Mentoring vs. Coaching
Contrary to popular belief, there’s a difference between coaching and mentoring. And you, as a front line leader, a supervisor or manager, need to know what it is. What does mentoring look like within an organization? Many organizations want to establish a “mentoring” culture so that employees can ask colleagues who have more experience and […]
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Handling Turnover and Retention
Let’s discuss how you, as the front line leader, influence the turnover and retention in your department. Turnover is very expensive for leaders and organizations. You need employees to want to come to your place of business to work. You also need them to stay with you, so you can train them and help them […]
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New Manager, New Department
We’re going to look at the challenges when managers are assigned to new or different locations, departments or divisions inside your company, what’s good about it, and how to approach making changes. If you’re reassigned as a manager to a different department, location or division, you might want to show results very rapidly when you […]
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Smart Manufacturing – Smart Supervisors
As technology accelerates, many producers are embracing smart manufacturing. As enthusiastic as you might be about implementing the new technology, not everyone will feel the same way. Involved in the process will be people such as continuous improvement coordinators, engineering staff, or IT people to accelerate the supply chain and reduce cost. Your front line […]
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Confronting Body Odor Issues
Today we’re going to talk about a sensitive topic. It’s personal hygiene and body odor. Most leaders tend to feel anxious when they have to confront an employee about this. How to confidently address hygiene in the workplace. First of all, let’s agree that body odor and personal hygiene can be embarrassing to talk about. However, most people with personal hygiene issues are unaware of it. They get so used to their own body odor that they […]
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Leading With Uncertainty
People are more likely to follow a leader who is truthful about their uncertainty than one who makes unrealistic promises. Many leaders think it’s their job to be certain when in reality things are very uncertain. How many changes have you implemented that went according to the original plan? Likely none. The chief information officer […]
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Personalities & Change Resistance
Many leaders wonder why change initiatives take twice as long as they should. The answer might be simpler than you think. A large part depends on personality styles. Many managers and some supervisors are “drivers” — they have a dominant personality type. There are pros and cons to this personality type. They tend to be […]
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Empower Employee Decision-Making
Why is it that employees are so good at delegating up to their boss when really the manager or supervisor should be pushing those decisions down to the front line? Think about the kinds of decisions and problems that you’ve been addressing recently. How many of them should have been addressed by the person who […]
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Accountability: Pitfalls at the Front Line
Accountability means receiving consequences for one’s actions, behaviors, or results. If a team member demonstrates good behaviors and results, front line leaders should offer praise and positive reinforcement. If the results aren’t what they should be, or the pace of work isn’t where it needs to be, or the behaviors are unacceptable, the leader is […]
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To Promote From Within, or Not: That is the Question
Promoting from within is still a good idea, despite many of the pitfalls involved. Most of the people in our training classes report being promoted from within. There are several advantages that come along with it. For instance, they know the work; they have a better understanding of how the company operates, and they already […]
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