Many managers feel the need to get more and more done. They feel pressure from customers and salespeople for more features or products. Or the managers might feel the need for more revenue. So they start many projects. When teams have too many projects, teams take longer to finish. This means all that pressure continues […]
I explained in Leadership Tip #8 that measuring happiness was a lost cause because happiness is a function of more than just work. I suggested we measure satisfaction. And I didn’t tell you how. (You didn’t mind-meld with me, did you?) Here’s how I’ve measured satisfaction with several teams. I start with the 5-point scale
Do you or your managers want people to be happy at work? That’s a laudable goal. And, in my experience, unrealistic. That’s because happiness is an outcome of a person’s current life context. Instead of happiness, let’s consider satisfaction. When we consider satisfaction, we might discover ways to create a great work environment. That satisfaction might
What do you appreciate about your office culture? Maybe someone circulates get-well or congratulations cards. Someone might bring cookies to work or arrange birthday celebrations. I know of people who arrange retirement/transition lunches. All these actions are nice things. They even have a name: “niceties.” Nice people perform these services for the rest of the
Are you wary of asking for help? You might feel weak. Or, you might worry your colleagues see you as weak or incompetent. You might not feel safe if you want to ask for help. However, very few of us know everything we need. Or can do everything we want to accomplish without asking for
Someone asks you for information and you don’t know the answer. Maybe a senior manager asks, “When can the customers expect this particular feature?” Or your manager asks, “How does this specific architecture work for our product?” A colleague or a person you serve asks, “Why are we doing this?” You might freeze and not
Have you ever noticed that other people want you to do “more” work? The work has risk—if you say yes to this work, you’ll put every other deliverable at risk. What do you say? You can address this request with a simple sentence: No. That’s it. No. It’s a complete sentence. I bet you feel
We all like to think we use our value-based integrity to decide and act. And I bet you’ve seen people who don’t appear to use that kind of integrity. If you talk to them, they say they intend to do the right thing. However, they don’t always act according to their intentions. Here’s an example
You’re a middle or senior manager in an organization trying to hold on in these crazy times. And you just discovered you’re shipping the wrong version of the product. (Or your product doesn’t work or it has some kind of horrible defect.) Your customers are angry. Your employees are running around, trying to fix the