FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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How to Become a More Approachable Leader
For leaders to learn and understand what is really going on with the people they lead, they have to encourage others to share information with them. In the traditional view, being an approachable leader translates more accurately as being easy to talk to and creating an aura that is warm and open. When team members…
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How Exactly Do You Spend Your Time?
Leaders who chart their time are often surprised by their own choices. Spending too much of the day on activities that do not produce happiness, satisfaction, or productivity is a common affliction. Knowing, with more precision, exactly how you spend your time is an exercise that can pay big dividends. Known as a Time Audit…
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Resolve to Read Complex Stories More Often
Making a resolution to read more and scan less will pay dividends throughout the year. Even reading fiction increases a leader’s empathy, as they get to imagine how other people and characters see and experience things. So, read deeply and read a lot. In the words of author Fran Lebowitz, it is a good policy…
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The MacGyver Method for Creative Problem Solving
Putting the subconscious to work to achieve heightened creativity has been the preferred method of creative thinkers for centuries. Activating your inner MacGyver is something anyone can do. In the everlasting words of the MacGyver television character, “The bag’s not for what I take, it’s for what I find along the way.”
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Candid Review Feedback Requires Anonymity
Team cultures benefit greatly from consistent and trusted methods for gathering performance feedback at all levels of the organization. The more performance review feedback is strictly confidential, the more candid the evaluations become. As it turns out, confidentiality and honesty reinforce each other, making the other stronger.
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Top-Down Decision Making Is Old School
Reserving big decisions for those with big titles is a throwback to the autocratic organizations of the past. Those closer to the ground or action are known to have a better vantage from which to see the pitfalls and practical issues that will make or break a strategic choice. Using the advantages of both top-down…
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Connecting the Shared Passions of Team Members
The best leaders are always looking for ways to connect people who share similar interests and passions. From analytics to graphic design, from singing to marathon running, leaders who learn of team member passions and link them to others with similar affections galvanize more passion throughout the organization. Team members bound by excitement get everyone…
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Leaders Don’t Always Take Yes for an Answer
Team members who avoid conflict at all costs are more common than many leaders recognize. Accepting a fast Yes from these colleagues rewards their need to dodge disagreement. Good leaders don’t accept that. Instead, they require team members to grapple with issues — even when they claim agreement is the obvious choice. Yes is sometimes…
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The Preferred Gift of Leaders
The best leaders think of themselves as bibliotherapists and act accordingly. Those around them are all the better for it.
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Team Members Who Excel Most at Managing UP
Managing UP. Good leaders recognize that managing up is an essential part of career success. They naturally favor those who make them look good. But they dig in and learn for themselves who is making the contributions necessary for team success. They don’t depend on what team members tell them or allow the charms of…