For a remote team to function well, trust is one of the most important factors. We leaders need to believe that people are working when we can’t see them, that the quality of the work will be high, that people are accountable for the deadlines and outputs that others require to achieve the team’s goals.

Read More

You work in the real world, a messy place filled with exceptions, complications and people. When you are making decisions in real-world organizations, you must factor the following into your decision-making process, if you want to make the best decisions: The relative urgency of the decision. How fast must it be made? When the urgency level

Read More

Working remotely by definition means you aren’t in constant contact with your manager or the members of your team. Sometimes, let’s face it, that’s a blessing, and the whole reason you work from home. But as social animals, we all need some contact with the outside world in order to do good work and build

Read More

Early in my career, I worked in the plastics industry as a process and product development engineer. At the time, I had a degree in chemical engineering, and I had just completed service as a nuclear engineering officer in the U.S. Navy. I had a pretty good technical background, and I knew almost nothing about

Read More

You’ve likely heard about the DISC assessment before. Maybe you’ve even taken one. Most people take an assessment, and that’s about it. It is a popular, pleasant, and fun training or team building exercise, but too often doesn’t go beyond that. Why not actually use the results of your DISC assessment to be a better

Read More

This is a guest post by Jono Bacon, founder of Jono Bacon Consulting. You can run the most efficient, well-run company in the world, packed with eager team members clad in your branded hoodies, but at some point, conflict is going to rear its ugly head. I have worked with team members who clashed over

Read More

When I started researching and working on this Remarkable TV episode, I discovered that like much of our language, the meaning of the words ‘politically correct’ have changed over time – leading people to have very different opinions on the meaning of the words. And given this, I don’t think that they are very effective

Read More

From time to time, most of us have experienced or even contributed to workplace drama. It can take many different forms: People gossip, spread rumors, complain, lash out emotionally, rant about a perceived wrong, purposely exclude others, take sides in conflicts, and so forth. No matter how drama manifests, it can be a highly destructive

Read More

Some time ago, I did a video that was very popular about Dealing with a Know-It-All. Recently a viewer asked us a key question, though: What if the know-it-all is you? Tweet it out: There is a difference being knowledgeable and being a “know-it-all.” Remember that no one wants a know-it-all leader. @KevinEikenberry

Read More

I was recently reading about strategies for managing high-conflict people in both the workplace and in your personal life, and it got me thinking about conflicts, in general. Conflicts are often not the result of some huge problem. Of course, people can do terrible things to one another, and that creates conflict, but when it

Read More