Blog
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%…
Making people-first decisions at TGI Friday’s
In my 27 years with RainmakerThinking, I’ve been able to experience firsthand what it’s like working in a wide range of industries. One of the most challenging and demanding is the restaurant industry. And each of those restaurants—no matter how big or small—is responsible for the livelihoods of so many people. We have been living…
Nine words that help the NBA build better leaders
If you want to talk about an organization that supports top talent and strong values, the NBA is an obvious choice these days. From being leaders in their approach to coronavirus protocols (even though those protocols aren’t always convenient or easy), to supporting players in their expressions of protest (no matter what form those expressions…
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…
Is This the ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ for the Post-pandemic Era?
When I wrote The Art of Being Indispensable at Work, I never intended it to be a career guide for the post-pandemic world. But it might as well be. It’s about how to succeed in the midst of change and uncertainty. It’s about navigating shifting priorities and unclear lines of authority. It’s about how to…
Guidelines for Managing People Remotely
In the midst of COVID-19, a lot of managers are now asking themselves: “How do I manage people working remotely?” First, don’t allow yourself to become so overwhelmed and distracted by the uncertainties—what you don’t know—that you lose sight of what you do know, and what you can control. Don’t become distracted and unavailable when…
Managing Through the Uncertainty of COVID-19
Simply put: all heck is breaking loose. We are all grappling with keeping our businesses and careers, not to mention ourselves, together through the uncertainty of this emerging COVID-19 Pandemic. How are you supposed to deal with such profound uncertainty, especially with so many people now quarantining in place, social distancing, and working so remotely…