Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing: The Complete Guide to Tuckman’s Team Development Model

Ever been part of a team that just clicked—where collaboration felt effortless, goals were met with ease, and everyone was aligned? Or, more likely, have you been part of a team that felt stuck—bogged down by miscommunication, unclear roles, or tension that no one wanted to address? Here’s the truth: Great teams don’t happen by... Continue Reading →

Unlock Your Potential: Mastering Growth Goals in 6 Easy Steps

Every year, millions of people try to improve their lives by setting personal growth goals. For most people this starts in January, but by February most of the goals are already forgotten. Sustaining momentum for improving yourself is tough. But just because it is tough, doesn’t mean you can give up on trying to grow… Continue Reading →

5 Critical Things to Remember When Setting Your Yearly Goals

5 Critical Things to Remember When Setting Your Yearly Goals It might sound weird to say it, but most people don’t set goals.  Sure, we like to dream about what we want to accomplish, but research shows most people don’t actually set goals.  The most famous goal setting study was done at Harvard in the… Continue Reading →

3 Mental Hacks for LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS

Mental Hacks for LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONALS Delivering impactful training and development projects is incredibly tough. Unfortunately, most Learning & Development professionals ignore their biggest hurdle: their own mind. Research shows that humans are not as logical as we want to believe. Our brains are hard coded to fall victim to cognitive biases and mental… Continue Reading →

3 Mental Hacks for FOUNDERS

Starting a business is risky. Unfortunately, most founders ignore their biggest risk area: their own mind. Research shows that humans are not as logical as we want to believe. Our brains are hard coded to fall victim to cognitive biases and mental mistakes.  But these glitches provide us an opportunity.  Hacking how we think can… Continue Reading →

The Right Way to Fire Someone

How to Fire Someone “We need to restructure your team, so find some reasons we can let go of 2 people as underperformers.”  While this is not word for word accurate, I know some managers that were recently given this message.  “The business is underperforming, so it is time to trim the fat.  We don’t… Continue Reading →

Your Strategy is Already Out of Date – Lie #2

Its no longer possible to set a strategy in January, and hope that it remains unchanged throughout the year. Instead of creating static strategies, we need to be more dynamic in our strategic thinking. We need to create War Rooms.

Stop Asking For Feedback – Lie #6

Stop Asking for Feedback!!! Gathering feedback could be incredibly simple, but too many companies complicate it through 360 surveys, competency / skill matrixes, and fancy reports. On top of that research has proven that traditional feedback questions are biased and unreliable. That doesn’t mean that gathering feedback from your colleagues is bad. In this month’s Caveman in a Suit article, I dig into the right way to ask for feedback. Spoiler Alert… the trick is to make the feedback more subjective.

Improve Your Team’s Performance by 3,000% (Nine Lies – Lie #5)

Improve Your Team’s Performance by 3,000% (Nine Lies – Lie #5) One of my favorite research studies occurred in the 1920s-30s at the Hawthorne Electric facility in Illinois.  The researchers were investigating different methods to increase the productivity of the workers.  First they increased the brightness of the factory, and output went up.  Then they… Continue Reading →

Always Start with Your Craziest Idea

Always start with your craziest idea (comparison bias) I hate to admit this, but I am horrible at negotiations.  Whenever we go to a yard sale or outdoor market, I dread haggling.  Which makes my wife furious, because she is a natural born negotiator.  She thinks I am insane for just accepting the initial price,… Continue Reading →

Why Your Company’s Culture Doesn’t Matter (“Nine Lies” – Lie #1)

One of the most discussed topics in business literature is how to make a great Culture at your company. But your company’s culture doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. The reality is that employees care a lot more about their teammates and their manager.

There is NO Recipe for Great Leaders (“Nine Lies – Lie #4)

Most people believe that great leaders can be broken down into a recipe list of competencies and skills. That is just a lie we tell ourselves, because the truth is too complex. The truth is that great leaders are unique, and there is no recipe for great leadership.

4 Questions that Build Psychological Safety (Virtual Team Toolkit)

4 Questions that Build Psychological Safety Overview: Objective = Psychological Safety has been proven to be a key component of high performing teams. These 4 questions will help build psychological safety within your team members.Team Size = Any group size will workTime = 60 minsDifficulty = MediumMaterials Required = NoPreparation Required = YesTechnology Required =… Continue Reading →

Virtual Team Tips: Best Practices from Remote Workers

Virtual Team Tips: Best Practices from Remote Workers At my current company, Unity Technologies, over 20% of our employees work remotely full time or some days of the week. Needless to say, we have some experts on how to be effective while working from home. Unfortunately not every company has so many people working from… Continue Reading →

5 Tips on How to Work From Home

5 Tips on How to Work From Home Due to the Coronavirus, more and more companies are starting to recommend their employees work from home. And while this may be a temporary situation, working from home is becoming more and more popular. A 2019 Gallup survey found that 43% of Americans work from home occasionally,… Continue Reading →

Are you providing the right kind of feedback to your team and colleagues? (Fierce Feedback)

65% of employees say they need more feedback in their jobs, and 39% feel they are unappreciated at work. So what can you do about it? Start by giving some Fierce Feedback.

