Posts by Liz Richards
Managing People Is Getting Harder
Undermanagement can be difficult to identify. After all, everyone at work is surrounded by metrics and meetings all the time. It may seem like management is ever-present. But what is missing in most workplaces is the human element of management: managers providing direct reports with the guidance, direction, support and coaching that they need to…
Supporting Employees Means Customizing Your Management Approach
All your employees come to work with different levels of ability and skill: different backgrounds, personalities, styles, ways of communicating, work habits, and motivations. Some of them need more guidance than others. One employee needs the details spelled out, while another has the details memorized. One responds best if you ask questions, while another prefers…
Leaders and Managers: Don’t Be Afraid to Solve Small Problems!
Nobody likes confrontations, especially when it’s a confrontation with an employee you manage. Difficult conversations only seem to make things worse, resulting in hurt feelings or maybe even broken trust. Sometimes, if a resolution can’t be found, you even have to fire the employee in question. And that means yet another, even more difficult, confrontation….
Trying to Hold Your Employees Accountable? You Have to Make It a Process, Not a Slogan
Accountability is a hot watchword in just about every business. But what does it really mean? Simply put, accountability means having to answer for one’s actions. When business leaders chant the slogan of “accountability,” what they are trying to do is spread the following message to employees: behave knowing in advance that you will have…
Help! How Do I Increase Employee Productivity?
If an employee doesn’t get “enough” work done—they need to increase productivity—then there are only three logical possibilities: that employee needs to work either more, faster, or both. Simple, right? Just keep that employee in their chair and keep a fire lit under it. But it’s rarely quite so simple. Here’s what usually happens: Assuming…
Become a Great Delegator: Ask the Right Questions When Handing Off Work
Micromanagement, when it occurs, is usually the result of an anxious manager who wants to make sure that everything is getting done the right way, at every step of the way, by overseeing the project from start to finish. The thing is, managers should make sure that everything is getting done the right way, every…
The Value of Leadership Training
Leaders in organizations of every shape and size can probably list a number of ways their businesses could improve. Employees do their jobs the wrong way. There is too much firefighting and not enough work getting done. Low performers are hiding out under the radar. High performers are thinking about leaving. Resources are wasted. There…
Help! I’m Responsible for an Entirely New Team
It’s difficult enough being the new manager. But it’s twice as hard when everybody is new to you and to each other. You haven’t met each other yet. You may not have had any say in who was chosen for the team. As far as you know, nobody on the team has ever worked together…
Are You Ready for Gen Z?
by Alexandra Levit Millennials have captured the global workforce’s imagination. And Millennials are important, of course, as they are our current and rising leaders. But what about Generation Z, born 1996-2012? This year, the oldest Gen Zers will enter the professional workforce, and they are very different than what we’ve come to expect from the…
Hiring Gen Z: Takeaways for Today’s Talent Wars
When it comes to hiring, there’s a lot of advice out there about how to attract the best young talent. Make sure they have access to technology, pair them with a workplace friend, offer flexibility – these solutions make sense on the surface, but they aren’t necessarily specific enough for employers to know which steps…