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How comfortable are you with initiating “uncomfortable conversations?”
Our reader poll today asks: How comfortable are you with initiating “uncomfortable conversations?” Very: When there’s an uncomfortable topic, I proactively bring it up immediately: 5.69% Mostly: I may hesitate, but I do bring up the most important uncomfortable topics: 23.92% Sort of: Unless it’s a huge issue, I’ll tend to let the issue pass: 9.66% Not very: I have a really hard time initiating uncomfortable situations: 7.85% Not at all: I’ll avoid these conversations at all costs, let alone starting them: 52.88% Avoidance leads to bigger issues. A huge percentage of you avoid difficult or uncomfortable conversations at all costs. While this might alleviate stress in the near term, it makes for bigger headaches in the long run. If someone doesn’t know something is wrong about their behavior, not telling them is a disservice to them and you. People can’t correct what they’re unaware of. And avoiding the conversation in the hopes that the behavior just disappears is wishful thinking. Over time, things will just get worse and that mildly uncomfortable conversation can become extremely uncomfortable and problematic. Do yourself a favor – tell them what’s going on. Letting things fester only makes them worse. Your next step after reading this: find time to have that uncomfortable conversation you’ve been avoiding. You might be pleasantly surprised by how well it goes when the other person gets feedback they can act on to improve their performance and their relationship with you. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Burn Out and How to Recover Faster
Career burnout is in no shortage in America. Catch it early and recover quickly with these tips. Today’s post is by thoughtLEADERS principal Jon Wortmann. How tired are you? I ask because even if you practice the best self-care, set boundaries with your time, and manage your exposure to the inevitable conflicts and stress of working with people, you get tired. Performers, leaders, and managers who want to succeed and win will inevitably have tired days. The problem with tired is that it can also go too far. Are you so tired you are burned out? I have had the privilege of working with diverse school districts and education leaders over the past decade. In preparation for one of my workshops I came across this study. Summary: 93% of the elementary school teachers surveyed were stressed, couldn’t cope, and felt burned out. Only 7% of the cohort had low stress, high abilities to cope, and a low experience of burnout. Is it the same in every industry? At every level of organizations? Do professional athletes and musicians experience the same struggles? It doesn’t have to be.
Have you ever had a manager you absolutely hated?
Our reader poll today asks: Have you ever had a manager you absolutely hated? Yep! And I work for them right now: 72% Yes, but they’re in my past: 11% No, I haven’t had that misfortune: 18% Your team hates you. In all the years I’ve written this poll, this is the first time I’m shocked. 72% of you hate your current boss. That number is astonishing. So here’s something to think about – if you have team members, what are the odds they feel the same way about you? After all, if 72% of you hate your current boss, there’s a pretty high likelihood that a big chunk of your team members hate you. But why? I’ve found 10 reasons your team hates you and cataloged them a long time ago. Micromanagement, lack of support, lack of prioritization, and failure to make decisions are some of the biggest reasons. If you’re not sure if they hate you or not, maybe get some anonymous and candid 360 degree feedback to hear what’s on their mind. If you don’t know what’s wrong, you can’t fix it. Work hard to be in that 28% of leaders that people don’t hate. Maybe we can collectively reduce that 72% and make work more enjoyable. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Building High Performing Teams: Resolving Conflict
Strong teams often have team members with strong personalities. Learn how to build your team’s conflict resolution skills. More often than not, high-performing teams operate in high-pressure environments. And many times on a high-performing team, you have some strong personalities at play. When you combine pressure and strong personalities there are plenty of opportunities for conflict between the members of your team. Your job as a leader is not to mediate those conflicts and be a referee. Instead, you need to teach the members of your team how to resolve those conflicts with one another. It’s going to help them build relationships and interpersonal skills. It also keeps you from having to dedicate a significant amount of time and energy every time somebody has a conflict with another member of the team.
Hiring a New Salesperson? Make Sure the Candidate Has These 5 Non-Teachable Traits
A “Hunter” salesperson must have five non-teachable, non-negotiable traits to persevere in the face of rejection. Here’s how to identify them before you make an expensive hiring mistake. Today’s post is by Christopher Croner, Ph.D , author of Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again (CLICK HERE to get your copy). You’re ready to hire a new salesperson and you know the stakes are high. While the economy seems to be moving in the right direction, surging COVID numbers are stirring up a lot of uncertainty. Whether more lockdowns happen or not—and whether the sales force returns to the office or not—you’re absolutely going to need a strong candidate who can bring in new clients in a tough business environment.
How collaborative is your team?
Our reader poll today asks: How collaborative is your team? Extremely: Everything we do is a team effort: 15% Very: We generally help one another out and put team before self: 36% Somewhat: We’ll collaborate on important tasks but that’s it: 21% Not very: It takes a crisis and a strong push to drive collaboration: 15% Not at all: It’s every person for themselves: 14% Where’s the collaboration? It’s a bit unnerving to see that 50% of you are on teams that are “somewhat” or less than that in terms of being collaborative. If you’re leading one of these teams, ask yourself what the barriers are to collaboration. Is it trust? Are incentives not aligned? Are there personalities that simply clash? Whatever the source of the lack of collaboration, attack it vigorously. Your team is the biggest impediment to its own success in these situations. If you’re not the team leader but you’re a team member, surface these issues to your leader. You have a responsibility to help fix them and in doing so, you’ll be doing something to make your own work life more satisfying. Collaboration is the very definition of a team. If it’s not happening, there’s no more important business challenge for you to tackle. Right now. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Building High Performing Teams: Giving Authority and Responsibility
Giving your team the authority to make important decisions improves trust, satisfaction, and accountability. Members of high performing teams are going to be the most satisfied when they feel like they can have an impact on the outcome of their work. And to get to that point you need to understand the difference between accountability and responsibility and then how authority interplays with both of them.
Will Unresolved Conflict Like Unclaimed Baggage Threaten Return To Work Success?
Unresolved conflict is like unclaimed baggage in a storage closet. With return to the workplace, will reclaimed conflicts burst open, threatening chaos? Today’s post is by Mary Nestor, author of Say It Now! Say It Right! (CLICK HERE to get your copy). When word came down that the office was closing down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sue had mixed feelings. She didn’t mind not having to drive an hour through traffic to get to her downtown office. New to the management team, she would miss the weekly staff meetings with donuts in the conference room. She wasn’t going to miss the tension with some of her co-workers. Her assistant showed Sue emails circulating that Sue had slept her way into the position. Not true, she confronted her accusers, but they just gave her “the look” and laughed it off. She brought it to the attention of her manager, but he said he wasn’t interested in petty gossip and told her to ignore it. She felt betrayed when he failed to back her up. Working remote meant she could physically distance herself from the stressful situation, her co-workers, and her manager. Jorge was qualified for the new superintendent position; he had worked long hours despite juggling his kids’ after school sports and music lessons. When the owner’s daughter showed up, fresh out of tech school with little experience, she was given the position and a generous salary increase. The plant went on a COVID reduced schedule in May of 2020. Management assigned Jorge to train the new superintendent to be ready when things opened up. Jorge felt he was unjustly passed over, but in the chaos of the plant shutdown, he wasn’t able to get time to talk to his manager. Olivia’s team was floundering before the pandemic. Her […]