How to ensure the best ideas win, not just the loudest. (Driving for Alignment)

How to ensure the best ideas win: Do you like meetings? I mean, honestly… do you?  At one time, I often felt that meetings were the bane of my existence.  We would spend an hour talking in circles, and walk out in more disagreement then when we walked in.  And in the rare instances I… Continue Reading →

Do You Overvalue Expertise?

At work, specialized experts are more valued than broad generalists, but is this a good thing? The average expert is a horrible predictor. 25% of the time they say something is impossible to happen, it nonetheless happens. Read more about how we overvalue expertise.

The 4 types of Shyness and ways to overcome them

98% of people have felt admitted that they have felt shy at one point or another. That means almost everyone you know feels shy in certain times and situations. Imagine what you could do with your social life or your career if you didn’t let even a little bit of shyness slow you down.

5 questions to ask before your next meeting

If your calendar looks like mine, there is just no time to sit in all your meetings and do all the work that is expected of you. Obviously one solution is just to say ‘No’ to more meetings, but having fewer meetings might not be possible for your situation. If you cannot say ‘No’ or delegate your meetings, then you can still save your precious time by improving the effectiveness of your meetings. And I’ve found that the best way to hold effective meetings is stop having ad hoc meetings, and instead prepare for your meetings by asking these 5 questions.

5 ways of dealing with conflict

In this article we will introduce the 5 conflict mindsets, and how you can use these mindsets to manage your conflicts in a more positive and professional manner. In the end, the goal of this article is for you to manage a conflict as painlessly as possible so that both parties are stronger, wiser, and able to move on.

How to Build Trust in all your relationships

A successful team is built off strong relationships, and there is no way you can succeed if your colleagues do not trust each other. Build your trust by how you relate to people (sensitive trust) and by having a proven track record (sensible trust). You can also improve your trust by pulling the different leavers of the trust equation. Without the trust of your team you will not succeed.

5 types of Difficult Colleagues and what to do about it

We all know them, we’ve all worked with them, and they are a part of every job. They are the colleagues who are really challenging to work with. Just being miserable while you wait for them to quit or be fired is not an option. Take ownership for trying to make you relationship better. Because if you don’t do it, no one will do it for you.

The right time to hold a strategic meetings is???

Your answers to these brainteasers might impacted by the time of day Meet Linda.  She’s a 31 year old, single, outspoken, and very bright.  In college, Linda majored in philosophy.  As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and participated in antinuclear demonstrations. Before I tell you more about… Continue Reading →

Why we should all think like the Founder of a company

Why we should all think like the Founder of a company: Imagine you are the owner of a bakery. How would you feel if a competing bakery opened up across the street from you? Would you feel happy about the new competition? Most likely you’d be incredibly frustrated and stressed. The other bakery will be… Continue Reading →

3 Conversations every Leader needs to have with their employees

3 Conversations: The first time I led I team I made a lot of mistakes. I didn’t prioritize my team. I felt like by delegating power to them, and giving them space I was empowering them. The truth was I was ignoring them. The problem wasn’t the daily tasks, because they were fine with my… Continue Reading →

Why Republicans don’t care if Trump or Kavanaugh Lie

Trump: If you even keep a little track of the US politics nowadays, you might notice a disturbing trend: dishonesty is not only becoming a normal thing, it is being celebrated in the Republican party. Trump is famously (or infamously) known for his constant mistruths or downright lies. As of July 2018, he had amassed… Continue Reading →

Free is NEVER Free

Free is never free: Imagine you walk into a store, and a workers approachs you. They say “Congratulations, we are doing a special promotion and you won. You can either choose a free $10 gift certificate, or you can spend $7 right now and receive a $20 gift certificate.” As you read this scenario, what… Continue Reading →

4 LIES That Leaders Tell Themselves

4 LIES That Leaders Tell Themselves Managing people is tough. I should know. Not only have I been building leadership development programs for over a decade, I myself have gone through my own management difficulties. And for the first 3 years of being a people manager, I really failed at it. If I am honest… Continue Reading →

