Three Simple Rules Before You Hit the Send Button
Before you send any business communication, stop and read it. Even if it is only a one sentence reply, you can eliminate some errors and save wasted time by proofreading what you wrote.
Accountability and Ownership – Do you know the difference?
VIDEO: Both accountability and ownership are important aspects of creating a motivational environment but in order to incorporate both, it is important to be clear about what each means.
Employee Satisfaction: Not My Goal Nor My Responsibility
Employee satisfaction is an elusive goal for many organizations. Should employee satisfaction even be a goal at all?
Operational Responsibilities of Leaders
The depth and scope of operational responsibilities within an organization can vary greatly, yet there is one constant: Leaders are needed to integrate the vision or mission of the organization with the day-to-day activities.
Credible vs. Crushing Criticism: How To Pull It Off
The way we criticize others' behaviors, decisions, and ideas impacts them either positively or negatively, and it tells a lot about us. Most of us don't do it well.
Stress and Decision Making: Avoid Expensive Mistakes
Some people respond well in stressful situations and some people lose focus and can make costly mistakes. But why does stress cause many people to have impaired decision making?
Is Anyone Listening?
The issue of people not doing what you tell them to do is one of the most mysterious and frustrating parts of being a manager. How can you let go of this fantasy and stop getting angry with your employees?
Rehire Someone You Fired?
Finding an expert in a specific area might be tough. What if a former employee was part of the candidate pool? Should you consider putting him/her back on the payroll?
10 Ways to Handle Complaints
Do you struggle to respond to complaints? Complaints are not all treated equally. Most managers welcome and can deal with a complaint that is valid and objectively expressed. Complaints that seem trite, invalid, or resemble whining are more difficult to handle.
10 Ways to Handle Your Mistakes
The ways in which we handle our goof-ups, guffaws, screw-ups, bad decisions, miscalculations, and blunders are critical—our reputations are at stake. And as managers, we should role model the behaviors we seek in others.
Hard Work Can Propel You to the Top
There's never been a tougher time to be a part of the job market, and people are scrambling to show employers they have what it takes. The secret to success may be simpler than you thought: hard work.
Using Positive Reinforcement in Employee Motivation
Positive reinforcement is the practice of rewarding desirable employee behavior in order to strengthen that behavior. For example, when you praise an employee for doing a good job, you increase the likelihood of him/her doing that job very well again.
Three Important Management Tips
This list of tips is intended to help you focus on the key issues that are important to your success as a manager.
The Control Freak Manager
Many over-controlling managers can’t really help themselves. Because of their own background and training—or lack of training—tightly controlling every aspect of every job might be the only way they know.
How to Fire Someone
This article is no longer available. You can view the original article on the author's website at: Alison Green “On Careers”
Ten Common Mistakes Managers Make
Most managers have achieved their positions by coming up “through the ranks.” Unfortunately, however, none of the qualities that got them there guarantees that they will be good at supervising other people.
Five Factors Every Employee Wants From Work
I've added and subtracted items from the list, and I've explained them in different ways over the years, but fundamentally, people want five things from their job.
Management Is Not a Popularity Contest
This article is no longer available. You can view the original article on the author's website at: Alison Green “On Careers”
5 Ways to Speed Through Bureaucracy at Work
We all have been through it at work. Some process or change you are driving requires a sign-off from what seems like every manager in your company.
The Boss Who Gives Lots of Praise
Boss A is reserved, rarely gives praise, and will tell you in words of one syllable if there is a problem with your performance. Boss B is friendly, and has comfortable expectations. For whom would you rather work?
Stop Working on Urgent Problems
Take a look at how you currently divide your time. Do you get the little, unimportant things completed first because they are easy and their completion makes you feel good?
Multitasking Doesn't Work
Multitasking was once heralded as the best way to accomplish more in a day. Then people started realizing that speed and accuracy (and sanity) suffered. Try a new strategy known as “chunking.”
Stress Awareness
While each person is different, there are some issues that almost universally affect people. These are the stressors you most want to understand and take measures to prevent.
Getting Your Point Across
When we're trying to get a point across to someone else we often think long and hard about what we want to say. That is the wrong way to go about it. Instead of focusing on what you want to say to get your point across, you should focus on what you want the other person to hear.
Lead the Team: How to be the Person Others Follow
Leaders are hard to find. They exhibit a unique blend of charisma, vision, and character traits that attract people to follow them. To follow, people must feel confidence in the direction in which the leader is headed.
