Tag Archive for: career growth

Is Your Leadership Pipeline a Myth? How to Fix It

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High-Potential Employees Don’t Become Great Leaders All on Their Own

Many organizations believe they have a leadership pipeline. They don’t. What they actually have is a group of highly skilled people with no clear path to leadership readiness. These future executives aren’t being coached, challenged, or given real authority. And then we’re shocked when, three years later, they jump ship for a company that will actually develop them.

Provocative Point: A “leadership pipeline” that consists of hope and good intentions isn’t a pipeline—it’s wishful thinking. If you don’t have a structured system for preparing leaders, you’re just waiting for talent to either sink or leave.

Solution: Create a proactive leadership development track that gives high-potential employees early exposure to complex decision-making, strategic thinking, and executive-level mentorship. Make 2025 the year you stop assumingtalent will grow into leadership and start actively shaping the next generation of executives.

Handling Performance Reviews Like a Leader

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So Your Performance Reviews Drive Connection and Growth

Performance reviews are an opportunity to build genuine connection, inspire growth, and align your team’s goals with the organization’s vision. When done well, reviews aren’t just a scorecard—they’re an essential leadership tool for fostering relationships, setting performance standards, and fueling each team member’s potential. Here’s how leaders can approach performance reviews with authenticity, depth, and a focus on continuous growth.

Make It a Conversation, Not a Monologue

A performance review should feel collaborative, not one-sided. By fostering an open dialogue, leaders can create a space where employees feel comfortable sharing their perspective on their achievements, challenges, and goals. When leaders actively listen and engage, they demonstrate respect for their team’s insights, building a sense of connection that enhances trust and performance.

Example: Start by asking open-ended questions, such as, “What accomplishments this year are you proudest of?” or “Where would you like more support?” These questions help frame the review as a mutual discussion, paving the way for meaningful insights that can guide growth.

Focus on Specific Behaviors and Achievements

General feedback like “be more proactive” often leaves employees unclear on how to improve. Instead, offer concrete examples that spotlight both strengths and areas for growth. Specificity builds credibility and helps employees understand exactly what they’re doing well and where they can improve. When employees see that their contributions are noticed, they feel motivated to sustain and elevate their performance.

Example: Instead of saying, “You did well on projects,” say, “Your detailed planning on the Q3 initiative significantly improved our team’s efficiency.” Pointing out how their actions contributed to team success reinforces the value of their contributions and keeps their growth on track.

Set Growth-Oriented Goals Together

Performance reviews are not just about evaluating past performance; they’re a platform for setting future goals. Collaboratively setting growth-oriented goals gives employees a sense of ownership over their progress and keeps them motivated to advance their skills. This approach aligns each person’s development with the team’s and organization’s long-term goals, creating a unified path toward growth and success.

Example: Co-create goals that stretch the employee’s skills, such as, “Over the next quarter, lead a cross-functional project to build team collaboration skills.” Collaborating on goals ensures they’re aligned with both organizational objectives and the employee’s personal aspirations.

Key Takeaway: Prioritize Connection as the Foundation of Effective Feedback

Performance reviews should be more than transactional check-ins; they’re powerful moments to reinforce connection. By making these conversations a priority, leaders can use performance reviews to drive individual growth and elevate team performance. The more genuine the connection, the more likely employees are to embrace feedback, act on it, and commit to shared goals. This shift from “review” to “connection” transforms performance reviews into catalysts for growth and team cohesion.

Giving Constructive Feedback to Leaders

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How to Shape the Leaders Who Shape Your Organization

Giving feedback to leaders is different from giving feedback to employees. Leaders come with a track record of success, authority, and influence and have likely given plenty of feedback themselves. But receiving it? That can be more difficult. Leaders often feel their success ensures their impact, thinking, and self-awareness are well-developed. However, no leader is perfect. Providing feedback requires balancing their reputation, past successes, and sense of control with what they need to hear. If you’re serious about navigating change and building a thriving organization, even top leaders need feedback to keep growing.

