There is no question about it. A team can be a powerful vehicle for accomplishing a major project, guiding a unit to superior performance, or bringing together diverse perspectives to solve a pressing problem.
Have you ever been a member of a smooth functioning, high performing team? Those of you who have, no doubt, harbor fond [...]
Wherever you look, news about the economy is bad.
Layoffs abound. Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, recently announced 8,000 job cuts. Home Depot, the biggest home improvement retailer in the U.S., said it will eliminate 7,000 jobs. Even the State of California is letting 20,000 go. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most since [...]
Using talent management software packages to administer employee performance has suddenly become hugely popular. Within this new-found appreciation of the need to better address the management of human capital is the need to develop the actual talent within that resource pool. According to a recent report titled Human Capital Management: The CFO’s Perspective, sponsored by [...]
“I never get to the truly managerial parts of my own job.”
“I’m staying too late at night and working too many weekends.”
“________is really ready to advance but I have no job to promote him/her to right now.”
“If I don’t give my best people some new challenges soon, I may lose them.”
Sound familiar? Is this [...]
At the beginning of every sales call your prospect is making two critical buying decisions. The first decision is about the salesperson. Behavioral research states that initial impressions are created within the first 20 seconds of meeting someone. So it is critical to differentiate oneself and one’s offering in the [...]
“Our people are the key to our success?” How so very often we have heard executives mouth these words. But then, how very often we have also heard their people mutter words such as, “Oh yeah, well, if we really are the key, how come they don’t… ” Of course, it is true. In [...]
The Eastern Ontario dairy farm on which I grew up had numerous oak trees. I have fond memories of collecting autumn oak leaves colored red and orange-brown or fallen acorns for science projects during my school years. Itdeeproots always amazed me that such a massive plant could grow from a small acorn when planted in [...]
It is mid afternoon. You are sitting at your desk trying to pull together this important proposal for your boss. It is due the day after tomorrow. As you wrestle with how to incorporate a complex spreadsheet from the finance department, you wonder when your quality analyst will bring in those last two key [...]
One of the most challenging aspects of a manager’s job, the part that is most messy and unpredictable, is giving corrective feedback. Whether it’s delivering a less than stellar review, coaching a challenging employee, or laying someone off, for those of us who are wired to avoid conflict, this can be excruciating. We often walk [...]
We’ve all lived this before. Sally, the manager, asks her employee Gary to prepare a market analysis report for next week. Gary moans and says he doesn’t think he can do it by then . . . too much work and, besides, why not give it to Sherry who has a marketing background. The manager [...]
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