Great leaders and managers give a damn − and not just about work. They also care about their people, says Kim Scott, author, management guru and former CEO.
“The most surprising thing about becoming a manager is all the pressure to stop caring (about people),”
She shares her advice in this great piece for Fast Company.
By now you may feel you’ve read your share of stories titled “#LeadershipFail.”
And you’re thinking: “Those managers are idiots. I know I’m not perfect, but at least I don’t do THAT to my employees!”
In your view you run a tight and happy little cruise ship. But mutiny could be just around the corner.
Many well-meaning managers fall victim to bad habits that, while they might not make employees jump overboard, are slowly killing the productive vibes that keep people sailing onward.
It’s a pretty disconcerting feeling.
You show up for work one day only to discover that you’re one rung further down the corporate ladder than you were the day before.
And you didn’t even get demoted.
You’ve been layered! And it can be pretty awkward – and deflating.
For example, you were only two layers down from the CEO. She hires a new VP and suddenly you’re three layers down. Or your boss, someone you love working with, hires a new person and inserts him between you and him.
So how important is Emotional Intelligence or Emotional IQ in the workplace?
Sure, there are some old school execs who pooh-pooh it as mystical gibberish, but mostly there’s growing acceptance that’s it is a necessary component in today’s workforce.
In particular, empathy, self-awareness and social skills are considered vital to employees succeeding.
And many hiring managers are going so far to say emotional IQ is more important than an employee’s IQ.
It can be quite a quandary. Should I delegate this task? Do it myself? Or is this something that should be automated?
This great interactive tool can help you reach the right decision.
Just plug in your task, answer the questions honestly, and you’ll get your answer.
We’re a collaborative group at ResourcefulManager, so I wasn’t surprised when Dannie Evans, our Marketing guru, shared this with me:
“Heard this podcast on Hubspot today. Guy wrote a new book on coaching employees. Great stuff! Gotta get it.”
Oops! Michael Bungay Stanier’s “The Coaching Habit” was sitting on my desk. He had sent it to me earlier this year. And I hadn’t shared it – with Dannie or our readers.
So here goes. Yes, it’s a valuable read. It’s a fresh, innovative approach to coaching employees.
Good employees love what they do.
And good managers know those employees could just as easily love what they do someplace else.
That’s why, with so much talk these days about disengaged workers and good people jumping ship, you’ll want to be sure your organization is paying attention to these issues.
Fix ’em and they’ll quit storming out the exit:
It was a great week! OK, we didn’t sell as many Blueprints as we’d like, but I personally had email exchanges with 81 of you who told me why you didn’t buy (more on that later). And that was the great part. I really appreciate it and our marketing team is poring over your comments.
Yep, I know you’re busy. Who’s got time to read? But there is a lot of valuable and helpful information being published each week that can make your life easier.
And we can help you with that. The ResourcefulManager team scours the ‘Net daily researching our reports, and we turn up some really interesting stuff.
So we thought we’d start sharing the best of it.
What’s the one thing people fear most?
Public speaking!!!!
It takes the No. 1 spot on my list! I’ll do just about anything to get out of doing a presentation.
So why are so many people afraid of public speaking?
Basically it comes down to: There’s safety in numbers – and vulnerability in standing alone.
Makes sense to me. When giving a presentation, my face turns red, I start to sweat, my mouth dries out and my mind goes blank. Yeah, I would say I’m feeling vulnerable!
But the good news is there’s hope.
Following this 19-step guide can help conquer your public speaking fears:
You have a position open on your staff, and now you need to start the interview process.
Love it or hate it, it’s part of being a manager.
So you sit down with the stack of resumes you received. Right off the bat, you weed out the ones that don’t have the qualifications to do the job. Then you ask HR to set up interviews with the folks you’ve earmarked as “potential candidates.”
You know all the right questons. After all, you’ve been doing this for years, you’ve been coached by people who’ve been doing it for years or you’ve read extensively about the process.
And you’re a darn good listener. You can spot the “preplanned” typical bull, like “My biggest weakness is I’m a workaholic who loses track of time and ends up working late almost every night.”
I never buy that one.
So what key phrases do job candidates utter during interviews that do tell you this person is YOUR man or woman for the job?
Here are seven examples that should be music to your ears:
