Tools, Resources and Guides for Managers and Business Leaders. Real Advice from Real Bosses.
How I Cut the Cost of Training My Employees in Half Many managers are familiar with the old 70, 20, 10 Rule for employee development. The Rule suggests that 70% of an employee’s development should be learning-by-doing while 20% should be through mentoring. According to this principle, the last 10% of an employee’s growth and development should be the result of
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Navigate the Challenges of Contract Negotiations in the People’s Republic A Fortune 200 executive once told me “No CEO wants it on his or her watch that they missed out on China.” It goes without saying that the world’s largest marketplace is a force to be reckoned with. As anyone who has worked with Chinese companies knows, doing business and negotiating in
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The 7 Rules of Process Development and Implementation Your growing business has a great product, friendly customer service, happy clients and cash. What’s missing? An often forgotten ingredient to a well-run business is the development and implementation of the processes that serve as the backbone for a company. Developing effective business processes makes your internal activities repeatable and consistent. And the more stable your
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Should I Let Employees Work From Home? Compared to just 15 years ago, the widespread availability of Wi-Fi, tablets, video conferences and smart phones have made the world our office. Many jobs no longer require employees to be housed within the same four walls since they can connect virtually, just as if they were sitting at a desk in a high-rise office
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Humility. It’s the emotion you’ll feel the first time one of your employees resigns. You’ll likely ask yourself a few pointed questions: Did I do something wrong? Can I persuade them to change their mind? Are they just using this as leverage to get something they want? All good questions. When an employee gives their notice that they will be leaving,
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The Right Way to Give Performance Feedback to an Employee To my friends, I described it as ‘an out of body experience.’ I made the comment in reference to the annual performance review given to me by my boss a few years back. It was an hour and a half that left me dazed and confused. The reason for my harsh critique was quite
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7 Steps to Building a Successful Team: People, Purpose, Performance The opportunity doesn’t come often for us, but getting the chance to build a brand new team from scratch is one of the most enjoyable experiences a manager will ever have. After all, building a successful organization requires planning, creativity, execution and oversight…all at once. For me, the first such opportunity
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Making Organizational Changes in Support of Your Future Success A college professor of mine once told me “There is no book on that. Sometimes you just need to get in and figure your way out.” Knowing when to restructure a business is one of those things. Though there are books on organizational theory and team dynamics, there is no textbook out there telling us exactly
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Questions for Building a Business Case Any manager who has hired new employees has dealt with challenges related to wages. Why else do recruiters ask for a candidates salary as part of the initial screening process? What they’re really asking is “can I afford you?” I actually had one hiring manager tell me “This guy is making more than I do, we could never
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A Good Capture Strategy is More Than Just a Good Price Last week, I sat through a capture strategy meeting. The sales manager responsible for the territory was presenting a new opportunity to the management team and walked us through the capture efforts. Financially, the business case looked good. The level of risk seemed low, and the customer was one we did
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Management Tips from Mother Nature As the air begins to cool and the days get shorter, we begin to see the first stages of fall settle in. For some, it’s a welcomed sign; for others, it may mark the end of a great summer. But for everyone, the arrival of the fall season is inevitable and simply part of life.
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7 Steps to Organizational Preservation Though it is far more common than we would like to admit, our businesses and organizations are filled with what I like to call “single persons of failure,” or SPOF. In my company, for example, we have a department manager who is nearing retirement in the next 18 months, yet we have no one identified as his
» Read more A Detailed Account of Downsizing a Team By One Manager at a Fortune 500 EDITOR’S NOTE: The following comments chronicle a layoff event that occurred at a Fortune 500 Company, as recorded by a manager in the organization. This is the second part in a 3-part series. Click HERE for Part 1, HERE for Part 2 or HERE for Part 3. Key details
» Read more A Detailed Account of Downsizing a Team By One Manager at a Fortune 500 EDITOR’S NOTE: The following comments chronicle a layoff event that occurred at a Fortune 500 Company, as recorded by a manager in the organization. This is the second part in a 3-part series. Click HERE for Part 1, and HERE for Part 2. Key details are omitted to
» Read more A Detailed Account of Downsizing a Team By One Manager at a Fortune 500 EDITOR’S NOTE: The following comments chronicle a layoff event that occurred at a Fortune 500 Company, as recorded by a manager in the organization. This is the second part in a 4-part series. Click HERE for Part 1, and HERE for Part 3. Key details are omitted to
» Read more A Detailed Account of Downsizing a Team By One Manager at a Fortune 500 EDITOR’S NOTE: The following comments chronicle a layoff event that occurred at a Fortune 500 Company, as recorded by a manager in the organization. This is the first in a 4-part series. Key details are omitted to keep it anonymous, however the timing, details and commentary are factual.
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Regardless of whether its your first management gig, or just a new team for you to lead, every manager has a their first meeting with a new team. And while your new employees are likely to be generally cordial and kind, they’re still getting to know you, just as you’re getting to know them. You want to get past this period
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What it Takes to Become a Great Boss and a Great Leader It goes without saying that managing a team and leading people comes with a lot of responsibility. And while many managers are successful and have great careers, there are other managers who simply knock it out of the park. They get results, meet their budget and seemingly don’t break
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The Art of Interviewing Job Candidates One of the most difficult and important decisions you will make as a manager of people is selecting who to hire and planning how to staff your team. Such decisions should not be taken likely – as the boss, you are responsible for the getting results. Additionally, hiring the wrong people is tremendously disruptive
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The Most Inspiring Question I’ve Ever Heard from a Job Candidate Times were tough. We were working around the clock in response to a major product recall. My team was exhausted. Our customers were furious. We had been at it for months. Even though it was December, many of us knew we would have to work through the Christmas holidays
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