It’s natural to seek career progression into management or in-depth specialization. Today I’d like to discuss what companies are looking for in leaders to give you an overall understanding of the skills, responsibilities, and everyday tasks of middle managers. Being a head of a team, you maintain a complete and specific function within the organization […]

Much of the real work of companies happens despite the formal organization. Often what needs attention is the informal organization, the networks of relationships that employees form across functions and divisions to accomplish tasks fast. These informal networks can cut through formal reporting procedures to jump-start stalled initiatives and meet extraordinary deadlines. But informal networks […]

13-14th of October 2022 in Moscow Center of International Trade the biggest e-commerce conference took place. Conference “Electronic trade 2022” united online shops, producers, sellers and retail under one roof. Topic of the event was “Big Remake”. Between 18th and 20th of May 2022 26th Russian Internet Forum took place. What was discussed at these […]

A performance review allows both the employer and employee to discuss what has been completed during the last performance review cycle, assess what went well, where areas of improvement may lie, and proactively implement needed support. Employees often underutilize performance reviews. They are great opportunities to get feedback and to present your achievements to reach […]

I believe there are two ways one can advance his career: either becoming a highly qualified specialist or providing general utility to the team and organization. The first ones often become seniors – senior engineers/programmers/lawyers. The second usually becomes managers: middle managers, Project Managers, Process Managers, etc. Governing other people requires less hard skills and […]

Innovation is a cornerstone for modern Businesses as even the smallest performance gain can separate a profitable company from a bankrupt one. CEOs, experienced managers, and business gurus all talk about innovation. As a first-time manager, you play a vital role in the innovation process. Apply these tips to help your team innovate: Promote cooperation […]

According to the definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, micromanaging bosses “try to control or manage all the small parts of something (such as an activity) in a way that is usually not wanted or that causes problems.” Even though micromanagement is usually portrayed negatively, there are quite a few exceptional situations where micromanagement might be […]

Genuine problem solving often requires us to ask people for help and information. This is applicable for both work projects and career advancement as a whole. Creating strong cases for your requests will improve the chances you get positive answers and prevent miscommunication of excepted results. Often, inner thoughts dissuade us from asking for anything. […]

As my latest article with tips for first-time managers has received much positive feedback on Telegram, I’ve decided to play with this topic a little more. Let’s talk about facilitating coordination and cooperation within a team. Cooperation is a must-have aspect of effective teams. Promoting cooperation is one of the most important manager’s responsibilities. You […]

No book is going to have the perfect advice for each situation first-time managers face. Being a good manager is making good decisions with information on hand and following several guidelines that differ very bad managers from okay ones. In this post I’ve listed the 8 that I think is the most important: 1. Success […]

We often rush doing tasks that we just received. It can lead to us spending time on tasks that will be of no use to anyone. Imagine finishing a report just to find out that the requestor has already received the same information from another source. Such a task can be discovered to violate your […]

Good presentation on a performance review is vital for your career advancement, getting realistic feedback from the manager, and increasing collaboration with your colleagues backed by increased authority and respect. According to UC Berkeley’s Guide to Managing Human Resources, “Performance Management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, […]

Being knowledge workers, we all got multiple projects and tasks. Our managers and colleagues rely on us to keep things under control and manage up when needed. Have you ever struggled to tell your manager, outside the project, what has changed since last week? Most probably, something happened, but you weren’t involved. That’s a natural […]

To answer new challenges of nowadays interconnected, global, and technocratic world we need to embrace a new style of leadership. Professor M.S. Rao has developed a concept of Soft Leadership, based on behavioral theory and a collegial OB framework that can help us with that. Soft Leadership is leading through soft skills and people skills. […]

I bet every one of you has ever asked the question “Why does this meeting take so long?” Meetings are exhausting. It was a problem before the pandemic, it has become an even bigger problem for remote meetings. You would never want important customers or stakeholders to feel the meeting was a waste of time. […]