Every so often a management team gets stuck in a rut; that murky sloggy place where for no good reason progress just slows down. Everything takes looooooonger. You discuss the same projects over and over. Nothing much really happens. The pending lists just get a little longer every day. It’s the way …
executive coaching
Are You Popular?
This topic is often debated with fire and brimstone (what is brimstone?) And I seem to hold a minority opinion. Here it is: I absolutely believe that a manager can be both popular AND effective. There's an old saying; “management is not a popularity contest.” Au contraire, dear managers. It is a …
Making Great Hires
It’s time to play that really fun business game called “Making Great Hires.” Question: do you know that hiring well is the most important skill that a managers must do well? Answer: If yours is yes, then you will get all the money. Making great hires means: matching employees and new hires with …
#1
Pretend that it’s one year from today and you are throwing a party to celebrate the #1 accomplishment that your team pulled off this year. You are celebrating ONE GREAT THING….the #1 thing that you asked them to deliver. The #1 thing where you asked your team to put a crazy intense focus. And they …
Are You Nailing Up Plywood?
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." W. Edwards Deming wrote that iconic line in the sixties and it could have been written last week. This was illustrated dramtically when Alan Greenspan recently apologized to America for not knowing that the cowboy bankers were ruining …
Are you Brand X?
Companies spend billions trying to create compelling brands. Jello. Kleenex. Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. People have brands, too, and as a manager you surely have a brand in the eyes of your employees. Whether you know it or not. I recently went to my official, well organized digital card storage file …