“I don’t want to be a micromanager!” I hear that statement all the time from my coaching clients. I get it—no one wants to be known as a boss who hovers over people and tells them what to do all the time. However, what I’ve noticed with some clients who desperately do not want to…
Managers don’t have enough high quality conversations with their direct reports, according to Ann Phillips, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. This deficiency has a negative effect on both productivity and morale. “Part of effective communication between manager and direct report is a mindset and part is a skillset. Both are required,”…
Dear Madeleine, I am an experienced manager but I am in a situation that is stumping me. I have a large team, and we have a reputation for getting a lot done, very efficiently. One team member—L— has been with the team since before I took it over. She is in her early 40s, a…
“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” –Dr. Maya Angelou It is so rewarding to coach clients who want to be amazing and who dare to rise! They are fully aware of their current reality of operating in the normal status quo and are now ready to…
Research conducted by Gail Matthews, a professor of psychology at Dominican University in California can help increase your chances of goal success from 43% to 76%. In working with 149 adults from different business and networking groups, Matthews found that Those who wrote their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write their goals.…
Coaches have a front row seat to the habits that get in our clients’ way. One small but insidious bad habit can cost so much more than we realize. The research shows that the best way to nip a bad habit is to replace it with something else. Here are 10 potential things to stop…
Measuring the impact of coaching is harder than one might think. That’s why it’s essential that any person being coached has a robust development plan that identifies a positive set of outcomes and steps along the way. Here is what we’ve learned after coaching executives for more than 16 years. Be specific—specificity is KEY. In…
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Each of these one-word questions can push organizational leaders and their team members toward the clarity they need to achieve success. In this post I’d like to focus on who and what. When leaders set clear expectations, outcomes are much more likely to hit the mark. And it’s just…
Dear Madeleine, I am a manager of a large team. I like my work, the mission of the company is meaningful, and we make a difference in the world. I have a reputation for being a good manager and getting things done on time and under budget. My boss, who is fairly new—and, frankly, in…
Dear Madeleine, I report to the general counsel of a large global organization and I have a team of seven attorneys. I routinely work at all hours of the night finishing projects my people committed to completing and then didn’t—and the deadline, of course, can’t slip. My husband says I let my people walk all…