The best way to motivate people is to truly understand what motivates them. Sounds painfully simple, and yet, too many leaders don't follow that advice. They stick to one-size-fits-all tactics or rely on money to motivate employees to do their very best. In this infographic, created by Headway Capital, you'll learn that money is not the answer to everything and instead … [Read more...]
5 Core Practices of the Best Leaders
Regardless your age, industry, background or level within the organization, if you want to be a truly great leader, there are five core principles that will guide you to be your very best, according to Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, who have just released the sixth edition of their bestseller The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in … [Read more...]
Write an Agenda That Does What it’s Supposed to Do
We’ve all walked out of a meeting and thought “Wow, that was a waste of time.” Perhaps the meeting had no clear purpose, the participants strayed off topic or the issues weren’t adequately resolved. It's incredibly frustrating because it eats up time most of us don't have. What's even more frustrating is that those time-wasting experiences can usually be avoided if the guys … [Read more...]
5 Tips to Ensure You Don’t Botch Your First Hiring
Hiring is stressful, especially when you've never done it before. Hire the wrong person and you can cost yourself and your organization time and money. However, "when you adopt proven hiring strategies, you can retain a steady flow of talent to fill open job positions and replace underperforming employees quickly. And when your hiring is fast and accurate, you get to focus … [Read more...]
Prioritization Means Choosing What Problems Not to Solve
This is a guest post by Nat Greene, author of Stop Guessing: The 9 Behaviors of Great Problem-Solvers Business leaders face a constant burden in their organizations: They have too many problems to solve and not enough resources to solve all of them. A good prioritization system is critical for any business leader, and our relationship with it often resembles a car. When … [Read more...]
The Qualities of a Strong Leader: Deep Insight From a Long-Time Military Leader
In this new interview series, we'll share insight from leaders who have been there, done that and lived to tell the tale. First up, we hear from Bob Mason, whose 30-year military career taught him the ins and outs of being a strong leader. Starting with a small team at the young age of 19, he honed his skills leading ever larger and more complex teams, eventually commanding … [Read more...]
How to Manage Difficult People
Sure, there are some people who are naturally good at dealing with conflict, but most people aren’t. They resort to ineffective conflict management techniques, such as giving the silent treatment, allowing their anger to fester, yelling at the other person or talking behind his or her back. Not only are those responses ineffective for resolving conflicts, but they’re also … [Read more...]
3 Steps to Harness Your Emotions and Become a Stronger Leader
If you think being a great leader (and employee, in general) means silencing your emotions, think again. The most successful people, say Ed Hess and Katherine Ludwig, authors of Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age are those who can leverage their emotions in a way that allows them to think better and become more creative, innovative … [Read more...]
Improving Workplace Relationships: 4 Responses to Dealing with Drama
By Marlene Chism, consultant, speaker and author. There are many ways that drama can affect workplace relationships. One way that I often discuss in my workshops is how to stop taking the bait. You know what I mean. It’s those times when you put your foot in your mouth, or you get drawn into an argument or communication exchange that you later regret, yet it happens again … [Read more...]
A Pivotal Step in Solving Your Toughest Problems
By: Mark Miller Most leaders pride themselves on being effective problem-solvers, but sometimes our best efforts fall short. Do you ever wonder what causes some problem-solving efforts to fail? There are several usual suspects… Unclear problem identification, failure to identify the real root cause(s) of the situation, lack of creativity once we move to the solutions side … [Read more...]