Posts by Liz Richards
When You Don’t Have Authority, Use Influence
When work is highly collaborative, there arises an authority conundrum. When there’s a problem or delay, and you’re left to work things out at your own level, nobody has the power of rank to resolve things swiftly and efficiently. In those situations, my advice has always been: when you don’t have authority, use influence. But…
The Go-to Person’s Guide to Great Meetings
Meetings can be great opportunities, but not all meetings are great. There are really only three good reasons for a meeting: To create a feeling of belonging and togetherness To communicate a bunch of information to a bunch of people, in the same way, at the same time To brainstorm about a project, or deal…
Practicing extreme alignment will set your remote team apart
The folks at Fellow recently posed this question on Twitter: What is the most underrated management skill? My answer? Alignment. Alignment — Bruce Tulgan (@BruceTulgan) October 6, 2020 Alignment has become a huge focus of my work with clients over the past decade or so. As silos have broken down across organizations and high levels…
Trust is required for progress. Here’s how to build trust on remote teams.
“I believe that all human progress begins with trust.” This was something Frances Frei said to me in a recent conversation we had about transforming toxic workplace cultures. And research seems to support this belief. In one Harvard study, employees in high-trust companies reported: 50% higher productivity 40% less burnout 74% less stress and 76%…
How the three part follow-up helps you get better and better at working together
One of the fundamental tenets of go-to-ism is to keep getting better and better at working with others. After all, in today’s high-collaboration workplace, your results are only as strong as the team behind them, right? It’s no longer enough to simply be the technical expert or the best at what you do—your success depends…
Managing Through Uncertainty
It’s hard to be a leader when all heck is breaking loose. In times of uncertainty or rapid change, people are looking to you and relying on you to support them in their work and their ability to earn. The pressure can make even the strongest managers fall back on bad habits. Stop, breathe, and…
When an Employee Has Personal Issues at Home, Focus on the Work
When it comes to managing attitude or personalities at work, the advice I always give is not to let it be a personal matter. Rather, make it all about the work and your working relationship. But what about when it really is a personal matter that’s causing the problem? When an employee has personal issues…
Why Is This Generation Gap Different?
With any new generational shift, there is always the hope that the new young upstarts will eventually wise up, settle down and, basically, conform. Anxieties arise as new generations come along with new attitudes and expectations. The current generational shift, however, is about more than the new butting up against the old. Let me put…
Be a Problem Solver, Not a Complainer
Problems are a part of everyday reality in every workplace. That’s true no matter where you work or who your colleagues are. Most of the time, you are probably dealing with problems someone else started. Are you going to be a problem solver, or a complainer? Often when I talk about being a problem solver,…
How to Manage Performance for Creative Work
If performance management is all about driving continuous improvement in productivity and quality—and helping employees strike a balance toggling back and forth between speed and mindfulness—where does creative work fit into the puzzle? We know that creative work can be extremely valuable. But how can you possibly performance-manage creativity? How long should it take to…