So I have had to grow quite a bit as a leader. I’m a type A individual. I might actually be borderline OCD. I’m left brain to the max. So I’ve had to learn how my personality impacts others. I’ve…
Techniques
Can I do anything for you?
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Several years ago, every day before I left the office, I would walk around and ask each of my direct reports, “Can I do anything for you before I leave?” During this time, I was still holding out on having…
Feedback, Leadership, Managing
Act of Courage
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One of the hardest things for a leader is having the courage to be different and take a stand. Personally, I was always a very courageous employee. Then I became a manager. Suddenly, my courage level seemed insufficient. I…
Coaching, Leadership, Managing, Techniques
Powerful Questions
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There is a ton of material out there regarding powerful (effective) questions specifically in the Agile community derived from the Coaching community. Essentially, leaders should ask powerful questions to help teams/individuals find the solution for themselves instead of just answering…
Appreciation
Appreciation Day – Agile 2014 Reviewers
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Unfortunately, saying thank you seems to be an after thought more and more. So at least once a month, I will take a few minutes to publicly appreciate someone that has had an impact on me. This round: Agile 2014…
Feedback, Interviews, Leadership
Owning thoughts
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One of the aspects that I like about planning poker is that everyone shows their thoughts at the same time. You can’t wait to hear what someone else thinks and then give your opinion. You have to think independently and…
Leadership, Managing
Managers vs Leaders
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A recent article about Zappos going flat and getting rid of managers caused me all sorts of conflicting feelings. So let’s break it down. What I love: The concept of leaders over managers. The article points out “its not leaderless”.…
Leadership
Creating Energy: Go Big
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My recent blog post on creating energy gave an example of small ideas that a leader can support. This post is about going big. Recently, Matt Heusser (@mheusser) was able to attend and write about TechSmith’s Internal Developer Conference. I…
Appreciation
Appreciation Day – Doc
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Unfortunately, saying thank you seems to be an after thought more and more. So at least once a month, I will take a few minutes to publicly appreciate someone that has had an impact on me. This round: Doc List…
Leadership, Techniques
Creating energy
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One of the areas that I most enjoy but have the most difficult time creatively with is creating events that energize a team. The easy answers are picnics or bowling, etc. However, when I have pushed myself to spend time…