The Management Tip of the Day

  Giving your employees tough feedback can be painful, but it’s a requirement for any leader. Here’s how to navigate the discomfort and apprehension that comes with difficult conversations so you can say what needs to be said. Start by challenging the assumption that critical feedback makes you a difficult or mean manager. Instead, focus on the rewards of clear, honest communication; your input may be exactly what your employee needs to finish a challenging assignment, and it could help them grow in new, productive ways. Then, before you actually deliver your feedback, consider the worst, best, and most likely outcomes, and come up with a game plan for each. Plan your opening remarks: Use “I” statements, be specific, and strike a respectful, honest tone. Finally, make feedback a regular, predictable habit, rather than an occasional “big” conversation. The more you practice giving feedback in lower-stakes, everyday scenarios, the better at it you’ll become. Remember: You’re not crit...

  Are you planning to take a vacation this year? And if you’re a manager, have you encouraged your employees to take time off as well? Whether you spend your break lounging by a pool, going on an adventure, or even having a staycation, research proves that vacations can be deeply beneficial. To make the case to your team (and yourself) that it’s time for a break, focus on three areas:  Mind.  Taking a vacation can provide a much-needed opportunity for rest, relaxation, and—crucially—better sleep. Paying off your sleep debt will significantly improve your mood, focus, clarity, and creativity, both on vacation and when you return to work. Body.  Everyday work pressures can result in elevated levels of stress hormones over time, which can suppress your immune system. Relaxing on vacation can reduce the levels of these hormones and allow your immune system to recover, making you less prone to getting sick. And depending on how you spend your time away (like being in natu...

  It’s been years since the WFH boom in 2020, but the debate surrounding remote work only seems to be getting more polarized. How can you and your employees agree on a path forward? Finding common ground requires resetting the dialogue with your team. Start by taking accountability. Lead by example and own up to any missteps you’ve made along the way, emphasizing that everyone is navigating these uncharted waters for the first time. Next, clearly articulate expectations and ground rules for the discussion. A fruitful conversation depends on a shared sense of psychological safety; employees need to feel like they won’t be met with reprisal for sharing their needs and constraints (like cost-of-living challenges or family demands), just as leaders must be able to speak honestly about the pressures they’re facing (like competition pressures or changing market demands). It’s also important to avoid overly simplistic, black-and-white language like “Remote productivity is just as good as ...

  Do you manage someone who’s been delivering lackluster results and offering only excuses? An unreliable employee is one of the most frustrating obstacles you can face as a boss. But don’t give up on them just yet; you can take steps to get them back on track. Start with the basics: Clarify goals and tie them to the team’s broader purpose. Describe what good, bad, and unacceptable outcomes would look like. Once you and your employee agree upon a set of clear objectives and expectations, you’ll be able to hold them accountable—and provide specific feedback—if they deliver subpar results. Next, get aligned on process. Provide detail about the steps required to complete their work at a high level, perhaps even giving them a tutorial of the workflow. And be sure to field their questions early; addressing them at the outset will prevent the future excuse that they didn’t know how to tackle the project. Finally, if you suspect they simply lack the motivation to get the work done, clarif...

  Is your team feeling stuck, stymied, or just a bit stale? Maybe you’ve lost your collective sense of purpose. Maybe interpersonal tensions are building. Or maybe it just doesn’t feel quite like a team anymore. How can you intervene as a manager? Understand that it’s normal for team dynamics to ebb and flow over time and reflect on what exactly feels off. Then decide whether your team ultimately needs to be realigned or revitalized. To realign your team,  start by resetting mandates and goals. Ask yourself and your team: What external trends do we need to adapt to? How should our team’s role and value shift as the organization evolves around us? Adapt your targets and metrics accordingly—and reevaluate your strategies, workflows, and individual responsibilities to optimize for these new goals. To revitalize your team,  start by auditing your communication habits. Your ultimate goal is to establish new ground rules that make collaboration simpler and more respectful. What...

  Has it been a while since you’ve had a win at work? If you feel like you’ve been waiting endlessly for a raise, a promotion, or simply some hard-earned recognition, here’s how to keep your spirits up. First, remember that this is just a season. There will always be ups and downs; nothing is permanent, even if it feels that way. If you’re having a hard time believing that the slump will ever end, contact a friend, colleague, or mentor who can lend you some fresh perspective. Next, identify a small win and celebrate it. There’s no such thing as too small. List out every detail of a recent project. What did you execute perfectly? What went even better than expected? Recognizing even a tiny victory can motivate you, and over time, stacking up these micro-wins will make you feel more confident and capable in your role. It’s also important to be vigilant about who you surround yourself with. Who makes you feel good? Who takes the wind out of your sails? Don’t be afraid to avoid those w...

