Managers who establish clear expectations and rules that are communicated to team members find it easier to deal with employees when they violate those rules.

What follows is an excerpt from my book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2011).

“People situations” can be frustrating and confusing. We have a hard time having difficult conversations. Those conversations are difficult because we’re the bearers of bad news, corrective actions, and feedback. That feedback generally causes people to feel like they don’t measure up as a person when, in fact, our assessments should be focused on the actions, not the person.

We need something to lean on to help us through those tough situations. Creating personal leadership maxims for how you want to lead your people helps you manage those difficult situations and conversations.

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