FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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When It Comes to Disputes, Beginnings Predict Endings
How a conflict begins is usually how it ends. The first few minutes of a dispute set the tone for the rest of the conversation. Conflicts that begin aggressively typically deteriorate quickly, and commonly end with rancor. Beginnings really matter. Disputes that start with one party issuing a harsh or accusatory statement set a hugely…
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Viewing Everything as Feedback
Leaders and performers who are highly committed to self-improvement and making big strides in development see everything as feedback. From this vantage point, information about the person, the performance, and the moment flows from every conceivable direction. The world and its response to our performance are a never-ending source of evaluation and suggestion. Not surprisingly,…
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Expanding the Bandwidth of Team Members
Before leaders can assign new tasks and projects, they must know who on the team has the capacity to take on additional work without sacrificing the quality of their current tasks. Determining who has the bandwidth to take on more right now and who doesn’t is one of the most critical assessments leaders make. Get…
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Teams That Spin Without Making Critical Priorities and Decisions
Teams that frequently discuss issues endlessly without reaching a decision are hugely ineffective. But it isn’t their fault. Sometimes the team leader just needs to make the call. Leaders who prefer to operate as a peer or cling to a commitment to consensus can create quite a problem for an otherwise effective group. In their…
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Rediscover The Skill Chart
Rediscover the Skill Chart. Skill charts were once a mainstay in organizations. As a way to measure performance progress, organizations identified the core skills required to do any job or role. They then produced a visual chart outlining the features of every skill and the proficiency levels of each team member.
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Promoting Candidness Starts With Leader Transparency About Major Decisions
Encouraging team members and colleagues to offer more candid views about how they see matters is a leadership challenge in many organizations. Cultures and leaders that unknowingly inhibit open and frank conversations are common, and the ways to fix the problem of highly guarded communication from those with lower status in an organization often requires…
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Denigrating a Peer Can Come Back to Haunt You
Not all peers are good people who deserve their place in the organization. Some peers hog credit, engage with others in passive-aggressive manner, don’t work very hard, or bad-mouth everyone else, including you. Given the opportunity, putting them in their place by exposing their bad behavior can be tempting. Waiting for the right moment to…
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Bowing to a Voice of One
You can’t please or satisfy everyone, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Good leaders design events and meetings that get to the most important topic to discuss but do so respectfully and inclusively. They don’t want team members or group participants to walk away feeling slighted or in any way upset by what transpired.…
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Everything Bagel Leaders
Some leaders say yes to every opportunity, challenge, initiative, and assignment. They commit their teams to perform at a high level for every idea and proposal that comes from above. Their inability to say No creates an unnecessary burden on the team that often leads to exhaustion, frazzle, and burnout. When everything becomes a priority,…
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Leadership, Well-Being, and the Power of the Natural World
hat if you learned that team members who are frequently exposed to a common ingredient display greater vitality and willpower, are less stressed and depressed, have a greater desire to be compassionate and supportive of others, achieve a higher mental clarity, and become more energized both cognitively and emotionally when working. A litany of research…