A friend of mine is a middle manager in a large corporation. His long-time boss, close to the top of the hierarchy, had an “interesting” character trait: he yelled at his subordinates. In front of the whole team.
While this has been "accepted behavior" for the longest time in human history, times are changing. My prediction is that in the future, a$$hole bosses won't be successful anymore.
Again and again, I tried to protect my employees when they made a mistake. Again and again, it backfired.
When I stumbled upon problems and mistakes, my instinct told me to keep them between me and the employee. I was trying to protect them. Help them keep face. Avoid any sprinkle of embarrassment. But this often turned out to be a massive disservice to the organization — and, ultimately, to the employee as well.
Everyone is so terribly busy. People feel like they can only attend to their top 3 priorities. Everything else just falls by the wayside…
This is a truly alarming trend. And a recipe for disaster.
“Should I fire him… or give him a second chance?”
That’s the question a founder recently asked me for advice on.
One of his employees had made a pretty big mistake. Not just a small blunder, but a serious mistake. I understood why the founder was torn. What’s the right decision in this case? Fire that person — or give them a second chance?
The rock star. A luminous figure, because he or she is so incredibly talented. At the microphone, the electric guitar… or the computer keyboard in the office cubicle next door.
In my 20 years of leading knowledge work teams, I have hired a handful of “rock stars.” And I regretted it. Every. Single. Time…
“Could you complete this task by Thursday?” I typed in our team chat. I had asked a simple question. And I received a simple answer: a thumbs-up emoji.
On the surface, this seems like a very efficient little conversation: I asked a question and received a one-symbol answer. Quick. Economical. To the point. A perfect example of the power of brevity.
But also a perfect example for something else: that brevity comes with a price. Because, for the love of God, I just couldn’t figure out what my colleague really meant with their response.
“How am I doing as your manager? Do you have any feedback for me?”
Such an interesting question. But also a difficult one.
In all of my 20 years as a founder and manager, it was the question I was most reluctant to ask my employees. And I know that they dreaded it, too: my question was often followed by a bit of awkward silence, then a polite but hollow answer like “Umm… I think you’re doing great.”
I know many leaders experience something similar: their own reluctance to ask for feedback; and their employees’ reluctance to provide it.
But why is it so difficult to ask our direct reports for feedback?
It’s an interesting puzzle that’s worth unraveling.
Our switch to remote work was bumpy — to put it mildly. During the first few months, we did not enjoy our new reality.
We missed sharing lunch together in the office.
We missed grabbing a beer after work.
We missed bumping into each other at the water cooler and chatting for a few moments.
But after a couple of “lightbulb moments”, things started to change…
Recently, I had dinner with a young entrepreneur. He was going through a rough patch with his co-founder. To help him find the right way forward and solve the conflict, he had consulted a business coach.
That coach’s advice surprised, confused, and outright worried me…
I used to be terrible at handing out positive feedback: all the “Good jobs” and “Well dones” sounded like I was praising a dog for fetching the newspaper! 🐶
Here are 6 things I learnt on how to deliver positive feedback to ensure it’s also received positively.
10 years ago, I began building a better culture in my company.
But I started at the wrong end. 🙈
And I see many founders and leaders make the same mistake.
Let’s make sure that you don’t make it, too!
I recently talked to a founder who was trying to make a tough decision: whether or not he should adopt remote work with his company.
He was torn. Because he was afraid of losing something precious: the wonderfully close and connected culture his team currently had.
This is a concern I hear all the time. Lots of founders and leaders seem to associate “remote work” with “weak, distant, or nonexistent culture.”
I argue that the opposite is true. If you approach it the right way, remote work can be a real blessing — and a driving force for a healthy, connected culture.
It’s a tricky question. And you’ll hear at least 6 different opinions if you ask 5 people…
But why is this such a loaded, complicated topic? And is there actually a right and a wrong answer?
Teams cannot fix their remote work issues by introducing a different chat tool or running virtual game nights.
We need to dig deeper to build successful remote teams. We need to fix the real problems.
“I could be wrong here… What am I missing?”
You don’t hear humble words like these from leaders very often. Because humility is often seen as a sign of weakness. But is this actually true?
It’s actually quite shocking if you think about it: there are endless numbers of coworkers who have worked in the same team for years… and they still don’t know much more about each other than their names.
This is not only “a bit of a pity” from a human standpoint. It’s also a serious problem from a business perspective! Because relationships are critical for building successful, long-lasting teams.
This essay talks about a concrete, simple way to boost the relationships in your team: “Random Acts of Kindness”.
