April 2012

Apr 30 2012

The Right Way to Get a Job Reference

Former employees often call and ask to use me as a reference. It’s not surprising that anyone with half a brain will only use a reference they feel will be positive.  But what is surprising is how ill prepared the person seeking the reference can be.

 

comment
Apr 26 2012

Who NOT to Ask When You’re Hiring & Firing

There’s no question that being a great listener is key to being a great manager and leader. But when hiring  or  firing someone, can listening to too many of the wrong people hurt you?  I learned the hard way that the  answer is yes.

 

 

comment
Apr 23 2012

Are You Ready For The Officeless Office?

There have been a lot of articles lately espousing the benefits of the “officeless” office. This can mean anything from a cube farm to open rooms with technology connectors hanging from the ceiling and tables on wheels.  As diverse as the designs are the discussions of the impact on productivity. Before you undertake this type of office transformation, here are a few things to contemplate:

comment
Apr 19 2012

4 Ways to Deal with the Constant Complainer

It’s unlikely you can go too long in your management career without confronting the “whiner”.  These are the people that love to tell you everything you’re doing wrong, everything the company’s doing wrong, and everything anyone on your team is doing wrong. You’d love to find a way to get rid of them, but.......

comment
Apr 16 2012

Setting the Right Example for Work-Life Balance

When did it become more respectable to say you work “like crazy” than to say “my family is always my priority”?  Bragging about how many hours you work has replaced bragging about your children.   The reality is that we actually work much less than our forefathers. So kudos to Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg for coming out publicly and admitting she leaves work every day at 5:30pm to have dinner with her children. 

comment
Apr 12 2012

Personal Conduct

There was an announcement this week that the CEO of Best Buy had resigned and there was a probe into his “personal conduct”. This was just after the Arkansas football coach was fired for an inappropriate relationship with an employee.

Why are these incidents so prevalent and why aren’t they more of a cautionary tale to all managers?

comment
Apr 10 2012

5 Ways to Build Moral Courage in the Workplace

In a recent Inc. article, Margaret Hefferman talks about the risk of creating an environment of obedient employees.  She discusses how the military, unlike corporate America, actually encourages dissent if an idea seems too crazy or risky.   Do you think the real estate agents, mortgage bankers, and traders thought no money down loans against peak values was a good idea? 

 

comment

randomness