The Biggest Way People on Your Team Know You Value Them
Unless you are a robotic leader without any heart, you want your team to know you care for them. More specifically, you want each person on the team to know he or she is valued. When there is a healthy relationship between team member and supervisor, work is much more enjoyable and rewarding. When trust […]
3 Phrases That Continually Betray Leaders and Team Members
On healthy teams, dialogue can be robust and transparent. When there is trust, communication can be open and honest. Getting to solid decisions can happen much faster on teams that trust one another. When there isn’t trust, even routine decisions take insane amounts of time as people waste time building alliances with pre- and post-meetings […]
3 Small Actions to Make Your Leadership Meeting More Effective
I recently filmed a video for all those who serve on our team in our stores—2600 folks who daily help believers navigate their faith journey. Right as I was about to begin filming, a leader in our store operations wisely and respectfully reminded me to try and stay under five minutes because of how much […]
5 Characteristics of Meetings That Develop (Not Deteriorate) the Team
Meetings can be used to develop the culture of the team, or they can be used to deteriorate the culture of the team. Meetings can be used to develop people, or they can be used to demoralize people. There really is no such thing as neutral meetings. They either develop or deteriorate. Here are five […]
3 Practical Ways to Crush Meetings without Crushing the People in Them
There is a big difference between crushing a meeting and crushing people in the meeting. I first heard that phrase from Carey Nieuwhof when Todd Adkins and I joined Carey for a recent podcast. Leaders must learn to crush meetings, to lead them effectively. They must utilize them to communicate clearly, to ensure the team […]
4 Ways Leaders Can Express Gratitude to Those They Manage
Max Depree once said that the best people on your team are really volunteers, no matter if you pay them or not. They are volunteers because they can utilize their skills and talent elsewhere and they choose to utilize them on your team. Which means, of course, that you must lead with much more than […]
3 Reasons You Must Have a Strategy if You Blog
As I shared recently, I never intended to become active on social media. My boss intended it for me and I am glad he did. It has helped me formulate thoughts more clearly, has pushed me to keep learning, and has broadened the types of people I can connect with. At first, I did not […]
Why I Jumped on Social Media and 3 Reasons I Am Still Here
I was not an early adopter to social media. When I moved to Nashville from Miami I was not on Twitter and wrote a blog post every few months. A month into my role, Dr. Rainer suggested I use Twitter and a blog. Because he is my boss, I took the suggestion as more than […]
6 Ways You Know You Failed at Giving an Annual Review
Annual reviews. The phrase causes some to sigh in frustration, both those who give them and receive them. But annual reviews can be a valuable tool for evaluation, for development, and for aligning people to a common direction. The reason many sigh at the phrase is because when haphazardly used, they are not helpful and […]
6 Questions You Should Be Asking Those You Lead
Great leaders ask great questions. Great leaders ask questions to learn but also to encourage those they lead to think strategically. Below are six questions leaders should be asking those they lead. They may not show up in a meeting agenda or on a questionnaire, but wise leaders are continually asking those they lead these […]