Leading with Compassion: A Requirement of Leaders Today
4 Minute Read
The word compassion holds many meanings, and it’s hard to define. Here’s what we know. Compassion consists of three main elements: recognizing or noticing when others are struggling, understanding and feeling for the person that is struggling, and responding or having the motivation to act and help relieve the struggle. Compassion takes empathy one step further with that final element: having the motivation to act.
You might be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with leadership? I can’t fix every person’s problems.” Our answer: It has everything to do with it. Human beings are born with a compassionate instinct at our core. In fact, research by David Rand at Harvard University shows that with both adults and children, our first impulse is to help others, not to compete with them.
Have You Created Your Individual Development Plan?
4 Minute Read
If you do research on how to create an individual development plan (IDP), you’ll probably notice that the advice you find is typically offered to a leader or manager, helping to develop an IDP for their employee.
They all start with the notion that first, you should know where the business is going and then talk with your employee about the future. Next, it’ll walk you through determining what the person is missing (gap analysis). Finally, it ends with creating a training plan and applying it. You might even find some lists that have a few more steps, but the majority contain at least those steps.
How to Save your Workforce
3 Minute Read
You’re about to lose 40% of your workforce. Yep, we said it. That’s awfully close to HALF! Over recent years, we’ve seen many Baby Boomers retire. Waved goodbye as they took their knowledge and expertise out the door with them. As of December 2018, 39.2% of people in the US workforce were aged 55 or older. Traditionally, most people retire in their early to mid-60s. So what does this say for your company in the next 5-10 years?
Managers vs. Leaders – BORRRRING!!
5 Minute Read
Let’s guess what you’re thinking. Probably something along the lines of: “Another article about what it means to be a leader, even if you don’t manage anyone.” And you’ll probably move on or delete this as your eyes roll to the back of your head. But wait! Keep reading…
This topic has been a hot one for a while. If you search for it on Google, you will get about 35,800,000 results (at least that’s what we got). There are more pictures than you can count of a leader helping push people up a mountain, while a manager steps on heads to make it to the top first. And the memes? Don’t get us started.Alongside all that, you’ll see articles: “3 Differences between Managers & Leaders,” “Leaders vs Managers: Which Are You?,” “Want to Be a Leader Not a Manager?” and so on.
How to hold people accountable without ruining relationships.
4 Minute Read
Picture this scenario: People at work are unengaged. You can feel your direct reports whispering about you around the water cooler. Sometimes you feel walked on. And your team thinks that they can get away with anything…because you won’t do anything about it. Does any of this sound familiar?
Having crucial conversations with your team is hard. We know our employees have good intentions. But sometimes, they make mistakes, or we need to correct performance issues. And holding them accountable for missing the mark can be extremely uncomfortable.
You're not my boss! - How to deal with your micromanaging coworker.
3 Minute Read
Every company has one. The micromanaging coworker. You know who we’re talking about. The one employee that has his hands in everything. He’s the go-to for all the questions you have. But also a bit of a control freak. Things that aren’t his job easily become his job, because he can’t let go. He checks up on your work and he’s always questioning what you’re doing. Sometimes, you might even start to wonder how he has time to do his own job when he’s spending so much time trying to do yours. And here’s the worst part…You don’t even report to him! Therein lies the dilemma. How do you keep your working relationship intact, yet still be firm enough to set your boundaries? It’s time to deal with your micromanaging coworker.
