Want a more purposeful, aligned, and engaged organization? “Make sure managers and direct reports are taking a collaborative approach to performance,” says Susan Fowler, senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies and coauthor of the company’s Self Leadership training program. “It starts with agreed-upon goals,” Fowler continues. “In my early days as a consultant,…
Dear Madeleine, I have a high-stress technical job serving the sales department of a professional services company. I have one direct report I am struggling with. Everything is an emotional event with him. He takes everything personally and even finds ways to get offended by positive feedback. He is always melting down and getting sick.…
Dear Madeleine, I always get a little overwhelmed during the holiday season, but this year I am at the brink. I have a big team at work and I usually try to create some kind of fun event for us—but this year it just isn’t happening. There is a massive problem with our technology and…
Dear Madeleine, I recently took a director level job with a huge Fortune 50 organization. I have been thrown into the deep end and I am worried about completely bombing out. I have had zero onboarding, so I am constantly making errors and spending tons of time backtracking and clearing things up. I am really…
Dear Madeleine, I started a new job about six months ago. My boss warned me about one of my direct reports—he said she was argumentative and difficult. For the first few months I thought she was okay, but now I’m beginning to see what my boss meant. She is hostile in meetings. She agrees to…
Dear Madeleine, Our company went to “unlimited PTO” about 16 months ago. The idea was to try it out for a year and re-evaluate. The re-evaluation period was moved to the 18-month mark, so it hasn’t happened yet. You would think the problem would be people abusing the policy but I have the opposite…
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…
How do you decide when to take on a new task or a new job? Could we thrive with a little bit more intentional thought? According to best-selling business author Dan Pink, there is a large and growing amount of research that gives clear guidance on how to get systematically better and smarter about making…
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…
Dear Madeleine, I am the new CEO of an asset management firm. I am concerned that my executive team is not up to speed and I am nervous about delegating to them. They are all super talented, bright and experienced. The problem is the former CEO was a micromanager who was punitive when people asked…