Jeff DeSmet, Author at Harvard Business Publishing

The Social and Emotional Skills New Leaders Need Most: Insights from Harvard Business Publishing

Jeff DeSmet — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:00:40 +0000

Every year, thousands of individual contributors make the leap to frontline leader. An estimated 75% of employers provide some form of new manager training,[i] yet much of a new supervisor’s fledging months is spent figuring things out in real-time on the front lines. One of the biggest surprises to people new to the ranks of management is the complex emotional dynamics at play when dealing with their former peers. In addition to learning the mechanics of management—time and attendance tracking, performance reviews, and completing company paperwork, for example—they discover the importance of human-centered skills to help them navigate their […]

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Leadership Development for Frontline Leaders: A New Offering from Harvard Business Publishing

Jeff DeSmet — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 14:19:26 +0000

I suspect most managers remember their first time leading a team. I sure do: I was a new supervisor at a professional services firm, and the one feeling that I vividly recall is that it was much harder than it looked. The truth is, I had a lot of misconceptions about being the “boss”—such as thinking my new-found authority was enough to gain commitment from my team. Every day seemed to bring a new set of challenges that, in hindsight, I was quite unprepared to face. For example, the first time I had to address a performance problem […]

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Addressing Leadership Development Needs at Speed and Scale

Jeff DeSmet — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 13:27:13 +0000

The other day, I was speaking with a colleague, and she told me, “We’ve been living in a VUCA world for a long time, but now it’s VUCA on steroids.” I couldn’t agree more. Just when we’ve almost gotten used to dealing with the challenges of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, the digital revolution – ultra-fast to begin with – continues to accelerate the pace of just about everything. Then the covid pandemic added a new twist. “VUCA on steroids” now meant that we needed to be more agile and flexible than ever. This has translated into the need for […]

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Solving The Too Much Information, Too Little Time Problem In Learning

Jeff DeSmet — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 15:26:02 +0000

From Binge-Watching to Binge-Learning When school ended earlier this summer, I asked my 13-year-old daughter how she thought her school year had gone. (Being a learning designer, I’m big on reflection.) She thoughtfully replied, “Dad, I actually really liked school … except for the learning part.” It’s safe to say seventh grade did not meet her learning preferences. YouTube and Netflix, however, seem to be meeting her preferences just fine. I have a hefty mobile phone bill to prove it. Now if I can only introduce a little small-bite learning into the time she spends watching her favorite lifestyle vlogger, […]

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This Year, We’ll Make Time For Learning

Jeff DeSmet — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 20:32:16 +0000

This time every year, many of us – myself included – make a new year’s resolution. And in a few months, more than 90% of us – myself included –will have failed to keep it. I put a lot of the blame for our failures on poor design. We like the idea of achieving whatever goal we’ve set. But we don’t create any pathway to achieving it. Like I said: poor design! As a learning designer, I grapple with design challenges all the time, and realize that changing behaviors (the goal of those unkept resolutions) can be daunting. But it’s […]

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Beware Of Learner Proxies. There’s No Substitute For Studying Your Learners.

Jeff DeSmet — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 20:30:02 +0000

Last spring, in his annual letter to Amazon shareholders, CEO Jeff Bezos explained how he keeps Amazon from slipping into decline. One essential technique involves a skeptical view of using proxies – market research and surveys – to gain an understanding of his customers. While valuable, these inputs shouldn’t substitute for spending time with customers. “Good inventors and designers deeply understand their customer,” Bezos says. “They study and understand many anecdotes rather than only the averages you’ll find on surveys.” As a designer of learning environments, I appreciate the need to get close to the learners I serve – my […]

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It’s Not Just Time Management Anymore

Jeff DeSmet — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:45:17 +0000

If you’re like me, this time of year can be especially busy. Year-end project deadlines loom. Holiday commitments begin. Distractions intensify. And time just seems to compress. Needless to say, I feel exhausted by the end of December. A colleague commented to me yesterday about how she typically gets stretched “pretty thin” during this time of year. We reminded each other that taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of everything and everybody else. And that managing your time, attention, and energy can help. Getting things done in today’s work environment can be especially difficult. First, […]

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Making The Most Of An Hour

Jeff DeSmet — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 16:49:45 +0000

For the past eight years, I’ve had an hour-plus commute to work. Over the years, I’ve experimented with ways to make good use of my car time by listening to podcasts and audio books. I even tried learning how to play the harmonica as I drove. (Don’t ask.) Time is such a precious resource that the thought of wasting my commuting hour just seems reckless and irresponsible. I want to make the most of it. Organizations are no different. Harvard Business Review recently published an app that lets you calculate a meeting’s cost. Try it out. You may be startled to see the money […]

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Can Zombies Help You Develop Better Leaders

Jeff DeSmet — Thu, 21 May 2015 15:34:04 +0000

A few years back, I decided to run my first marathon. I downloaded a training plan and was literally off and running the next day. After completing that first marathon, I reflected back on the experience. Setting a big goal helped motivate me, and sharing it with friends and family held me accountable. But I also found that leveraging a few game mechanics kept things interesting. Specifically: I tracked my progress with a color-coded spreadsheet. After each run, I shaded a cell according to how well I did. A quick view of the color patterns told me if I was […]

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