Here's a frightening statistic: Only 14% of employees think that performance appraisals are useful! And high performers are especially unhappy with their reviews.
Why? Because most managers don't offer even a simple 'thank you' to their high performers. And if they do say 'thank you' it's usually vague nonsense like 'nice job' or something equally non-specific.
To be a great leader, you can’t fear being seen as the bad guy/gal. And I’m not just talking about obvious ‘bad guy/gal’ situations like telling someone “you’re fired” or “you’re not getting a raise this year and here’s why.” I’m also talking about simple situations like telling someone “I need you to change the way you submit that form.”
Here's a very simple time management tip that can cut 17 minutes from most meetings you sit in: have a Statement of Achievement. What is that? Well, we did a survey recently. We asked people coming out of meetings: "The meeting you were just in, did it accomplish its original objective?" 
Have you ever been in one of those team meetings, virtual or face-to-face, where a few big personalities just dominate the space? They usually talk louder than everyone else, and if the boss or team leader isn’t speaking, all you hear are their thoughts, their ideas, their yeas and their nays. 
When I ask leaders, “What’s the No. 1 thing that wastes your time and hinders your productivity?” the nearly universal answer is “meetings.” Whether it’s wasteful meetings that don’t resolve anything, meetings where everybody talks just to hear themselves speak or meetings where decisions never get made, meetings are often hated and typically wasteful.
Effective communication with an impatient boss is far less challenging if you know their preferred communication style. One simple way to distinguish communication styles is how linear people are. Here's what that means. Some people are very linear. 
Imagine that it’s Friday afternoon and your boss walks over to your desk and tells you the following:
Boss: I need you to come into work this weekend to help finish the Johnson proposal.
You: When is it due?
Boss: Monday at noon. We hoped to have it done today (Friday)
Most impatient seeming bosses aren’t suffering from some chronic character flaw. More often than not, they just have a particular communication style that likes things at a high level, without too much detail, and a focus on cutting-to-the-chase. And for the record, that describes a lot of bosses
The average person checks their email about 15 times per day. But a recent study from researchers at the University of British Columbia found that when people were limited to checking their email just three times per day, their stress levels decreased significantly.
Here’s something you don’t often hear under the category of good customer service skills: not everybody wants friendly customer service. I know, it's a bizarre thing to say, right? How can that possible qualify as good customer service skills?
