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Direct Reports Demeaning Colleagues? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I recently logged into a web conference meeting a few minutes early. Some of my direct reports were already on and they didn’t notice I had joined. I heard them talking about one...
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Don’t Want to Write a Letter of Recommendation? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, An employee recently left. She worked for me for 18 months. She never really seemed to want to be here, never got very good at her job, and never developed relationships with...
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Scared of Your Boss? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a team lead in the R&D department of a pharmaceutical company. We are all scientists and engineers and the work is interesting and fun. I really like managing my team and they...
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Direct Report Trying to Make You Look Bad? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a senior leader in a large state government agency. I’ve been here a long time. I came to the job as a high-ranking, decorated veteran and have earned an excellent reputation....
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Employee Reacted Poorly to Your Feedback? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a manager at a fairly new and fast growing software-as-a-service company. I have been managing people forever and nothing like this has ever happened to me. I recently gave...
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Talking to An Employee about Body Odor? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a branch manager for a regional bank. We are a small crew, and everyone reports into me. Things run smoothly for the most part. I have one team member—an older woman—who has...
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Losing Your Temper and Don’t Know Why? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a senior manager. I like my company, I like my job, and I like my team. I have always received good performance reviews and my boss thinks I can do no wrong. I feel lucky, all...
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Disappointed You Didn’t Achieve Your Goals? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I have been reflecting on 2020 and have just read the document with my goals for the year. I may laugh someday, but right now I am sad and demoralized. I accomplished literally not...
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Feel Like You’re Dying in Silence? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I just read your column Feeling Overwhelmed in a New Role and I find myself in the exact same position. I recently took a role as manager, and on week one I started getting emails...
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Afraid of Mistakes When Delegating Work to Others? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I’ve been managing a couple of teams located around the globe. Recently, our business has exploded, and I find that I am losing control of things. My question is: how do I help my...
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New Leader Burning You Out? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I work as a senior manager reporting to a new EVP who was brought in from outside the company. She has a lot less experience than I do. She constantly talks about how strategic she...
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Trouble Making Decisions? (Part Two) Ask Madeleine
Today’s blog covers the promised Part Two from last week’s blog post. If you missed it and want to see the whole letter and the context, click here. Here’s the part of the letter, signed...
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Trouble Making Decisions? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am in a high potential program at a large global company and am being considered for fast track promotion. As part of the program, everyone did a battery of assessments. I have...
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Just Realized Your Old Boss Was a Bully? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I have been on sick leave for the last few months. Before that, I worked as an essential medical worker—administrative, not patient care—in a big city. It was intense. We had big...
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New Assignment in a Foreign Country Going Poorly? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am the director of an experimental data analytics group for a global software company. I am an engineer and am good at starting things. I drew the short straw on a job that at...
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Tired of Being Taken for Granted? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I work on a team that provides specialized services to the sales and marketing groups in a global organization. A lot of our work is time sensitive. My teammates and I pull...
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Change Has You Panicked? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am a regional director of compliance for a global services company. Covid has been a trial for everyone. Most of my people had never worked from home before and were not set up...
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Making the Leap to Executive Leadership? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I just started what is probably the last decade of my career. I am settling into a new role after being promoted to an EVP spot that reports directly to the CEO. Sometimes I sit in...
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Concerned You’re Becoming Impatient with Your Employees? Ask Madeleine
Hi Madeleine, I just got off the phone and immediately realized that I need some help. I spoke to an employee in a way I am ashamed of. I didn’t yell or flip my lid, but I was curt, demanding, and...
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Bad Attitudes about Working from Home? Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I am so frustrated with what I am calling the “in-person addiction” in my new company. I started here two months before COVID sent everyone home. It was very much a traditional...
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