It’s always been hard to manage people. Managers have always been stuck in the middle between the employer and the employee, trying to negotiate their competing needs and expectations. But today, managers are telling us that…
Undermanagement can be difficult to identify. After all, everyone at work is surrounded by metrics and meetings all the time. It may seem like management is ever-present. But what is missing in most workplaces is the…
All your employees come to work with different levels of ability and skill: different backgrounds, personalities, styles, ways of communicating, work habits, and motivations. Some of them need more guidance than others. One employee needs the…
Nobody likes confrontations, especially when it’s a confrontation with an employee you manage. Difficult conversations only seem to make things worse, resulting in hurt feelings or maybe even broken trust. Sometimes, if a resolution can’t be…
Accountability is a hot watchword in just about every business. But what does it really mean? Simply put, accountability means having to answer for one’s actions. When business leaders chant the slogan of “accountability,” what they…
If an employee doesn’t get “enough” work done—they need to increase productivity—then there are only three logical possibilities: that employee needs to work either more, faster, or both. Simple, right? Just keep that employee in their…
Micromanagement, when it occurs, is usually the result of an anxious manager who wants to make sure that everything is getting done the right way, at every step of the way, by overseeing the project from…
Managers today are under a lot of pressure. The bar keeps being raised. They are responsible for more and more employees. More of the people they manage are working in areas of expertise that the manager…
Leaders in organizations of every shape and size can probably list a number of ways their businesses could improve. Employees do their jobs the wrong way. There is too much firefighting and not enough work getting…
It’s difficult enough being the new manager. But it’s twice as hard when everybody is new to you and to each other. You haven’t met each other yet. You may not have had any say in…
