The Bent Archive

Give an important project to an underperformer

I think we do our teams a disservice if we load up the same few people with everything noteworthy and don’t let anyone else have a chance.

Should I apply for a long shot?

I’m wondering how you might go about defining a career path in a diagonal direction. I have identified a senior managing role I would love, that I think I would excel at, in an industry I have zero experience in (journalism). I have a sense of how I can progress in my current field (UX research) and how I might break into an entry- or mid-level position in another field, but the idea of working toward a senior position in a new field leaves me with a head full of question marks.

Surging too much?

We wanted to share this idea with you because it’s the kind of thing that once you know and name, you might think through problems in a different way. You can map the surges you and your team are experiencing, look for patterns, make smarter decisions.

The ruthless edit

Super-concise and skimmable is always going to be more effective, particularly when you need answers or for someone to take action.

I think I failed my teammates in another country

My company, based in the US, has a sizeable-and-growing office in India, and our team meetings always include them. Recently we tried scheduling some brainstorms to get everybody connected and motivated, and our APAC teammates spent the whole meeting on mute. This sent the managers spinning out and wondering how we failed our international teammates in terms of prep (there was a pre-read) or tone-setting. We struggled to find any resources online for managing cross-cultural teams. Any advice?

My team doesn’t talk in meetings

When I hear a manager wants someone on their team to speak up in meetings, my first instinct is to say, “Absolutely! Have you tried this or this or this?” Then another part of me says, “Wait. Why do they need to speak up in meetings? Is there another way to achieve what you want to achieve?”

Writing that performance review

Today we’re here to make your reviews as painless as possible, and to affirm: it’s worth the effort to write relevant and specific reviews for your team. You can do this.

Getting started with goals

Who’s ready to set some goals?

Finding new motivation

For whatever reason, the thing that was fueling you before isn’t fueling you now. Which is completely normal, but can also be alarming because we don’t always predict it.

How to be reassuring

If I had to pick my top five things for any manager to do better, “be reassuring to anxious high performers” would probably not make the list. I’m not sure how many managers would even know who fit that profile since we all try so hard every day to show them that WE GOT THIS. But that’s also kind of why I think we should just do it all the time anyway. Providing reassurance is such an easy win for any manager. Everyone benefits.

Posts navigation