The 9 leadership mistakes you don’t know you’re making as a new manager
Donât accidentally become a bad boss by overlooking these often imperceptible leadership mistakes. ...
The 3 most effective ways to build trust as a leader
Based on data from 597 people, the best ways to build trust as a leader arenât what you think they are. ...
The most counterintuitive leadership tip? Leaders, stop doing what you’re good at.
Playing to your strengths as a leader doesn’t make you a good boss â in fact, it can make you a bad boss. Here’s why. Of all the leadership tips to be a good manager, “leaning into your strengths” has got to be one of the most frequently cited. “Do what you’re good at. Focus… Read the full article ...
You have a micromanaging boss. What can you do?
There are 5 reasons your boss is micromanaging you. Hereâs how to manage up, and around them. Iâve heard the phrase, âI have a micromanaging boss,â more times than I can remember. I heard it again, just last week. This person asked me, âWhat do I do? Is there anything I can say to a micromanager?… Read the full article ...
Managing disagreements: How to handle diverging points-of-view with your boss
Six leadership tips on what to do when you disagree with your boss (or another senior leader at the company) Itâs inevitable: Youâre going to disagree with your boss. No two people on the planet agree with each other on everything, 100% of the time. âThatâs a terrible idea,â you think to yourself, after listening to… Read the full article ...
Feeling âoffâ? How to be a good manager when you just donât feel like being one
If youâre struggling to stay engaged as a leader lately, here are some leadership tips to pull you out of the slump. Some days, being a good manager is more difficult than others. You canât focus. The day drags. You feel âoff.â The company isnât doing as well as it used to. Or you received a… Read the full article ...
Watercooler Hangout #1 Transcript đ§đ
A chance to connect with Watercooler members more closely, and learn from each othersâ experiences. During this hangout on November 8th, we hosted: Andrew Montelenti, CTO at Parse.ly Claire Lew, CEO of Know Your Company Jonathan McCormick, Director at Rosseau, Ltd. Morgan Legge, Operations at Convert.com Prabodh Kumar, Head of Engineering at Recruiterbox.com Robert Williams,… Read the full article ...
The surest sign of a bad boss? You donât listen.
Youâre likely making these 4 leadership mistakes as a leader. Hereâs what to do instead to become a better listener. Youâre not listening, as leader. You think you might beâââbut itâs highly likely that youâre not. Think back to your last one-on-one meeting. Be honest: What percent of the time did you accidentally zone out… Read the full article ...
To be a good manager: 8 ways to avoid your opinion swaying your team too much
A good manager knows their opinion can influence their team sometimes TOO much. Hereâs how to compensate for that. When youâre a manager, something interesting happens: You mention an idea off-hand, and all of sudden, it becomes a priority. You casually ask a question out of curiosity, and all of sudden, everyone scrambles ASAP to get… Read the full article ...
From The Heart(beat): Leadership lessons I wished Iâd learned earlier
Here are a few of my favorite leadership tips from CEOs, founders and executives featured recently in our Heartbeat interviews. Every two weeks, I ask one question on a leadership lesson to a founder, CEO, or business owner I respect and share it on The Heartbeat â¤ď¸, our bi-weekly newsletter on how to become a… Read the full article ...
11 must-read books for new managers
New to the whole âmanagerâ thing? Get your feet wet by checking out these 11 most recommended leadership books. Congratulations on your role as a new manager! Youâre likely feeling 80% excited and 20% terrified. Thatâs completely normal đ Becoming a first-time manager is intimidating. Youâre about to start flexing skills you might never have had… Read the full article ...
4 non-cringeworthy team-bonding events that people actually enjoy
Hereâs what 1,000 managers in The Watercooler said their employees enjoyed most as a team-building activity. Team bondingâââknown to some as âforced funââââcan bring feelings of dread and resentment to many employees. And who can blame them? When thinking of team bonding, many people picture awkward trust falls or hours spent with a facilitator asking… Read the full article ...
How to prepare for a one-on-one meeting as a manager
The 4 things you should do to make the most out of your next 1-on-1 meeting. Youâre not prepared. Or at least thatâs what employees think when it comes to one-on-one meetings. In a recent survey we conducted of 1,182 managers and 838 employees, we found 36% of employees believe their manager is only âsomewhat… Read the full article ...
The leadership mistake youâre likely making? Being nice.
Why being nice as a leader backfiresâââand what to do instead. Leaders, stop being so nice all the time. I donât mean to sound like an asshole. But when it comes to leadership, itâs true: Prioritizing âbeing niceâ keeps us from being good leaders. Now Iâm not advocating for us to be mean. Disrespectful or dismissive… Read the full article ...
Stop asking these 4 questions during your one-on-one meetings
If youâre wondering why your one-on-one meetings tend to feel unfruitful, these questions might be the culprit. Looking at the clock. Staring into the distance. Short, nondescript answers. A CEO recently told me how heâd frequently see this body language from an employee during their one-on-one meetings. Flat. Disinterested. Preoccupied. It felt lousy to witness, but… Read the full article ...
Managers: Want the truth? Recognize the employee who tells it.
The best managers encourage their team to tell the truth by recognizing the employees who voice it. âEmployee recognitionâ is all the rage lately. The idea is that you should positively reinforce the behaviors you want to see in your team. Want employees to hit their sales goals? Recognize those who do. Want employees to be… Read the full article ...
