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 lead a team in a large organization. I stepped in as an interim leader when my boss went out on leave—but he never came back. At this point, my challenge is that I need to delegate more and make people on my team do the stuff they should be doing. I have…
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, 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…
Managers who understand how to conduct useful management, coaching, and mentoring conversations can address the needs of their employees quickly and effectively. The challenge is knowing when each conversation is most appropriate. Without clear distinctions it is easy for these conversations to blend together and overlap. And once that happens, managers may find themselves attempting…
A leader’s ability to coach effectively can really foster the development of the people they lead. But like any leadership style, using a coaching style incorrectly has its drawbacks—especially if you are new to it. Here are a few of the common mistakes. The leader does the heavy lifting. To be effective, a coaching conversation…
Dear Madeleine, I am a senior leader in a large commercial services organization. I spent many years learning how to make good use of an assistant and I’ve always made sure I had a great one. Over the last few years, the company has been reducing the size of the administration group and I have…
In this episode of the Blanchard LeaderChat podcast we interview Jen Sincero, author of You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Sincero shares how to stop limiting yourself and start focusing on your strengths. Drawing on her own experience of personally trying and evaluating almost every…
Anyone who has ever flown has heard these words: “Should a drop in cabin pressure occur, put your own mask on first.” Yes, in order to help others, you must take care of yourself first. Since I almost always ponder life through the filter of coaching, this brings to mind three of my recent clients:…