Communication: What Do You Believe?

Management Associates Below the Line, communication, Reflective Leadership, Values

“In no other area have intelligent men and women worked harder or with greater dedication than…on improving communications in our organizations. Yet communications has proved as elusive as the Unicorn.” These words are as true today as they were in 1973 when Peter Drucker first wrote them. Communication is an area in which many organizations struggle and even more fall …

Effort, Habit and the Timetable of Transformation

Management Associates Human Side of Leadership, Reflective Leadership

Instant gratification is widely prized today, not the least in business circles. The number of leadership books promising tips, tricks, and secrets to achieve quick and painless change — of ones’ employees, ones’ organization, ones’ self — testifies to the number of leaders seeking the silver bullet solution. Of course many leaders realize that things which seem too good to …

Fear and the Exceptional Leader

Management Associates Below the Line, Fear, Human Side of Leadership, Reflective Leadership

Leaders’ assumptions, values, beliefs, and mental models are critically important in shaping their day-to-day choices, choices that mold workplace culture and impact organizational functioning. But an equally important driver of behavior – and one that is far more frequently overlooked and avoided — is fear. Fear is a delicate issue in the workplace, particularly among leaders. Because of the visibility …

Guest Blog: Leadership for the Solo Entrepreneur?

Management Associates Guest Blog, Reflective Leadership

Recently, I was lucky enough to host a book club discussion for Hanging the Mirror. I was immediately drawn to this book because, in my work as a consultant to small business owners, I feel like the biggest problem they face is not access to smart strategies or good workers.  The most pressing problem is a lack of self reflection …

Involvement, Group Decision-Making, and the Path to Optimum Solutions

Management Associates Below the Line, Collective excellence, Decision-making, Involvement, Reflective Leadership

Involving employees in decisions that affect them and their work is crucial to capturing the human spirit in the workplace. Leaders, however, often resist involving employees in day-to-day affairs. Such reluctance stems in large part from leaders’ perceptions of both themselves and their employees. Because they were promoted into a position of leadership (and their employees were not), mangers often …

Capturing the Human Spirit

Management Associates Culture, Motivation, Perceptions, Reflective Leadership

Many employees are cynical, apathetic, disillusioned with their work. This is a sad truth of the workplace. What is also true, though, is that none of us want to feel that way about our employment. We would all rather be motivated than unmotivated, rather be fired up about the work we do than indifferent. Given that human beings have a …

Taking Stock: Three Critical Elements

Management Associates Choice, Knowledge, Perceptions, Reflective Leadership

Crucial to growth as a leader is a comprehensive process of personal stock-taking, an ongoing discipline of objectively looking at our actions and beliefs and considering the effect they have on the individuals and systems around us. Though such reflection encompasses many constituent elements, three seem to be of particular importance: knowledge, choice, and perception. For any given question, we …

Perceptions, Authority, and Perceptions of Authority

Management Associates Authority, Culture, Employee Attitudes, Perceptions, Reflective Leadership

Managers today often perceive relatively little hierarchical “distance” between them and their subordinates. Yes, they might shoulder certain responsibilities and make the final call in certain situations. But they generally see themselves as part of the team. That perception, though, is in many ways a consequence of the very authority they hold (and their subordinates don’t). However insignificant the difference …

Your View Isn’t the Important One: The Role of Perception in the Workplace

Management Associates Below the Line, Employee Attitudes, Human Side of Leadership, Perceptions, Reflective Leadership

Imagine that you wanted to know what kind of husband a certain man is. How might you find out? This simplest approach might be simply asking him directly.  But that would only reveal the kind of husband he thinks he is, or tries to be, or hopes to be. If you wanted to know what kind of husband he actually …