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Successful team leads focus on these topics
It’s a never ending discussion: should you focus on strengths or weaknesses when developing yourself and others? What is your opinion? How do you develop yourself? And in consequence: how do you develop your team? Research shows that 20% of your team will disengage from their work, when you as their manager focus solely on their weaknesses. While only 1% disengage when you focus on their strength (see Strengthsfinder 2.0 from Gallup, 2007, p. IV). There is just one thing that is even worse than focussing on weaknesses or strengths: ignoring your people completely. Research shows that 40% of your staff disengages in their work when not being developed at…
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I want that promotion. Now!
“Give me a management role, so that I can check it off my requirements-list for promotion”, is a common statement that can be heard explicitly or implicitly by people heading for their first career level with management function. Or you hear something like “I hope, I get the promotion soon, so that I get people that I can delegate to.” Both versions display an understanding that career involves something with ‘managing people’ but it lacks a vision of why this position should be acquired. Managing people usually is attached to earning more money, getting a new title and a change in the daily tasks. But if these topics become the…
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Bitter or better?
When being disappointed you always have the choice to get bitter or better. All of the shit in your (job) life can either make you a better version of yourself or turn you in a bitter moron who doesn't understand why people hate being around him/her.
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Why anonymous feedback sucks
We need to get out of hiding! Out of the offices with closed doors where everyone knows everything about everyone - except for having the guts to approach people directly.
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My manager doesn’t care
“My manager doesn’t care about me”, is a complain I hear quite frequently. This is by far not limited to my company or country. Everywhere around the globe young professionals articulate the same concerns about the leadership in their company. Their superiors don’t show interest in people development, career progression or personal well-being – except for themselves, of course. Interestingly, when I think back to my first years in the workplace, my generation complained about the exact same thing. It’s not a new phenomenon. Yet, the people that complained back then about their managers, are now the generation that is being complained about. Somehow my generation didn’t learn anything from…
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Meaningful Team Calls – but how?
No one wants to be boring - and yet, we are faced daily with dead-boring meetings. Here are some ideas to freshen up your style.
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Your self-talk influences your career
How you talk to yourself, you will speak to your people. If your self-talk is harsh, unloving and strict, it will shine through in your team communication.
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Your list of „Why not“ kills your career
How do you like people telling you first thing why your ideas and plans won‘t work? While a reality check is quite healthy from time to time, way too often people rather think of „why not“ instead of „how“. I see this daily with my clients and some of my colleagues. Instead of being the driver of change, they know all the reasons and risks why an idea will fail. But guess what … you are not being paid for listing all the „why not possible“ points. Your boss employed you to solve problems. And that is basically why your clients pay your company, too. You solve a problem for…
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Build the workplace of your dreams
„You can do this“, a glimpse of encouragement runs through her mind while she is facing her challenge. Despite her fear she lifts her chin and takes the next step. „You can do this“, she recalls the words of her friends and family. Confidence rises. „I can do this“, she speaks out loud and takes the leap. Independent whether you need to make a decison, want to face your fear or take the next step in your work, encouragement will always lift the weight of insecurity and worry. Life gets easier when you have the courage and vision for the path ahead. Same is true in your working environment. Each…
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A good leader can admit failure
People love leaders who bring in their whole self into their leadership role including their flaws and failures - at least when they are capable of admitting them.