Good managers don’t over-react to breakdowns and they don’t ignore real issues. Learn how to tell the difference and how to deal with both.
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Most teams have smart ideas about how to make their business work better. Very few teams are great at efficiently and continuously putting their good ideas into action.
If your team is one of them, you probably feel pretty frustrated; caught, like most leaders, between the need to focus on the big picture and the relentless demands of the day-to-day.
Below are 7 common mistakes that make it hard to execute. I’ve also included a strategy from the Critical Factors method I use with clients to help you do it better.
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The truth about a lot of the complaints we have about people is that they’re not bad people problems. They’re management problems.
Good solid management training is rare. Learn how people default to Micro or Good Luck Management and end up creating the people problems they complain about. More important, learn how to Actively Manage people for fewer headaches and better results.
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NOBODY wants to be micromanaged. And most of us don’t want to be a micromanager.
Most micromanagers end up that way because they don’t really know how to delegate and/or they don’t have good people to give the work to. Other managers, trying desperately to avoid being a micromanager/jerk, swing too far in the other direction.
Good Luck Management isn’t actually better than micromanagement. It’s just bad in a different way.
Learn the difference, and 7 smart ways to manage without micromanaging in this article.
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A lot of great entrepreneurs are essentially unicorns. Smart, creative, high energy, enormous drive, and the ability to move people—they are not your average anything. They can withstand the pressure and risks associated with starting a business and they have the smarts and willpower to run one.
These “Personality Leaders” win because THEY can do things that other people can’t. And that’s what gets them into trouble.
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Our job as leaders is to run profitable enterprises that can continue to serve customers well and be a good opportunity for our other employees. Keeping bad, unskilled, or ineffective people is a luxury most companies cannot afford to indulge in for long. If you can’t afford to keep someone, if they aren’t needed, aren’t a fit, or they ARE an active problem it’s better for BOTH of you and for the organization to professionally transition them out.
These are three smart questions to ask yourself when you're no longer sure someone is a good fit.
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Most people dread "going corporate," drowning in red tape and rules that mostly make it harder to solve problems and get work done. But the truth about process is that when it's missing it invites serious culture problems. Good systems and processes not only solve problems, they support your people and make it easier for them to win.
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Growth, and the success that causes it, can be great fun and create great profit.
It can be hard to believe you’re in trouble when your bank statement looks so good. But just because it looks like you’re doing well, doesn’t mean you actually are.
A big pile of money can hide a multitude of sins.
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Meetings are one of the most expensive things your company does. Not only do they burn TIME, and a lot of it, bad meetings also burn energy and momentum. If you’re consistently seeing a lot of the behaviors below, you’re probably better off cancelling your meeting than you are having it.
Plus, what's really going wrong and what to do about it.
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Want better, more productive meetings where more gets done and less brain damage is suffered?
When you apply process science and some tricks from human behavior you get three really smart ways to make meetings a whole lot better.
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