We’ve all heard the truism that people quit managers not jobs.
If retention of top performers and key talent is a priority for you, then one of the first places you should look for improvement is in the relationship between managers and employees.
This recent article, for example, points to a recent survey showing 20 percent of people say their bosses hurt their career. Half of employees, on the other hand, said the boss had a positive impact. Read more…
I’ve never thought of it this way before, but is your workforce happy because they’re performing well and at a high level, or, are they happy because HR is doing a lot of silly things that masquerade for being happy?
I know; the concept of managing for a happy workforce isn’t exactly in anyone’s MBA studies, but The New York Times’ You’re the Boss blog brings it up in a post titled Where the Happy Talk About Corporate Culture Is Wrong. It’s an interesting discussion because it gets to the issues of performance and workplace happiness (or more correctly, satisfaction) in a way I haven’t seen before.
Here’s the key issue, from the blog post: Read more…
“If you have always done it that way, it’s probably wrong.” — Charles Kettering, American inventor.
“The only completely consistent people are dead.” — Aldous Huxley, British writer.
As surely as hair grows and flowers bloom, change will come rolling through your organization today, tomorrow, and always.
Trying to resist it would be like trying to hold back the ocean. That didn’t work for King Canute, and it won’t work for you. Instead, take advantage of change: catch the wave, hang 10, and use its energy to your advantage. Read more…
I have a startling confession to make: I like Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I know. You’re shocked.
While I was a big fan of the Star Trek movies, I wasn’t a big fan of the original series. But The Next Generation? Yeah, that got me going.
So they have the entire series up on Netflix and I’ve been going through it a few episodes at a time. All of the campy goodness is just great. I watched an episode last night that made it clear that HR obviously exists well into the 24th century. Read more…
Editor’s Note: Sometimes, readers ask about past TLNT articles they may have missed. That’s why on Fridays we republish a Classic TLNT post some of you have asked about.
If there’s one thing that struck me this week about the firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, it’s this: Why would you fire a person, especially a CEO, over the phone, especially when you could do it in person?
This is something I know a little about because, yes, believe it or not, I had to do it once when I couldn’t be in two places at one time.
The Wall Street Journal had a story this week about how to fire someone — titled Bad Call: How Not to Dismiss an Employee— and it was instructive not only because it was spun out of how the Yahoo Board handled the termination of their CEO, but because it had a laundry list of many of the things you absolutely don’t want to do when you are firing someone. Read more…
Anyone who tracks advanced trends in talent management knows that many of them originated in the Silicon Valley.
However, you probably also know that many of the publicized practices that start in the Silicon Valley are so unique and outrageous (like the free Sweets Shop that is part ice cream parlor and bakery at Facebook), that no firm outside of the Valley ever copies them.
The three Silicon Valley practices that I am highlighting probably won’t require immediate action at your firm simply because they are so bold and outrageous that conservative talent managers will not even consider them. As a result, I am labeling them “leading edge practices that you should simply be aware of.” Read more…
Success in business happens because of successful employees. That being said, strong managers are one of the most critical components of Employee Success — after all, employees leave managers, not companies.
It’s important to focus directly on managers as a lever of engagement to recruit, retain, and inspire the greatest asset to your company: employees. To do this, provide the tools to be successful instead of expecting managers to be successful.
When looking at specific areas like recognition in the workplace, we see just how important managers are to success. Read more…
I was recently looking at my book RISE on my Kindle to see what people were responding to, by checking out the “view popular highlights” feature.
The most highlighted passage was:
Think of your job as figuring out a better way to deal with all this stuff than it is to DO all this stuff and you’ll be on the right track.“
I wanted to expand on this a bit, as it is such a key concept.
The key to success is not to try and do everything and die trying. The trick is to figure out how to deal with an overwhelming workload, and give yourself a fighting chance to get the most important stuff done. Read more…
Business heroes are often the innovators and the visionaries that set the next strategy. Yet, 90 percent of strategies fail because of execution.
We’ve heard this surprising statistic for a few years. Surely, we’ve changed our ways.
Ron Johnson, the former CEO of JC Penney, is a case study in a strategy not realized – or at least not realized fast enough.
Johnson had a bold strategy to not only redefine JC Penney, but the entire department store concept. His goal was to change everything from store design, marketing, promotion and reinvent the brand. All at once. Read more…
During the newly reinvigorated and exciting Spring ERE Recruiting Conference & Expo last week in San Diego, two attendees posed related but powerful questions to me.
The first was, “What advanced topics should be on the agenda of recruiting leaders at elite firms?” Or as another put it, “What should Google be planning to do next in recruiting?”
At least to me, future agenda items are an important topic, because after visiting well over 100 firms, I have found a dramatic difference between the agenda items that are found on 95 percent of the firms (cost per hire, ATS issues, requisition loads, etc.) and the truly advanced subjects that only elite recruiting firms like Google, DaVita, Sodexo, etc. would even attempt to tackle. Read more…
“These stats are right on target with what we have been projecting. At the ASTD conference one vender's statistics showed . . . ”
— Dianne Crampton on Survey: Half of Companies Report Higher Turnover Than Last Year, 2 hours ago
“Coaching the right people is wonderful. Coaching the wrong people is a time waster. Therefore we need to hire and coach . . . ”
— Robert Gately on Survey: Half of Companies Report Higher Turnover Than Last Year, 4 hours ago
“I have introduced a dignity at work support network in my workplace Whilst this is still in its infancy I . . . ”
— Sarah on Here’s Why Bullies Are Taking Over Your Organization, 20 hours ago
“Being called a "ninja" or a "guru" is a great compliment . . . when someone ELSE says it about . . . ”
— Amy Jones on Job Titles Gone Wild: Why It’s Silly to Call Yourself “Director of Fun”, 22 hours ago
“Senior management needs to be involved up front when planning an engagement survey so everyone is clear on WHY the . . . ”
— drblynnware on 3 Good Reasons Why Employee Engagement Surveys Fail, 23 hours ago