The challenge is that giving feedback to leaders isn’t just about correcting behavior or boosting performance; it’s about steering strategic thinking, fostering leadership growth, and fine-tuning their approach to managing others. Here’s how to make it happen effectively:

Focus on Impact, Not Just Performance

Leaders aren’t just executing tasks—they’re driving strategy, setting the tone, and influencing teams. So, when giving feedback to a leader, the conversation needs to center around their broader impact on the organization. It’s not about nitpicking small errors; it’s about helping them understand the ripple effects of their leadership style on the broader organization’s performance and future.

Example: Instead of saying, “Your team missed the deadline,” you could say, “From where I sit, the way you set priorities last quarter impacted the team’s ability to meet deadlines. It seems that goals and strategy weren’t as aligned as they could be. Let’s explore how we can align your strategic focus with operational goals to avoid this in the future. What’s your take on the situation.?”

Frame it as a Partnership in Growth

Leaders are accustomed to being problem solvers, not problem receivers. So, frame your feedback as a collaborative effort to help them grow, rather than a top-down directive. When you position the conversation as mutual exploration of how to improve, it lowers defenses and sets the stage for real growth.

Example: “I’ve noticed cross-functional communication has been challenging for your team.  Let’s work together to identify how you can improve communication channels and support your team in navigating these barriers. What do you think may be contributing to this situation?”

Challenge Strategic Thinking, Not Just Behavior

When giving feedback to leaders, it’s essential to elevate the conversation beyond daily operations. Leaders influence the long-term direction of the company, and your feedback should push them to think more strategically, whether that’s about how they make decisions, allocate resources, or drive change.

Example: Instead of focusing solely on how a leader managed a specific project, you might say, “I see a pattern where you and the team are reacting to issues instead of anticipating them. For example, … How can we shift your team’s focus to be more proactive in identifying potential challenges?

Acknowledge Achievements, But Don’t Sugarcoat Reality

Leaders are often high performers, which can make delivering tough feedback feel uncomfortable. And, in my experience their perceptions suffer from a bit of a halo effect – the individual’s high performance is seen to bleeds over into other areas. However, high performer are not high performers in everything they do. You’re not doing anyone any favors by sugarcoating. Start by recognizing their successes, but be direct and honest about areas where they need to grow—because, frankly, they know when you’re holding back.

Example: “You’ve done an excellent job rallying the team around key initiatives. I’m going to push you to do even better. I’ve noticed you are making some decisions too quickly without getting sufficient input from your stakeholders. That gets in the way of you being even more successful.  Let’s work on finding a balance between quick decision-making and gathering broader input.”

Encourage Leadership Development and Self-Reflection

Great leaders are lifelong learners, but they don’t always have someone pushing them to keep developing. Your role isn’t just to point out what’s wrong—it’s to help them continue their leadership journey by encouraging self-reflection and providing opportunities for growth.

Example: “You’ve accomplished a lot this year and I want to set you up for success next year. I’d like to challenge you to consider how you can strengthen your team’s leadership pipeline so that so much doesn’t fall on you. How can you mentor your direct reports to ensure that they’re developing into future leaders, too?”

Done right, feedback becomes less about correction and more about collaboration—making you, and them, stronger leaders in the process. After all, shaping great leaders is how you shape a great organization.

The Leadership Skills Gap: What’s Missing and How to Fill It

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Future-Proof Your Leadership 

Let’s be real: the leadership skills that got us through the last decade aren’t going to cut it for the next one. The world’s changing too fast, and many of today’s leaders are under-equipped for what’s coming. It’s not just about technical prowess or emotional intelligence—it’s about adapting to a rapidly evolving landscape where leaders need to continuously stretch and grow. So, what’s missing? Let’s dig into the real gaps in leadership and how to fill them.

Gap 1: Adaptive Thinking

The pace of change means leaders can no longer afford to cling to what worked last year (or last week, for that matter). We need leaders who are not just reactive, but proactive—who can anticipate change and pivot before it hits them like a freight train. Adaptive thinking is the ability to solve complex, unpredictable problems on the fly, and it’s one of the most crucial gaps in today’s leadership ranks. Adaptive challenges can’t be solved because you have a particular set of experiences.  Continual learning is key.

