Nate works as a manufacturing manager in a major company that makes truck steering systems. To do his job, he regularly collaborates across the organization, whether it’s with purchasing or quality or engineering. One of his…
There is a crucial lesson that Lisa, an experienced emergency room nurse, leader, scholar, and professor of nursing, emphasizes to all of her students: “Before you do anything else, check: Does the patient have an airway?…
The fact is that despite the collaboration revolution, with its flatter organizations and self-managed project teams, there is always somebody in charge who is making decisions. Choices are considered up and down the chain of command.…
The biggest takeaway from our research is this: The vast majority of managers do not provide feedback often enough. For the most part, micromanagement is a rare occurrence. However, while most managers should be giving more…
There are volumes of research that have attempted to distinguish between leaders, managers, and supervisors: Leaders focus on the big picture, managers focus on details, and supervisors focus on carrying out the details. Leaders inspire, managers…
Every time a manager provides feedback, their credibility is on the line. Giving feedback that is generally inaccurate—off-base, unfair, unbalanced, or factually wrong—is a surefire way to undermine that credibility. On the other hand, employees come…
The most powerful approach to coaching is one that focuses urgently on day-to-day, high-quality results. As basketball great Michael Jordan said, “I approach everything step by step using short-term goals. When I meet one goal, I…
Most managers today would agree that feedback is key to employee success. But unless that feedback is high quality, performance will never improve, no matter how frequent your one-on-ones with direct reports. The results of…
One of the most insidious pieces of advice in modern management is to “stay out of your employees’ way” and “let them do their best work”. The intention is to display trust in the people working…
Despite how unique your management challenges may seem, the common denominator is likely unstructured, low-substance, hit-or-miss communication. When things are going wrong in a management relationship, that is usually at least part of the cause. What…
