I’ve worked with well-meaning, highly-principled leaders and managers for years. When the topic of coaching and developing their employees comes up, I often hear that they know coaching is important, they want to coach more, but they don’t have time because they are too busy “putting out fires.” Right now, that probably has never been more true. The pandemic put many leaders … [Read more...]
Encourage Employees to Take More Initiative
Empowerment is a great thing, especially during times of change, upheaval and disruption. Empowered employees show greater commitment, stay more engaged, and create better results. Empowered employees take more initiative and get more done than employees who work in a fear-based, command-and-control environment. As a new supervisor, you hear and read about these … [Read more...]
Helping Grief-Stricken Employees
Death is an incredibly tough subject to discuss, and one we are confronted with daily these days, but it's also been an issue that managers and leaders have dealt with for a long time. How should you act when an employee loses a loved one? What should you say? How do you respond without coming across as invasive? When one of your employees suffers the loss of a loved one, … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Recognize Remote Employees
It's not groundbreaking news that employees want to be recognized for their hard work. Nor is it surprising that employees' performance, attitude and job loyalty tend to improve when they feel valued at work. Be honest: How well are you performing at recognizing your employees' efforts in recent weeks? Most of our lives have been turned, at least a little, upside down … [Read more...]
Resources: Managing Negativity Now and Later
Most people right now are feeling the full weight of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re anxious or scared. They may be feeling frustrated with the stay at home measures. Some are experiencing financial problems. Some may have even lost a loved one to the virus. Most of us are dealing with emotional highs and lows, and that can affect even the most positive people’s attitudes. To … [Read more...]
How to Step Up and Lead Strong in Uncertain Times
This is a guest post by Tamara Ghandour, keynote speaker and adviser. Recent events around COVID-19 have turned most of our worlds upside down. The situation is rapidly evolving, leaving most people with a sense of uncertainty around how everything will play out, in the short and long-term. That uncertainty leads to stress, decreasing productivity, and quality of … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Build a Winning Company and Culture
By Eric George, MD, founder of ERG Enterprises. Every leader faces the challenge of knowing how best to motivate their team. How do you inspire your workforce to become truly engaged and take charge of what they do? How do you build an organization and a culture that creates an ownership mentality? Because when that happens, you unleash your organization’s potential. In my … [Read more...]
Figuring Out What Motivates Employees
Two questions I often hear from coaching clients during workshops and consulting engagements are: "How do I work with an unmotivated person?" "How do I motivate someone to work harder?" Here are the quick answers: There is no such thing as an unmotivated person. Everyone is motivated to do something. Therefore, everyone is motivated. You cannot motivate … [Read more...]
6 Secrets for Building your Confidence
As a leader, your confidence will take a hit at many times throughout your career. You will feel especially vulnerable early on in your career. When that happens, use these ideas to give your confidence a boost: Look at past success The best source for building your confidence is your past. Survey your entire life for successes. It doesn’t matter if those successes are in … [Read more...]
Is Your Culture Strong Enough to Keep People Onboard?
How is your company culture? If you don't know the answer, it may be time to take a look back at 2019 and figure out what you should change for 2020, says Deb Boelkes, author of The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture. "In a strong economy, people have their pick of good jobs. If your culture is one of disengagement and toxicity, your most … [Read more...]