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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.

Extreme Ownership | There are no bad teams, just bad leaders

There are no bad teams, just bad leaders

It was during the most difficult training. The task was simple; row the boat and compete with other teams. The challenge was to do it over and over again in cold weather. One team in one boat was consistently bad, coming as the last one. The instructor decided to implement risky manoeuvre – swap the leaders of the winning and losing boats. The result surprised everyone. However, the experienced instructor just said: “there are no bad teams, just bad leaders.“

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Saint Gallen - when technology fails

When technology fails – how people managed to travel in the old days

We now have a couple days left on our dad and son trip. Zurich was the most distant place on our journey, and we are now going back to Memmingen. Today we stop in another beautiful place, Saint Gallen. It is known for the beautiful cathedral. We are well prepared. We stay here for just one night, so everything is planned; parking, self-checking hotel in the center of the town. We should have nice, easy and relaxing day. What we didn’t plan for was the situation when technology fails.

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I propose a lesson from the zoo

I propose a leadership lesson from a visit to the zoo

There are many things we can learn from kids. There are many things we can learn as parents and implement to our leadership toolset. And finally, there are many things we learn as leaders and can and should apply to our parenting skills. One common theme is the language that we use. There are many situations and aspects that use of language matters. In this coffee journey, I am going to focus on one. We learned it during our last year trip to Zurich Zoo. I propose a leadership lesson from a visit to the Zoo. Wait. What?!?

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Hiking in the Alps during a thunderstorm

Hiking in the Alps during a thunderstorm – sunk cost fallacy in practice

Have you ever experienced a proper storm? How about a thunderstorm in the mountains? It usually starts with small rain. However, in the high mountain like the Alps, it can quickly escalate to the dangerous scenario. I continue the series of blog posts about the son and dad journey from last year. We went on a week-long trip to Europe. And today we experienced something that business language calls “sunk cost fallacy”. We were so excited and committed that it was hard to assess the real situation. Let’s roll to the full story, as the lesson learnt is significant.

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The shortest path is not always the best - Cafe Paradies

The shortest path is not always the best

I am going to take you to the series of blog posts about the son and dad journey from last year. We went on a week-long trip to the Alps. We wanted to take it easy, slow and sometimes not optimal. Contrary to busy networks or the fastest possible commute route of the usual day. This is the beauty of vacation. We don’t need to rush, we don’t need to be the most optimal, the most productive. This principle has led us to see one of the most beautiful, and sometimes hidden, spots during our journey. We are about to discover that the shortest path is not always the best. Let’s start, I hope you will find it enjoyable.

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How to start your professional development - airport test

How to start professional development

You decided to step into the people leader role. There is a good chance, however, you still have been helping your team with daily operations. At some point, you noticed that to accomplish all things that are on your plate, your day would need to have 26 hours. You may even look to time management technics, just to find out that you cannot manage time. You can only control yourself in time. Maybe it is a good moment to shift the focus? It is time to let the team run with daily operations and start to learn a new role. But how to start your professional development as a leader?

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3 practices how to stay sane in crisis

3 mindfulness practices that will help to stay sane in crisis

Have you noticed that working these days seems more tiring? I do pretty much what I was doing before. The “only” difference is that kids are always at home. And of course, we have constant information noise about the current situation. Even if we limit access to the television, the news comes to our minds one way or another. I compare the current situation to a long-haul flight with no noise cancellation headphones. There is a constant sound of engines and air that makes us more tired at the end of our journey. I would like to propose three mindfulness practices that will help to stay sane in a crisis, but also be more positive about the surrounding world.

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Online resources for kids

On-line resources for working from home with kids

Working from home with kids and your partner at home is challenging. We need to create a new routine. We need to be flexible. Work needs to be synchronised with your team and spouse, especially if they can also work from home. But how about kids? They need to carry on education. Children need to be entertained and taken care of. First of all – take it easy – try to agree with your partner when you can take care of children and when your spouse can spend time with them as you need to take this call or do something on your list for today. And secondly, make sure you get creative and prepare a routine for your kids and yourself. Below is the list of some online resources that can help to compile some activity lists for our little ones.

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First aid for work from home

First aid for work from home

Working from home for the first time may and will feel awkward. We used to go to the train station, get our morning coffee on the way, read the newspaper or listen to our favourite podcast. It’s been taken away. We open our laptop and work is supposed to flow. However, even getting to sit in from of laptop seems difficult, there is no buffer and preparation time. In theory, we have more time, but on the other head we feel like time is shrinking. We even struggle to keep up on what day is today. Is there any first aid for work from home situation? There are many good resources in the webs, I am going to share what is essential for me. Check it out, experiment and see if something work for you.

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Is time management a myth?

Time management is a myth – it’s all about choices

Very first thing you will notice as a new manager will be that you run out of time in a day. If you search interwebs for a term “time management”, you will quickly find thousands of tips on how to help you to manage your time more effectively. They are all wrong. You can’t manage time. It’s all about you, your choices, and how you can manage you in time. Is time management is a myth? Let’s find out!

Being busy is a choice. I think that busy is a decision. We do the things we want to do, period. If we say we are too busy, it is shorthand for “not important enough.”
Simply put: you don’t find the time to do something; you make the time to do things.

Debbie Millman
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