As a manager, you set the tone for your team’s performance. If you are enthusiastic about your work, you will probably generate a similar level of enthusiasm among your team members. If, however, you are tired and/or bored with your…

Even if your company sets the standards of performance for every job and provides data on every person’s activities, you, the manager, will need to monitor the standards on a regular basis and discuss them with your team members. The…

If your team is typical, some of your team members will do excellent work, while others will be adequate, and a few will need coaching to improve their performance. All of them deserve to receive feedback from you about their…

When you train a new employee or mentor a high-achieving team member, you are exercising your coaching skills. Good coaches, like good managers, develop people by providing them with the appropriate resources, training, and assignments. Effective coaches act as mentors…

Whether you manage experienced people who only ask you a question occasionally or new hires for whom training takes up much of your day–or a combination of the two extremes–every person is a valuable part of your team. Effective teamwork…

Conflict is strange. A few people seem to thrive on it, most people do their best to manage it when it comes up, and a small minority simply avoid it at any cost. Whenever people come together, there will be…

Successful leaders include their team members, as well as anyone else who will be involved in a project, in the planning for it. By including those people from the beginning, they create greater investment in the goals they want to…

Probably a manager’s biggest responsibility is to solve problems and make decisions. You are likely to do this in some form every day. Maybe a team member calls in sick and you need to apportion that day’s work to others.…