Leila Bulling Towne

Accountability is rarely far from my mind when I am coaching leaders. Accountability is not the solution, yet effective leaders do need to define and demonstrate it to their team members. Keeping it near the top of the to do list is hard, of course.

Back to school preparation can lend itself to some helpful tips leaders can use after they come from vacation and get ready for the rest of the year.

People are debating. They are jockeying for attention. There are sides to take. It's a race and there are winners, there are losers, and there are people who refuse to play the game. Is this an election? No! It's office politics, and whether you like it or not, it exists everywhere you go

With stubborn high unemployment and a stock market that is still riding a rollercoaster, this seems like an inopportune time to even think about a promotion, right? Wrong! Start building a foundation for your promotion while others around you are simply happy to clock in and out and collect a paycheck.

Asking for help is something many of us equate to weakness or lack of ability. We think to ourselves, "If I ask my manager for help, she will begin to think I'm not capable! The economy is still in a bad state and who knows if we'll have more layoffs, so I better not ask her." Think about this: is it better to do it without help or do it right? Stop stalling and stop asking. Here's how.

The green shoots of an upturn seem to be popping up, slowly. No one knows for certain if true recovery from the recession is on the horizon, and a sit and wait attitude will have the same success as throwing a coin in a foundation and making a wish, so come on managers, let's prepare for better times.

So, how many of your Facebook friends are your direct reports? Have one of those "friends" asked you to write a recommendation for her on LinkedIn? Social media is a treacherous sea for team leaders to navigate, so come on managers, let's talk about social media best practices for managers.

Have an employee whose words or body language could best be described as excessively rude? Someone who describes people and their actions as "stupid" or "idiotic"? An employee whose body language screams frustration like a siren ringing right next to your ear? Then, come on managers, it's time to talk about reigning in those abrasive employees.

We've all had our share of bad meetings. They run long, they're incredibly boring or they simply don't accomplish much. Whatever the issue, the danger of a poorly-run meeting is that your team may lose focus. To make your meetings more productive, let's talk about some meeting don'ts

There are about 80 million of them out there, and they are moving up the ranks fast. Of all the generations in the workforce, they seem to be getting the most flack. But while they seem high-maintenance, they are also high-performing. To get the most out of them, here are some mistakes to avoid.