Articles

Pervasive Leadership Can Help You Manage Successful Projects How Pervasive Leadership Can Help You Manage Successful Projects

Jean Richardson shares a story about how the idea of pervasive leadership can help you manage a successful project. In order to practice pervasive leadership, one must change one's mental model of "I" and "thou," act locally and think holistically, and enact empathetic stewardship.

Jean Richardson's picture Jean Richardson
Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage Management Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage

Johanna Rothman explains the challenges and pitfalls of micromanagement. Sometimes, managers micromanage when they need information. In that case, it’s easier to create an information radiator rather than have the manager come running to you every thirty minutes.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Positive Psychology Can Help Your Organization How Positive Psychology Can Help Your Organization

Positive psychology is providing a new focus on effective ways to ensure that teams exhibit the right behaviors in a group or organizational setting. Closely related to many agile and lean concepts, these emerging practices are helping teams to improve communication, collaborate, and emerge as highly effective groups. Leslie Sachs explains what positive psychology is all about and how to start using these practices in your organization.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
How to Deal With Overly Agreeable People How to Deal With Overly Agreeable People

Dealing with overly agreeable people can be fraught with obstacles quite different than those usually associated with the stereotypical stubborn geek who seems unable to bend or compromise. This article will help you understand and deal with the unexpectedly challenging aspects that you may experience interacting with some agreeable people.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
 Paranoia in the Workplace How to Deal with Paranoia in the Workplace

One of the most difficult personality types to deal with is the person who always seems mistrustful of others. Sometimes, this lack of trust is justified, but sometimes it is really a manifestation of some dysfunctional personality issue. This article will help you understand this situation and suggest a few ways you can deal with difficult personality types like the paranoid person.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
DevOps and Dealing with Team Members How DevOps Can Help You Deal with Overly Aggressive Team Members

Leslie Sachs explains what to do when members of your team exhibit overly aggressive or downright combative behaviors. Because you’re unlikely to change your colleagues' modus operandi, it is wise to instead consider how your DevOps effort can benefit from taking into account some typical behaviors of people with Type A or Type B personalities.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
Combating Learned Complacency to Reduce Systems Glitches Combating Learned Complacency to Reduce Systems Glitches

Leslie Sachs writes on how employees in many companies have essentially learned to no longer raise their concerns because there is no one willing to listen, and—even worse—they may have suffered consequences in the past for being the bearer of bad tidings. Leslie refers to this phenomenon as learned complacency.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
Management Myth 13: I Must Never Admit My Mistakes

Managers are people, too. They have bad-manager days. And, even on good-manager days, they can show doubt, weakness, and uncertainty. They can be vulnerable. Managers are not omnipotent. That’s why it’s critical for a manager to admit a mistake immediately.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
CM Excellence through People, Not Tools Achieve CM Excellence through People, Not Tools

Great tools and process are not the best formula for software configuration management excellence. Leslie Sachs writes that the most important resources for configuration management excellence are people—the technology professionals and the leaders who guide the team toward CM excellence. This article will help you understand what psychologists have learned regarding some of the essential qualities found among top leaders and others who consistently achieve excellence.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
Give Positive Feedback Before Negative? Maybe Not

Many people are familiar with the build-break-build method of starting with positive feedback, then the negative, and then more positive. But is that the most effective way to convey your compliments and criticism? Recent research has been done to determine the most effective, and polite method.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten

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