Archive for 'Leadership'
The Carrot Principle by Chester Elton — Book Brief
Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by admin.
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Mindset (part 1): They’re Not Out to Get You
Posted on 09. Jun, 2009 by Jerry Roberts.
It’s so easy to think that the people on our team must be screwing up on purpose. C’mon, admit it — you’ve had similar thoughts at least once.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve told him about ___________, and he still got it wrong. He’s got to be doing this intentionally.”
I’ve known a few people who have set out to mess with the boss, but it’s extremely rare. I still believe that most people want to do the right thing and will make their best effort if given the opportunity.
As I’ve written about managers, it’s the same with other staff members: About 5% are …
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Kids and Working: We Need to Get to Them Earlier
Posted on 17. Apr, 2009 by admin.
Most managers look at the generation coming out of school with a fair degree of skepticism that they’ll be able to make a serious contribution early on.
To a large extent, this view is accurate. Most young women and men aren’t adequately prepared to deliver even minimum wage value. Often times it’s a lack of basic skills but, too frequently, it’s the attitude toward work.
A lot of kids want money and know they have to work to get it, but they don’t care much for actually doing it. Work looks boring, tedious, repetitive, uninspiring, and generally uncool. Maybe this is because we’ve…
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How to Leverage Training (Part 2): Our Initial Results
Posted on 17. Mar, 2009 by admin.
In my last post I discussed the concept of making training — rather the followup to training — something that the entire staff can take part in. If you missed it, you’ll benefit from getting the background with How to Leverage Training (Pt. 1) — How to Make it a Whole Team Activity. This sets the stage for what’s in this segment.
We’ll report on our progress incrementally
When I decided to write about our shared training experience I figured I would let it all play out, and then report on the outcome. That changed when I…
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How to Leverage Training (Pt. 1): Make It a Whole Team Activity
Posted on 10. Mar, 2009 by admin.
Imagine if you could multiply the benefits of training, easily and in a way that produces greater value for all involved. That’s what I’m going to give you in this post.
Our story
We recently closed our company for a full day — mid-week — so that each member of our team could attend a leadership teleconference; 10 world class speakers and thought leaders, who deliver exceptional value that touches attendees in many ways.
For a small company this is no small undertaking. It would mean that work would pile up that had to be done the next day, and no sales calls would be made. It was a zero revenue day, and we had projects with deadlines.
Our manager felt that it would be a good time for the whole team to have a shared learning experience. I trust her judgment and during the course I began to think of a way to not just leverage the training benefit, but to…
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Stop Pigeonholing Workers — Learn More
Posted on 28. Feb, 2009 by admin.
How many managers hire someone for a specific set of tasks and then forget that they hired a whole human being who is full of undocumented skills and capabilities?
Answer: Too many.
And we lose a big advantage as a result.
Why do we pigeonhole people?
When we hire people we conduct the interview(s) and scan the resumé for red flags, but we probably don’t go very much in depth with them, learning what else they can do. I think this is fumbling…
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Force Leadership on People When You Have to
Posted on 21. Feb, 2009 by admin.
Imagine that you own a business and have poured years into the development of a successor, but the closer you get to the transition of power this person shows only moderate interest in assuming the leadership role.
Add in that this is a family member so the thought of developing another person, just in case the heir apparent changed his/her mind, was an option seldom considered at all.
Yet, here you are at a time when you figured you would have your plan solidly in place and you could prepare for the next stage of your career and life — and it’s not even close.
What would you do?
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What Does Leadership Look Like?
Posted on 10. Feb, 2009 by admin.
What does leadership look like?
Susan Mazza recently asked that question in her blog, Random Acts of Leadership. In seeking the best definition of leadership, she concluded that “it does not exist.”
For me, leadership is a …
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Do We Really Know How Our Workers Interpret Us?
Posted on 08. Feb, 2009 by Jerry Roberts.
Would you talk to your work team differently if you knew that each point you deliver was instantly placed in one of two categories: Acceptance or disbelief?
According to research that Google has done in how people process advertising, this seems to be exactly what we face when trying to motivate our team.
I recently viewed a video of an interview with Dr. Vinton Cerf, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, where he discussed how people make the distinction between valuable information and advertising…
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You Can’t Scare Workers Into Long Term High Performance
Posted on 27. Jan, 2009 by Jerry Roberts.
Woe is Bill. You see, he’s a manager who is stuck in the 1960s and who believes that you can get workers to perform at a high level if they’re fearful of losing their jobs.
While Bill has worked for several companies in his career as a hotel food and beverage manager, he still buys in to the 1960s employment scenario. He still thinks he can strongarm workers and scare them into performing up to expectations. Bill suffers from …




