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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To Listen Better, Try Slow Understanding
We prize intellectual speed because it reflects talent and “on-your-feet” smarts. So, we listen less and respond to others too quickly. But mental speed comes with a cost, particularly when it is expressed as an answer or rebuttal. We miss important understandings. We pass over essential learnings. We become blind to conversational nuances. To improve
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No One Will Train Harder Than Me
One of the most well-known American runners in history was an athlete who didn’t live to see his 25th birthday. Steve Prefontaine’s influence on the world of track and field and what it means to reach for and attain excellence became oversized even before he lost his life in a tragic car accident nearly half
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Overcommunicate Until People Roll Their Eyes
We live in uncertain times. When people lack clarity about the future, they look to public leaders to reduce their anxieties and give them a sense of hope and optimism. On a smaller scale, when organizations change in response to marketplace differences, team members experience the same feelings of concern and worry. They turn to
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Crushed by Criticism
Some people don’t just react to criticism about their performance, they get destroyed by it. This is usually because they have an intense need for approval, recognition, and praise from others. When most team members receive well-deserved praise from a peer or leader, they get a warm feeling inside that invigorates their efforts. For others,
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A Team Roadmap to Catch Up New Team Members
When a new person joins the team, they lack the historical context to interpret many of the choices, decisions, and messages in play. In a simple analogy, they have entered the television series at episode 20 and have no understanding of what has transpired in episodes 1-19. Giving them this context pays big dividends as
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Would You Re-Hire Your Team Members?
Developing and adding new talent to the team is a never-ending process for great leaders. This includes deciding what roles need a talent upgrade. For a variety of reasons, the skills of some team members plateau and do not keep pace with colleagues or the evolving challenges in the workplace. Even with a significant investment
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Do You Run Away From Conflict?
Working through conflict takes time, energy and courage. Dodging conflict or avoiding it altogether is always the path of least resistance. Conflicts can get messy, harm relationships, and leave everyone feeling unhappy. Most of all, addressing conflict increases the likelihood of not being liked by the parties involved. For those with a profound need to
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When a Negotiating Weakness Is Really a Strength
When people bargain, they often go to extremes to get the upper hand. Negotiators are famous for making ridiculous demands and then offering a series of small compromises to appear reasonable. By retreating from an extreme starting point, negotiators eventually land on the outcome they preferred all along, all while looking like they were giving…
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Colleagues Who Perform But Are Toxic Must Go
The Performance/Attitude Matrix is widely known and shared. Most leaders know it by heart, but here’s a review. Team members are evaluated along the axises of performance and attitude, with a Great and Bad for each.
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I’m Not Good at the Workplace Politics
When others use their authority, influence, and status for personal self-interest, they are operating politically. Examples of negative workplace politics are plentiful: Kissing up to a leader to gain an advantage, badmouthing a colleague to harm a reputation, avoiding a peer who is out of favor, taking credit for work a colleague has created, withholding…