Communication
Stop Rambling in Meetings — and Start Getting Your Message Across (via HBR)
- Measure exactly how much you’re talking (and over-talking)
- Consider using other ways to share your ideas
- Practice compressing your thoughts
- Build in pauses
- Ask for help
Environment
How to Build a Culture That Honors Quiet Time (via HBR)
- Noise = all unwanted sound and mental stimulation that interferes with your capacity to make sense of the world and our ability to act upon our intentions
- Ask yourself what things you may be doing to negatively impact others (e.g., being distracted on calls).
- Ask yourself what habits bother you most. How can you be the change you want to see?
- Ask how you can help others find the quiet time they need.
- See if there are ways of transforming the noise (e.g., no meeting Monday).
Motivation
To Get Results, the Best Leaders Both Push and Pull Their Teams (via HBR)
- “Pushing involves giving direction, telling people what to do, establishing a deadline, and generally holding others accountable. It is on the ‘authoritarian’ end of the leadership style spectrum.”
- “Pulling, on the other hand, involves describing to a direct report a needed task, explaining the underlying reason for it, seeing what ideas they might have on how to best accomplish it, and asking if they are willing to take it on.”
- Good leaders need to be able to provide what’s needed for their teams. Sometimes you need to push to drive results; other times you need to increase empathy by pulling.
Productivity
Resisting the Pressure to Overwork (via HBR)
- Understand that overwork is not necessary for success
- Be clear on your values
- Reject hustle culture; instead focus on deeper goals and your craft
- Learn from role models you actually know
- Ignore requests to overwork
Strategy
The Best Strategies Don’t Just Take a Long View. They Take a Broad View. (via HBR)
- Think of systems, not just sectors
- Use scenarios more than forecasts
- Think about having playbooks instead of plans
Developing a Digital Mindset (via HBR)
“Learning new technological skills is essential for digital transformation. But it is not enough. Employees must be motivated to use their skills to create new opportunities. They need a digital mindset: a set of attitudes and behaviors that enable people and organizations to see how data, algorithms, and AI open up new possibilities and to chart a path for success in an increasingly technology-intensive world.”
The Next Great Digital Advantage (via HBR)
Datagraphs are a way to capture data in motion and to be smarter about how you make decisions with the data you already have. Company’s have “moments of truth” where they have a choice in how they engage with customers — to keep them on the platform or to push them away — and datagraphs help you make better choices. Other types of analyses: descriptive (what happened), diagnostic (why did it happen), predictive (what could happen), and prescriptive (what should happen).
Talent management
Designing Work That People Love (via HBR)
- A large survey showed that pay, liking one’s colleagues, work location, and belief in the mission were not as powerful as these: excited to work every day last week, having a chance to use one’s strengths every day, getting a chance to do what one is good at and that one loves.
- Having a strong affinity (love) for at least some of your work means “you’re on fire without burning out.” The author suggests we need to love at least 20% of what we do.
- People can be creative to find love in “loveless work” (standardized steps, required competencies, measured by adherence/conformity).
- Recruit human beings, not workers; commit to lifelong learning; support alumni,
- I disagreed with the notion of not having standardized feedback tools and competency models. Sure there’s a trend toward job crafting, but you need some yardstick so there’s a shared understanding and that there’s equity (i.e., you versus the standard, not you versus your boss’ ideas).
- Belonging to a team is critical for engagement and retention.
- Apparently 360-degree surveys “too often signal that the organization doesn’t trust its people.” The author didn’t show how you’d find the balance between hands-off and micromanagement.
How to Spot — and Develop — High-Potential Talent in Your Organization (via HBR)
- Cognitive quotient (intellect). Don’t just look at transcripts or book smarts. ” Do they routinely step back from their tasks to see things from the perspective of their manager (or their manager’s manager)? When considering which path to take, do they try to look around corners to anticipate the unexpected? When making decisions, even small ones, do they ground their thinking in how they can create value for the business?”
- Drive quotient. Go beyond motivation, work ethic, and persistence. Look for people who push past comfort zones and attack new problems. Look for resiliency and the desire to improve themselves and their teams.
- Emotional quotient. Self-awareness, getting along with others, and reading the room are a good start. Look for those who are intentional about channeling insights to influence/negotiate. Look for people that can deliver difficult messages with courage and empathy.