The Most Read Articles of Leadership Freak for 2020

#1. HOW TO STOP ASKING, “HOW ARE YOU?” AND CREATE REAL CONVERSATION

Better questions:

  1. What challenges are you facing? Opportunities?
  2. What’s working for you?
  3. What’s new in your life?
  4. What are you looking forward to?
  5. What would you like to get done today?
Donkeys. The thing that will be different about me when this is over is...."

#2. 7 WAYS TO HAVE FUN ON ZOOM DURING A PANDEMIC

1. Sing happy birthday. (Have a person sing anything.)

2. Have one person tell/read a joke. A bad joke does the same thing a good joke does. Laughing or groaning connects people.

Tip: Invite people to rate jokes with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Participation is key.

3. Hat day.

4. My favorite coffee cup day. Ask, “How did your cup become your favorite?”

The rest of the list…

Giraffe. If you want people to respect your leadership, run meetings high performers love to attend.

#3. 12 WAYS TO END SOUL-SUCKING MEETINGS

1. Eliminate back-to-back meetings.

All meetings end 10 minutes before the top of the hour.

2. Shorten standard meeting length to 25 minutes.

3. Prepare people to participate and put them on the agenda.

Mary presents 3 pros and 3 cons to get the conversation started.

4. Improve meetings.

At the end of meetings, occasionally ask:

  • What made this meeting work well?
  • What’s one way to make our next meeting even better?

The rest of the list…

Cow When people refuse to confront their own issues, they want you to do it for them.

#4. SEVEN TIPS TO AVOID BEING CONTROLLED BY MANIPULATORS

Tip #1: Stop offering suggestions after the second off-handed rejection of advice. Instead ask, “What would you like to do?” (And stop talking.)

When you ask a manipulator what they would like to do about their concern, they come up with things OTHERS should do.

Tip #2. Listen for excuses and blame.

Manipulators want support, not solution.

The rest of the list…

Pencils Every time you do someone's job - you teach them that you'll do their job.

#5. 3 THINGS OVERWORKED MANAGERS NEED TO STOP DOING TODAY

1. Stop doing people’s work for them.

2. Stop interrupting people when they’re solving their own problems.

3. Stop tweaking the solutions of competent team members.

Happy New Year!

It’s been a pleasure serving you in 2020. I look forward to serving in 2021.

Category : Leading