By Marcia Zidle on May 15, 2012
Rather, the team or project leader functions like a coach who recognizes special talents in people and, at the same time, gets them to work together toward a common goal. The following steps will help you select a cohesive team and set it in the right direction. 1. Evaluate team candidates. You may be called [...]
By Marcia Zidle on April 3, 2012
Research shows that most employees want feedback – they want to know how they’re doing – but many managers are doing a poor job of giving it to them. Why is that? Here are some reasons why managers avoid providing performance feedback: 1. Lack of know-how. Providing employees with honest and useful performance feedback is [...]
By Marcia Zidle on March 27, 2012
The saying that “people do not leave their jobs, they leave their bosses” is overused, but true. In employee exit surveys, the most frequent employee complaint is about their former supervisor’s communications skills—too little, too much, too ineffective. Poor communication does account for a multitude of workplace woes — including interpersonal conflict, wasted money and [...]
By Marcia Zidle on March 13, 2012
Are you aware of Tootsie Roll Pop Strategy of employee retention? Inside a tootsie roll pop is the chocolate core- that is, the wages and benefits. Yes, a competitive compensation package is important. But that gets people to show up for work but not necessarily to give their 100%. However, there is also the outer [...]
By Marcia Zidle on March 6, 2012
How much of money do you spend on hiring the right people and then waste by pouring cold water on their enthusiasm on that very first day? Almost all companies do an orientation for new hires but few pay much attention to them. Often workers come to work excited about the prospects of a new [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]