My previous posting asked, “Are you a bad boss?” I then offered a number of bad boss behaviors (poor emotional control, indecisiveness, micromanaging, etc.) for your consideration. Well, I apparently missed a few. I have gotten some notes (from people, I assume, who are bad bosses themselves, who are recovering bad bosses, or who at
Are you a bad boss?
An old adage says, “People don’t leave their companies, they leave their managers.” There are lots of reasons an employee may leave a company . . . higher pay, better hours, shorter commute, etc. . . . but in many cases, a bad boss is in there too. Think about your own work experience and
“What crucial conversations are you not holding, or not holding well?”
Joseph Grenny is a New York Times best-selling author, a keynote speaker, and a social scientist who is passionate about good communication. More precisely, he is passionate about what he calls “crucial conversations” . . . those conversations that are necessary, but are so fraught with real or imagined danger, or carry so much emotional
“Negotiations are built on agreement, not disagreement.”
We tend to associate “negotiating” with lawyers, politicians, and purchasing agents. But the fact is, we all negotiate. We negotiate compensation packages for new employees, we negotiate price and terms with our customers, we negotiate bedtimes with our kids, and household budgets with our spouses. So we all negotiate all sorts of stuff . .
Just say “No!” to business-speak.
Whatever it is you do for a living, chances are you use some sort of jargon or slang or made-up words that you use to communicate with others who are in your line of work. Airline pilots speak their own language. Doctors and nurses talk to one another in med-speak. Lawyers, scientists, and computer geeks
“At the end of the day, you bet on people, not strategies.”
The Filene Research Institute is a think tank aimed at helping credit unions find ways to operate smarter, more efficiently, and more effectively. An acquaintance of mine who manages a credit union shared one of Filene’s reports with me. The title of the report is “Attributes and Skills of Highly Effective Credit Union Managers,” but
Don’t manage change. Lead it!
In their book, “Blue Ocean Strategy,” authors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne offer some advice for successfully introducing change. The advice they offer is in the context changing marketing strategy, but their advice is really valid for any significant change within an organization whether you’re making operational changes, organizational changes, policy changes, or other.
“Marketing is a contest for people’s attention.”
Good marketing is probably more art than science. It’s the art of building relationships. It’s moving prospects along a continuum that begins at “Never heard of ya,” and ends at “Where do I sign?” The trick is, knowing where along that line a prospect is so that our marketing communication is both appropriate and effective.
Let’s get confrontational!
To many of us, confrontation is something to be avoided. The word conjures up something unpleasant or uncomfortable. We imagine two people standing toe-to-toe, their faces red, the veins in their necks bulging, and screaming at one another at the tops of their lungs. Well, if that’s the way you think of confrontation, it’s easy
“Extraordinary companies and teams . . . “
In his book, “True Alignment,” author Edgar Papke makes the point that in genuinely great organizations, everyone . . . every executive, every manager, every employee . . . pulls together toward the same goal, the same outcome. Makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, without this sort of “alignment,” members of an organization can work