Why you should be SAD at work

Why you should be SAD at work: This might sound provocative, but sadness can actually be beneficial in a modern workplace. Unfortunately, we are taught from a young age that sadness is a bad thing, and that we must always strive for happiness. This “Cult of Happiness” starts when we are young children. When you… Continue Reading →

Misreading the Tea Leaves

Misreading the Tea Leaves: Editor’s Note – This article follows a simple format. The first section is about a fictional company Smart Kitchen and Cindy their CHRO. This story helps us present real-life situations where biased decision making occurs. After we introduce a concept through Cindy and her colleagues, we will present the science behind… Continue Reading →

Silence does not equal agreement – How teams fall into the trap of Groupthink

“Unless anyone has any objections…” – Part 1 Groupthink: Cindy was having a really busy Monday morning at Smart Kitchen. She had just gotten off of the phone with two of her HR managers; one wanted to tell her that one of the company’s top talents had just resigned, and the other wanted to complain… Continue Reading →

5 Books to Gain Power At Work

Company Takeover: Obtaining power is something a lot of people desire, but few people actively study how power dynamics work in an organization.  I have found this topic fascinating through my career, and these 5 books have transformed how I ‘play the game’. But be warned, these books are not for the faint of heart…. Continue Reading →

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Lies: “The Dow goes from 18,599 on November 9, 2016 to 25,075 [on Jan 5th 2018], for a new all time Record. Jumped 1,000 points in last 5 weeks. Record fastest 1,000 point move in history. This is all about the Make America Great Again agenda!” (Donald Trump Tweet on Jan 5,2018) Donald Trump is… Continue Reading →

Caught In a Death Spiral of Conflict? Let A.I. do break you free

Death Spiral of Conflict: “It just gets worse and worse! Every time we need to work together, we end up arguing and disagreeing!” I was talking to friend who was a leader in a pharmaceutical company, and she was describing a relationship with a colleague that had derailed. Their conflict had continued to escalate, and… Continue Reading →

65% of you would kill someone if ordered to

65% of you would kill someone if ordered to: When I think of evilness in the world, immediately my mind is drawn to murders, rapes, genocides, etc… It is easy to picture the incarnation of evil as Hitler or a serial killer. But over the past few months, the #MeToo movement has been showing us… Continue Reading →

Stop Paying Attention to the Details

Stop Paying Attention: How many times this month have you been sitting in meetings wondering “Really? This is an important usage of our time? Why are we even discussing this? Why can’t someone just make an executive decision and inform the rest of us?” For me it sometimes feels like a weekly occurrence. Meetings never… Continue Reading →

If you sucked at something, would you know it?

Sucked at Something: Last week I heard something that made me laugh, mad, and cry in the span of 30 seconds. Donald Trump gave an interview to the New York Times where he stated “I know more about the big bills than any president that’s ever been in office. Whether its health care and taxes. … Continue Reading →

Performance ratings – the best way to demotivate good performing employees?

Performance ratings: “What was your performance rating this year? Did you get a 3? Or a 4?” Ending the calendar year often signals time for performance appraisals and those of us who have been in a company that used individual performance ratings are familiar with these kinds of questions. Especially when the rating comes with… Continue Reading →

I’m not wrong, the news is fake!

The news is fake: In today’s political climate (Trumpism, Brexit, Danish Folk Party, etc…), there seems to fewer and fewer generally held facts. Each party seems to have their own version of facts that just magically support their opinions. If it confirms their beliefs than it is the truth. If it doesn’t than it is… Continue Reading →

Over-budget and behind schedule (the Planning Fallacy)

The Planning Fallacy: I once saw a leader at Company X admit that 90% of his company’s strategic projects were behind schedule or not living up to the original expectations. Even though these were the top focus areas of company, they still weren’t delivering. When I came back to the leader a year later, his… Continue Reading →

My Boss is a Psychopath!

Chances are that either you or some of your colleagues are working for a psychopath. And I don’t mean it in the name calling way. I mean in a diagnosable way. Don’t believe me, consider the following studies: A study of supply chain managers in different companies indicated between 3% and 21% of them were… Continue Reading →

Training is not the answer when trying to be a better leader

Training is not the answer: I’ve spent over a decade working with leaders on how to develop their people. 99% of the time their best idea is to put the employee in a training course. Even HR partners pivot straight to training as the main source of people development. What’s infuriating is that the majority… Continue Reading →

You’re just not that smart – the Lake Wobegon effect

One of the companies I worked for had humbleness as one of its core values. We were meant to be humble in how we dealt with our customers, our colleagues, and as leaders. While it is a great aspiration, being humble was not something I saw a lot of in my career. I am not… Continue Reading →

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