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Dialogue vs. Discussion
Have you ever sat in a meeting where everyone is busy giving their point of view and trying to prove why they are right? Where no one is actually listening or trying to understand other individuals' points of view. The alternative meeting format is where everyone listens to and agrees with the meeting leader.

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Beyond Management Coaching: When Things Are Getting Out of Control
Leaders and Managers often ask us, 'What do you do when you have tried to coach and counsel an employee about a performance concern, and the employee has not responded?Unfortunately, we see far too many cases where the leader hasn't, in good faith, tried to coach the employee or to put the leader's concerns into words. Often, leaders look for a quick fix alternative to what is perceived as a difficult and painful confrontation.

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ISO 9001 Compliant Program: Steps to Build
Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality.

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Five Key Strategies for Making Your Nonprofit Business More Effective
I love tennis both as a spectator and a weekend player. I also believe that effective nonprofit organizations are an essential part of vibrant, engaged communities.

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Innovation Management - Diversity Can Make All The Difference
Companies are welcoming a diverse range of employees (The Sunday Times, April 10 2005). Doh!It is incredible that this concept is getting coverage in 2005.

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Management & Leadership - Doing it right in the 21st Century
The Old Way - Command and ControlAlthough workplaces and management styles have come a long way in the last decade, the command and control style of management remains common practice in many companies. This management approach basically means that employees are told exactly what to do, when to do it and even how it should be done.

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25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!
For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it).

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The Thick Line Between Buddy and Boss
Q: One of my key employees is giving me trouble. He has started showing up late for work and has developed a bad attitude in general.

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Attract and Retain Positively Great Employees - An Action Plan for Employee Training
Everyday a business owner, CEO, or manager somewhere is complaining about the lack of good employees. On the same day, in a break room, employees are complaining about the lack of good jobs.

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Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees
Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is a common sense set of discussions that make sure people are clear about what they need to do, have the support to do it and get open and honest feedback on their performance.Any performance management process should answer 4 important questions for your employees:· Direction: What do I need to do and how well? · Feedback: How am I doing? · Rewards: What happens when I do well? · Support/Development: What happens when I need/want help?Lets look more closely at each of these:DirectionEmployees are not mind readers.

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Few Things Are More Destructive Than An Insecure Boss
Few things are more destructive to a career than a boss who is insecure. Unfortunately, it is a near certainty that most people will encounter one or more such persons along the way.

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Management Apathy
I recently received a most interesting phone call.When I answered the phone, I immediately recognized the name of the company as one of the most visible distributors in our construction supply industry.

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Giving a Good Appraisal Interview
Although this performance discussion is an opportunity for you to discuss your employee's work during a given period of time, it is also, and importantly, a time for you and your employee to check perceptions and reach mutual understandings and agreements about the purposes and priorities of their jobs. This discussion can positively influence your mutual working relationship.

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Leading Bad Actors To Be Good Performers
A successful leader told me, "The biggest challenge I've had in my career is dealing with bad actors. Brent, do you have tips on how to do it?"First, before we can deal with "bad actors", we must define the term bad actors.

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How To Prevent Your New Manager From Becoming A Statistic
According to a study by the Manchester Group, 4 out of 10 new managers fail in the first 18 months! The top 5 reasons cited:Not building partnerships or teams with colleagues and peersUnclear expectationsNot enough political savvyTakes too long to learn the jobInability to balance work and personal livesEvery day new managers are hired or promoted because of "what they know". When they fail to thrive it's because of "who they are" or "how they go about getting things done".

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One Crazy Cookie
In order to survive, you have to be happier than if you were in your right mind.Chinese Fortune CookieWhen orienting someone new to the company, the last thing I tell them is to, "have fun.

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Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service
There was a buzz in the air recently about the US Postal Service. Seems as though they were running into a budget deficit in the billions.

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Strategic Clarity for Communication Management
Over the past few weeks I've been developing plans for a communication project, a media relations campaign.That's prompted me to reflect again on the communication management process by which we transform communication ideas into operational activities.

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Hidden Consultants Within Your Organization
You've all heard the old joke about a consultant being someone who uses your watch to tell you the time, and then steals your watch. There's some truth to the story: consultant recommendations are often the same things that your employees or customers have been telling you all along.

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Five Strategies for Profitable Services Growth
In today's era of Professional and IT Services competition and consolidation, some small to medium-sized companies are proudly delivering 20%-50% annual growth.Unfortunately, the vast majority of firms have experienced two consecutive years of fee erosion, commoditization, client defection, and company identity crises.

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