Posted on

Leadership Tip 14: Reduce Other People’s Dependence on Your Decisions

You’re a leader in the organization. And you’re supposed to be at another meeting, that started 15 minutes ago. Your previous meeting ran long, so now you’re late. But the conversation you just had? That conversation prevented a bad product decision. (Or, it prevented a customer meltdown. Or something equally important.) At least, the decisions …

Continue reading “Leadership Tip 14: Reduce Other People’s Dependence on Your Decisions”

Posted on

Perfection Rules in Writing? You Might Be Micromanaging Yourself

Do you ever encounter perfection rules when you write (or create in any way)? Maybe you’ve heard these statements—or you’ve said them to yourself: We must spend a lot of time “polishing” to create perfect writing. We must not publish until the work is perfect. We can create a perfect piece and it’s worth our …

Continue reading “Perfection Rules in Writing? You Might Be Micromanaging Yourself”

Posted on

Leadership Tip #13: For Innovation, Remove at Least One Policy or Procedure a Week

Some managers wanted to prevent Bad Things from happening in the organization, so they added policies or procedures. Now, these same managers want business agility. However, the policies and procedures increase friction and make it harder to get the Right Things done. It’s time to start removing some of those policies and procedures. The more …

Continue reading “Leadership Tip #13: For Innovation, Remove at Least One Policy or Procedure a Week”

Posted on

Leadership Tip #9: See & Stop Micromanagement—Learn to Trust Instead

I see too much micromanagement, even in supposedly agile organizations. Micromanagement tells people, “I don’t trust you.” When we have insufficient trust, morale and the products deteriorate. Instead, we can extend trust and keep innovating for morale and the products. This image shows a 6-person team where the leader/manager micromanages. All decisions go through that …

Continue reading “Leadership Tip #9: See & Stop Micromanagement—Learn to Trust Instead”

Posted on

Families vs Organizations and Organizational Culture, Part 6

I’m (finally!) circling back around to Joe Berkowitz’s statement: There is no template for how to be a good man in the #MeToo era. I said that respect provided that template. (And, we can say “good people” instead of only men because abuse of power is not limited to men. See Power, Management, and Harassment: It’s …

Continue reading “Families vs Organizations and Organizational Culture, Part 6”