By Marcia Zidle on February 21, 2012
Our company is going through some hard times because of the economic uncertainty. We are tightening our belt and trying not to lay off our folks, but we may be forced to. How do we make the best of a bad time for our business? It is easier to be open with employees when the [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on February 14, 2012
“I find myself trying to avoid those annual appraisals with my people. Much as I try to keep the meeting focused, we always seem to get side tracked and involved in personal stuff.” – Health Care Manager During a recent training on performance reviews, I asked managers when they experienced problems. Many said it was [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on February 7, 2012
“I’ve taken over a project team and there are several problem employees. One spends more time socializing than doing her job. Another is making too many mistakes that slow down the team. How should I handle these problems as the new leader?” One of a leader’s toughest jobs is dealing with problem employees. The best course [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on January 31, 2012
The office holiday party was a huge success. Was it just a way to thank your workers for a job well done this past year? Or do you expect it to have the lasting power to motivate your workers for the next twelve months? I’m not trying to be a scrooge or put a damper [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on January 24, 2012
“Many managers make poor staffing decisions. By all accounts their batting average is no better than .333. At most, one-third of such decisions turn out right; one-third minimally effective; and one-third outright failures. In no other area of management would we put up with such miserable performance.” – Peter Drucker, management icon. I recently gave [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on January 17, 2012
“Managers who coach their people become known as good managers to work for, developers of talent, and achievers of business results. They also become better leaders in the process.” Jack Welch, Former CEO General Electric Why Is Coaching Important? Good managers regularly keep their people and team informed about work performance so that they can [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on January 10, 2012
Are you seeing a decrease of employee motivation and morale, especially with your top performers? Don’t look for causes and solutions out there. Instead, chances are you’ll find critical employee issues are actually resulting from a host of internal management practices. Here are five “demotivators” - sure ways to dampen the enthusiasm of your best and [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on January 3, 2012
Stop at the red and go on the green. Wait your turn. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Certain timeless rules are better obeyed than broken. But are there certain rules that may need to be broken? In today’s constantly changing business world, many of the rules that guided previous generations of managers [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on December 27, 2011
How well are you getting everyone onboard the change train as it’s pulling out of the station? Change creates uncertainty for employees about their job, their responsibilities, their livelihood. No matter the kind of change or the extent, it is crucial that leaders communicate with employees early, often and well. Part I provided these first [...]
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By Marcia Zidle on December 20, 2011
How do you start out on the right foot so that everyone will get on board the change train quickly? No matter the kind of change or the extent, it is crucial that managers communicate with employees early, often and well. When the change message is not well-defined and well presented, people tend to respond by sitting [...]
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Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organization development and consultant training services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]
Marcia Zidle, a certified career strategist and business coach, works with high potential, high impact executives, managers and professionals to advance their careers and grow their leadership capabilities. [Read more ...]