When you hear the word conflict, it has negative associations with words like argument, war, battle, and disagreement. In reality, conflict should be embraced as being essential to a healthy organization. The majority of employees (and many supervisors and managers) avoid conflict because of the assumption that conflict is destructive. Conflict is expected and desired […]
Category: Leadership
5 Tips for First-Time Managers
Jennifer King, HR Analyst at Software Advice, posted an excellent list of five tips for newly-promoted managers. She built this list from interviewing managers and practitioners. Read the whole post: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/hr/5-tips-for-first-time-managers-1031912/ The five steps include: the need to get to know your team and what motivates them learning to shift your sense of satisfaction to […]
Want a great culture? Focus on these three things
The culture of your organization will either ensure your long term success or potentially leave your organization vulnerable to external threats. An effective culture leads to innovation, agility, great customer service, higher profit margins and high employee engagement. A weak culture creates and reinforces resistance to change, erratic financial performance, high employee absenteeism and turnover, […]
Should you manage like Steve Jobs?
As I make my way through the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson I am struck by the apparent incompatible realities of Steve Jobs. As a manager, especially in his early days, Steve Jobs was as autocratic, manipulative and inconsistent as they come. And yet he transformed several industries, created an incredible amount of […]
Helping or Harping?
When front line supervisors and managers are asked to share some of the characteristics of the best manager or supervisor they had ever worked for, they will include “supportive” on that list. One participant was even more emphatic – his best boss was focused on “helping” not “harping”. A boss who is constantly critical and […]