How to Manage Difficult People in Your Team

One of the biggest problems new managers face is juggling team management with other responsibilities. According to an analysis by the Center for Creative Leadership, about 68% of new managers struggle with this problem. In team management, managers mainly deal with managing difficult people and challenges involving underperformers, skills mismatch, slackers, and workplace conflicts. Although workplace conflicts resulting in confrontations are quite common in most companies, not all managers are adequately trained in handling such problems. This is particularly true for the 60% of new managers who have claimed that they never received any form of training in transitioning into… Continue Reading

10 Time Management Strategies for Busy Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship is both a state of mind that entails many personal and professional traits and a way of life that requires a lot of balance and time management.  Being able to launch, execute, grow, and scale a business is an intellectual exercise involving a lot of research, networking, planning, business strategy, marketing, sales, and a number of related activities. As a result, entrepreneurs have to jump between tasks, hop on calls, attend events, and be extra careful with each and every decision for their business endeavors.  (Disclaimer: This post was first published on Entrepreneur.com) Time management strategies for entrepreneurs and… Continue Reading

12 Productivity Frameworks And Tools For Effective Management

Over 50,000 US users search for “productivity” in Google every single month. When you add the long list of queries around productivity tips, productivity apps, productivity planners, and other forms of definitions around the term, we’re ranking over 300,000 total searches across the board. We are all eager to fight procrastination and maximize our time. Best-case scenario, deliver more in less time, reduce stress and the tedious backlog at the end of the day, and get better at everything we do: professionally and personally. Productivity Trends But here’s a fun fact for you. Productivity has always been a chore. Humankind… Continue Reading

How Remote Teams Work Together

Working remotely is about mutual trust. It’s the same as assessing the security of your home, the reliability of your office job, or the viability of your relationship. It's about creating an ecosystem where both parties can operate securely, reliably, and respectfully. Employers and employees must mutually invest in this ecosystem, recognizing that their actions or inactions can significantly impact each other. If you don’t care, you’ll lose. If you stress over it too much, something seems fishy and you may get burned again. I am a proponent of remote working in theory. And I’ve managed to build a team… Continue Reading

How to Handle a Resignation by a Key Player on Your Team

Handling resignations can be a tough process especially when it’s the top employees who are leaving. Searching for the best replacement for that soon-to-be-vacant role is the most challenging part of the process. So, as much as possible, you want to prevent them from leaving and ensure that employee turnover remains acceptably low for your company. There is a very common fallacy stating that people don't quit jobs, they quit managers. That's definitely the case in many corporations and large organizations with tens of thousands of people and tons of different management layers. Managers are important. But in large organizations,… Continue Reading

9 Important Lessons About Burnout In The Workplace

While I’m not a medical professional, I’ve been through several burnouts and some of my team members have blanked out for a few weeks before getting back on track. Here are several observations and thoughts of mine regarding burnouts. 1. Burnouts Are Often Not Directly Related to Work All of my burnouts and most of the cases I’ve observed were not directly related to work. Sure, work overload is a contributing factor. But more often than not, there are family troubles, sick family members, additional responsibilities or duties (looking for a new house, car troubles), or an uncomfortable office environment… Continue Reading

Micromanagement – The Good, Bad, and Ugly

It's not just about hovering over an employee's shoulder or obsessing over details. It's a reflection of a company's growth stage, the maturity of its staff, and the very essence of its operational culture. Micromanagement has nothing to do with caring about an employee. However, it’s important to review the different phases of a business and the professional experience of an employee, and the work environment. What is Micromanagement? According to Wikipedia’s sources : In business management, micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes and/or controls the work of his/her subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered… Continue Reading

Employee Motivation Strategies For Managers And Executives

What determines “progress” in terms of employment? Progress is defined by focusing on a higher goal without having to constantly worry about day-to-day needs (food, water, shelter, clothing). Those are the basic survival needs. Until you are sure that those are taken care of, your mind constantly switches back to the urgent needs at hand which are the absolute minimums for survival. A business organization employs that same process, but on steroids. Considering that the paycheck covers the basic needs and then some, employees must feel safe, comfortable, and motivated at the workplace. However, the reality is that employees may… Continue Reading

5 Business Process Challenges For Project Managers

Management and ownership are different. But are these truly incompatible? Successful business owners and entrepreneurs have simply struggled for a continuous period of time, juggling with anything and everything from legal and accounting through sales and marketing, IT, operations, recruitment, branding, management, negotiations, to name A FEW. This isn't necessarily a great thing if the vast majority of your time goes into dreadful stuff. I always cringe when I need to handle accounting or legal cases for over an hour! Experienced managers, however, are paramount to the future (and the growth cycles) of an organization. Yet, these are rare to… Continue Reading

11 Traits Of A Great Manager And Top Tips To Develop Them

There are good managers. And then, there are great ones. According to The Predictive Index, nearly 30% of employees believe their managers fail at team-building skills, and a portion of them suck at handling feedback, delegation, and time management. Managers who are successful in their respective fields leading large teams need to bounce between daily activities with various team members and then to the global responsibilities of the organization. Having consulted over 400 companies as a business advisor, I've worked with any combination of management and leadership teams - veteran and new ones, external and trained bottom up, brought in… Continue Reading