Business Meeting Itinerary and Change Management
Meetings can cost a lot of money if they are not productive.  If your manager has put you in charge of leading an upcoming meeting, ensure it goes well by using these guidelines: Goals: have specific, tangible SMAART Goals for the meeting, as well as sub goals. Transform the goals into questions. Questions: ask questions that get them thinking about the whole organization. The objective is to get them to see, think about and consider the entire map and not […]
Effective Business Meetings Equal 37 Billion Dollars per Year
And that dollar figure only applies to the United States! While meetings are a necessary activity, at times you may be sitting there wondering when it will be over, if you got anything out of the meeting, or why you were even there. When 11 million meetings occur each day in the U.S. and 71% of employees feel those meetings are unproductive, clearly there’s improvement to be made. (Source: Socialcast.com) Source: abettersolution.biz The Dark Side of Meetings Meetings started out […]
Deftly Dealing with Criticism and Activism Toward Your Company in a New Community
I used to live in a small town with a fairly depressed economy. Over the previous two decades, they’d lost the farm machinery plant, the appliance plant, and the industrial restaurant equipment plant. Good jobs were hard to come by, people were hurting, and most young people left town as soon as they turned eighteen.   When a new plant announced it was moving to town, you might have expected the local community to be overjoyed. After all, it was […]
Are You Leading with Integrity and Passion?
Think back on your work career; try to remember those leaders or mentors that really stand out. What made you think of them? Why did they stand out? If you are remembering more than one, were they both the same type of leader? There are different styles of leadership and each one of them may bring success, but great leaders, must also possess the ability to unify those around him or her and those that report to them. They also […]
Leading A Small But Effective Team
  We believe that great teamwork is essential to an organization. It enables businesses to achieve goals that an individual working alone cannot. Employees can achieve a higher level of contentment and becoming part of something greater is the very fuel for happiness. In order to create an effective team, we have identified four necessary attributes: Have The Purpose, Value or Charter In Writing If you are going to achieve success, you must start by identifying your purpose, values, or […]
The Rule of 44 For Hiring “A” Players
We believe that hiring “A” players is the most important job within an organization and it can be one of the biggest challenges. To get and keep your top performers, you have to engage both their current skill sets and their future aspirations while demonstrating a culture of trust and respect. Rather than trying to identify what the exact answer is for you in your industry, we like to use ‘The Rule of 44.’   In four areas, have four different […]
Are You Carrying a Lazy Man’s Load?
  In the day to day operation of a business, at times you may find that there are tasks that need to be done that aren’t complicated but they are necessary. You may be inclined to push through them quickly without much thought, planning or care. We encourage you to be sure that you aren’t carrying a lazy man’s load, meaning you pile these tasks on and hurriedly go about accomplishing them haphazardly in a rush to get them done. […]
Equal To The Love You Make: Improve Your Company Culture With Charitable Giving
There is a new trend in the workplace. Since 2007, employer sponsored charitable programs have been rising steadily, with 20% of employers offering some kind of charitable options as of 2013[1.Halzak, Sarah. “Paid Time off for Volunteering Gains Traction as Way to Retain Employees.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/paid-time-off-for-volunteering-gains-traction-as-way-to-retain-employees/2013/08/09/86189774-fe95-11e2-96a8-d3b921c0924a_story.html]. Whether employers are offering their workers time off or matching contributions in their name, employers are learning that getting involved doesn’t just help […]
Communicate More Effectively With Your Team By Following “The Platinum Rule”
The Golden Rule is something I hear about quite often: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I grew up with that rule, but over the years, it has created much frustration on my part in terms of getting leaders to lead and teams to be teams in a powerful manner. It has also limited the ability and results of leaders and teams in molding culture. It has bogged down processes and allowed strategic plans to […]