Liz Trocchio Smith
Certified Executive Business Coach
and Trusted Advisor
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Micromanagement isn’t a personality flaw; it’s a breakdown in the fundamentals of delegation. As a manager, you should be able to give someone a task without having to look over their shoulder. The key is to provide clear goals. If you want your direct report to improve customer satisfaction, define by how much and specify which elements of satisfaction are most important. You should also explain the constraints of the…
Now that school is starting back up again, start small to find your balance. Working parents struggle to balance work and home, they often feel the need to make drastic changes to get the flexibility they want. But finding a new job or going part-time isn’t always necessary (and won’t always solve the problem). Instead, try to make small tweaks to your schedule or working arrangements. For example, you might…
When you’re in front of an audience, you want to project confidence. But when you’re nervous, your hands often flit about and fidget. Use one of these positions to keep your hands still. Practice in front of a mirror, then with friends, until it feels natural. Hold the ball. Gesture as if you are holding a basketball between your hands. This movement, a Steve Jobs favorite, displays confidence and…
One toxic person is all it takes to destroy a high-performing team. If you’re the team leader, dealing with a toxic employee is (relatively) straightforward: Acknowledge the effect their behavior is having and hold them to a higher standard. But what if the person is your peer? First, have a candid conversation with them. Explain the effect the behavior is having on you and on the group. Next, be a…
Hiring a friend into your company is risky: Can the personal relationship coexist alongside a professional one? But if you approach the situation carefully, it’s possible to work with each other while preserving the friendship. First, make sure you’re comfortable saying no to the person. If you do become your friend’s boss, you’ll need to have confidence that their emotional maturity can make the dynamic work. Next, set their expectations…
When someone you work with annoys you all the time, chances are you assume the worst about them — and that mindset shows up in your behavior. But it’s important to be civil, and even compassionate, to colleagues, both because so much work is collaborative and because that coworker probably isn’t annoying you on purpose. Try to short-circuit your reactions toward them by making yourself do or say something nice….
You can’t do deep, creative work when meetings constantly disrupt your flow and hurt your productivity. To give yourself time and space to focus, have one day a week when nothing can interrupt you — no texts, no emails, no phone calls, and absolutely no meetings. Block this day off on your calendar, and tell colleagues that you’ll be unreachable because you’re working on critical projects. Of course, something urgent…
Everyone knows it’s important to build a network. But once you’ve made a connection with someone, how do you maintain it over the long haul so that you can call the person when you need a job reference or a professional favor? The first step is to determine whom you want to stay in touch with based on their professional value and relevance to your career. Look for current and…
Managing egos, the over and under-inflated, the forceful and the fragile – is one of the great challenges facing any leader. It is a crucial task, however, if a group is going to have a fighting chance to succeed, to become a true team rather than a collection of individuals – lone wolves – each looking out for him or herself rather than the “pack”, leadership must get those individuals…
Many leaders have a fatal flaw: a weakness so pronounced that it can hamper their career progress. But this type of flaw is hard to see because it’s usually connected to what you don’t do — it’s the listening you didn’t make time for, or the strategic vision it never occurred to you to describe. To figure out your fatal flaw, find someone who will tell you the unvarnished truth….
No one likes to make a bad decision. Maybe you hired the wrong person, took a job that wasn’t a good fit, or launched a new product that no one seems to want. When you realize that you made a mistake, act fast. It’s far better for your career to accept the loss now, rather than dragging it out and wasting even more resources. Think carefully about how you might…
Whether they happen weekly, monthly, or quarterly (or even daily), recurring meetings are often a waste of time. To know whether yours are worth keeping, consider a few factors. First, make sure the meeting has a clearly articulated reason to exist. Ask yourself, “If we canceled this meeting, who besides me would care?” Second, determine the right cadence. It may seem obvious, but a meeting’s frequency and length must align…