I’m not sure there are all-around “low producers,” but there are certainly people who don’t fit the job they have. That’s what this situation could be: You’ve spent the past seven months trying to get your sprinter to be an ultramarathoner — coaching someone with obvious talent to keep going and going and going.
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We know that no is important, and that powerful people wield that word to great effect. But a flat-out no — full stop, no compromise — is hard to do without building up your no muscles. Most of us need practice.
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Sometimes being the boss also means being a career counselor. This week, tools to help you and your team figure out what you want out of your job, plus what to say when the grass really is greener on the other side.
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Managing expectations when the projects in the pipeline aren’t very sexy is tough. Keeping people engaged through the finale of their current project when the next one is sexy can be even tougher.
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There’s a moment every boss has and it’s not a fun one. It’s the moment you have to tell someone: We have a problem here, and it’s not fine. Things need to change, starting now, and improve steadily, ideally quickly, or we’re going to be having a bigger, badder conversation in the very near future. Here’s how.
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Introducing a new series: Have Better Meetings. This week, we talk about boring announcements — particularly, boring ones where you’re regurgitating what’s been said before. Instead of adding flair to your delivery, we recommend adding substance to your content.
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I’m glad my team feels comfortable sharing with me, but as a relatively new manager, I’m not sure how to best support everyone beyond saying, “Let us know what you need.” Is there anything else I can do without crossing boundaries or getting emotionally overwhelmed?
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If I don’t have a good grasp on the why of what I’m doing, I need to be told a lot of things at every step: how to adapt to new inputs and circumstances, if my output is any good. I don’t have the tools to adapt on my own or to judge my own work. All of that becomes someone else’s work, which is an exhausting burden.
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When you’ve been in the trenches with the same people for a long time, it can feel awkward to move to a new trench with a better view and more vacation time. You don’t actually need to explain your decision to move on. At best, you’ll sound defensive. At worst, you’ll be rubbing it in everyone’s face.
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In this edition of Write Better Emails, five key things to include when you’re trying to schedule something, plus our advice on keeping your email signature boring and utterly unremarkable.
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