Four different scenarios of how your manager can undermine you and the best ways to get out of them — We’ve all read it in countless books and articles; your manager should inspire and support you. They are supposed to listen to your career objectives, assign you stretch projects, and guide you to growth. …

An action framework for managers dealing with underperformance — Helping underperformers get out of a productivity rut is one of the trickiest manager tasks. Poor performance can manifest in a couple of different ways. Sometimes, it’s a new hire not meeting business expectations; other times, a trusted team member suddenly experiences a productivity drop. However, poor performance is not…

Are we all faking it until we make it? — Imposter syndrome (or, rather, Imposter Phenomenon) was first coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes. Their now classic research explored the general feeling of malaise present in graduate students, especially prevalent among highly accomplished women. At its core, imposter syndrome is about feeling “just lucky to get…

On improving your direct report skills — Almost all of us started our careers as individual contributors and migrated to managing people later. We all have many opinions on how our managers should manage us, so why is the transition to a manager so tricky? After mulling on it for a while (read: years), the first step…

How to provide more valuable feedback — In this issue, we’ll explore how you can improve the process of writing a performance review. We’ll go through tips for preparing, writing, and communicating your feedback to your direct reports. Everything below is loosely based on my experience and knowledge, so your mileage may vary. Preparing the Review Practice giving continuous feedback throughout the year.

This article was originally published in 2020, hence the references to COVID19 and lockdowns. Every year, like clockwork, management teams in companies around the world spend hundreds of hours putting together and communicating annual reviews to their team members. Studies show that managers spend more than 200 hours a year…

Onboarding employees, the process of helping them navigate their stressful first few weeks, can be a make-or-break process for your organization. According to a Glassdoor survey, great employee onboarding can improve employee retention by 82%. A surprisingly high amount of staff turnover (as high as 20 percent) can happen within…

All the ways you can optimise your 1:1 meetings to get maximum value for you as a manager and your direct reports — Whether you’re new to management, researching how to get started, or you’re an experienced leader who wants to ensure their team is on the right path, regularly meeting with your direct reports should be the cornerstone of your day-to-day. …

Diversity and Inclusion (or D&I for short) is an increasingly popular term these past few years, especially in tech. Every time that a particularly extreme behaviour comes to light, people tend to flock to D&I, using it as a talisman. Lots of companies swear to change and offer their support…