How to fill it: Encourage leaders to seek out diverse perspectives regularly—across departments, industries, and markets. Introduce scenario-based planning exercises that require leaders to think several moves ahead, preparing them to react swiftly when the unexpected happens.

Gap 2: Digital Literacy

Yes, your leadership team can probably send an email and hop on a Zoom call, but can they leverage AI to drive decision-making? Do they understand how data analytics can shape strategy? The digital transformation is here, and the leaders who can’t speak the language are going to be left behind. Time to get them up to speed—fast.

How to fill it: Invest in digital upskilling programs for your leaders, whether it’s through external courses or internal workshops. Challenge them to lead data-driven decision-making in their teams by introducing KPIs that are directly tied to digital tools and technologies.

Gap 3: Developing for Growth

Too many leaders are focused on maintaining the status quo or hitting short-term goals, forgetting that leadership is about building for the future. Leaders must not only be good at growing their teams but also at growing themselves. A big gap today is the lack of focus on self-development and mentoring the next generation of leaders.

How to fill it: Role model development for yourself. Let others know how you are continuing to grow and evolve. Implement leadership development plans that include both personal growth and succession planning. Encourage leaders to mentor emerging talent, not just delegate tasks. Track their efforts in developing future leaders as part of their performance metrics.

Gap 4: Real Connection

Building trust and creating a sense of purpose among teams is no longer just a “nice to have.” It’s essential. Leaders today often struggle with truly connecting with their teams in a meaningful way. This is about more than having an “open door policy”; it’s about creating an environment where people feel heard, valued, and inspired by a shared mission.

How to fill it: Train leaders in active listening and emotional intelligence, but go a step further by ensuring they consistently align team objectives with the organization’s broader purpose. Intentionally develop an environment characterized by psychological safety.  Encourage regular one-on-one conversations where leaders focus on understanding their team members’ motivations and personal goals. Building trust is a long game—leaders need to earn it through genuine, consistent engagement.

Gap 5: Performance

It’s easy for leaders to focus on holding their teams accountable, but what about themselves? True leadership isn’t just about managing performance—it’s about creating a culture of mutual accountability where leaders and their teams are aligned on expectations, goals, and progress. A shift in how we lead is holding ourselves accountable to the very people we manage.

How to fill it: Establish regular feedback loops where leaders actively seek input from their teams on their own performance. Encourage leaders to set clear, measurable goals that they are publicly committed to within the team. Create a culture where performance discussions are transparent, and leaders model accountability by owning both successes and areas for improvement.

 

Today’s leadership landscape demands much more than traditional skill sets. Leaders need to think fast, stay digitally savvy, focus on long-term growth, build real connections, and foster a performance-driven culture. By addressing these gaps head-on, we can develop leaders who are not only equipped to navigate change but to thrive in it.

How to Get the C-suite on Board?

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Now is the time to invest in leadership development

Cost control efforts, including layoffs, are increasing across multiple industries. Leadership development initiatives can be an easy target. However, this is often the best time to invest in your organization’s leaders, when even more is going to be asked of them. So, how do you get the c-suite on board?

Some of your CEO’s top areas of focus for 2024 are likely to be: attracting and retaining top talent, continue with digital transformation and drive growth – and, you guessed  – reduce costs at the same time (source:  Conference Board 2024 CEO Outlook Report). And, they need leaders who can support these priorities. 

This opens the door for you to guide the c-suite on how to invest limited resources in leadership development that will be most impactful. How do you get the  C-suite’s crucial support for leadership development?

Frame it up: 2 Questions to ask yourself

Start by framing your conversation to address their biggest concern – positively impacting business results.

What is the business case for your organization?  Thinking like a CEO is critical to winning their support.

