Blog
The Employee Reward Philosophy That Equals Higher Retention
Congratulations! That great new person has been hired to your team – and they are eager to start adding a ton of value. As a highly-engaged leader, you understand how to create an upward spiral of performance very well: define performance standards, spell out expectations, collaborate on next steps and benchmarks, follow up and adjust….
A Guide to Great 1:1 Meetings
More and more leaders are getting the message: in order to be effective, you must have regular 1:1 meetings with each of your direct reports. Managers and employees rely on those 1:1 meetings to stay on top of the details of every ongoing project, spot small problems before they turn into bigger ones, and create…
Seven Ways to Prepare to Reboot Your Management Style
So many leaders get the message: in order to be effective and get results, you must provide ongoing guidance, direction, and support. But the problem is they feel held back from making a change in their management style: “If I do this, how can I get my employees to take me seriously? I’ve been hands-off…
You’re Struggling to Retain the Best Talent – Is Undermanagement the Cause?
Attracting, recruiting, and retaining the best talent is one of the biggest challenges facing organizations today. For employers of all sizes, in every industry, it is getting harder to get the great candidates they need to come in the door. The people they do manage to hire are less likely to stick around for very…
Break Free from the Vicious Cycle of Undermanagement
Managers who are convinced they don’t have time to manage almost always spend lots of time managing people anyway. That’s because whenever a manager avoids spending time up front making sure things go right, then things almost always go wrong. Small problems pile up and grow until they become so big that they cannot be…
Seven Key Aspects of Management With Which Managers Are Struggling
It’s always been hard to manage people. Managers have always been stuck in the middle between the employer and the employee, trying to negotiate their competing needs and expectations. But today, managers are telling us that it is harder than ever before. And it is resulting in an ongoing epidemic of undermanagement. Not only are…
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…