When was the last time you praised a direct report, a colleague—or your boss? I’ll bet many of you can remember when you praised a direct report, but you may have to think long and hard to remember the last time you recognized the efforts of a peer or leader. Catching people doing something right […]
Managing By Values
Many years ago, I heard John Naisbitt give a speech on his book Reinventing the Corporation and was intrigued by a concept he called “Fortunate 500” companies. We all know about Fortune 500 companies that are ranked on revenue, profits, and market value. But John defined Fortunate 500 companies as organizations measured by the quality […]
Coaching—the Most Essential Part of Performance Management
Performance management has three elements—planning, day-to-day coaching, and evaluation. When I ask managers which of these elements takes the most time, they almost always say evaluation. Sometimes I hear long statements full of frustration about the forms, activities, and deadlines involved in the evaluation process. It makes me realize that people are putting the emphasis […]
Coaching: The Key to Being an Effective Manager
Why is it important to use coaching skills if you want to be an effective manager? Because when people get the coaching they need, they perform better. Managers who provide day-to-day coaching have more effective teams, grow and retain their key people, and experience higher productivity overall. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Over the years when […]
The Simple Truths of Service
When was the last time you received customer service that was so great you wanted to tell others about it? Okay, now what about the last time you had a really bad experience as a customer? My guess is that the bad experience will pop into your mind a lot more easily than the good […]
Do Your People Trust You?
Trust has taken a hit lately in all facets of our lives, but especially in organizations. A dwindling level of trust between workers and leaders is one of the unfortunate consequences of financial mismanagement and economic meltdown within the working sector. So, how can you tell whether or not your people trust you? Watch what […]
Walk Your Talk
A few weeks ago, my blog focused on leading by values and the importance of communicating your organizational values clearly and constantly. Another critical element for leaders to practice is what I call walking your talk. Leaders must make every effort to become living symbols of their organization’s value system. Walking your talk means that […]
Leading by Values
I write and speak a lot about the importance of having strong corporate values. I believe when a company is truly leading by its values, there is only one boss—the values. In light of this, I challenge you to think about something: Are you truly leading by your values? Now, don’t worry, I’m not underestimating […]
A Simple Framework to Manage Performance
A critical skill for any leader is managing the performance of others. In our book Putting the One Minute Manager to Work, Bob Lorber and I introduce the ABCs of management as a framework to help leaders and their people succeed. It is a simple way to get back to the basics of influencing performance. […]
Don’t Just Sit There, Say Something!
Managers typically react to the performance of their direct reports with one of three responses: positive, negative, or no response at all. It isn’t hard to guess which one works best for increasing good performance—the positive response. A person who does something correctly and receives a positive response will most likely continue to perform using […]
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