  • What are executives most concerned about in 2024? In a nutshell, it’s Growth, Technology, and Talent. If you want to dig deeper, take a look at the 2024 CEO Outlook survey from the Conference Board, and the most recent Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey Insights

  •  Find out not only what is most critical to your c-suite, but how they are talking about it. Be conversant in your company’s mission, business strategy, KPI’s / OKR’s and financial performance. Have direct discussions with senior leaders about what’s critical to them. Be prepared to provide relevant data (employee engagement, client satisfaction, attrition and talent acquisition, absenteeism, etc.). Business strategy documents, annual reports, and formal communications to leaders and employees are also good sources to prepare for discussions.
  • Create a direct link between your organization’s pain pointsand how the leadership development will help ease it. See more below.

What is the ROI / Impact?  If you have been able to demonstrate a strong ROI of past leadership development initiatives at your organization, that’s gold. If you don’t have that data, you can point to studies from reputable organizations that show a link between leadership development and business performance. Use this kind of data sparingly and targeted to your C-suite’s biggest concerns. This graphic from joshbersin.com provides compelling high-level support:

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Or some of these statistics could pique their interest:

Talking with the C-suite

In addition to data and framing it up, positioning your business case is critical. Here are some ways to talk with your c-suite about leadership development.

Alignment:“We need to improve our leaders’ ability to align with the organization on business strategy, goals, and culture.”

  • Alignment needs to be regularly reinforced at all levels of the organization, from the most senior leaders to the most junior employees. For example, innovation is one of our core business imperatives. Leaders at all levels need to create environments on their teams where people will share new ideas and step out of old ways of thinking, Strong leadership development can show them how to do this and apply it in their real work.
  • Better aligned leaders make better decisions. They are also faster at adopting new technology.Our business’s innovative strength will be a direct byproduct of helping our leaders and their teams to better align with our business strategy and goals.
  • Leadership development is best when customizedso that critical skills are taught and practiced in ways that reflect our strategy and values. And I will ensure any development program does that.

Engagement:“We know from our engagement surveys, leaders and managers want the organization to invest in them” (if you don’t have engagement surveys, use some of the statistics discussed above). Opportunity for development is one of the top motivating factors listed in virtually all studies and surveys on engagement.

  • The bottom line for better engaged managers and employees is better performance. Teams that are engaged work more productively; they’re more likely to got the extra mile to achieve organizational goals, and they collaborate across teams more willingly.
  • In our continually changing business environment, leaders are desperately looking to boost their ability to stay on top of their people challenges.
  • Developing our leaders has a trickle-down effect on the teams and employees. They will be better led and therefore more engaged themselves. That results in better retention, lower hiring costs, and increased productivity.
  • Showing our leaders how to build empathy and trustwith their team members builds connection and embeds engagement more deeply in the organization.

Performance:  “When our leaders have their teams better aligned and better engaged, they will perform better.”

  • Our leadership development will emphasize effective communication and collaboration, which leads to better working relationships and less operational friction. That means fewer misunderstandings, mistakes, and wasted time and resources.
  • We also need to improve team and individual accountability. That includes mutual accountability amongst team members and their leaders. When leaders share more accountably with their teams, it drives engagement and performance.
Growth:  “When our leaders are better aligned with our strategy, and have more engaged and productive teams… they will be better able to help grow the business. Their professional growth helps drives team and organizational growth.”
  • Leadership development hones skills like adaptability and continual learning. That helps create an organization that is agile in the face of constant change.
  • Over time it builds muscle-memory for how to shift gears quickly and effectively from one business imperative to a more urgent or critical one.
  • Well-developed leaders are also better at identifying organizational growth opportunities and mitigating risks that threaten that growth.

Of course, you will find language and examples to make this framework more specific to your organization. That will make it resonate more with your senior leaders.

The value of effective leadership development is that it supports and accelerates the business strategy. It helps create a culture of adaptability and innovation. All of which helps your organization stay competitive in relentlessly changing markets.

All of which makes leadership development a wise investment, and not merely a cost.

Contact us for more information on how we can help you build leaders who enhance connection, performance and growth in your business.

