The Top 5 Things Employees Want (and Need!) to Hear from Management

The Top 5 Things Employees Want (and Need!) to Hear from Management: Employees want good pay. They want to have some say in how they perform their jobs. They want to be treated fairly. And they want management to be consistent in word and deed. But if you really want a motivated, committed workforce, you?d better answer the five questions that every employee wants to know.

Three Tips for a Successful Debate or Presentation

Three Tips for a Successful Debate or Presentation: There is much anticipation surrounding this election season's first presidential debate. It's each candidate's opportunity to present their ideas to a wide audience and persuade viewers of their positions. Similarly in a business presentation, a presenter must win over the audience and clearly communicate his point of view in a way that causes the audience to take action.

Steps To Effective Change Management

Steps To Effective Change Management:
Change management is a complex process which varies according to each individual organization’s needs. There will be different approaches taken depending on a wide range of factors including the type of organisation, the change objectives and the external environment.

However, there are 5 fundamental steps which need to be part of any effective change management program...

5 Ways to Rock Star HR Leadership

5 Ways to Rock Star HR Leadership: One of the dirty little secrets of HR – Human Resources as a professional practice – is that it’s not always about the people and humanizing brands. Not really, anyway. Some HR professionals have more in common with the Governance, Risk and Control department of the enterprise. HR sometimes gets a bad rap for being more concerned with limiting risk to the corporation than it is with making sure the employees – people, everyone – are working well and that the company’s culture can sustain its people in a fast-paced business. As a talent management practitioner and speaker, I spend a lot of time on HR topics of course. I'm one too = a flavor of HR professional.

Great Leaders Don't Do It Alone...They Get Help

Great Leaders Don't Do It Alone...They Get Help: There's a model we all have in our heads, of the fearless, solitary leader: the John Wayne-like character out ahead of the pack, carving a path in lonely glory for others, less leaderlike, to follow.

Measuring Your Company Goals

Measuring Your Company Goals:
I’ve been making New Year’s Resolutions for my business for years. You could also call what I compile at the start of the year goals for my company. Rather than creating a stagnant business plan that I forget to update, I simply revisit what I want for my company at the fresh start of the year.
So why am I telling you this when New Year’s is so far away?
Because the rest of the year I measure my goals..

6 Steps for Creating a Game Changer

6 Steps for Creating a Game Changer:

At one time or another all great leaders experience something so big and so impactful it literally changes the landscape - it’s what I call a “Game Changer.” A game changer is that ah-ha moment where you see something others don’t. It’s the transformational magic that takes organizations from ordinary to

How to Detect Your Blind Spots That Make Your Colleagues Disrespect You

How to Detect Your Blind Spots That Make Your Colleagues Disrespect You: This article is by Sara Canaday, a career strategist and corporate speaker and author of  You—According to Them: Uncovering the Blind Spots That Impact Your Reputation and Your Career.

Four Things to Consider Before You Grow

Four Things to Consider Before You Grow: Every entrepreneur wants their business to grow. But rapid growth can quickly get out of hand if you don’t plan for it

Seven Steps to Negotiating Success

Seven Steps to Negotiating Success: Tried-and-true negotiation tactics from author and negotiation expert Selena Rezvani.

3 Tips for Achieving Your Work/Life Balance

3 Tips for Achieving Your Work/Life Balance: “There isn’t a moment of the day when I’m not thinking about my business.” Does this sound familiar? Many entrepreneurs and business owners report that they work non-stop, day and night. Sure, it’s great for your business, but is it good for your life?

How To Address Challenging Team Members

Don’t Reward Bad Behavior – How To Address Challenging Team Members:
What happens when a co-worker or team member speaks in an aggressive or passive aggressive manner that tends to take over or misdirect your meetings and your projects? If you sit there in silence, it’s a passive way of condoning their message...

4 Steps To Painless (And Effective) Performance Evaluations

4 Steps To Painless (And Effective) Performance Evaluations: Conducting effective performance evaluations is like painting a room.  If you do all the prep work diligently - all the sanding, spackling, taping and priming - the actual painting is easy.   So too with employee evaluations.

Why You Need to Ask Questions About Your Culture

Why You Need to Ask Questions About Your Culture: Organizational culture powerfully influences a company's performance — or at least we say so. I often hear executives reassure me that projects will get done because "we have an execution culture," or that customers will be well taken care of because "we have a culture where the customer comes first." At the same time, culture is also one of the great rationalizations for managerial shortcomings. Many times I've heard that a project was delayed because "we don't make quick decisions around here," which is the managerial equivalent of "the dog ate my homework."

The Commitment Engine

The Commitment Engine: One of the most effective ways to build your team is to enlist your staff in the recruiting process. In The Commitment Engine, John Jantsch, a marketing and digital technology ...

Are You an Impactful Leader?

Are You an Impactful Leader?: This last weekend, the Empact100 took place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where 100 of the most impactful entrepreneurs were recognized by the White House. There were some great speeches given by many people, including Jeff Hoffman, the co-founder of Priceline and Steve Case, the founder of AOL.

How to Respond to Negativity

How to Respond to Negativity: "I'm getting to the end of my patience," Dan,* the head of sales for a financial services firm, told me. "There is so much opportunity here — the business is growing, the work is interesting, and bonuses should be pretty good this year — but all I hear is complaining."

Leadership Truths That Every Leader Needs To Know

Leadership Truths That Every Leader Needs To Know:
Successful business leadership is about the ability to create a compelling vision that is backed up by strong values, a strong sense of purpose and that inspires other people to help you to achieve it. In order to do this it is essential that, as a leader, you create an environment where people are encouraged to work harmoniously together using their own unique talents and skills to achieve common goals.
It sounds fairly straightforward doesn’t it?

6 Ways Successful Teams Are Built To Last

6 Ways Successful Teams Are Built To Last: It takes great leadership to build great teams. Leaders  who are not  afraid to course correct, make the difficult decisions and establish standards of performance that are constantly  being met – and improving at all times.   Whether in the workplace, professional sports,  or your local community, team building requires a keen understanding of people, their strengths and what gets them excited to work with others.   Team building requires the management of egos and their constant demands for attention and recognition – not always warranted.   Team building is both an art and a science and the leader who can consistently build high performance teams is worth their weight in gold.

New To Leadership? If You Only Do One Thing, Do This

New To Leadership? If You Only Do One Thing, Do This: Yet another really interesting post from Glen Llopis, this one about what young leaders need to do to lead folks from older generations.  His four recommendations are: 1) Be an active listener and learner, 2) Get to know them on a personal level, 3) Embrace differences, 4) Earn respect by being less authoritative.