Can’t find the skill or competency you’re looking for on our explore page (which features skills like Leading Change, Delegation, Developing Your Team, and Managing Remote Workers)?
Try using this handy guide. We’ve listed multiple names for each area to make it as easy as possible to match content to your competency list.
Accountable – Holds People Accountable – Performance Management – Performance Review – Upholds Standards
- 8 ways to increase accountability on your team
- Have your direct reports publicly track goals
- How to delegate a task
- Setting expectations: A checklist to save yourself from “but that’s not what I wanted”
- Assess your team’s culture of accountability
- 10 examples of how to give more effective redirecting feedback
- Help a Manager: How do I get my direct reports to take more ownership?
- Video: Resetting performance expectations
- The Pygmalion effect: What it is and how it can boost (or hamper) your team’s performance
- Dos and don’ts for evaluating direct reports’ performance
- Evaluating direct reports: Dos and don’ts for documentation and delivery
- I don’t know where my team stands on projects
- Post-delegation assessment
Adaptable – Embraces Change – Flexible – Open to Change – Situational Leadership – Versatile
- 8 tactics for better innovation
- Video tip: 4 questions to help you adapt to new circumstances
- How to mentally adjust when your company changes
- Reflection guide: Adapting to change
- Too much change at once
- 5 self-coaching questions to help you cultivate adaptability
- 8 ways to better manage ambiguity and uncertainty
- Course-correcting and following through on goals
- 9 types of help managers give — and when to use each
Collaborative – Feedback Culture – Seeks Feedback – Works Collaboratively
- Coach’s corner: Get your team comfortable giving and receiving feedback
- Video tip: De-stress performance conversations — for both of you
- Assess your team’s feedback culture
- 8 ways to facilitate better team communication
- How to wake up your team meetings and get everyone participating
- Let direct reports offer their viewpoints before you share yours
- How to help remote and co-located direct reports work as a team
- 8 ways to boost your team’s commitment to goals
- How to get more honest feedback from your direct reports
- Think of 3 things your team could be doing better — and seek advice from managers whose teams are doing those things well
- Video: Solving problems as a team
- Video: Asking a direct report for feedback
Communicator – Active Listening – Effective Communicator – Facilitation – Listening – Open – Shares Information – Transparency – Two-Way Communication
- Coach’s corner: Understand the energy you bring to interactions — and its powerful impact on others
- 8 ways to become a more transparent manager
- Communication checklist: Are you undersharing with your team?
- 9 tips to listen like a leader
- 5 ways to stop blindsiding your team — and hurting their morale
- Revisit how you update your manager
- In high-level meetings, ask questions and take notes with your team in mind
- Each time you share new information with your team, emphasize “why,” not just “what”
- 100+ questions for better 1-on-1s with your direct reports
- How to be a better career conversationalist
- 23 phrases to help you navigate emotionally charged conversations
- Difficult conversation planner
- Planner: Give effective feedback
Courageous – Addresses Conflict – Addresses Problems – Initiates Critical Conversations – Owns Authority
- 4 phrases to take the fear out of giving tough feedback
- 6 questions to help you address workplace friction productively
- 5 (more) ways to be a courageous leader
- How to own your authority (without being a jerk about it)
- 5 ways you may be totally mismanaging conflict — and what to do instead
- Are you undermanaging? Some indications you may be and ways to improve
- The next time you make a mistake, embrace it as a chance to gain respect
- How to have a difficult conversation
- Sample openers to 9 tough talks
- Before giving redirecting feedback to direct reports, consider how you may have contributed to the issue
- Video: My boss’s boss was rude to me
- Zipp’s tips: Are you ready to talk about someone’s dead brother?
Culturally Aware – Global Mindset – Manages Across Cultures – Manages Cultural Differences – Multicultural
- Building awareness of cultural differences, part 1 — communication styles
- Building awareness of cultural differences, part 2 — power dynamics
- Building awareness of cultural differences, part 3 — relationships
- A direct report and I aren’t fluent in the same language
- 7 common misconceptions about unconscious bias
Develops Others – Multiplier – Identifies High-Potential Employees – Servant Leadership – Succession Planning – Talent Magnet – Talent Management
- Help a manager: How do I help someone see that they need skill development?
