Blue Fjord Leaders Blog
The Voice for Insightful Leadership with Shelley Row, P.E.
Employees are Leaving — Here’s What They Want You to Know
Employee retention. It’s a conundrum for even the most-seasoned managers. Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen an extensive uptick in conversations about The Great Resignation, as well as the what and how of keeping people in-house. Fewer are asking why everyone is...
Why Travel is Vital to Your Career & How to Go Without Guilt
Close your eyes and imagine the sound of crashing waves, the feeling of sun on your face, and a cool drink in your hand. For some, this anticipation of vacation brings feelings of happiness and relaxation — for many more, it means added stress and a never-ending list...
Personality Conflicts at Work? How to Resolve Hard Feelings
Why you have to address personality conflicts at work Have you ever worked in an office where a performance problem went unaddressed? Have you ever watched personality conflicts negatively impact productivity and no one does anything about it? As a top performer, have...
How To Diffuse Tense Moments in Three Steps
We’ve been talking about what it takes for your organization to run like a well-oiled machine. In our discussion the “oil” is communication skills. Previously, I wrote about three communication tips that grease the gears: listening skills, diffusing...
The Surprising Key to Productivity: Listening Skills
How to be a boss that is a good listener You want your office to run like a finely-tuned machine, each gear meshing seamlessly with the others. This level of performance requires the WD-40 of organizations – communication skills and listening skills specifically. In...
3 Essential Communication Skills for Improved Productivity
Want to get more stuff done? Here’s what it takes. You just want to get stuff done. That’s what I hear from the technical professionals I work with. Run into a problem? Let’s solve it and move on. These motivated staff are like high performance gears whirring at top...
Blue Fjord Leaders Newsletter with Shelley Row, PE, CSP
Your place for short, easy-to-read articles on management, leadership, decision-making, and personal & professional development.
Featured Blog Posts
Get Motivated to Motivate Your Staff
The recent LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Survey which canvasses roughly 5,000 US workforce members every two weeks noted a six-point drop in the optimism that employees felt about their employer’s business. While there are concerns about inflation, LinkedIn writers...
You Shouldn’t Feel That Way – and Other Phrases to Eliminate
How to replace suppression phrases with validation to improve communication “You’re getting upset over nothing.” That’s what my boss told me after a particularly difficult project meeting where everything seemed to go wrong. I’m sure she meant well, but her words...
Curiosity: The Secret to High-Functioning Communication
How to be a curious, not judgmental leader Walt Whitman said, “Be curious; not judgmental.” The word, curiosity, evokes a sense of openness and flexibility. That’s a good way to approach interpersonal communication. In my courses, we define the goal of communication...
3 Components of Judgment: Are You Using All of Them?
Good Judgment Empowers Leadership Teams — Here's How to Use Information, Experience & Gut Feel when Making Decisions “You weren’t promoted for your technical skills. You were promoted for your judgment.” That’s what my boss told me shortly after my promotion into...
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