I sit on a committee that makes decision by consensus. Which means that they don’t really make decisions in the traditional sense. There’s no show of hands to signify that a decision has been made, no voting or anything you can point to and say, “Yes, that’s what we decided to do”. More often that [...]
Most of us don’t go to work to do a bad job. Ideally we want to get it right. But what happens when we can’t get it right? One solution is procrastination. The need to get a project, a report or budget spreadsheet perfect can lead to missed deadlines and fear that nothing less than [...]
One of the most damaging traits for a leader is micro-management. Nothing is more frustrating than a leader who insists on focussing on the micro-details of the organization. Micro-management disempowers staff, leads to workarounds and, in the end, damages trust. While I have argued previously that leaders choose to micromanage, there is some evidence that [...]
A lot of leaders don’t actually lead because they’re too busy attending meetings! Many leaders I know have calendars that are chock-a-block with meetings. Meetings are set up (or accepted) out of habit, sometimes because of the fear of being “out of the loop”, the need to micromanage or the curse of being labelled “not [...]
I was fired, once. It was back in 1982 and I was in a private sector job way beyond my skill set. I deserved to be fired because I was blissfully unaware of my situation and behavior. I learned a lot of lessons back on that day 28 years ago and, fortunately, haven’t been fired [...]
What kind of leadership do you practice? Are you a “Damn the Torpedoes” leader who sets a goal and executes toward that goal no matter what? Or, are you a thoughtful leader, sensitive to your political and organizational environment, and willing to modify your goals or strategies periodically? The “Damn the Torpedos” approach to leadership [...]