If I think about “Leader” as a job description I get confused. How can anyone “Lead” all the time? How exhausting! A sure recipe for failure! An invitation to the dread-disease BURNOUT. Don’t you at least need to “manage” your own schedule? What about “Management” as the complete and total sum of what you do …

Crises can be divided into three categories: 1. Creeping Crises – foreshadowed by a series of events that decision makers don’t view as part of a pattern. 2. Slow-Burn Crises – some advance warning, before the situation has caused any actual damage. 3. Sudden Crises – damage has already occurred and will get worse the …

I initially wrote this piece with the idea in mind that many NPOs don’t need DODs, but my wife read it and said I was totally wrong. So, the following is sort of a collaboration … actually, I won’t publish anything she doesn’t approve !! Ideally, from day one, an organization should have someone who …

The best information on this topic comes from a recent discussion at the npEnterprise Forum, the 7000-subscriber official listserv partner of the Social Enterprise Alliance. From Esther Kim: “Our basic rule of thumb is that: * it’s a social cost if it’s incurred to accomplish a social mission; * it’s a business cost if it’s …

How one smart business doubled sales through a comprehensive rebranding effort using social media consulting In this economy, business managers are finding that what worked before no longer works. Declining sales are often the first harsh blow that draws attention to a serious underlying a problem – one that they may not have even known …

In the fictitious dialogue in my previous post, Bob is the employee. According to Bob's manger, he is not performing to expectations. However, despite the fact that he feels like he has had multiple conversations with him, Bob most likely feels like is his doing a good job. His feeling is probably not the result of an oversized ego; but rather, it comes from a lack of consistent honest performance feedback.

For this blog, I’m simply going to quote from an excellent comment recently posted to my social enterprise blog Risky Business by Jeffrey Wallk: “Clear articulation of value. This is not the value proposition (here’s what we do / offer). This explains in very simple terms exactly how your product / service will help someone …

Acknowledgement is a coaching skill used to give recognition to the client. It points out the inner traits or characteristics that the client demonstrated in order to accomplish an action. Acknowledgement is important because it can articulate attributes of the client that they may not be aware of. When you acknowledge you empower the client. …

When evaluation occurs during training a few have the right idea but evaluation is such a critical area, we have to be sure what we are training is sinking in. When starting a training program make sure that there are plenty of pop quizzes to accompany the training program. These can be brief quizzes relevant …

Let’s be clear: if you’re not measuring any part of your service delivery, you are missing a huge opportunity to improve, grow or even save your business during these scrutinizing, tight economic times. The challenge with specifying key indicators is that not all businesses will use the top customer service metrics. For example, a retail …