Here are the 50 Things Great Bosses Know about followed by an online chat.
Leading Your Team
You were promoted to management because you were a high performer in your craft specialty. Now your specialty isn’t just craft, it is people and what makes them tick. I wrote these columns to give you a general overview about the wonderful array of people in your organization, their interests, needs and expectations of you.
Managers make a lasting positive impression with these three good deeds.Three Things Bosses Do That Employees Never Forgive
Managers make a lasting negative impression with these three key sins.What Great Bosses Know about Extroverts
What to know about staffers who think by talking — and talking.
What Great Bosses Know about Introverts
Quiet staffers have much to offer — and shouldn’t be misunderstood or mismanaged.
What Great Bosses Know about Grinches
Sooner or later, every manager must deal with a “malcontent”; some tips.
What Great Bosses Know about Their Youngest Employees’ Mindset
Millennials bring talents, skills and a different world view to the workplace.
Helping Employees Do Their Best Work
These columns drill down on a manager’s key responsibility: the supervision of the daily work and the improvement of individual employee performance. What you’ll learn from these is how to develop a strategy that’s effective for each person.
Park your carrot and stick approach and learn 10 things that really fuel motivation.What Great Bosses Know about Coaching
Coaching helps employees discover why and how to make good decisions about their work.What Great Bosses Know about Feedback
Bosses often overestimate the amount and value of the feedback they provide; check yours.
What Great Bosses Know about Handling Mistakes
Bosses, are you an Exploder, an Excuser or an Explorer when it comes to mistakes?
What Great Bosses Know about Mediocrity
We look at the dangers of mediocrity and how to prevent it from harming your team.
What Great Bosses Know about Playing Favorites
It’s not wrong for bosses to play favorites, if they do it for the right reasons.
What Great Bosses Know about Helping Staff Manage Time
Are you a boss who helps or hinders your employees’ time management by your actions?
What Great Bosses Know about Leading a New Team
Managers have little time to build credibility; tips for a great start.
What Great Bosses Know about Work-Life Balance
Great bosses understand the work-life balance struggle; they don’t make it worse.
What Great Bosses Know about Micromanaging
Learn about the six kinds of micromanagers and take a quiz to see if you’re one of them.
Improving the Workplace
You can’t simply focus on the workers; you’re responsible for the workplace, too — everything from systems to processes to the culture and the overall morale. I produced these columns to help you make your workplace a good place.
Don’t let old systems defeat fresh ideas and initiatives.What Great Bosses Know about Managing Meetings
Use this checklist to evaluate the quality and quantity of your meetings.What Great Bosses Know about Creating Incentives in Tight Times
Eight ways bosses can reward their best and brightest, even in tight times.
What Great Bosses Know about Morale
Ten tips for building morale in difficult times.
What Great Bosses Know about Building Trust
Winning teams are built on talent and trust; check out the building process.
What Great Bosses Know about Empty Desk Syndrome
Empty desks send powerful messages that managers should understand and act on. But how?
What Great Bosses Know about Leading Strategically
Successful bosses do much more than supervise today’s work; tips for crafting and executing strategy for your team.
What Great Bosses Know about ‘No Surprises’
Why do some employees hesitate to deliver bad news to their managers?
Managing Yourself
This collection is all about you and whether you want to be known as a manager, a leader, or both. Here’s a hint: “Both” is a great answer.
Not every manager is a leader; not every leader is a manager.What Great Bosses Know about Best Practices in Leadership
Take a look at what employees applaud about their bosses, in their own words.What Great Bosses Know about Their ‘Evil Twins’
Bosses need to know how their “evil twins” undercut their effectiveness.
What Great Bosses Know about Success
Leaders learn to measure their own success in a whole new way.
What Great Bosses Know about Power and Influence
Leaders know the limits of power, the impact of influence and how to build their own.
What Great Bosses Know about Emotional Intelligence
Managers who lack ‘people skills’ reduce their own effectiveness.
What Great Bosses Know about Learning
Managers can’t and don’t know it all; what should they be learning in these changing times?
What Great Bosses Know about Staying Calm in a Crisis
Your emotions are contagious, manage them carefully, especially when the heat is on.
What Great Bosses Know about Delegating
Great bosses delegate, but even the best can benefit from this 10-point strategy.
What Great Bosses Know about 5 Resolutions Worth Keeping
How managers can improve their teams, workplaces and their reputations as leaders.
What Great Bosses Know about Doubling Their Feedback
Five strategies for time-crunched managers who want to increase the feedback they provide.
What Great Bosses Know about When to Compromise
How to get less than you want and feel satisfied with the outcome.
What Great Bosses Know about Negotiation Skills
Learn from a master at finding win/win solutions.
What Great Bosses Know about the 5 Mistakes New Managers Make
New managers can trip themselves up if they make these errors.
What Great Bosses Know about Rookie Managers
Take a look at 18 tips from managers who’ve been there.
Communication Skills
Communication is such an important part of a manager’s work that I’ve separated out these columns to give the topic special focus. Your messages and their meaning matter greatly to your staff and to your success.
Six tips to keep your words from becoming weapons of self-destruction.What Great Bosses Know about E-Mail Traps
Great bosses know how to escape e-mail’s five big traps.What Great Bosses Know about Public Speaking
For bosses and others who fear public speaking — six helpful tips.
What Great Bosses Know about Opening Lines
The first thing you say sets the tone for the conversation that follows.
What Great Bosses Know about Good Listening
Listen to these practical tips for making certain your employees feel they’re heard.
What Great Bosses Know about Thanks
What stops some managers from offering thanks to their employees?
What Great Bosses Know about ‘No Thanks’
Successful time management requires a strategy for knowing when and how to say “no.”
What Great Bosses Know about Quiet Leaders
An introverted editor shares tips for successful communication.
What Great Bosses Know about Safe Venting Zones
Managers under pressure need to vent — but when, how and to whom?
What Great Bosses Know about Tough Conversations
Tough talks are easier when you keep three things in mind.
What Great Bosses Know about Praise
Great bosses understand the power and pitfalls of praise.
