At its heart, good communication is about getting the right people together at the right time to discuss the right topics. We found examples of this while helping a client potentially save billions of dollars. Read more to see what that experience taught us about communication.
Read moreHow to Survive Feedback
Sometimes feedback is hard to take. In this post, I share four tips I tell new managers in our coaching sessions:
- Remember that there’s a reason you were selected for this position.
- Be honest with yourself about how you’re feeling at the moment.
- Look at the feedback from a distance.
- Acknowledge what you need to acknowledge.
Beyond the MBA: Three Interpersonal Skills Every Manager Should Master
“You are hired for your technical skills and fired for your lack of interpersonal skills.” Over the years, I’ve seen the truth of this play out time and again.
With that in mind, an article in Chief Learning Officer magazine[1] recently caught my eye. It posed the question: Are MBAs still a valuable development tool?
Read moreTriangles Belong in Geometry, Not in Teams
First-time managers face a range of challenges—complicated dynamics with their colleagues, managing friends, establishing credibility, and sometimes, managing older or more experienced peers. In Gillespie’s work with new managers, we see one challenge again and again: triangulation. Triangulation happens when a new manager is faced with an uncomfortable situation and complains about it to a friend or ally, rather than talking to the source of the problem. This issue is prevalent throughout organizations and damaging to teams.
Read moreMy Mistakes as a New Manager: Part 2
Last week I shared with you my own mistakes and lessons learned as a first-time manager. I lacked the fundamental leadership skills needed to be in a management role, which caused a lot of difficulty for own job, my team, and my organization. We’ve opened this topic to the public to share mistakes they’ve made as a new manager, in order to reflect on how leadership development may have been useful for them.
Read moreMy Mistakes as a New Manager: Part 1
I can remember how excited I was to get my first office as a new manager. At 21 years old, I didn’t even care that the office came with a drain in the floor, or that it was a converted first aid room nestled between the men’s and women’s restrooms.
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