When I dropped my son off at school on his first day of kindergarten, he looked at me and said, “I can’t wait to not be new anymore.” Thinking about the many people changing roles and companies these days, I can’t help but wonder how many may be counting the days until they’re not new anymore, too.

No matter how many years of experience a person has – even the most senior of leaders – being the “newbie” is daunting for most and hard enough that many avoid taking the new job in the first place. Add to it the complexity of the workplace these days – exhausted teams, workforce shortages, supply chain and business disruption, war for talent, and constantly shifting ways of working and connecting as teams and organizations – being a leader in a new role is even more challenging.

Every leader will at some point be responsible for leading their organization through change. And when that happens, it’s not uncommon to discover that the experience is far from business as usual.

Leading change requires different mindsets, skills and techniques than many leaders practice regularly. Responsibilities like managing budgets, milestones and metrics are only part of the process. It’s understanding and managing the people side of change that is the key to adopting and sustaining any change.

Leaders: Some Food for Thought as You Lead Change

If someone were to approach an employee at your company—no matter their role or physical location—would they be able to explain the company strategy? All too often, that answer is no, but it doesn’t have to be.

Just as Uber plots your route the moment you request a ride so that you and the driver both know where you’re headed and how to get there, businesses also need a set destination and clearly defined path for getting there. Yet often, that plan is locked away inside leaders’ heads, so the rest of the organization doesn’t know when the next turn is coming, how long the trip will take, and, most importantly, what they need to do as individuals and teams to make the journey a success.

The Importance of Codifying Your Business Strategy

This is the time of year I like to reflect on what’s worked well over the past several months, so I can take what has forward as I plan for the year ahead. If you find yourself with a few extra minutes, take a look here at some of our recent most-read content. There’s a great variety of posts with quick tips and strategies to help you lead and communicate in engaging ways.

Top content ranges from how to create an internal communications plan and when and when not to use email, to advice from leaders I’ve interviewed on showing their human side and building a more inclusive and diverse workplaces. There’s also guidance on how to answer difficult questions from your team, retain employees, communicate in a crisis, and more.

Top 10 Blogs on Leadership & Communication in Q3 2021

Business leaders across the globe are coming to an unexpected—and undesirable—realization: Their work cultures suck.

Of course, we can’t and shouldn’t label all company cultures as toxic. But the odds are good they’re not ideal and are less than inspiring. In many organizations, poor company culture is the root cause of low employee engagement, poor retention rates of key employees, low productivity, and many more undesirable outcomes.

Difficult questions. We all get them. Particularly in this challenging period, there’s no shortage of tough questions on people’s minds, with employees wondering whether and when they’ll go back to the office or about safety protocols and childcare once they’ve returned.

In my latest book, Heart First: Lasting Leader Lessons from a Year that Changed Everything, I devote an entire chapter to leader tips for answering tough questions. I often find that with just a little preparation, leaders can accomplish a lot just by educating employees and putting some of their concerns to rest.

Being prepared and practicing these three tried-and-true techniques can help you field with ease that challenging employee question (or reporter who’s looking for a compelling angle).

3 Tips to Facilitate Dialogue and Understanding

I don’t know any senior management team that doesn’t spend days, weeks, working tirelessly on their organization’s strategic plan. And for many of our clients, we’re privileged to help as thought partners throughout that process. 

Senior leaders review the data, envision the future, and shape it into a cohesive entity that fits on a piece of paper. It’s pretty amazing, really. And it’s one of the toughest challenges any team faces: to articulate the strategy that’s going to get you the results Wall Street and others expect. 

You spend hours as a management team working tirelessly on your organization’s strategic plan. Data points are reviewed, the future is envisioned, and words are carefully chosen to describe where you go from here.

You leave your two-day meeting confident in your strategic plan and energized about your path forward.

But what do you really have? A document summarizing your management meeting.

It might contain your strategic plan, but it’s just another document until it is shared and activated through your employees.