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Managers: Is it Worth it to Deal With the “Petty Drama”?

August 6, 2010
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Hello Friends and Colleagues. I know I haven’t written in a while. The good news is that I have had a busy and productive summer coaching new managers on their exciting new role and training managers to develop the skills to effectively coach their employees. I also took time for some much-needed R&R in the [...]

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When is it Too Late to Engage Unhappy Employees?

May 28, 2010
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A crisis in employee engagement has been building for a long time, with employees increasingly being treated as interchangeable objects. As the economy recovers, the American workforce is going to go into active revolt.  Some of the best people will be energized to pursue situations where they will be treated as an intelligent Human being [...]

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Management Is Not a Guessing Game

April 20, 2010
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“They say there’s not enough communication…” This is one I hear a lot of from managers.  Their staff is complaining that there’s not enough communication going on. As a manager, you don’t want to hear this.  For goodness sake, aren’t you doing enough already to communicate?  There’s weekly staff meetings.  You forward announcements from the [...]

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Yes to Unvarnished Truth, No to “Unvarnished”

April 13, 2010
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I’m going to play my 2-year-old self today.  “No-no-no-no-NO.”  What brought that on?  Hearing the proposal for a new website called “Unvarnished.”  It allows for employees to be reviewed anonymously, for the world to see, with no way of removing a negative review. Like the sites RateMyProfessors or RateMDs, the intention is to reflect a [...]

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Managers: What Are Your Good Intentions Costing You?

April 9, 2010
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Do You Know Diane? Diane is both the supervisor and project team leader for her group. She is finding it hard to count on one of her employees, Robert.  He has a hard time juggling multiple priorities.  He gets bogged down to the point where he’s paralyzed and doesn’t know what to do next.  He shows up in [...]

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This Is Not the Story You Think It Is (Part 2 of *How* Are You a Manager of People?)

April 6, 2010
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Being a People Person Doesn’t Mean Being a People Pleaser Managers labeled as being a “people person” sometimes get a bad rap.  Some almost view it with disdain.  As a manager it certainly helps if you are friendly or “approachable.”  But being a people person does not mean you have to be “friends,” go out [...]

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Managers: Why You Don’t Need Team-Building

April 2, 2010
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I have a bone to pick with team-building.  In my experience, it often involved ropes, boards, puzzle pieces, the wilderness or all of the above, and I didn’t really get how it would help.  It seemed like it was setup with a hope and a prayer that we would all end up liking each other [...]

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Small is the New Big at Work

March 29, 2010
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My new Facebook buddy, Anthony McCann recently shared an article from TimesOnline.com, titled, “Small is Beautiful in the New Capitalism.“  Now, granted the article is about small business and entrepreneurs, but I think larger corporations can learn something from it too. “If I’m going to produce something, it should do something really good,” says fashion [...]

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