Leader Feeder

How can you as a front line leader help teams solve problems better and unlock greater potential in your team? In our training, we use interactive survival simulations, and it’s fair to say the teams that participate in the training don’t always do as well as they would like. Let’s look at some of the […]

How can you as a supervisor become more confident during a disciplinary talk? One of the least favorite parts of being a supervisor is having a disciplinary talk with an employee who has either broken the rules or had an unacceptable performance. There are several reasons why leaders don’t look forward to these talks. First, […]

Knowing when to dive in and when to step back is a key skill for any leader. When should you, as the leader, dive in and maybe even micromanage on a short-term basis, and when should you step back and let your team take charge of a situation? Nobody likes it when they’re micromanaged. You […]

How can you get your newer employees to identify stupid rules? You could make your workplace more appealing and discover opportunities to improve things by tapping into the fresh perspectives that newer workers bring to the workplace. A new person joining your workplace is going to have a totally different experience than the employees who’ve […]

Is it better to listen to your gut, or should you go with what the data says? Your gut is a culmination of all the experiences you’ve had and the emotions that went along with those experiences. Your gut does tell you a lot, and your intuition is important. I have my pilot’s license, even […]

No doubt you’ve learned from your mistakes, but what have you learned from your successes? There is a treasure trove of learning you can get by reflecting on your past successes. You’ve heard the expression, “you learn a lot from your mistakes”, and certainly a lot of your leadership lessons have probably come from doing […]

What are the words that leaders should never say? Let’s look at some of the things that leaders say that they absolutely should not say. Leaders might say things that cause permanent relationship damage in their team or in their relationship with their colleagues or even with their boss. When we teach communication, words make […]

Why should leaders focus on building on positives instead of focusing on negatives? There is a lot of power in building on positives instead of negatives. There are two questions you can ask yourself and your work group that will help unlock extra motivation and future success. Question number one is: “What is going well […]

What is one simple tip to help increase both the motivation and accountability of your team? You should be asking questions, not making statements. One of the biggest concerns that people express in our workshops is that their employees constantly bring them questions or problems or decisions that the employee themselves could probably fix, answer […]

It’s important for you as a leader to act with urgency. Not only is it important for what you need to do as a leader, you also want to set the pace for your team and challenge them to get more done in less time. Remember that safety takes a priority over production so be […]

Many leaders want to be best friends with the people who work for them, but is there a downside to being a “buddy buddy” boss? Let’s look at just how close your friendships should be when you are the leader of a group. First, let’s be clear: we want you to be friendly and approachable. […]

Should you consider disbanding your maintenance department to integrate them with production? I realize this could be viewed as a controversial idea or statement. Leading companies are already looking at how to disband their maintenance departments and essentially assign those maintenance technicians to support the production line. Not all maintenance tasks are created equal. Some […]

How do you transition from being a peer to being a leader? When you say yes to a leadership role, you’re going to be evaluated on how well you achieve results through others. Before being a leader, you only had to focus on your own work. I’ve got a few tips for how you can […]

When you think of supportive leaders in your life, what did they do? Chances are, they were willing to come alongside and help you figure out how to get results. In other words, they were helping not harping. A servant leader mindset is an interesting perspective on leadership. In a traditional organization, the CEO is […]

What should you do as a leader when you have tattletale team members? Today let’s talk about this double-edged sword of having tattletale team members on your team. In some instances, a team member who tells on another can actually be helpful for you as a leader because you can’t see everything and be everywhere […]

Dealing with negative and complaining employees is one of the top frustrations that leaders face. How can you, as a leader, combat the negativity and complaining that you hear from your team? Remember that people who are negative don’t think of themselves as being negative. They just think they’re being conversational or perhaps doing you […]

How do you deal with a cutback in labor in your department, or when things start to soften business-wise? As a leader, how you react and handle a workforce reduction will influence the morale and performance of your team. Good news, productivity is up. Your company has found a better way to achieve more with […]

How can you, as a front line leader, develop a mindset of curiosity and experimentation? Do you think in terms of curiousness and experimentation, or do you tend to be rigid and narrow in your thinking? One of the expressions I like is, “be curious, not furious” because being curious opens one up to possibilities […]

How do you as a front line leader, cool people down when they’re having an emotional or heated argument? Sometimes front line leaders struggle with knowing how to deal with two employees or team members who are having a heated argument. Being in a hot work environment, where people are working long hours and doing […]

As a front line leader, do you blame senior management or HR when you make an announcement to your team? It’s so important that you own the message you deliver to your team. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of wanting to be liked by your team by just saying, “You know what, […]

Do you think in terms of projects when making improvements in your department? You, as a leader, can embrace the concept of projects to move your department closer and closer to your vision of excellence. But before creating a project, leaders should have a vision first. Most, if not all, leaders can list all the […]

Is your organization suffering from standard work stagnation? Standard work and operating procedures can sometimes get out of hand. As a leader, you can put so much emphasis on them that it takes away some of the innovation and flexibility in your work group. Standardizing work is important in an operational environment. Organizations put a […]

How should you as a front line leader triage employee behaviour problems? As a leader, when determining the consequences to apply to a behavior or performance issue, you’re going to do the same thing that a nurse does in the emergency department – triage. Triage in a hospital means the nurse assesses the severity of […]

Most of us know you should work hard to keep your boss happy. Happy boss, happy career. But have you considered putting the same level of attention into keeping your colleagues happy? Some leaders avoid being helpful to their colleagues, thinking that their only job is to keep their boss happy. Some might even think, […]

When you give an employee feedback you have to always follow up. As a leader, how do you follow up on a corrective conversation to sustain the positive changes that you’ve asked an employee or team member to make? If they make the change, but you don’t recognize it, there is a chance they might […]