26
Jul

10 Rules for how to be a good leader

I recently wrote a post about how to be a good employee, and promised an upcoming post about being a good leader.  Here’s what I’ve learned from working for some great leaders and from doing the best I can to lead my team effectively. Get to know your team as individuals.  I don’t mean that you should become best friends with your …
10
Jul

A personal story of lack of feedback and it’s impact.

I recently wrote a post about how to give constructive feedback.  It reminded me of a personal experience I had with a lack of feedback.  As an extremely driven individual, I am motivated by feedback.  I actually crave it.  I want to know what I’m getting right and what I’m missing so I can continuously improve.  Here’s a story …
29
Jun

10 Rules for how to be a “good employee”

Over the years of being an employee, having employees, and coaching employees and Managers to build positive relationships, I’ve learned some common things that make an employee a “good employee”. Here’s my list. If you have others to add, please do so in the comments! And don’t worry, there will be a future post on how …
27
Jun

How to give constructive feedback

I recently wrote a post about receiving feedback, because I think this is an important art that many leaders lack.  Even more important for a good leader is to master the art of giving meaningful (A.K.A. constructive) feedback. Giving honest, meaningful feedback with the goal of helping others to improve will engage their hearts and minds and build …
20
Jun

Listen Leaders! Show your people you value them

One of the most important elements of engagement is a feeling of being valued.  The problem is that many leaders don’t know how to show that they do value their teams. When I’ve discussed this essential need of feeling valued, managers often think that they’ve done all they can to make employees feel valued.  “I got business …
12
Jun

Do pyjama (pajama for my US friends) days build engagement?

I was chatting with friends the other night and one of them mentioned that morale was poor at their workplace, so they were having a “wear your pyjamas to work” day. Will having a pyjama party actually improve morale?  No way. In fact, my friend was dreading it, and thought it was somewhat impractical in a work environment where half of …
20
May

Strategic Human Resources is critical to business success

As I was reviewing recent “Answers” on Linked In, I came across one that inspired this post.  An HR pro had posted a question asking what others would recommend as focus areas when starting or reviving HR in an organization.  An Operations Manager had answered the question by saying “None”, and going on to clarify that it …
09
May

Serving your Internal Customers

I think most leaders realize how important it is to provide great service to clients or customers. I often find, though, that some organizations forget about engaging and “serving” their internal customers – their employees. In fact, I would argue that the relationship that leaders cultivate with their employees is actually more important …