Every Manager a Coach

A recent study reinforces the value of coaching by managers throughout the organization. Here are a few key points it makes: Business results were 21% higher in enterprises where senior leaders very frequently make an effort to coach others. This increased when organizations had a culture that supports coaching and makes managers accountable for engaging…

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Every Job Matters (to Someone)

Recently I heard a presentation by Jim Gibbons, President & CEO of Goodwill Industries. In it he said that “every job matters.” Every job has someone relying on the incumbent of the position to do their job well so that the other person can either: benefit or do their own job well. Your client/customer is…

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Entrepreneurs, turn on your leadership signal

The 2008 economic crisis was terrifying times, to say the least. Millions of jobs were lost and many people faced difficulty trying to obtain a new line of work. As a result, many struck out on their own, not by first choice, but really out of necessity. I applaud those individuals who took that route.…

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Engaging Employees to Drive Strategic Business Initiatives (White Paper)

Many excellent change initiatives never get off the ground, stagnating just when they should be flowering. Why, after an enthusiastic start, do so many major change efforts—a new product rollout, international expansion, a new IT system—founder and organizations return to the pre-change state? It’s because companies focus disproportionately on the structure and technical aspects of…

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End of Year Morale – Don’t Scrooge it Up!

The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy. – Dwight D. Eisenhower Two recent studies have put the spotlight back on employee-employer relations and more specifically the issue of performance and morale. The two separate reports combine to give us…

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Employees who feel entitled

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…

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Employees Listen With Their Eyes

Whenever a leader is within the sightline of his or her employees, communication is occuring. What message is your face and body language communicating without you even having to open your mouth? Communication continues to be a problem for virtually every organization. You would think that after recognizing the problem for this long we would…

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Employees Complain Because They Care

Some of the organizations I work with are facing an interesting paradox: On the one hand the culture/satisfaction survey results aren’t where management would like to see them. On the other hand, the feedback I’m receiving says that employees care deeply about the organization and its success. How can these two seemingly opposite data points…

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Employee Engagement-Just Part of the Puzzle

I recently attended a “Leadership Briefing” presentation, organized by Leadership Fairfax, which featured two stimulating Towers Watson consultants, Max Caldwell and Jennifer Meder. The latest TW research is revealing that to generate a climate where your employees contribute at a consistently a high level of their capacity, you need more that just “engagement.” You must…

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Employee Engagement & Brand Advocacy

First there was Maslow who created an avenue to employee benefits, then Employee Rewards, and more recently Employee Engagement. Today, Culture seems to be the buzz word. We are consistently evolving employee rights into human improvement strategy. The fluff is gone and even kindness has an ROI metric: ~ Does a rewards strategy cheapen the…

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