  Most of us want to communicate with kindness, but it can be challenging to convey warmth and compassion under frustrating, stressful, or maddening circumstances. Three practices can help you in your day-to-day interactions, as well as big, difficult conversations. First, meet confrontation with grace. This means wearing a smile and exuding patience and courtesy when an employee brings you difficult news or challenges your decision-making. An open-minded tone will signal that you're there to listen, process, and problem-solve—not to reprimand or enforce your own authority. Next, give credit whenever you can. Recognizing your employees and showing them gratitude will engender their enthusiasm, hard work, trust, and loyalty. Finally, give people space and clarity so you don’t catch them off guard. Schedule conversations in advance or ask them if it’s a good time to talk—and give them a quick preview of what you’d like to talk about. These kind, simple gestures will give your counter...

  One of the most common—and unpleasant—surprises you can face as a public speaker is having your time cut short. Maybe there’s a technical issue that causes a delay, or maybe the previous speaker(s) ran long. How can you still nail your presentation when you have less time than you expected? Keep these three strategies in your back pocket.  Come prepared with two versions of your presentation.  Create a full-length slide deck and a short, backup one—and practice delivering both from start to finish. If you have to go with the shorter one because of an unforeseen time constraint, be sure to let your listeners know that you’ll provide additional context after the meeting. Deliver the headlines.  Don't just write bland headers for each slide; instead, write complete, descriptive headlines that tell the story. For example, rather than titling your slide “Economic Outlook for 2023,” write “Economic Outlook for 2023 Is Optimistic.” This small tweak will highlight the impo...

  Research suggests that improving your employee experience could boost revenues by up to 50%. But what really makes a good employee experience? There are five important factors:  Mutual trust.  Trust has to be bidirectional, not only flowing from you to your employees, but vice versa. Achieving genuinely mutual trust will motivate your team, promote creativity and collaboration, and improve retention.  C-suite accountability.  Closely related to trust, C-suite accountability means ensuring company leadership is committed and responsive to both the business and its workers. Accountability is about a willingness to ask questions and actively listen to the answers. A leader can’t address employee needs they don’t know about.  Alignment of employee values and company vision.  Defining clear goals, milestones, and success metrics will connect your employees to the organization’s mission and help them understand their role in advancing it.  Recognizing...

  When it comes to improving your well-being at work, small habits make a big difference—if you practice them consistently. Here are six to prioritize in your daily work-life.  Check in with yourself.  Ask yourself: How am I doing today? How am I feeling? Don’t judge your answers or immediately try to “fix” anything. Just become aware. Take a few short, quality breaks.  The key word here is “quality.” This means doing something that helps you disconnect from work, refuel, and recharge (i.e., not scrolling social media, reading the news, or knocking out an item on your to-do list).  Practice acceptance of stressful circumstances—and focus on what you can control.  This involves two steps: First, acknowledge the situation with clarity, focusing on the facts. Second, identify one action you could take to move forward with more comfort.  Make micro-connections with colleagues.  Make it a point to greet your colleagues with genuine enthusiasm when you’...

  Effective leadership, especially during times of change and uncertainty, requires collaboration. Here’s how you can develop this crucial skill. First, look for clues about what works (and what doesn’t) in your organization’s culture. In meetings, pay attention to the most effective leaders and observe how they communicate. Is their approach different from yours? When you understand the “rules” of the game, you’ll be in a much better position to play it. Next, when advocating for a project, choose your battles wisely. Pick a project, workflow, or area where you have strong allies and expertise. Those are the areas most ripe for effective collaboration. As you pursue your initiative, don't be afraid to ask for feedback. Seek input and suggestions from your colleagues and reports to better understand how your approach is being perceived—and what you can do next time to be more effective. Your goal is to build coalitions to gain support for your ideas and create a sense of shared own...

  In the wake of layoffs, your remaining employees are likely feeling guilty, anxious, and emotionally distressed. How should you approach managing your team at this sensitive time—especially when there’s more work to be done? You may be light on resources, but asking even more of your people when they have less to give is a recipe for burnout. Here’s what to do instead.  Choose projects to postpone.  Create a comprehensive list of all ongoing initiatives, including what each one solves, creates, or improves. Next, rank them based on value and potential impact. Then identify the lower-value efforts that could be postponed now but easily resumed later—and those whose postponement might be consequential and difficult to reverse.  Align with leadership.  The next time your boss requests something from your team, ask whether it requires immediate attention. If it does, ask them to help you prioritize the request in the context of your team’s other work. For example,...

  Boredom can feel unpleasant and lead to a host of negative outcomes like burnout, job dissatisfaction, and costly mistakes. But according to research, boredom isn’t all bad—it can also present an opportunity to reflect on your interests, values, and goals. Here’s how to unlock boredom’s hidden benefits.  Notice.  When you feel that discomfort of boredom setting in, avoid reacting to it immediately. The fact that you’ve noticed you’re bored means you’ve managed to (briefly) resist the urge to instantly engage in mindless scrolling. That’s a good start.  Decipher.  Ask yourself: What is my boredom telling me? Have I simply been working on the same task for too long—or is it deeper than that? Can I identify a pattern related to this uncomfortable feeling?  Act.  Once you understand what your boredom really signifies, you can calibrate the appropriate response. Maybe that’s simply a short break from work. Or perhaps it means making more significant chang...

