“What do you expect?” People say that all the time in an earnest or quizzical way, or sometimes with outright exasperation. However, more often than not, people simply think it without ever taking the extra step to clarify what is expected of them. That leads to mistakes, conflict, shoddy work and productivity losses, because your employees

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You have more influence than you realize. That is true for all of us – but for leaders it is doubly true. Many leaders have underestimated the power of their example as they worked remotely from many or all of their team. The truth is, you are leading by example, all the time. Perhaps you

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As humans, we begin learning about the role physical body language plays in communication almost immediately. We learn the subtleties and nuances behind posture, facial expression, and vocal inflection – the things that enhance (or sometimes say more than) the words themselves. But as digital communications increased, more and more of these interpretation tools were

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There’s a popular fable about a frog in a pot of water. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it won’t perceive the danger and will cook to

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The world is a complex place, with plenty of chances for confusion in thought, communication, and decision-making. As leaders, we have a responsibility for clear thinking, clear communication, and effective decision-making. Confusion is the enemy of each of these things, and there is one common problem that can impede us in all of those pursuits

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When we think about innovation, we often think of the big home-run idea – the kind books are written about and dreams are made of. We get starry-eyed at the prospect – and then discouraged that we aren’t creative enough and could never be that innovative. But what if we thought about innovation differently? What

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Joni showed up at her boss Bob’s office more frustrated than he’d ever seen her. Joni was a relatively new supervisor and had been developing well, but on this day, she seemed different. When Bob asked what was wrong, her frustration came out immediately. “What do you do when people don’t want to change,” she

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Do you have friends at work? According to a survey at Olivet Nazarene University, 82% said they do and in fact, on average they had 5 friends at work. 29% would even describe one as a best friend. So, it’s likely that your answer to the question I posed above was yes. And when I

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Friends at work. Is that a good idea? What about as a leader? In working with groups of leaders for thirty years, I know this question will always create a variety of opinions, some pretty strongly held on both sides of the fence. Let’s unpack the question and give you some clearer direction. But first

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Business and organizational life is a human activity. To think that we can succeed alone without connections to and working relationships with others is folly. Personal productivity and technical expertise are not enough. Research shows (and our experience proves) that the most successful people are good at building and nurturing strong working relationships. This is

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