I was perusing through some old Harvard Business Reviews and came across an article in the June 14, 2018 issue called “To Retain New Hires, Make Sure You Meet with Them in Their First Week.” It’s authored by Dawn Klinghoffer, Candace Young, and Xue Liu. They conducted a study at Microsoft and they found that […]
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Communication SNAFU Avoidance Strategy
(SNAFU = Situation Normal All Fouled UP) Have you ever asked someone to do something and the results they produce show that somehow, the message got lost in translation? The temptation here is to blame the other person and think, “Weren’t you paying attention?” “What is wrong with you?” Or, if you’re a magnanimous sort, […]
Underperforming Employee? Let Him Judge Himself First
Working with an underperforming employee can be challenging. I recently came across an article in the Harvard Business Review by Sabina Nawaz titled “How to Talk to an Employee Who Isn’t Meeting Their Goals,”. She suggested an approach I really like which is to ask the employee to evaluate himself first before you make any […]
Varsity Blues: Lesson For Managers
I was disappointed and disgusted at the Varsity Blues scandal that broke two weeks ago. Rich folks, like Full House star Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman were able to pay bribes to get their kids into elite colleges like Stanford, USC, Yale and Harvard. It broke my heart. Varsity Blues Says Fairness […]
Onboarding: First Impressions Matter
Onboarding is the process of welcoming new employees into your organization. I’m currently reading Shaping the Future by Bill Belgard and Steven Rayner. Steve and I are really good friends, but that’s not why I’m plugging this book. It’s because they have some really good stuff in it, especially about onboarding. In particular, I enjoyed […]
When Disagreeing, Earn Yourself A Hearing
Most of us don’t like disagreement. We’ve been taught by our parents to keep the peace, go along to get along and to not cause waves. So, the very act of disagreeing often puts us out of our comfort zone. Without disagreeing, however, we don’t really make a lot of progress in terms of creativity […]
Implementing Change: Banana Carts & Smart Phones
Implementing change usually means overcoming the resistance of others to changing. Ken Olsen, who was CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation back in 1977 once famously said “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.How short sighted was that? I would laugh at him now except that back in 2008, I bought […]
Team Learning Lesson: Flocking Titmice & Red Robins
I was having breakfast this morning with some friends and their 11-year-old son. He asked me what I did for a living and I said, “Well, I’m a speaker.” He said, “What? Like stereo speakers or something?” I said, “No. I speak to groups and organizations.” And he said, “Oh, kind of like when we […]
Leading Change = Tough + Tender
Leading Change can be tricky. The president of a small college complained to me that he was having trouble getting his management team moving toward action on some much needed changes. Priding himself on being a true believer in participative management, he asked the team to identify the specific changes needed, prioritize their value, and […]
Employee Motivation: People Are Not Pets
Employee motivation, from where does it come? A recent article by Alfie Kohn in the New York Times titled “Science Confirms It – People Are Not Pets” tells us that a number of scientific studies have shown that when we are rewarded for doing something, we tend to lose interest in whatever we had to do […]