  Are you prepared to explain that gap in your resume? Owning your career trajectory means weaving a coherent, compelling narrative about yourself, connecting all the dots for the recruiter and hiring manager. Here are four common reasons you may have taken time off work—and how to explain them.  Caring for family.  If you stepped away from corporate life to raise children or care for a family member, explain how that experience helped you develop skills, knowledge, and experience that are relevant to the prospective job.  Traveling.  If you’re returning to the workforce after taking time off to explore, focus on how you used that time to gain new insights and perspectives— both about yourself and the world at large.  Going back to school.  Whether you went back to school full-time to pursue a degree or took courses to earn a certification, explain how specific projects you worked on are directly related to the job and how they—along with your past wor...

  Stepping in to help your team isn’t always helpful. Particularly when you’re delegating work, offering too much hands-on assistance or direction can actually backfire and undermine your team’s long-term learning and development. How can you take a more hands-off approach to delegation instead? Start small by identifying low-stakes tasks to hand off to an employee. You want to leave room for mistakes that will lead to their growth—not mistakes that could tarnish their reputation or jeopardize the team’s success. Then adopt a mindset of patience and curiosity. This doesn’t mean tolerating poor effort or carelessness, but rather understanding that your employee may take some time to learn this new skill—and they could end up developing their own approach in the process. Lean into the discomfort you feel watching them experiment, encounter challenges, and falter. Resist the urge to take the work back, do it for them, or point out the solution before they’ve identified it. Tell yourse...

  If you work in a role where mistakes must be avoided at all costs (think medical, security, financial, and transportation professions), it’s natural to feel terrified of messing up. But you can reduce both your stress and the risk of making an error. First, distinguish between critical and not-so-critical risks—and focus (most of) your time and energy on the former. Then, rather than trying to reduce mistakes through willpower and perfectionism, adopt systems and sustainable habits to mitigate those critical risks. Enlist support from colleagues to address your weaknesses and pain points while also finding solutions that leverage your strengths (for instance, if you’re visually creative, you might create visual reminders). Address any self-sabotaging behaviors, like not asking for support when you need it. Finally, tackle some of the not-so-critical risks—or delegate them—to reduce any potential distraction from the big stuff. Remember, the goal here isn’t to become a perfect emp...

  You’re busy at work, but it’s important that you make time to connect with your colleagues. Here’s how to build connection opportunities into the flow of your workday. First, take some time at the beginning of meetings for an unstructured catch-up. You don’t need to spend the whole time on personal updates, but reserving even five minutes to ask about a coworker’s recent vacation, new puppy, or their child’s graduation can make a big difference. Next, use your transitional break times to informally socialize: Grab a bite to eat with colleagues over your lunch break once or twice a week; set up a 15-minute virtual coffee chat with a coworker you rarely get a chance to see in person; or make informal phone calls during your commute to work. Even a five- to 10-minute conversation with a colleague can increase your rapport and, more importantly, show them that you care. Finally, don’t underestimate the power of virtual messaging. Consider pinging your work buddy at times when you wou...

  Do you feel like you’re not getting the guidance, clarity, or feedback you need from your manager in your one-on-one meetings? If so, redirect the focus by asking the right questions.  Ask for guidance on tasks and projects:  I’m having some challenges with X. Can you help me think about how to navigate it successfully?  What do you think of my idea Z? Do you have any suggestions for how to improve it, or an alternative idea I should consider? Clarify priorities and expectations: Given what’s on my plate, what should I be prioritizing right now, and can you help me understand why?  As you review my workload, am I taking on the right projects? Align with the organization and its strategy: To help me better understand the big picture, how does the work I’m doing fit into the company’s broader goals?  What’s new in our company’s strategic priorities that you feel I should know about? Seek growth opportunities and career advancement: What can I do to prepare ...

  As a manager, it can be easy to overlook your own growth when there are so many demands on your time and attention. But it’s important to make time for your own development as you juggle the daily responsibilities of managing a team. Here’s how to ensure you’re not prioritizing your team’s future at the expense of your own. First, share your personal goals openly with your team. Not only will being transparent about your development plan allow you to lead by example, but it will also establish some accountability for you as you move forward. Next, consider setting up development sessions with peers in your industry. These workshops will allow you and your fellow leaders to step outside your bubbles, swap valuable knowledge, create new connections, and learn together. Finally, find ways to grow in the daily flow of work. You don’t necessarily need to take a course or attend a conference to develop new skills and knowledge. Regularly ask your team for feedback and set aside some ti...

  Are you prepared to give a presentation to the board of directors? The boardroom is a distinct forum that requires a different approach than your typical meeting—and successfully engaging board members requires more than a polished slide presentation. Here are three techniques to help you command the attention of your company’s most senior leaders.  Start with a governing thesis.  This is a big idea or perspective that captures the main point of the discussion. Leading with a clear, concise message—and supporting it along the way—will engage your audience and demonstrate your leadership chops.  Present to the whole group—not just the CEO.  The board of directors may not be deeply familiar with the organization’s strategic and operational details. Provide some business context where you can and don’t make assumptions about what they know.  Steer the presentation toward valuable feedback.  Instead of concluding remarks that restate your introduction, s...