Manager skills

Should I be Working While Sick?

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working while sick

Should I be working while sick?  The answer ideally is no.  If I am sick, I should go home and rest.  Come back when I feel better.  The real world however is not that simple, especially when we are talking about everyday illnesses, such as a cold or a flu.

Every time I feel unwell, I debate whether to take time off or how to work while sick.  This is because in the modern world of Paid Time Off and tight deadlines for busy professionals, we have to figure out the tradeoffs between suddenly taking time off vs the impact of it on our work.  Here are five key considerations for many of us. ...  read more

3 Leadership Lessons from KungFu Panda 3

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leadership lessons from kungfu panda 3

This weekend, our family went to see KungFu Panda 3 and loved it.   It was both entertaining for the kids and educational for us all.   I was amazed at how well the story line conveyed some fundamental leadership lessons while being utterly adorable at the same time.  If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it. ...  read more

4 Soft Skills Every Manager Needs

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soft skills for managers

Managers with stronger skills in multiple areas have greater chances of becoming successful. As a manager, you need both hard skills (e.g. business or project management) and soft skills (e.g. leadership skills) to be effective.  I would argue soft skills are more important than hard skills as you get more senior in your career.  If you have a range of soft skills, you can facilitate enhanced adaptability, successful collaboration, and become far more valuable for your organization. Here are 4 soft skills every manager needs to possess in order to become successful in the modern business environment. ...  read more

5 Tips to Improve Teamwork in the Workplace

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improve teamwork

Good teamwork calls for creating conditions that encourage everyone in the team to share their ideas, feel empowered, and perform in a collaborative and coordinated manner. As a team leader, you are responsible to develop people’s strengths, build good relationships with people, and set meaningful team goals to facilitate it. ...  read more

How to Manage Millennials on Your Team

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It’s my distinct pleasure to introduce our first Executive Author, Kate Lin (pen name).  Kate has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and over 20 years of work experience.  In the last 2 years, she has had extensive experience managing Millennials (aka recent college graduates) in her operations team.  Here are her insights and tips on: ...  read more

Let Your Team Take Care of the Monkeys

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What is all this talk about Monkeys you may ask?  Well, the article is inspired by one of the most famous management articles written in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) back in 1974 called Management Time – Who’s Got the Monkey?

I think this is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in their career no matter what your level is today.  I actually only read this article 5 years ago and found the examples and advice still very relevant today.   In this week’s article, we will talk about tips for managers – why you should leave the Monkeys to your team and focus your time more on Gorillas.  Monkeys and Gorillas are basically animated analogies to represent small and large business problems your company is facing. ...  read more

Five Behaviors to Avoid as a Manager

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bad manager

We often hear about the skills we should develop when we transition from team member to manager. What we seldom hear is that we need to UNLEARN some behaviors in order to transition into effective managers. Some of the things that made us excel as a team member can be the kiss of death to our performance as a manager. Here are five behaviors to avoid as a Manager: ...  read more