4 Must-Do Items on Every Leader’s January Checklist

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We’re starting another year. Like any other, it will be filled with opportunities and challenges, achievements and disappointments, zigs and zags. During these first couple weeks of the year, position yourself and your team for success in the months to come. Here are 4 actions that will help you start the year personally centered, organizationally aligned, and ready to go.
How can you and your team get off on the right foot in 2023?
Reconnect to your North Star.  What is your big “why?” Why do you do the work you do? How is it helping you live your values? How does your work advance your personal and career goals? Your business goals? What needs to change to move you further along this year?
  • There are hundreds of tools online to help you do this.  Here’s one.

 

  • If you’re already sure of your North Star, here’s a quick tool for moving you forward: with your north star in mind, create a “Start-Stop-Continue/ Improve” list. Focus on specific behaviors like “start spending 5 minutes preparing for every meeting/discussion by writing down how it aligns with my purpose and my goals and the top three things I want to accomplish.” Or “stop complaining in front of my team and focus on solutions.”

 

  • No matter what you do, write your thoughts down and put an alert in your calendar to check in with them on at least a quarterly basis. As this year ramps up we will be distracted by fire drills, urgent requests, and changes in plans. Aligning to your North Star will allow you to focus more fully on adding value and saying no to non-value-add activities.
Clarify goals.  For many of you, December and January are about setting annual goals for yourself and your team. Make sure you and your team are clearly aligned. Engage your team members in individual conversations about how frequently they want to check in on goal progression and the best way you can support them. Also, decide how you will reprioritize when inevitable change comes along. Even if you did this as recently as December, a quick check-in is important. People lose focus over the holidays, things change quickly and clarifying expectations at the beginning of the year leads to better alignment and happier team members.
Assess your personal routines.  Research shows that having routines can allow us to be more creative.  By creating routines around repetitive leadership tasks, we are able to direct our free cognitive resources to learning and creativity.  What are your current routines? What else could you routinize? For example, set up ‘do not disturb’ on your messaging while you’re doing concentrated work.  That way, responding to messages becomes routinized, and you’re able to respond at a time when you can focus more fully on the messages. Another way to improve your leadership is to consider your daily habits… what do you do almost without thinking or planning? What should you start/stop/continue?  Here’s a great list shared by 21 executives.
Do a mental health check.  How are you feeling as you start the year? Take an honest look at your emotional and mental health. Many of us are energized and ready to go. Many others are still feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, and daunted by what lies ahead of us. Commit time each day to taking care of yourself. Go for a walk. Connect with friends. Read. Do something that feeds your energy. Your company likely has confidential resources that you can access to help you understand and improve your health.
Being intentional around these four areas, you’ll position yourself for a great start to 2023.
What else do you do to start your new year with intention?

5 Minutes. 5 Days. (Re)gaining Joy at Work

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Joy and happiness are two different things. Both impact things like creativity, individual productivity, and the company’s bottom line (yes, it’s true). But joy is more sustainable.  Here’s a 5-minute per day, one-week plan for kickstarting your path to getting more joy out of work.

Are you missing joy at work?  Or maybe, you’ve never even put the two words joy and work together in the same sentence.  May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Joy is important to mental health. Finding it at work is very challenging for many of us. However, finding it may be more important than ever.

Isn’t joy just another word for happiness?  Not really. According to Merriam Webster dictionary joy is the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune. Joy comes from being connected to our uniqueness, authenticity, to others and to something meaningful. Joy is something we create and more intrinsic. Happiness is sparked by an external event or situation. Research shows both joy and happiness impact our creativity, energy, productivity, health, ability to handle stress, and the company’s bottom line. Joy is more sustainable.

Interested in (re)gaining joy at work? After all, we do spend most of our days working. Creating joy needs to be an active pursuit made up of small steps we take every day. I challenge you to take the 5-minute, 5-day challenge to (re)gain joy at work. It works best when you implement it over 5 consecutive days and jot your answers down somewhere so you can look back on them.

