It is quite common to have a different perspective from our managers and want to find effective ways to speak up to alter outcomes. Toeing the line between skillfully influencing regardless of your position and not overstepping in a way that disrespects your leader and damages your reputation can be…

How much of your time in your calendar is dedicated to strategy and long-term planning? In one survey of 10,000 senior leaders, 97% said that being strategic was the most important leadership behavior to their organization’s success. Yet, it is not being done. Common challenges leaders have in finding time…

Have you ever been told that you need to be more strategic without giving any concrete guidance on how to do that? If this is a top visible skill that helps you climb the organizational chart, it is worth the effort to grow the ability, regardless of your current position. …

Having a solid strategy can mean the difference between winning and losing, failing and succeeding. Knowing the stakes, how do you create a good strategy? What does strategy even mean anyway? At the company level, Harvard Business Professor Michael Porter defines strategy as a unique and valuable position involving a…

Teams go through different phases and stages. Dr. Bruce Tuckman published his 4-stage model in 1965 — Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing and added a fifth stage, Adjourning in the 1970s. The theory explains the predictable and evolving formative periods most teams experience. As a leader, your job is to…

In the last blog, we talked about the definition of a team. This blog will focus on the types of teams depending on the degree of interconnectedness — ranging from independent on one side to dependent on the other, and all the shades in between. Identifying the kind of team…

The word team is frequently used to describe any group of people loosely working together. There are leadership teams, management teams, work teams, cross-functional teams, and more. The term is often evoked even when there are divergent agendas and little reliance on each other. …

The previous blogs in this series have covered various topics relating to how habits work and how we can make them work better. This blog will offer several tips to further optimize your habit changes. 1. Have Systems, not Goals. Scott Adams, in his book “How to Fail at Almost…

The best way for your habit change to take root is to be consistent with your behaviors. Even when you cannot see the benefits, big dividends will be eventually paid when you put a system in place to follow. When you make the slightest adjustments to your daily routine, it…