True power lies elsewhere

A lot of stuff lives in the "about work and not about work at the same time" bucket. Turns out that organizing humans around complex tasks is messy.

This is not a democracy

There was a hard call to be made. And Jeff made it. That's not abnormal. Jeff makes a lot of hard calls. He has trained his whole life for just this moment. And this one just went very badly.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleOctober 30, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, power, psychological safety, change, culture, accountability, values

Nice, nice, very nice

The longer you're in a culture of niceness and side-channels and things left unsaid, the more you have to wonder about the conversations happening out of earshot.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleOctober 16, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, power, psychological safety, change, culture, feedback

I don't really have anything this week

There's a difference between surviving and thriving.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleMay 29, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, accountability, change, power, psychological safety, culture, connection, future of work

Was the Future of Work a ZIRP?

You can feel lucky to have a job and still want your work to have reasonable hours, pay equity, and the flexibility to deal with family matters on a Wednesday afternoon.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleMay 15, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, accountability, uncertainty, change, org chart, power, leading through uncertainty, psychological safety

Find the through-line or make one

"How do I set goals without a strategy?" Or "How do I get my team working on the right things, when no one has told me what the right things are?"

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleMay 1, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, accountability, uncertainty, change, org chart, power, leading through uncertainty, psychological safety

If you're doing their job, who's doing your job?

The cure for a structurally overwhelmed team is a better structure. It's clarity about what matters most, and permission to hand off or put down the work that doesn't.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleApril 17, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, accountability, uncertainty, change, delegation, burn out

Everyone's favourite face tattoo

The neat part about client-ready and exec-ready hides in the 3000 words behind the hyphenation.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleMarch 20, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, change, reflection, culture, accountability, values

No, but phrased in the form of a question

If we want to be continue to operate in this new context, our work has to change, too.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleMarch 6, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, change, reflection

That's not how any of this works

The problem is that most advice about work is wrong, and usually for the same reason.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleFebruary 21, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, change, reflection

Whose job is it?

Folks are quick to say, "I'm not actively looking. I'm happy where I am. I feel lucky to have a job. But..."

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleFebruary 7, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, flexibility, performance, change, accountability, reflection, leading through uncertainty

You already know how your year is going

So much of being an effective operator is noticing problems early, because groups react differently to problems early on.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleJanuary 24, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, flexibility, performance, change, accountability, reflection, leading through uncertainty

Director means something

And pretending it's a title or a pay bump without a new set of responsibilities is a disservice to everyone.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleJanuary 10, 2024Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, flexibility, performance, change, org chart, accountability

If it's urgent, call my cell

We tell bosses that if they choose management as a career, every aspect of the human condition will at some point show up for someone they manage.

I'll call you from the car

The important decisions you'll make as a boss — or a human — need to be made in the midst of very loud and poorly-timed chaos.

Still uncool, but finally useful

A great performance review is not an evaluation conversation, it's an alignment conversation.

NewsletterJohnathan NightingaleNovember 15, 2023Melissa Nightingale, Johnathan Nightingale, Raw Signal Group, RSG, Worlds Best Newsletter, Management, Leadership, Management Training, Leadership Training, reflection, flexibility, psychological safety, change, uncertainty, performance, goals, accountability

What to do with the muchness

Either, we're running as fast as we can toward clear targets. Or we're running as fast as we can without clear targets.

Day-to-day management in a polycrisis

Yours can be a team where people's humanity has space to coexist with, and even outrank, their productivity. It's worth building that. We're all going to need it.

What to do when everyone's eyebrows are glowing

You can't outsource interpersonal connection to the interns, and your team can't outsource it to you.

Sorry I'm getting kicked out of this room

If we want to understand the nagging sense, the underlying frustration, the thing that's screaming in blinky red lights. We're gonna have to say it out loud.

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