Dear Madeleine, I am a marketing professional who manages a whole crew of kids—really. Age-wise, I could be the parent of each of these people. My team is tasked with providing movement and content across all of the social media platforms. We are very successful at what we do. Here is my problem: I feel…
What’s the most important factor in determining organizational success? The answer might surprise you, says Susan Fowler, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. In reviewing research for the redesign of Blanchard’s Self Leadership program, Fowler found compelling evidence that suggests the single most essential ingredient in organizational success is the proactive behavior…
We see and hear a lot of recommendations for how we can not only improve ourselves but also find balance in an increasingly frenetic world. But not everyone is ready to practice yoga or begin mindfulness training. So I’m going to share something I often suggest to clients when they feel as if they are…
Dear Madeleine, I am a fairly experienced senior manager at an organization that was acquired about eighteen months ago. The larger organization makes a new acquisition about every eight months, with no end in sight. The changes are really hard to keep up with. There seem to be new processes and procedures every day. I…
Dear Madeleine, My boss never gives anyone else any credit. It’s driving us all crazy. We recently completed an almost impossible job for him with an absurd deadline and very little direction. He didn’t give us any feedback along the way until swooping in at the last minute with all kinds of changes. A couple…
Dear Madeleine, A long-time employee I really liked and respected recently left for another opportunity. I tried to keep her but couldn’t offer her enough money, so I gave her an excellent reference. The whole team was sad, and off she went with a fond farewell. Surprisingly, while training her replacement, I was stunned to…
I’ve received various letters asking about the wisdom of taking personal time off when work is crazy busy. So in honor of July 4th—a very important holiday for those in the U.S. that falls, sadly, on a Saturday this year—I have decided to devote this week’s post to the issue of vacation time. (Spoiler alert:…
New advances in the field of social neuroscience are fundamentally reshaping perspectives on the best way to lead and manage the performance of others. That’s the main message Scott Blanchard will be sharing next week in his presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) in Orlando, Florida. Blanchard’s concurrent session…
In the world of coaching, we’ve long practiced and shared the concepts of mindfulness with clients because we’ve seen and felt the results. Mindfulness as it’s practiced as a part of leadership development can take many forms, from something as simple as NOT multitasking or as intentional as active listening, or regulating self-talk. So, how…
It’s the New Year, and I hope you’ll forgive one more post on resolutions—although this one might be a little different from what you expect. Because our topic is the well intentioned manager and the mistakes they make, what you aren’t going to hear from me is a lot of ideas on what you could…