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Good morning, fellow managers and leaders ☕️

I hope you are feeling motivated to start a productive day!

Grab a coffee and keep scrolling to read this week’s top management picks.

⚠️ 8 Leadership myths every manager should know about (8 min read)

TLDR: We all have preconceptions of what it means to be a good leader. Here are some popular myths you should ditch if you want to empower your team and advance in your career:

1. A position will make me a leader. You don’t need to be in any particular position to be a leader. Leadership is rooted in qualities and abilities, not a job title. 
2. If I’m not hearing anyone complain, everyone must be happy. A good leader cares about employee engagement and consistently asks team members for feedback.
3. Leaders have all the answers. Efficient leaders solicit regular input from their team members and consider all ideas and suggestions, instead of coming up with all the solutions.

📉 5 Tips for Managing an Underperformer, Remotely (5 min read)

TLDR: Working from home is only going to become more and more common after the Covid-19 crisis. That’s why every manager must learn to effectively communicate with remote employees. Here are five tips to achieve that:

1. Revisit your expectations. When you don’t see employees in person, it’s even more important to ask whether your statements have been ambiguous. 
2. Ask about their goals and what they care about. Remember these things change as circumstances evolve. 
3. Be specific with your feedback. Instead of telling someone that they need to be a better listener, share a specific example of when this behaviour impacted the team. 
4. Use open-ended questions. Encourage employees to come up with their own suggestions and solutions, instead of telling them what to do.
5. Stay in touch. Encourage employees to keep you up to date on their challenges and progress. 

🤔 15 Questions you should ask remote employees (6 min read)

TLDR: One-on-one meetings become even more important when you manage a remote team. They are a great way to stay connected and understand your team’s engagement levels. Here are three (of the fifteen) questions you should be asking remote employees:

1. What can we do to improve the way we communicate company decisions?
2. What part of your job is the most energizing? What part is the most draining?
3. If you had to point to something that was holding you back or slowing you down in achieving your goals, what would you say that would be?

🚀 Reasons to step into a leadership role, and the reasons not to (6 min read)

TLDR: You might be considering stepping onto the leadership path, but you may be unsure about whether you should or not. Here are five good reasons to seek a leadership role (Hint: it shouldn’t be about power, fame, or money):

1. Focus on your team’s impact, instead of your individual output.
2. An opportunity to build skills such as giving feedback and coaching others.
3. Interest in finding stretch opportunities and helping others grow.
4. Desire to improve your work environment.
5. The opportunity to act as a role model.

🎙 New on the Supermanagers podcast

• Episode 13 (41 min): Alex MacCaw – CEO at Clearbit – describes what it means to find your “zone of genius”. He also explains Clearbit’s “impeccable agreements” and how they can help you improve communication and collaboration across departments.

• Episode 14 (37 min): Kirstine Stewart – Head of Shaping the Future of Media at the World Economic Forum – explains what it means to have a leadership mindset (even if you’re not a manager) and why female representation in leadership roles is so important for all modern companies and corporations.

💡 Your leadership homework

Use your next one-on-one meeting to ask your direct report what motivates them.

As Sara Varni (CMO at Twilio) said in a Supermanagers interview: “Getting down to what truly motivates each employee is really critical if you want to drive optimal results across the entire team.”

And that’s it for today. We hope that the content we curated inspires you to continue growing as a leader!