Because it speaks so much to my values, my all-time favourite management/leadership book is First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It’s not so much that I am a rebel, breaking rules whenever I want. It’s because the book is based on a 25-year Gallup study on what great managers do: […]

Have you ever worked with a manager who was a poor listener? Or have you worked with a team that has trouble listening to each other? If so, then you know how frustrating it can be when the people around you don’t seem to be listening. Teamwork is dysfunctional. Debates occur even when people are […]

A recent Management Essentials training session at work encouraged us to reflect on our experiences rather than just gave us a bunch of management tips out of context.  I have always learned a lot by observing others and I have long said that even less than stellar managers shaped who I am today. One of the exercises was […]

If a process or a product hasn’t been going well for a while, frustration builds and some leaders try to fix it  by looking for solutions from wherever and from whomever they can.  This results in multiple parallel conversations and/or the team chasing after a dozen or more perceived solutions to the problem.  While everyone […]