What do you do with an employee who thinks she deserves a raise or a promotion but there is one thing holding her back – her attitude? Frequently the entitled employee is in a state of denial. Any attempt to confront and correct the attitude is met with contempt. In her own mind, she thinks…
All teams must pay attention to their work: the task, the goal, the things to be done, the agenda items to be crammed into their meetings, the hurried decisions to be made by the group, the deadlines to be met, and so on.
A manager or supervisor’s job should be easier. After all, as long as you have the right people, the right materials, the right information and the right equipment, everything goes smoothly. For most of us this fairy tale scenario only happens on occasion. The rest of the time we are scrambling because one or two…
Certain words and phrases block connections cold and at the same time can make people steaming mad Here are some tips on language, words and phrases to avoid:
You plan to drive your car from Boston to Denver. It’s a long trip so, before departing, you take your vehicle into your local service center for a tune-up. You have them check your tires and battery, top up the oil and brake fluid and take it for a spin on the highway listening for…
This is a huge issue, particularly at the supervisory level and especially when someone is pulled out of the work group and promoted to supervisor. It becomes confusing for all concerned, the new boss and the staff. How to act? What to expect from one another? Can we still be friends? How to set new…
Google, I’m sure you will agree, is a business built on metrics and analytics. Well, they recently completed an comprehensive, rigorous internal study about what made great managers…at Google. The New York Times article says that Google wanted to build better bosses. Now, that certainly strikes a positive chord for me and boy does it…
For all the productivity improvements technology has brought us, there is a dark side and it is impacting employee engagement and management effectiveness. I’m talking about the tendency to send emails instead of going and talking to people.
Their name says it all. They believe they have all the right answers and know what’s best for everyone. The problem is deep down, they know that they really don’t know it all; their behavior is a cover-up for their feelings of inadequacy. They pretend to know everything; being right makes them feel validated, which…
If the title of this article makes you scratch your head, consider for a few minutes the concept that a strong team with a high degree of trust requires its members to challenge one another. Ian Thomas, a professional speaker from South Africa was using the illustration of a pride of lions and the lessons…
Employee engagement is all the rage these days. It’s commonly touted as the key to transforming an organization from good to great. When a new organizational effectiveness ‘truth’ comes along there are two common responses.
At a recent workshop I delivered and facilitated, we had a brainstroming session to answer some key questions about what constitutes excellent customer service. Here are the results of the brainstorming from the attendees. How can we make it easier for our customers to do business with us?
During a recent teambuilding and communication workshop I delivered one of my clients stated, “50% of all our obstacles to success center around team dynamics.” In other words you can have the best plans, strategies and initiatives, however if everyone is not team oriented, working well together and getting along, it will be difficult at…
This question has been studied for decades and no direct relationship has been established. Despite what would seem to be a slam-dunk connection, happier workers don’t necessarily result in a bumped up bottom line. A recent study by researchers at Cornell, however, has mapped a path between the two. It is not a direct route.…
Since so many of you liked last month’s blog post (Connect In Before You Connect Out) about the importance of authenticity when connecting, I thought I would go a little deeper on the concept of connecting inward before you connect outward. There really is truth in the age-old wisdom of treating your body as the…
Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 on the statements below: 1-Never 2-Almost never 3-Sometimes 4-Almost always 5-Always
Back-stabbers also known as back-bitters or back attackers, might seem easy going, even complacent, with a “don’t worry” attitude but don’t let them deceive you. Their strategy is to be nice to your face and act like your best friend, lulling you into a false sense of security that tricks you into revealing information you…
There is a debate raging as to whether all this talk about the different generations is evidence-based or mostly media-driven simplistic categorizing. A recent article in People & Strategy Journal reports on a thorough study done of the peer-reviewed literature on generational differences in two areas: Career Management and Organizational Loyalty Work-related Values and Attitudes
Filler words such as um, ah, like, basically, ok and others like them distract others from hearing the points you want to get across. These fillers are merely space holders for the silence that many of us are hesitant to embrace. There’s nothing wrong with being silent during a portion of your presentation as it…
Always hope for the best, however, be prepared for the worst. This is good advice for preparing for any presentation. By being prepared for things that may go wrong, your presentation will go on without skipping a beat. Here are some common mishaps from the upcoming book “Deliver Every Presentation with Power, Punch and Pizzazz”…