- 5 coaching questions you can ask direct reports to help drive their development
- 6 simple ways to improve your coaching conversations
- An inside look at an effective 1-on-1 coaching conversation
- 11 ways to help your direct reports succeed in their careers
- Direct report wants a promotion but isn’t ready
- Video: Helping a direct report with a tough project
- Zipp’s tips: What to do with a difficult but talented direct report? Here’s how I decide
- 5 tips to help your direct reports set better goals
- Make a coaching plan to help your direct report build autonomy in a task
- Zipp’s tips: 5 ways I’ve raised my game interviewing job candidates
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) – Values Diversity
- Video: An effective way to refresh your relationship with a disengaged direct report
- 4 tips for talking with your team about racial injustice and inclusion
- 8 work areas where you’re prone to unconscious bias — and what you can do about it
- Unconscious bias: What it is and how it affects managers
- 9 ways to counter the unconscious biases holding you back
- How to reduce bias in your hiring process
- 6 ways to help your organization be more inclusive
- 9 ways to embrace diversity of thought — and why you should
- Assess how your preferences and biases may be negatively affecting your team
- When someone shares a view or idea you disagree with, spend 5 minutes assuming it’s true
- Nominate a designated dissenter for team meetings
- Groupthink
Empathetic – Emotional Intelligence (EQ) – Interpersonal Acumen – Mindful Leadership
- Zipp’s tips: How I build emotional intelligence, and why it matters
- 9 tips to listen like a leader
- 7 tactics to help you improve how you react during stressful interactions
- 8 phrases to help you move a tough conflict in a productive direction
- How to encourage direct reports to open up in 1-on-1 conversations
- Video: Establishing yourself as approachable
- How to get more honest feedback from your direct reports
- This week, observe and respond to others’ body language
- Zipp’s tips: Are you ready to talk about someone’s dead brother?
Employee Engagement – Ensures Engagement – Team Engagement
- Video: An effective way to refresh your relationship with a disengaged direct report
- Video: Identify what energizes your direct reports right now
- 6 powerful questions to gauge job satisfaction — and what to do with the answers
- 6 ways managers contribute to unwanted turnover — and what to do instead
- 4 tactics for motivating your direct reports
- 17 common warning signs a direct report may be dissatisfied (and what to do about it)
- 10 ways to motivate
- Direct report bored by repetitive tasks
- 5 ways to connect direct reports’ work to their motivators — plus tips for when you can’t
- 3 signs your team loves working for you
- High performer deserves a promotion, but there isn’t one available
- Direct report and I are just going through the motions in our 1-on-1s
- Video: Delegating meaningful work
- Write down each direct report’s top career drivers — and ideas to nurture them
- Celebrate your team’s progress
Ethical – Fair – Has Character – Honesty – Integrity
- Help a manager: How do I change my team’s perception that I play favorites?
- Unconscious bias: What it is and how it affects managers
- 9 ways to counter the unconscious biases holding you back
- How to reduce bias in your hiring process
- How to get more honest feedback from your direct reports
- A friend is now my direct report
- 3 common ways managers destroy their team’s trust
- Communication checklist: Are you undersharing with your team?
- Don’t sugarcoat bad news or tough feedback
- The sandwich technique: Loved by managers, hated by direct reports?
Execution – Delivers Results – Driven to Perform – Gets Things Done – Outcome-Oriented – Performs Under Pressure – Responsive – Results-Oriented – Sets and Meets Expectations
- How to guide your team in stretch challenges
- Spend 30 minutes once a week and 10 minutes each day reviewing and scheduling your most important tasks
- How to delegate a task
- Setting expectations: A checklist to save yourself from “but that’s not what I wanted”
- Selecting and shaping individual goals
- How to lead your team in pursuit of a goal
- Direct report doesn’t want to do a critical task
- Video: Intervening in delegated work
- End your next meeting with each participant stating his or her action steps
Exercises Sound Judgment – Decision-Making – Decisive – Effective Decision Maker
- 8 ways your brain tricks you into making bad decisions
- 9 ways to embrace diversity of thought — and why you should
- When you ask for input from your direct reports, explain how you plan to use it
- Deciding which difficult conversations to initiate
- Difficulty making decisions in meetings
- Test yourself: Would you give feedback, and if so, how?