We often appreciate something only when it’s missing: think of hot water, clean clothes, or three meals a day… The same could be said about trust, respect, and humility.
Let’s take a look at these qualities — which are so crucial for a healthy organization — and see what happens when they’re missing!
How do you actually build a thriving remote team? There are lots of tips and theories out there — but not nearly enough best practice examples from the real world!
That’s why I sat down with Maël Frize, co-founder and CPO of “Filestage”. Together with his colleagues, he has built a fantastic remote company. In this article, he allows founders and leaders to glance under the hood of a modern, thoughtfully designed remote organization.
In my first few years as an entrepreneur, I overlooked something very important: while I was doing a fine job of designing a great product, I completely neglected designing the company itself.
This oversight cost me dearly…
70% of meetings keep employees from doing productive work. Almost 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional. And almost 50% of the work we do fails to advance our organizations’ strategies.
Our current playbooks for leadership and entrepreneurship are in desperate need of an update. Our current models have stopped working — and we need to find better ones if we want to stay successful in the future.
Here are three predictions on the future of leadership and entrepreneurship.
I applaud every founder who puts people before profits.
But I notice that some of them wrestle with a false dichotomy: they think they have to decide between productivity and kindness, between making profits and caring for the humans on their team.
Let me — and science — explain why this is a misunderstanding…
In 2010, when we made the switch to remote work, I must admit I was a bit naive. I thought it would be a piece of cake. After all, remote work is simply “work minus the office,” right? Well… not really…
I learned the hard way that my image of remote work was mostly incorrect.
In this short essay, I’ll share the “Top 5 Misconceptions About Remote Work” which I fell for… and which I often hear when speaking to other founders and leaders.
Let’s eliminate some misconceptions, shall we?
Let’s say you’re on your journey to become a better leader. You’ve started to build a culture of trust — and let go of your impulse to micromanage your colleagues.
So far, so good. But what if you’ve done that — if you’ve given your trust — only to see that things didn’t work out as you hoped? Deadlines were missed, mistakes made, and goals not reached…
What can you do if your trust has been disappointed?
Trust is one of those very lofty and abstract topics.
Most modern leaders understand that they need to take it seriously. But they have a hard time actually developing it. Because there’s only little material out there that shows you how to put it into practice!
In this essay, I’ll give you 4 concrete examples you can use in your own team.
The term “trust” gets thrown around a lot in leadership circles.
On the one hand, this is great: leaders seem to understand that it’s crucial for building strong and resilient organizations.
On the other hand, however, only few leaders understand how trust actually works.
This explains why trust is still a rare sight in most teams. Because how could leaders foster and grow something they don’t fully understand!?
Imagine you had to double your company’s headcount in the next month. Would you be confident that your culture can withstand such a tremendous strain? Or would you fear that stress, mistakes, and conflicts would all increase?
Learn to see the signs of a culture that is NOT ready for growth — and what you can do to MAKE it ready!
Many founders and small business owners have a problem — often without realizing it. Their company culture might not be bad… but it’s often closely (almost inseparably) tied to them and their personalities.
A company in such a state is extremely fragile and vulnerable!
What’s better? If you, as a leader, make a decision — or if you let your team make it? It’s a trick question (for which I instantly apologize ;-) because it depends! On the situation, on your team, and on yourself…
The best leader isn’t a “servant leader” or an “agile leader” or a “democratic leader”. The best leader is the one that can pick the right leadership tool for the situation at hand.
How do you get buy-in for your ideas from your team? How do you make sure that your suggestions are being heard and welcomed? What can you do so that your colleagues not only half-heartedly “comply” — but greet your ideas openly and excitedly?
By learning the art of making effective announcements!
How do you translate a lofty concept — like “transparency” — into real, tangible change in your team?
A tricky question, I know… But your success as a founder / leader / manager depends heavily on this very skill. Because your job is not to count people’s working hours, grant their vacation requests, or put their coffee cups in the dishwasher.
Your job is to improve the organization. And if you can really bring something like “transparency” alive in your team, you’ve hit a home run.
Imagine you’re sitting across from your doctor. She’s known for her transparency, so she has laid out all the results from your most recent test. But just as she’s finished arranging all the papers in front of you, she’s called to an emergency and has to leave you sitting there… overwhelmed and worried!
This is an important reminder for founders and leaders: something that's usually very beneficial — transparency in this case — can backfire terribly if it’s done wrong!
Uncertainty is a major source of stress for people. Which shouldn’t surprise us: if we don’t know what’s coming, our biology makes us careful and vigilant, not willing to take risks.
A team in such a state is doomed...
