One of the challenges you will likely face as a new leader is managing the increased inbound communication efforts. And not just written communications like emails, texts, instant messages, and meeting or calendar requests. There are more verbal communications too. More people dropping in to talk or stopping you as you walk down the hall.

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One of the most important roles for leaders is gauging performance of their team members. I’ve spent a lot of time in my life in a tractor seat, looking at gauges. These are simple gauges that give me insight into how the tractor is operating and what I might need to do in response. But

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As a leader, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is resistance to change. Whether you’re introducing a new process, implementing a new strategy, or making any other kind of change, there will be people who resist it. In this video, I’ll share some tips on how you can overcome that resistance. The first thing to

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Empowerment is a great thing. Empowered employees show greater commitment, stay more engaged, and create better results. Empowered employees take more initiative and get more done than employees who work in a fear-based, command-and-control environment. As a new supervisor, you may have heard and read about these organizational performance results, and then decided that you want

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Picture this… You’re working on a project, and you’re giving what you believe to be your best effort to get things right and to deliver the project on time. One day, your supervisor comes to you to offer some “feedback” on your performance. Where does your mind go? Do you think “great, I was looking

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You’ve got questions, and we’ve got answers. Hi, I’m Kevin Eikenberry, answering the questions that new leaders ask us. Actually, it’s our goal to help all leaders become more productive, successful, and confident. And that’s why I’m here right now. If you have to be watching us on YouTube, we’re glad you’re here. Make sure

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Just like you will have times that people aren’t reaching their performance standards, you will also happily have times when people are doing great. As a leader, we want people meeting and exceeding expectations, right? Since we want expectations to be met or exceeded, we must do what it takes to maintain the level of

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Delivering performance feedback to members of your team is part of your role as a leader. While performance feedback is not necessarily negative, that is the type of feedback most people think about when I mention “performance feedback.” In a quick review of articles and blog posts, I found no references to delivering positive feedback

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Almost all of my educational background and much of my early professional work focused on finding the right answer to problems. I was encouraged and rewarded for finding the right answer. I was penalized if my answer was wrong. As a result, I carried a “find the right answer” mentality into my early leadership experiences.

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As a new leader or supervisor, one of the skills you might have the least experience with is coaching others.  While we have lots of resources to help you learn coaching skills; beyond the skills you also need confidence. Here are some ways to build your coaching confidence. Remember that you don’t have to know

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