Three Things You Can Do to Help Your Team Perform Like a Champion
As an executive coach, part of my job is to help clients learn from and avoid getting their own version of some of the scars on my back. One of those scars came at an early age. As a young, 20-something leader I did my best to ensure that my team had its share of […]
Bad Apples
Recently, in preparation for a long, 1200-mile road trip (nasty winter weather coupled with living in a high airfare market causes one to do things like that), I shopped for juice, fruit, and bottled water to take along as car snacks. While picking through the bin of Honeycrisp apples, I couldn’t help but notice that […]
Working With Admin. Assistants to Really Amp Your Effectiveness
With the advent of cell phones, sophisticated voice messaging systems, scheduling software, and widespread word processing capability, the footprint of administrative assistants (AA’s) in the workplace has shrunk considerably over the last dozen or so years. This has been aided and abetted by the desire to cut every last dime of assailable cost from the […]
Go Ask Your People
One of the traps that newly appointed managers at any level commonly fall into is in believing that, to be worthy of their job title and pay check, they must have at the ready the solution to every problem, and the answer to every question. I’m speaking from experience. I’ve been there. As a young, […]
Feed the Opportunities, Starve the Problems
Life is short, the game is often fast, and each of us makes choices daily about the things we should devote time and attention to. I try to live by a simple, six word motto that tends to keep me focused on higher yielding activities… Feed the Opportunities, Starve the Problems. Its meaning to me […]
On Broken Glass, Apologies, and Obamacare
When I was fourteen, I took over a friend’s paper route for the summer. I don’t quite remember how that came to pass (I doubt that I was jumping for joy at the notion of getting up every morning at 4AM), but here’s something I do remember from that experience. One of my ‘customers’ on the […]
Sometimes It IS About the Money
https://contentedcows.com/blog/item/46-sometimes-it-is-about-the-money Few issues in the domain of business are thornier, more complex, and emotion-packed than that of how much money to pay someone for the work they do. Employee compensation thrusts its tendrils into considerations no less substantial than motivation, employment law, labor unions, production, and the very profitability of the enterprise. Oh, yeah. That. Corresponding […]
Discretionary Effort Is a Big, Dot Deal
Since commencing research on what ultimately became our first book, I have taken a rather steely-eyed approach to the subject of employee relations. A data-driven sort, I suspect that, had that research not produced clear linkage between worker attitudes and corporate performance, I would have found something very different to do for a living. But […]
Managing Expectations: Under Promise and Over Deliver
Guest Post by Robert CordrayThere’s an old expression, “He who expects little is seldom disappointed.” That’s not a great catchphrase for the customer service department, but it does bring up the topic of managing the expectations of customers and others by “under promising and over delivering”. The premise is simple. Don’t make overblown claims that […]
Hans Tanzler: A Born Leader
We’re often asked, “Can leadership be learned? Or is it hardwired at birth?” Our answer: Yes. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if we didn’t really believe that leadership skills and behaviors can be taught and learned. We’ve seen proof positive of it. But, like you, we’ve also known people who just seemed to […]