No matter how long your tenure as a team leader has been, you’ve probably seen it. Motivation can fade. Individual employees who seemed so full of life and so engaged in the job eventually settle into rhythms and patterns and might even burn out. Teams that were formed with an inspiring mission...
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Bad Decisions Don’t Just Happen
A few years back, my team and I prepared for the launch of our new leadership product. We were excited. We even skipped a few key steps in our rush to market. We just knew we had something special. We messaged hundreds of thousands of people about the product, and when the launch was over, we’d...
Take Your Virtual Meetings to the Next Level
By now, you’ve mastered virtual meetings. Right? The technology is humming, and everyone has fallen into a comfortable rhythm. But could that be the problem? One of the dangers of remote meetings is the predictable nature that many of them take on. Standard agendas. A short slide presentation. A...
How to Run an Effective Virtual Meeting: Stop Blaming Zoom!
Long before COVID-19 entered the scene, requiring a significant portion of work and work-related communication to go virtual, meetings were an all-too-frequent feature of the business landscape. Our pre-pandemic research found that 77% of employees reported spending 25% or more of their time in...
What To Do When Your Mind Goes Blank
Let’s face it – because of the importance of public speaking, giving a speech involves a great deal of stress. This stress has a way of affecting each of us differently. However, there is one thing that can happen to any of us – our minds can go blank at exactly the wrong point in time. Just like...
Tone and Words: Use Accurate and Precise Language
You make decisions, allocate resources, and make plans—all based on words. This is why it’s important to be mindful that your language accurately reflects a few things: Intent Meaning Severity Level of certainty Stakes Power dynamics These elements are even more important to consider if you’re...
Protecting Remote Workers’ Productivity and Performance
Most office workers became remote workers when social distancing measures put into place in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus dramatically changed the way we go about our days. If that was you, over the last several months, you have had a taste of the long-touted benefits of remote work...
Let’s Stop Pretending That All Jobs Are Equally Valuable
Does your organization have a one-size-fits-all orientation toward recruiting? Or does it recruit based on an intentionally built recruiting strategy that is part of a larger organization strategy? That you should aim for the latter is fairly indisputable. But how your organizational strategy...
Be a Perfectionist for Client-Facing Material
Cutting corners in the traditional sense is slimy and sometimes illegal. A construction company could cut corners by using cheap materials. That’s really bad. I hate the idea of lazy shortcuts. If the idea of cutting corners gives you a panic attack, I’m right there with you. But why do people...
My Principles of Company Building
Here’s a list of 20 values I’m going to remember as I build Write of Passage. Stay nimble: I want to keep the business small. I want to have a personal relationship with everybody I partner with. I have no plans to IPO or sell the business, so I'm going to build the kind of company I want to run...
How to Use Time Blocking to Manage Your Day
Whether you work a nine-to-five job, telecommute, or stay-at-home with the kids, everyone needs an effective method for managing their day. After all, perfectionism, procrastination, and the myth of multitasking are all very real dangers that can keep even the most productive people stuck in one...
Forget the To-Do List and Use These 4 Techniques Instead to Maximize Your Productivity
If your 2020 goals included growing your business, staying more organized, and keeping on top of your own and your team's to-do list, keep reading. You might be going about this thing the wrong way. While in the beginning of the year it can be tempting to cling to the shiny new planners, project...