If you're a boss, you're probably micro-managing your team, which robs them of their agency and keeps you from focusing on high-impact work that benefits your company, writes Sketchplanations creator Jono Hey. To combat that, Hey recommends becoming a leader who trusts their team, delegates responsibility, grants them the autonomy they need to learn and master their job and teaches them how to be leaders no matter where they sit on the company organization chart.

Put it into practice: Leaders can come from anywhere in the organization, Hey notes, which means you should be asking yourself what you would do if suddenly called upon to lead. "It's a question worth asking every day, in every role."

Many managers lack awareness and training in supporting neurodiverse employees, often viewing neurodiversity as a problem rather than a strength, writes Alex Partridge, the founder of LADBible and UNILAD and the host of the ADHD Chatter podcast. Creating an open and accommodating workplace culture is crucial to help neurodiverse employees feel supported and safe, as are inclusive policies and education about neurodiversity, Partridge writes.

Put it into practice: Embracing your neurodiverse team members can pay off in many ways, including increased innovation that boosts company profits, Partridge writes. "Neurodiverse employees won't necessarily work in the same ways as other employees, but it's crucial to look at what they're achieving for a business, not how they get there."

Conflict can make our brain shift into a fight, flight or freeze response, but Joel Salinas, an author and professor at New York University Langone, offers five strategies to cope, including pausing before responding, reframing conflict as an opportunity, naming emotions and practicing empathy. "Instead of bracing for battle, ask yourself: What can I learn from this?" Salinas suggests.

Put it into practice: One effective strategy to manage conflict is to regulate before responding, Salinas writes, which involves pausing and taking a deep breath to shift the nervous system from high alert to a balanced state. This pause gives your cognitive control networks time to engage so you can respond constructively rather than react.

Cover me. Twenty-two percent of you have colleagues who pick up the slack when you're out on vacation and you come back to a nice clean desk. That's a wonderful situation -- just make sure you do the same for them when they take time off.

For those of you who return to a big pile of work, ask yourself -- did you ask colleagues to cover for you and did you give them the information they'd need to get the work done? Did you provide system access? Forwarding instructions on your out of office message? Did you ask them if they'd be willing and able to cover specific tasks while you were gone?

Simply taking off for your trip and hoping someone will step up and take on your work is a recipe for disappointment. If you want them to handle your work while you're gone, be explicit, give them the information and access they need and get their agreement before packing your bags.

-- Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, which includes TITAN -- the firm's e-learning platform. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a West Point graduate and author of three leadership books: "One Piece of Paper," "Lead Inside the Box" and "The Elegant Pitch."

Taking a five-minute long cold plunge every morning is what two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett says is "the only thing keeping me remotely sane at the moment" because it reminds her that "you can resist the pain or you can surrender to it." The practice helps her "start as you mean to continue," Blanchett says, adding, "It's a new day. And I'm just trying to start my day as I mean to continue -- connected and open-hearted."

A meat pie featuring a filling of a doner kebab made from chicken, beef and a chili marinade with a sweet chili sauce has bested 900 other entries to take the top prize in the British Pie Awards. Christine and Paul Boyle say they concocted the pie after young customers at their Boghall Butchers shop asked for kebab meat pies. Senior judge Mike Holling said the winning pie "definitely had the wow factor."

I have worked for a lot of bosses. They were, to a person, micromanagers who always wanted to know what you were doing, what you accomplished and how you completed your work. There was no sense of autonomy or empowerment in these jobs. You did the work the way they wanted it done, and they made all the decisions. It was stifling and spirit-killing.

I've also worked for many leaders. They were, to a person, the kind of supervisors who trusted you to get your work done (I mean, after all, they hired you to do it so they wouldn't have to) in the way that worked best for you and allowed you to make necessary decisions to accomplish the job. These leaders were available for questions, but overall, they wanted you to do the job they hired you to do.

Working for leaders feels freeing. Leaders allow you to use your brain to figure out the best way to accomplish a task. In that process, you may come up with new ideas and innovations that make the work easier and you more productive. That's good for you, but it also benefits the company you're working for.

That's the difference between bosses and leaders. Bosses want things done a certain way, which kills innovation and new ways of thinking and doing the work. Leaders want you to get creative and find new ways to accomplish things that move both you and the business forward.

Where do you currently fall in your leadership style? Are you micromanaging your team, or are you allowing them to do the job you hired them to do however best they see fit? If you're the latter, you'll create empowered teams that will be good for your bottom line.

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