To Get People’s Attention, Cut to the Chase With people being constantly bombarded with requests, it can be tough to get your colleagues’ attention. That’s why it’s important to cut to the chase about what you need someone to do, when, and why. Whether you’re sending an email, making a presentation, or talking to your… Continue reading To Get People’s Attention, Cut to the Chase

Get Better at Remembering People’s Names It’s a problem many of us have experienced: You meet someone new and two seconds later you can’t remember his or her name. This is hugely important in building business connections, so here are a few tips: Get it right the first time. If you’re introduced to someone and… Continue reading Get Better at Remembering People’s Names

Set Aside Time for Your Team to Get Real Work Done As a leader it’s your job to make sure your team doesn’t get burned out. One way to reduce stress and help people focus on what really needs to get done is to schedule uninterrupted work time. When people get distracted, it can take… Continue reading Set Aside Time for Your Team to Get Real Work Done

Encourage More Debate at Work One of the myths about “great workplaces” is that conflict is rare. We believe that workplace disagreements are undesirable, that they’re distracting and hurt productivity. But research reveals that in many cases, disagreements fuel better performance. While personality clashes, or differences in values, can indeed be detrimental, conflicts that center… Continue reading Encourage More Debate at Work

Train Employees on How to Handle Abusive Customers Sometimes the customer is not always right. Certain customers – whether they’re unforgiving, obnoxious, or overly needy – can hurt employee morale, put your company’s reputation at risk, and prove too costly to serve. It’s important to clearly define your ideal and non-ideal customer, and then train… Continue reading Train Employees on How to Handle Abusive Customers

Enough with the Late-Night Emails Already If it’s 11 PM and you’ve just remembered something your team needs to do tomorrow, it might seem like a good idea to send them an email while you’re thinking about it. Well, it’s not. If you’re emailing late at night or on weekends, most employees think a late-night… Continue reading Enough with Late Night Emails

Make Coaching More Effective by Following Up Too many managers don’t follow up after coaching sessions, thereby squandering the important time they invested in the first place. No matter how successful a session feels, if it doesn’t lead to change, it hasn’t been effective. You need to track people’s progress. You’re not going to remember… Continue reading Make Coaching More Effective – Management Tip

Make Quick, Direct Feedback a Part of Your Routine Many managers don’t give effective feedback because they’re simply pressed for time. There are three ways to make this easier – for you and your employee: Create a standard way in. Reduce the time you spend mulling over each conversation by establishing a simple, routinized way… Continue reading Give Quick and Direct Feedback – Management Tip

Expand Your Network Beyond the Usual Players We all know that a network is important for success, but few of us devote sufficient time to making it useful. If you leave things to chance, your network will be too inward-facing and not diverse enough. You need to learn to network outside your organization, team, and… Continue reading Expand Your Network – Management Tip

Set Goals with Your Spouse It’s easier to achieve our goals when we’re not trying to go it alone. For many of us, our closest and most trusted companion is a spouse. Yet many couples  rarely plan or set goals together – and this can actually make it harder to achieve them. To improve your… Continue reading Set Goals with Your Spouse – Management Tip