As a manager, it is your job to ensure that the work gets done right, on time and on budget. If not, then you must correct the situation first coaching and then with discipline. That may seem to you a time-consuming, unpleasant task but it’s part of your responsibility as a manager. If you don’t, …

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) contains a list of steps or directions to follow for accomplishing a particular task. It is a set of approved guidelines consisting of steps that have to be followed from inception to completion. Having an SOP standardizes tasks and eliminates confusion about particular tasks. Up front, an SOP contains the …

However, the most important message he sent, "When the store employees fail to do this one thing (insert most important loss prevention topic), FREAK OUT; but don't FREAK OUT all the time. Only on the big stuff."

This post is a Best of the Best. It has my favorite recommendations from lists of recommended books for “Nonprofit Folk” over the last three years. A thoughtful book can be the perfect holiday gift so ..... Enjoy – and at the end I’ll provide links to all of the prior lists.

This past weekend I attended a day-long meditation retreat using the mindfulness practice of Thich Nhat Hanh. It felt good to slow down. I enjoyed the simple pleasures of stretching, breathing, sitting and eating in silence. I appreciated the woods, the birds, and the fresh air as we moved slowly through the day aware of …

Documentation is a form of communication that allows us to share knowledge across all levels of an organizations structure, is readily available at all times, and is an essential part of a company’s best practice and improvement process. For example, through documentation, companies, employees, and clients are kept informed of business requirements for new or …

“I’ve fallen into this trap too many times. In my mind, I tell myself if I’m busy, I’m adding value. The reality is that we can be busy with the wrong things. And, if we don’t discipline our lives, we’ll find ourselves investing a lot of our time with little impact.” Some leaders have this …

Last November in honor of Thanksgiving, I discussed the need to practice gratitude in a post. Studies on gratitude show that people who practice it have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood, are in better physical health, sleep more and are happier (The Positivity Company). And while these benefits of gratitude affect the practitioner of gratitude(sometimes referred to as one having a gratitude attitude) they also have an impact on the receiver of the practice. As mentioned in my post last year, it creates a win-win. In HR we are often looking for the win-win and we spend hours trying to figure out ways in which to create it and build it into our cultures.

Preparation Pays Are you ready for a crisis? You may think you’ve got your bases covered, but unless you’re running regular crisis simulations and training sessions, I’d be willing to bet that there are serious gaps in your planning. This weakness is a common one, as Jonathan Bernstein pointed out in a recent interview for …

“When I gave them their marching orders and they were nodding their heads, I figured they knew what to do and were going to do it.” I recently heard this from a healthcare manager who was not too happy when the project got behind schedule and the blame game took over. Managers can’t mandate employee …