14 questions to ask an underperforming employee during a one-on-one meeting
When an employee is struggling, hereâs what the best managers do. Someoneâs slipping. You see it. You feel it. Youâre not on the same page. You desperately want to pull the person up, but youâre not sure exactly how. Do you encourage them? Switch them off the project? Change how youâre leading them? Youâre now facing… Read the full article ...
12 signs youâre becoming the bad boss you always dreaded
How to know when youâre no longer being a good manager No one sets out to become a bad boss. Yet, slowly but surely, itâs easy to become the bad manager we all dread. Times are stressful. Youâre trying to make things happen. You notice your team isnât as engaged as they should be. You can… Read the full article ...
The 3 best uses of an effective leaderâs time
What makes a good leader? Look at how you spend your time. Time is the one constant we are all given. No one gets more or less of it than anyone else. As leaders, itâs how we spend our timeâââwhat we choose to prioritize, and what we choose not to do at allâââthat reveals whatâs important… Read the full article ...
The 2 things that hold employees back from giving honest feedback at work
Why we donât get honest feedback as leaders, even when we ask for it. As a CEO or manager, it can feel utterly maddening to have leadership blindspotsâ and not get honest feedback at workââespecially when you want to know what you improve on as a leader, in the first place. You try everything in your… Read the full article ...
How to become a bad boss: Make the little trade-offs.
Hereâs why itâs so easy to become a bad manager, even when you donât mean to be. I was running a leadership training a few months ago, when a CEO said this to me: âI think I know why itâs so easy to become a bad manager, even when we donât mean to be: Itâs because… Read the full article ...
The leadership tip we overlook: Knock out the small stuff
How the smallest action as a leader can have the biggest impact on employee morale and job satisfaction. âI had no idea it mattered so much.â A CEO said this to me about a year ago. Iâd run into him at a conference. As we sat down at lunch together, he shared something that had… Read the full article ...
How to deliver negative feedback well: The 4 things that good managers do (that bad managers don’t)
A simple framework to help give tough feedback to a coworker. The most common question I get asked by a manager who doesnât want to become a bad boss is: âHow do I give negative feedback to a coworker?â Giving honest feedback is the most deceptively difficult thing for a manager to do. A survey of nearly… Read the full article ...
New managers, hereâs how to run your first team meeting
How to approach your first meeting as a new manager (it doesnât have to be as daunting as it feels!) It happened: Youâre a new manager now. Perhaps, itâs the first time youâre leading a team. Or youâre taking over a new team as a manager. Either way, that first meeting as a new manager is… Read the full article ...
Our most underrated leadership tool: Specific questions.
Of all the tools for effective leadership we think we needâââa good system for tracking progress, or clear metrics around hiringâââspecific questions are our most underrated. Ask the right question and youâll learn that your companyâs most valuable employee doesnât feel challenged by her work and is thinking about leaving. Ask the wrong question and… Read the full article ...
Announcing: A Guide to Sharing Info in Teams for Managers and Employees đ
 From data of 15,000+ people, and studies over the past few decades, I pulled together best practices for sharing info (e.g., decisions, institutional knowledge, progress, vision) in a team. Dear manager or individual contributor who wants their team to work well together, People canât do good work unless they have the context to do the… Read the full article ...
Five ways to receive critical feedback well â and not get defensive.
Your reaction sets the tone in your company. Donât blow it by blowing up when you receive negative feedback from your team. Hereâs how. Theyâre watching you. I donât mean to sound creepy. But itâs something to come to terms with as a leader: Your team is watching you. As a leader, your actions set the example â… Read the full article ...
Announcing: A Guide to Building Trust in Teams for Managers and Employees đŞ
From data of 597 people and distilling 50 years worth of research, I wrote a practical guide for building trust in teams. Dear manager or employee who wants their team to perform well, If you Google Books âtrust,â youâll get 147,000,000 plus hits. On Amazon Books, âtrustâ turns up in 50,000 results. Woof. âBuilding trustâ within your… Read the full article ...
What Iâve been reading lately: 6 books for managers I recommend
If youâre a manager and looking for something new to read, here are a handful of books I enjoyed this past summer. I donât like leadership books. Many tend to be hyperbolic (was that tactic really âlife changingâ?) or repetitive (you could say the same thing in about 30% of the text). Most tellingly, I often… Read the full article ...
Hiring someone new? 29 questions to ask during a reference call
As a manager, hereâs how to make the most of your 15-minute call with a candidateâs reference. I remember the first time I hired someone new. Talk about feeling like I had no clue what I was doing! I especially felt that way when it came time to do reference calls for the candidates. Having… Read the full article ...
The 3 employee benefits that have the biggest impact on team morale at work
Part of being a good leader is knowing which employee benefits to offer. According to 1,000 leaders in The Watercooler, these 3 make the biggest difference. Four in five employees want more company benefits than a pay raise. Thatâs according to a 2015 survey conduced by Harris Poll. Woof. It begs the question: Which employee… Read the full article ...
6 tips to be a better manager in the most common situations youâll face
Whether youâre a new manager or hate delivering negative feedback, I share our most popular tips for the situations that managers most frequently encounter. âIf thereâs one thing you should be doing to become a better manager, what is it?â I got asked this question recently. My answer: It depends on on the situation đ It… Read the full article ...