I was once asked what advice I would offer to young people who intended to pursue a career that involved leading others. I gave it some thought and realized that such advice would apply to all young people, not just those who aspired to leadership at a young age because some who do …
Category Archive: Uncategorized
Sep 23 2010
Can Leaders Motivate With Money?
Is money a motivator? Can leaders buy a higher level of employee engagement? The short and typical consultant answer is yes and no. We need to look at human needs and how people are motivated to meet those needs. In the middle of the 20th century, Dr. Abraham Maslow developed his Hierarchy of …
Sep 21 2010
The Cost of Turnover in the Retail Industry: Those Associates Who Quit Are Costing Big Dollars!
What is your company paying for employee turnover? Often senior leadership doesn’t give much attention to turnover at the lower levels, but they should because it’s costing the company a lot of money. Let’s say your company pays associates $8 per hour. Let’s further assume the associates average 30 hours per week. Doing …
Sep 14 2010
Four Do’s and Four Don’ts in Goal Setting
I was talking to an engineer who was complaining about management. No news there, but he made a valid point. He was objecting to the goals his management was setting because he saw them as goals to further the particular manager rather than the company. Unfortunately, that isn’t an unusual situation and is …
Aug 17 2010
Is it Time to Review Your Strategic Plan?
During my seminars on strategic planning, I mention that in most cases, strategic planning should be a revolving 1-year process. That means that every year the senior leadership should accomplish the planning process and adjust as necessary. The exception is organizations in which senior leaders find themselves in a position where emergency actions …
Aug 12 2010
Five Things to Look for in Potential Leaders
You need to find someone to move into the next open management position. There are several people with the technical expertise, but being an enlightened leader yourself, you are looking for some ability to lead people, not just manage the department. How do you find that special person who will be a good …
Aug 10 2010
Developing a New Leader
For some inexplicable reason, there is a tendency to pick someone as the next manager and give them no training for their leadership role. Senior leaders will watch the new manager flounder and eventually proclaim that they “just weren’t leadership material.” There are many sources of leadership training available of which some organizations …
Aug 05 2010
Five Steps to Diverstiy Training for Leaders
Though people of different nationalities have always been present in most work situations, the concept of handling diversity has become a big issue in the workplace, and thanks to an explosion of litigation, is a major concern for leaders. How does a leader deal with this diversity question? Often the answer is “diversity …
Aug 03 2010
Leading When The Boss Won’t Listen
Why are executives less than willing to hear things from their subordinate leaders? There’s an interesting phenomenon in the military. Often called the revolving door, it is common for military retirees to quickly return as civilian consultants. It makes a lot of sense for both the retiree and the military to continue to …
Jul 29 2010
Ten Questions Leaders Should Ask Employees
Many years ago when I was a young worker just becoming a manager and leader and I wondered why my bosses never asked my opinion. In fact they seldom asked me anything. That seemed strange to me; after all I had infinite knowledge and the wisdom of youth and leadership certainly could have …
