Tell or Ask? That is the Question.

Communication is always, and I mean ALWAYS, a top challenge among the companies we serve, and I have a hunch it’s a challenge in 99 percent of all organizations. As leaders, we have our own unique set of communication challenges, and one of those lies in how we communication with the people on our teams.

The more knowledge we gain and the more confident we are in our roles, the more comfortable we get with telling other people what to do when they ask a question like, “What do you want me to do?”

However, telling isn’t the most effective way to teach our teammates so that they’ll have a better idea what to do next time without asking (i.e. feeling empowered). (more…)

Communication is always a top challenge within the companies I serve and the leaders I coach. Why is that? It’s interesting to think we need to focus on improving something we’re constantly doing!

I think one reason good communication remains a challenge is because we don’t take the time (or pay attention long enough) to learn how we should communicate with each other, our bosses included. Our goal in communicating up should be to lead up. How can we communicate in a way that removes work from out boss’s plate and helps carry their load? With that in mind, here are seven thoughts many bosses may be thinking and tips how we can better connect with and serve them by doing a better job communicating with them. (more…)

In our last post, Working for a New Leader: 3 Lessons You Should Learn, our emerging leader gave us some great suggestions on how to make a successful transition to a new leader. One of the suggestions she gave was leading up.

Leading up to your new boss is a delicate process. You have to be aware of your boundaries and the unspoken rules that your leader may have. The stronger your relationship, the less you will have to tip toe around these rules. But like all things, this will take time. So how do you lead up when the relationship is still in its early stages? (more…)

Today’s post by my friend and fellow leader, Jason Grant, is an excellent feature on the importance of asking great questions. Enjoy!

Shut your yapper.  Zip the lip.  Park it will ya!  Blah, blah, blah, blah…blah.  “I did…I was…I am…”  ME this and ME that.  ME BABY!!

Reality check.  Guess what?  No one really cares…at least not that much.

It baffles me how many people still have not learned the valuable lesson of “being quick to listen and slow to speak.”  The irony is that if mastered, you will actually find yourself immensely MORE interesting to other people. (more…)