem to work in my world…
1. Go ugly early. Pick the biggest, baddest task on your list (you DO have a list, right?), and knock it out first. Ignore the pain; bodybuilders tell us “no pain, no gain,” and it applies to work priorities as well. Knock out the hard stuff first. (more…)
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