Top Insights From Business Leaders In 2022 – Forbes

In 2022, I interviewed many thoughtful, insightful authors who shared ideas to test in the upcoming year. The top of the year is a great time to add strategies to your leadership toolkit. In your toolkit, you should have ideas you want to try, strategies you’ve tried and learned don’t work for you, and a plan for how you’ll progress in the new year.

From some of today’s top business authors, here are insights to carry into 2023:

Jennifer Moss on burnout: Always check on how each team member is doing, because burnout is not about underperformance; it’s about disengagement.

From my Forbes piece on dealing with a toxic co-worker: Ask yourself these four questions before making judgments about your colleague:

· Does this person completely understand the situation?

· In the past, how has the person handled difficult conversations?

· Do this person’s directives make sense according to our standard set of procedures for making decisions?

· Am I taking this too personally?

Amy Gallo, from her book Getting Along—How to Work with Anyone: Don’t

forget the importance of mental and physical “hygiene.” How you react to a sticky work situation is affected by whether you’ve had enough sleep, if you’ve skipped lunch, or if you’ve got a case of the afternoon blues. When you’re rested and well-fed, you’re more likely to be generous in your interpretation of a situation and give someone the benefit of the doubt.

From my Forbes article on loneliness at work: Reconnect with friends by sending a message such as, “I haven’t chatted with you in such a long time. I miss our conversations about the senior leadership meeting. Let’s set up a weekly chat. Is there a time that works for you?”

Nathan and Susannah Furr on leaders’ belief that they must know all answers and outcomes: It’s more important to ask the right questions than have the right answers. Stop worrying about perfection. Leaders need to shed the idea that they must have control over everything.

From my article on actions that can undermine your leadership: Carefully manage your cc list. You can demotivate a team or create friction with your peers if you overshare information and create more work than necessary for your teams due to their need to respond to messages. Limit your communications to only those who need to have the information.

Susan Cain on embracing difficult emotions as well as positive emotions: We must accept this duality and doing so will, over time, help us relate better to our peers and teams in the workplace. Cain shares that we shouldn’t be fooled by appearances that make it seem as if all is well for your team members. As a leader, it’s your job to create an atmosphere where you can ask your team questions and they can share how they’re honestly feeling. Sharing “bittersweet” moments can bring a team closer together.

Whitney Johnson and I discussed learning and possibilities. Johnson stresses that it’s important to believe anything is possible. She uses the S-Curve, introduced in 1962 as a model for how innovation occurs, to describe individual personal development. Johnson believes that individuals, when faced with new challenges, can climb the initial upward slope of the ‘S’, hit the “sweet spot” of advancement and growth acceleration, and then achieve mastery in the chosen field. The key, says Johnson, is not to be disheartened while learning a new skill—but rather, to enjoy the process of growth.

2023 is your chance to try new things and challenge yourself. These ideas provide a starting place to kickstart your leadership growth in the new year.