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Leadership

I write about my journey from technical person to a leader, covering following topic within category Leadership: leadership development, leadership skills, management techniques, team building, communication skills, decision-making, problem-solving, time management, strategic planning, employee engagement, conflict resolution and remote work.

What is a jet lag and how to mitigate it?

What is jet lag and how to mitigate it?

Remote work is excellent. It has a lot of benefits; it saves you time on the commute, and it helps with life and work balance. And what’s been important recently, it limits your exposure during seasonal flu outbreaks. Technology, team agreement and procedures can help with day-to-day team operations, but nothing will replace face-to-face communication. Even fully remote teams and whole companies must meet every so often to ponder on the past, plan the future and just spend some time together. That means travel. And that usually means long flights, at least for some members of the team. Is there anything we can do to be prepared for a long trip? How can we mitigate jet lag?

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Stress management for leaders

Stress Management for Leaders: The Prioritise and Execute Framework

Do you find yourself overwhelmed in high-pressure situations, struggling to make decisions amidst chaos? Stress management is a critical skill for leaders, especially in today’s world where unexpected challenges seem to be the norm. In this episode, we’ll delve into an effective framework called ‘Prioritize and Execute,’ a strategy borrowed from ex-military leaders turned business consultants, Jocko Willink and Laith Babin. This framework can help leaders like you stay calm, make well-informed decisions, and efficiently navigate complex and stressful situations. So, whether you’re managing a team or an entire organisation, read on to discover how ‘Prioritize and Execute’ can be your secret weapon in the world of stress management for leaders.

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Hippo effect and dichotomy of leadership

Hippo effect and dichotomy of leadership

In the realm of management, a pivotal moment arrived when I took the reins for the first time. With a significant project ahead, we initiated a kick-off meeting, setting the stage for what lay ahead.

As the meeting unfolded, schedules were discussed, decisions were reached, and responsibilities were delegated. The project manager led the proceedings, and I found myself responding to the majority of queries. It all seemed to flow smoothly—a testament to my leadership, or so I thought. Little did I know that I was about to encounter a transformative lesson.

In the aftermath, a one-on-one conversation with my superior unfolded. “What could you have done better in that kick-off meeting?” he inquired. A question that prompted me to reevaluate my approach.

Caught between wanting to support my team and unintentionally suppressing their growth, I began to unravel the concept of the HIPPO effect—an idea that was about to reshape my perspective on leadership.

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Team agreement | Good practice for high performing teams

Why high-performance teams need team agreements

We start the new team. We gathered a group of talented individuals and we want to grapple with the new challenge. How can we accelerate the team forming, storming and norming phase? We should start with team agreements. Once done, this exercise will boost team productivity. It will also help to create and maintain the team identity. It shouldn’t be the detailed documentation of the team proceedings in the wiki-style procedure. Instead, we should agree on things that are important for our team. Let’s take a look.

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The Right Way to Hold People Accountable

The right way to hold people accountable

It was a long time ago. At that time, I was not too fond of trekking. Yet, I was there, exhausted, but happy. I was at the top of the mountain. I was with my friend who convinced me to go for this journey with him. To our surprise, there was a place where we could buy hot food. My friend asked me did I want anything. I said something like “yes probably, just bring me something”. He disappeared, and a moment later, he was back with a juicy, beautifully smelling burger. He brought me … nothing. I was furious. I was blaming him. It was years after when I realised that it was me who was wrong, and there is the right way to hold people accountable.

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The Responsibility Process

The Responsibility Process: How to Overcome Challenges and Take Personal Responsibility

What do you think when you hear the word “responsibility”? The place where I come from (Poland) it usually has negative connotations, and it means you are in trouble. You broke the glass, you are responsible, and you need to pay for it. It comes hand in hand with the fact that our education systems teach us to avoid failures. All of that combined makes us think that responsibility is a bad thing, and we should avoid being responsible for things in our lives. Is this the full picture? What if we look at this from a different angle? If I am responsible, it means I am response-able – able to respond, able to think logically and move, fix and correct things around me. Let’s take a look at the Responsibility Process.

Read More »The Responsibility Process: How to Overcome Challenges and Take Personal Responsibility
How to mark an individual as having high potential

How to Hire for High Potential: 9 Core Characteristics to Look For

Hiring is hard. There are many frameworks that you can apply to find the right candidate. On the one side, it all depends on the organisation, the role you hire for, and the team culture you cultivate. Conversely, human beings have complicated psychology, the baggage of good and bad experiences, knowledge and dominating character traits. How do you find a suitable method to apply to the hiring process? What to do to find the right candidate to demonstrate strong points from experience and adapt to the new job? How to hire for high potential?

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How to land your dream job checklist

Is there any ‘good’ in layoffs? 

It was a long time ago. I was working for a cable TV company. Internet was booming in Poland. I started to learn Linux and wanted to change my job. The opportunity came as my company bought the Sun Microsystems server. I called my director, and full of enthusiasm, I explained why I was a good candidate.
In response, he bluntly asked me: do you know how expensive this computer was?

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Remote work. What does it even mean?

I work remotely. What does it even mean?

I’ve recently done my quarterly retrospective. One of the topics I chose to review was my workflow, especially in a remote work context. A couple of recent years accelerated the remote work movement. The most popular variation nowadays seems to be the hybrid approach. We spend some time working from home and some time in the office. If we spend even one day working from home and if we have even one person working from home – we work remotely. But what does it even mean?

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Remote work from a hotel

🏨 Remote work from the hotel? Why not?!

We have a few bank holidays in Great Britain. Usually, the extra day off is Monday. The week is shorter, or, looking more optimistic, the weekend is extended. This fact inspired us to do a little experiment. We decided to visit our friends who had moved out of London. The place is three hours away by car, so the trip should be longer. We decided to do something crazy.

Read More »🏨 Remote work from the hotel? Why not?!