The Cadence Blog
Practical management for real teams.
Team Culture ·
Why Your Best Employee Might Quit (And What You Actually Miss)
The people most likely to leave your team are not the ones struggling. They are the ones you think are fine. Here is what I got wrong and what I had to learn the hard way.
Sean Davis · 7 min read
Framework ·
Your First 30 Days as a Manager, What to Do (and What to Resist)
New managers get overwhelmed trying to lead before they've listened. Your first 30 days have one job: understand what you inherited. Here's how to do that well.
Sean Davis · 8 min read
Feedback ·
How to Give Feedback That Actually Lands (The SBI Framework, Explained)
Vague feedback doesn't help anyone. The SBI model gives you a simple three-part formula that makes feedback specific, fair, and actually actionable: with real examples.
Sean Davis · 7 min read
One-on-Ones ·
How to Run a 1:1 Meeting That's Actually Worth Everyone's Time
Most managers run 1:1s as status updates, which wastes everyone's time. Here's the real purpose of a 1:1, a simple agenda that works, and the questions worth asking every week.
Sean Davis · 7 min read
One-on-Ones ·
The 1:1 That Actually Works
Most 1:1s are status updates with a calendar invite. Here's the structure, the questions, and the habits that make them worth 30 minutes of everyone's week.
Sean Davis · 8 min read
Delegation ·
How to Delegate Without Losing Control
The reason most managers don't delegate isn't about trust. It's about accountability. The fix starts with a 10-minute conversation most managers skip.
Sean Davis · 9 min read
Performance ·
What to Track When You Manage a Small Team
You don't need 40 metrics. You need five signals that tell you whether your team is healthy, moving, and actually working on what matters.
Sean Davis · 8 min read
Feedback ·
How to Give Feedback Your Team Will Actually Hear
Most feedback fails not because managers lack courage, but because the timing is wrong, the framing is vague, and the ask is missing entirely.
Sean Davis · 8 min read
Team Culture ·
Building Team Culture Without the Corporate Playbook
Culture isn't the off-site, the values poster, or the Slack emoji reactions. It's the pattern of small, consistent decisions you make every week as a manager.
Sean Davis · 9 min read
Framework ·
The Reactive Manager's Wake-Up Call
I spent 18 months managing by urgency, responding to whatever hit me last. Here's the moment I understood why that was broken, and what I built instead.
Sean Davis · 7 min read
Framework ·
The New Manager's Survival Guide (No Generic Advice)
Most management advice is written for people who've been doing it for a decade. Here's what actually matters in the first 90 days: from someone who got it wrong first.
Sean Davis · 8 min read
Framework ·
Why Most Management Tools Fail Small Teams
Enterprise HR tools are designed for HR departments. I tried six of them in two years. Here's why they failed, and what it taught me about what actually sticks.
Sean Davis · 7 min read