- Test yourself: Would you promote a top performer to keep him or her from leaving?
- Test yourself: How would you tell a skeptical team about a change mandated from above?
- Test yourself: How would you deal with a hands-off boss who doesn’t give you feedback?
Improves Processes – Analytical – Documents Processes – Manages Systems – Process-Oriented – Reviews Processes
- 5 types of strategic goals that can help your team perform better
- Should you write that down? 5 optional — but potentially game-changing — times to document
- Hold a debrief meeting for a recently completed project
- How to evaluate and improve your team’s goal performance
- 5 questions to help you make every meeting you call more productive
- 5 fundamental questions to answer before starting any project
- I don’t know where my team stands on projects
- Revisit how you update your manager
- 9 tactics to assess how your team spends its time — without micromanaging
Influencer – Persuasive – Thought Leader
- Template: Create an irresistible pitch for your next idea
- 17 ways to persuade
- Should you be stepping up — not back — when dealing with your manager?
- 7 ways to advocate for a high-potential direct report in your organization
- 4 phrases to help you sound like a leader (even if you don’t feel like one)
- When you have feedback for your manager, consider reframing it as a question
- Negotiation preparation worksheet
- What do you want to be known for? 6 steps to shape your reputation as a leader
- Developing your reputation as a leader
Learning Mindset – Growth Mindset – Lifelong Learner – Self-Development – Self-Improvement
- 3 questions to ask yourself every day
- 6 keys to developing a manager’s mindset
- Identify a management task outside your comfort zone and make a plan to embrace it
- Zipp’s tips: 6 ways to develop as a leader
- Top 10 ways managers need to improve — according to their direct reports: part 1 and part 2
- Spend 15 minutes per day reflecting on your work (and how to do better next time)
- How do they do that? 5 steps to help you learn strategically from your best colleagues
- How to ask for feedback
- Identify one thing a manager of yours did well and create a plan to emulate it
Manages Ambiguity – Complexity – Uncertainty – Volatility – VUCA
- 8 ways to better manage ambiguity and uncertainty
- Self-assessment: How well are you leading change?
- 5 expert tips to help your team get out of survival mode and make real progress
- Video tip: Don’t fall into the lone-hero trap when leading change
- Coach’s corner: 4 keys to leading change
- How to guide your team through change
- Managing company change: Key lessons
- Too much change at once
- Unsure of top priorities
- Team goals keep changing
Manages Emotions – Self-Care – Well-Being – Work/Life Balance
- Self-assessment: How well do you manage your workplace well-being?
- 4 effective ways to manage the emotions holding you back at work
- The happiness coach: 5 totally doable ways to be happier at work
- The happiness coach: 3 ways your work environment could be setting you up for burnout
- Identify an emotional “trigger” and develop a plan for dealing with it
- Feedback discussions get emotional
- Tired? How to manage your energy to do your job well
- 23 phrases to help you navigate emotionally charged conversations
- 3 ways your job hurts your home life — according to managers’ significant others
- 3 (more) ways your job hurts your home life — according to managers’ significant others
- 6 tips to turn off your work brain and get better sleep
- Feel like you’re headed for burnout? 6 ways to help prevent it
Proactive – Doer – Leader Mindset – Shows Initiative – Takes Action
- Are you proactive enough as a manager? 7 ways to take more initiative
- Should you go to HR? 3 types of situations where it pays to be proactive
- Creating an action plan
- Analyze your workload for proactive vs. reactive work
- Start each day with a team standup meeting
- I’m avoiding a difficult conversation
- After a difficult conversation, reiterate the key points in writing for your direct report
Problem Solver – Critical Thinking – Resourceful – Solution-Oriented
- When you bring a problem to your manager, bring along 3 potential solutions
- When a direct report comes to you with a problem, start a coaching conversation
- Use the “5 Whys” technique to get to the root of a tough problem
- 50+ common problems managers face — and ways to handle them
- Stop! Don’t solve that problem just yet …
- Gain clarity on a project or problem by drawing it
- Hold a premortem for a planned project to anticipate challenges
- Ask your team, “What could we be doing better?”
