Maureen's Advice on Forbes.com

Practice Humility. Practice the phrase: “What I hear you saying is ... What am I missing or getting wrong?” This phrase helps a leader listen actively to extract key insights. To work, it requires humility; first, to believe that you might not have understood, and then, to trust there might be more that is worth learning. This listening-plus-humility combination grows the psychological safety that is essential for high-performing teams.  To see more tips from other experts, read the Forbes.com article HERE.

Encourage Self-Assessment. Ask teams to self-assess themselves as a team – often. Teams that get in the habit of doing team self-assessment become more self-aware and more proactive. Using online polls is easy, and most offer anonymous options. Set up a monthly meeting to resolve the issues. Not all issues are fixable. Focus the team on solving what they can and supporting each other through what they cannot. To see more tips from other experts, read the Forbes.com article HERE.

Analyze Your Expectations. Remember that what we expect becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we expect bad things to happen, our lens filters out the good and finds the bad. When we expect the good, the opposite happens. Knowing that you are creating your own reality can be a powerful incentive. In the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t—you’re right.” To see more tips from other experts, read the Forbes.com article HERE.

Does It Have the Recipient’s Best Interest at Heart? For your criticism to be constructive, people must feel two things: that you genuinely believe in their ability to grow and that you have their best interest at heart. Neither can be faked. Because of this, Marshall Goldsmith’s “feedforward” is a more useful construct: “What information and insight will be useful to help you succeed in the future?” Your intent is clear. Now, they can absorb your insights.   To see more tips from other experts, read the Forbes.com article HERE.