Day One: 5 minutes:  Reconnect to your North Star.  What is your big why?  Why do you do the work you do? How is it helping you live your values? How does your work connect with other important things in your life? What about it is driving you right now?

Day Two: 5 minutes:  What is one thing you can influence or change at work that will allow you to align with your North Star more completely – even if it’s a small thing. What is one task you could do? Or stop doing? What is one opportunity you could take to give yourself a few minutes to focus on something more meaningful? Or to laugh? Or to take a deep breath?

Day Three: 5 minutes: What colleague could you help?  Maybe you’re thinking you don’t have time to help a colleague because you have so much on your plate.  What if you grabbed them a cup of coffee when you go to grab one yourself? Could you have a walk and talk to help them think through a challenge while you both go to pick up lunch (that you may be eating at your desk so you can keep working!)

Day Four: 5 minutes: What are your strengths?  What energizes you?  What is one way, in the next week, you could more fully use that strength? How could you craft your job so that you are able to do this more consistently and frequently?

Day Five: 5 minutes.  Reflect and reward yourself.  What accomplishment are you proud of this week? How did you live your big why? What one thing did you influence or change? Who did you lend a hand to? How did you use your strengths more fully? Do you feel more joy today than you did 5 days ago?

Integrate this challenge into your daily routine every week. Assess the impact at the end of 3-weeks and 3 months. Let me know what happens.

Worried About Accountability During the “Great Resignation?”

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Record numbers of people are leaving their jobs and it’s putting a strain on businesses and their leaders. When you’re concerned about holding onto your best talent (who are usually the first to leave because they have the best options), it may seem like the wrong time to really hold people accountable. To be honest, we have become a little fearful. For many, the thinking is, “if I push my people too much right now, they’ll be even more likely to go.” Losing more good people is a legitimate concern. But here’s how accountability can actually work in your favor and increase your ability to retain and engage your best talent.

Three things you can do now to make accountability work:

  • Align performance with client needs.  It’s a lot easier to talk with someone about their performance if you explain how it matters to clients, including internal clients. “Lisa, let’s talk about ABC Pros. They’re one of our most important clients, so we need to bump up our performance for them. What do you think are the top three ways we can do that?” Add your views and expectations to the discussion. Making clients the focus of the conversation reduces the likelihood that they’ll take it personally. It’s not about what you want, it’s about what the client expects. The same is true about aligning expectations with business strategy. It reminds the individual how they make an important contribution. Connecting to their personal goals can make it even more powerful.
  • Map accountability to your team members’ professional development goals.  This is one of those areas where the art of conversation matters a great deal. Accountability can – and should – be framed up as an exercise in helping your employee meet both their business and development goals. “Mike, we talked last month about your interest in learning how to do more complex data analysis. Let’s look at what you’ve done on this project to see what you’re doing well, and where you can make adjustments that would aid in your development.” This can lead to a constructive discussion about the project goals and parameters you discussed with him earlier.
  • Make accountability a two-way street.  Good leaders know that trust and a sense of fairness are critical to developing a productive working relationship with others, regardless of their role. One of the most effective ways to do that is for you to be accountable to your team members as well. This could mean making time to meet with them on a regular basis, helping them overcome resource issues or other organizational barriers, or following up on your development commitments. When you’re trying to establish their accountability include what commitments you are making to support them. “Alisha, what can I do to make this easier for you to accomplish?” Or “What have I done that’s helped you on this project?  What’s not been helpful? What else can I do?”
All three of these elements of accountability were important before the great resignation. The stakes are higher now, so doing these things well will pay even greater dividends.

Why Going Back to The Office Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea After All

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Let’s face it – the world of work is unlikely to ever be the same again. Most companies that have been remote over the last two years are unlikely to ever require 100% office attendance of all their employees. And that’s a good thing.

No two employees are exactly alike.  They have differing capabilities for working productively at home, and different work-life balance needs. Companies are recognizing that one size doesn’t fit all. The best companies will find ways to accommodate the best talent. And every company will make decisions about how flexible they want to be. Likewise, every person will make decisions about which organization is the best fit for them.