- Direct report complained about a teammate
Provides Vision – Gives Direction – Mission-Oriented – Organizational Alignment – Provides Purpose
- How to select and shape team goals
- Team goals: Key lessons
- How to communicate change to your team
- Meet with your manager to review his or her priorities and expectations for you
- Each time you share new information with your team, emphasize “why,” not just “what”
- Ask your direct reports to summarize high-level goals and priorities
- Video: Establishing individual goals with direct reports
- Video: Applying direct reports’ work to company goals
- How to establish your team’s values — and why it’s worth doing
- Zipp’s tips: Connecting your team’s daily work to the company’s mission
Relationship Builder – Connector – Diplomatic – Networker
- 9 ways to build stronger relationships up and across your organization
- 4 ways to strengthen your peer network (and become a more effective manager)
- Workplace thank-yous: An underutilized power tool
- Video: Building a relationship with a new colleague
- A conversation guide to help you get what you need from your manager
- Understanding your manager
- Spend 15 minutes thinking about what matters to your manager — and how you can help
- Colleague outside my team won’t help
- Video: Driving collaboration across teams
Resilient – Embraces Challenges – Grit – Persistence – Unafraid to Fail
- Video tip: 3 tactics to foster resilience on your team
- Coach’s Corner: Understanding the 6 facets of resilience
- 6 ways to help your team handle stress in times of disruption
- Reframe a current problem as an exciting challenge
- The happiness coach: 4 ways to stop fear of failure from holding you back
- Too much change at once
- I get defensive about feedback
- Frame feedback that stings as information about the person giving it, not yourself
- Feel like you’re headed for burnout? 6 ways to help prevent it
Self-Aware – Manages Perceptions – Reflective – Self-Assessment
- Write down what drives you at work, to remind you of your motivators
- Is how you take criticism holding you back? 3 signs it is and ways to improve
- When feedback fails: 8 reasons why it could be your fault
- 12 things direct reports hold back from telling their managers (but told us) — part 1 and part 2
- 3 ways to lose your team’s respect
- Reflection guide: My response to a company change
- A friend is now my direct report
- This week, seek feedback on how you come across to others
- Video: Keeping your stress level in check for the good of the team
Strategic – Future-Oriented – Important Over Urgent – Plans Ahead – Sees Big Picture – Strategic Thinker – Thinks Long Term
- 10 ways to be more strategic in your everyday work
- 5 strategic exchanges that can help you and your peers work well together
- 9 ways to embrace diversity of thought — and why you should
- Do a brief what-if test to surface ways to improve your current plan
- How to manage your time
- 3 simple management tactics to save your team’s time
- Planning how you’ll reach a team goal
- How to evaluate and improve your team’s goal performance
- Unsure of top priorities
- 8 ways your brain tricks you into making bad decisions
Team Builder – Team Culture –Team Dynamics – Team-Oriented – Teamwork
- Zipp’s tips: Why team culture matters and how I build it
- How to establish your team’s values — and why it’s worth doing
- 6 tips to help new hires quickly become productive team members
- Team-building: Get to know your team (exercise)
- What to do (and not do) when you inherit team members
- Direct report complained about a teammate
- Direct report isn’t a team player
- How to manage remote team members more effectively
- How to help remote and co-located direct reports work as a team
- Checklist: Manager’s onboarding prep for a new team member
- 200+ behavioral interview questions to help you hire new team members
- Do a group assessment of your team meeting
Trustworthy – Builds Trust – Psychological Safety
- 10 phrases to help you build trust with direct reports
- 9 phrases to help you build trust with your boss
- How managers build (and break) trust, according to their direct reports — part 1 and part 2
- 3 common ways managers destroy their team’s trust
- Video: A direct report gets defensive
- 10 ways to lose your manager’s trust (without even realizing it’s happening)
- Do an accountability self-assessment
- Zipp’s tips: Why trust is crucial — and 3 ways I can tell if my team has it
- Assess your team’s culture of accountability
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