As a leader, your role in building a healthy culture is never more crucial than when entering heated waters. Let’s face it; when there are no contentious issues on the table, it’s relatively easy to forge an atmosphere of collegiality and even warmth. But when the stakes are high, when issues of vital importance are…
Lessons from Scrooge: Leadership and Compassion
Leaders have the power to give the gift of happiness, or of unhappiness, to those they lead. And the Christmas season is an ideal time to assess how effectively you have been distributing this precious commodity. This is not to say that the primary role of the leader is merely to ensure the personal well-being…
Are You Missing These Key Traits of Leadership Intelligence?
When you are leading in a challenging season, you must up your game in just about every dimension of effective leadership. But no skill could be more important than that of leadership intelligence. When your team is feeling unsettled, or even fearful, there’s little point in casting vision, devising strategies or even setting goals; at…
3 Leadership Challenges Where “I Don’t Know” Fails You
When a leader responds to a question by saying, “I don’t know”, it can reveal transparency and authenticity. But sometimes, “I don’t know” is the very worst thing you could say as a leader. Increasingly, leaders are being coached that “It’s okay to say ‘I don’t know’”. This is a largely positive trend and, in…
Stop These 3 Celebrations Before They Hurt Your Culture
Leaders build culture by choosing what gets celebrated, and by what does not get celebrated. So be careful. Because you could be holding celebrations for accomplishments that could actually be undermining a healthy culture. If you celebrate teamwork, then collaboration will become a part of the culture. If you celebrate treating one another with kindness,…