Even with this increased flexibility, there are benefits to going into the office … at least a couple of days per week:

  • Your career – good companies will work to create a culture where your work location doesn’t dictate opportunities. All other things being equal, there will still be an unspoken bias that favors those who come to the workplace more often than their peers. For most executives and managers, this won’t be consciously planned. It’s just human nature.  People give opportunity to those they trust the most. And trust is built through relationships. Relationships that include face-to-face time are typically built more quickly and deeply. Grabbing lunch, a chance meeting walking down the hall, or popping into their office for a quick chat. That VP who just hired you? You’re sitting in her office and notice that picture off to the side with her golfing friends and begin a discussion about your favorite courses in the area. Those are meaningful ways that people develop closer personal ties. And they happen more effortlessly and more deeply face-to-face.
  • Your sanity – some people don’t miss going to work one bit. Maybe it’s the commute. Or you’re a complete introvert and don’t need or want social connection as much as the next guy. It could be you’ve just gotten used to the convenience of crawling out of bed, pouring yourself a cup of coffee, and firing up the laptop. Most people, however, need social interaction to maintain their mental health. Covid has been difficult for all of us for numerous reasons and social isolation is a big part of it. Even if you have a bunch of friends that you’ve been able to stay close to for the last two years, being at work provides a greater variety and number of interactions – both of which are healthier for most people. And sometimes we just need to get away from our home because there are distractions that we need a break from. For some people, there are times when “quiet time” to reflect and get things done is more doable at the office than at home.
  • Your options– being at work at least part-time opens up options that aren’t as easily available if you work from home full-time. Here is a partial list of things that are often done more easily, effectively, or enjoyably from the office:
      • Collaborating on the fly
      • Improving your health as you get up and move around. (It takes many more steps to go grab a coffee or lunch at the office than going to your kitchen.)
      • Work / life balance: the kind where work ends when you walk out the door, not when you finally eat dinner or go to bed
      • Networking before, during or after work
      • Developing a new set of daytime acquaintances that aren’t tied to family and “weekend friends,” which promotes mental health
      • Shopping for the perfect gift at that cool store around the corner
      • Celebrating team and individual successes, holidays and birthdays, and important milestones like promotions and retirements

There is no question that returning to work will also be difficult for many people, and that’s to be expected. It was a big change when you abruptly started staying home and it will be a big change if and when you go back to the office, even if only for a day or two per week. There are steps you can take to help yourself prepare and adjust once you’re back. And make no mistake, your attitude toward going back will impact how hard it is for you to return.

No one is better at gauging how to best meet your personal and professional needs than you are. And that’s why taking a second look at what you’ve gained… and lost… over the last two Covid years might lead you to a more nuanced view of the benefits of going back to the office at least part time. Even if it’s not your choice, appreciating the silver lining is good for your mental health and probably your career.

How Do I Get to the Next Level?

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I woke up the other morning and the calendar said it was December.  December!
How can it already by the end of the year? This realization made me think about the goals I had set at the beginning of the year and where I stood against those goals. I asked myself, ‘How can I take my performance to the next level?” At this time of year, especially in companies that have end-year check-ins as part of their performance management process, you and your people may have this same question.

What do I need to do to get to the next level?

When our people ask this question, they are usually looking for us to help them navigate the performance of career development waters and give them the answer for where they should be taking their performance or career. When asked this question, use the GOAL Development Conversation Framework to guide the conversation.

First, determine the individual’s Goals. Review where the individual is in his or her current role. Are they ready for a move? What are the individual’s personal and career goals?

Second, gain the individual’s Observations on what he or she does well, areas of interest and development needs. Ask for examples.

Third, add your Assessment and the assessment of others, if you know them for a fact. If your team member is interested in moving to another role, what skills and competencies does someone need to be successful in that role? How does this person compare to that profile right now? What do they need to develop? How does it align (or not align) with their interests?

Finally, create a Learning plan. What more do you or your team member need to learn about the role in which he or she is interested? What skills or competencies do they need to develop? How do they need to better showcase strengths?