Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along.html Studies have shown that the negative effects of workplace conflict can reduce team productivity by as much as 50 percent. Most people would agree that in our increasingly competitive global marketplace, anything that gets in the way of productivity is a serious issue. Conflict in and of itself is not a problem. Rather, it is the negative byproducts of unresolved and mismanaged conflict that are the problem. Unresolved interpersonal conflict can escalate and manifest itself in such ugly behaviors as backstabbing, gossiping, withholding information, judging, and undermining. This article looks at the most common cause of conflict and offers advice on how to respond when you find yourself in a conflict situation. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Promotion-Panic.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Promotion-Panic.html It happens every day in the corporate world, good individual performers are promoted before they are ready to take on a leadership role. And, if these new team leaders, supervisors, and managers receive any leadership development at all, it is a short training class covering operational procedures and the major employment laws. In a poll, one in five business leaders ranked promotion as the most challenging life event they have had to face – more challenging than the death of a loved one, divorce, or moving. This article offers some advice for newly promoted leaders. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Bad-News-Doesnt-Improve-with-Age.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Bad-News-Doesnt-Improve-with-Age.html Got bad news to deliver? Start talking! It’s almost impossible for a leader to over-communicate during such difficult times as impending layoffs, leadership shakeups, news-breaking scandals, and mergers and acquisitions. This article provides a cautionary tale of waiting too long to share bad news. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Its-About-Time-The-Path-to-Productivity.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Its-About-Time-The-Path-to-Productivity.html How well do you manage your time? Do you sometimes feel like you spend most of your work day putting out fires instead of being productive? Often it seems we’re so busy putting out those daily fires that we don’t ever get to accomplish anything of real significance—those things that would make us the most successful in the long run. Every day becomes something to “get through” instead of an exciting path to greater fulfillment. We all have the same amount of time; it's what we do with the time we have that makes the difference. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/The-Leader-As-Coach.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/The-Leader-As-Coach.html With the changing demographics of the workforce - retirement of the Boomers and entry of Gen Y - as well as the prevalence of distributed work teams, there is a growing trend for managers to take more of a coach-like approach to leading their teams, especially when those teams are made up of knowledge workers. This article looks at how coaching is different from traditional management and identifies three crucial skills for effective coaching in the workplace. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/5-Common-Mistakes-That-New-Leaders-Make.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/5-Common-Mistakes-That-New-Leaders-Make.html Moving from an individual performer role into management can be a challenging transition. Quite often, individual performers are promoted before they are ready to take on a leadership role. And once on the job, these new supervisors, team leaders, and managers struggle to develop the skills they need to succeed. Most experienced leaders will admit to having made more than a few mistakes, especially during their younger years. This article looks at five of the more common mistakes that newly promoted leaders tend to make. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Active-Listening-A-Critical-Success-Factor.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Active-Listening-A-Critical-Success-Factor.html In management and sales, active listening is a critical success factor. A focus on listening can lead to more effective teamwork, higher productivity, fewer conflicts and errors, enhanced innovation and problem-solving, improved recruiting and retention, superior customer relations and more. As authors on leadership development have noted through the years, listening is not just a nice thing to do, it’s essential! http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Emotional-Intelligence--The-Hard-Truth-About-Soft-Skills.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Leadership/1991/Emotional-Intelligence--The-Hard-Truth-About-Soft-Skills.html How are your people skills? Academic research has shown that people with high Emotional Intelligence are more successful in business and in life. Emotional Intelligence refers to how well you know yourself, your ability to effectively manage your emotions, and how well you interact with others. Emotional Intelligence is a critical competency for leaders. It is very common in technical fields for people to be promoted to management because they excelled as technicians without much regard for their people skills. Unlike IQ, Emotional Intelligence can be developed.