I’m a terrible liar. Not in the sense that I tell a lot of lies – quite the opposite. I’m really bad at dissembling. My ability to tell convincing canards was never one I practised or wanted to develop, and as a consequence, my six-year-old sees through my fibs. My younger brother is a terrible liar. And where I’m from, that emphasis means he’s great at it. He tells dizzyingly constructed shaggy dog stories, and people end up believing them. He lies for entertainment, his own and others. For fun, not for profit. So lying may not always be damaging – it may just be a kind of misdirection. This thought brings me to the core of this question – when it comes to working with people, are there acceptable mistruths?
Continue reading “Honesty – is it always the best policy?”Watch out for the Whoa!
There’s a moment in a learning journey when something just clicks. It doesn’t have to be a massive revelation. It can be a minor insight or, alternatively, the sense of an enormous vista of new learning opening up in front of you. I’ve started to think of it as the “Whoa!” moment.
Continue reading “Watch out for the Whoa!”When giving feedback, bring your SCARF
Where I work, and, I suspect, in many other workplaces, it’s that time of the year again – mid-year performance feedback is underway. For some of us, it’s a time of dread. For others, it can be something to look forward to. And often, it’s a non-event, and not for a good reason. One of the things we can do as managers and leaders is making feedback an event to look forward to by bringing our SCARF to bear.
Continue reading “When giving feedback, bring your SCARF”When Leadership goes Wrong
I’ve recently finished reading “Bad Blood” by John Carreyou, which is a fascinating expose of the cultural and leadership failures at Theranos (why do I always think of Infinity Stones when I read that name?). It’s a well-written, highly critical view of how Elizabeth Holmes and her partner, Sunny Balwani, systemically lied and misled investors, staff and regulators before eventually being exposed. It made me think in a broader context about leadership failings, and I’m going to try and capture some of those thoughts in the paragraphs that follow.
Continue reading “When Leadership goes Wrong”Give the Gift of Useful Feedback
Last weekend I wrote a post about the importance of receiving feedback openly and without falling into defensiveness. A colleague kindly reminded me that receiving feedback is only half of the equation. As managers, leaders and human beings, we all have the ability to give feedback to help improve others. Honest, sometimes brutal, feedback is a gift – here’s why it’s important to give it, and some suggestions on how to give it well.
Continue reading “Give the Gift of Useful Feedback”Why it’s important not to be defensive when we’re wrong
We’ve all experienced that horrible, sinking feeling of realisation that something we thought was okay turns out to be far from it. In our personal and professional lives, we all make mistakes in word and action. When we identify the error (or have it pointed out to us), our default response is often to justify our position. Here’s why that happens and why it is important to resist that defensive urge.
Continue reading “Why it’s important not to be defensive when we’re wrong”Why your mood matters when you’re a manager
We all have good days and bad days. At the moment, living with Covid-related lockdowns, many of us are struggling with “meh” or “groundhog days”. The lack of novelty and stimulation seems to make days run together, and we can feel anxious, down or even depressed as a result. When we are responsible for managing people, however, whether in teams or larger groups, how we process these feelings can be highly impactful.
Continue reading “Why your mood matters when you’re a manager”