Have you ever made a hiring mistake — selecting the wrong person for the position? Most of us, who are or have been supervisors, have had to deal with the consequences of a poor hire. It can eat up one’s time and energy and weaken an entire team. However, a good hire can take the …

Airline learns from crisis management mistakes Southwest Airlines is no stranger to crisis management, just earlier this month coping with a messy communication situation after a flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to a a ruptured fuselage, so when a landing flight not only slid off of a runway in Chicago, but …

In my organization it was decided we had depended on technology and already available computer training too long. The leadership and management had to admit that there were knowledge gaps in our workforce. People with valuable corporate knowledge were leaving or retiring who we couldn’t replace for budget reasons, but we still needed to get …

What happens when we stop talking face-to-face? Nothing and everything. This has been my theme since I wrote a science fiction novel on the subject. When society gets lazy and decides the tough questions about running the world are best answered by a machine–an evolving artificial intelligence, a computer server I call “Makr,” the world …

Do you put off dealing with employee performance problems? Many managers struggle with their reluctance to deal with an employee regarding poor performance or inappropriate behavior. Here are some concerns I’ve heard: “I don’t want to rock the boat, especially when the employee is performing the function even if not up to expectations.” “Correcting an …

Staying Sane When Leading Others: Summary Principles Everyone in management has gone through the transition from individual contributor to manager. Each person finds his/her own way to “survive.” The following guidelines will help you to keep your perspective and your health. 1. Monitor your work hours. The first visible, undeniable sign that things are out …

When I facilitated the PDCP Change Process (Blog March 2, Leading Adaptive Change) I was neither leading nor managing the actual work – the joy and frustration of being a facilitator. Observing leaders and managers who were at the working surface (the point where things actually happen) I realized the following: During times of Adaptive …

“I don’t think I know anyone who can honestly say that he or she doesn’t want to be a success. Do you?” asks June Melvin Mickens, J.D. of Executive Advantage, LLC, in her E. A. INSIGHT newsletter article, The Good Boss: How to Be (or Recognize) One. “What’s interesting, though, is that usually many of …

Some people like their eggs poached, or scrambled, or soft-boiled, or sunny-side up. Others prefer deviled eggs, an omelet, or a quiche. A key principle of employee motivation is that different people and different groups have different needs and desires. Here’s what you need to know about motivation. 1. Money is not the top motivator …

We don’t often think about staff meetings as a training ground, but they are. Granted, they exist at a very basic level (only lower level would be OJT, or on-the-job training, considered one of the best training environments), but few situations allow you to have so many company subject matter experts and leaders in the …