Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Here are the 12 golden rules of effective communication from  Paul Falcone , as highlighted in his book,  2600 Phrases for Setting Effective Performance Goals . Always remember to: Recognize achievements and accomplishments often. Celebrate success. Deliver bad news quickly, constructively, and in a spirit of professional development. Praise in public, censure in private. Assume responsibility for problems when things go wrong, and provide immediate praise and recognition to others when things go right. Create a work environment based on inclusiveness, welcoming others' suggestions and points of view. Listen actively, making sure that your people feel heard and understood and have a voice in terms of offering positive suggestions in the office or on the shop floor. Share information openly (to the extent possible) so that staff members understand the  Why  behind your reasoning and can ask appropriate questions as they continue along in their own pa...

Author John Baldoni suggests you consider the following  six things before making your next presentation : How will you open your presentation on a high note? Where might you pause for emphasis? How can you make time to rehearse your presentation? What are the high notes? What are your points of emphasis? What points might you emphasize with a pause? How will you close your presentation? Will you tell a story? Or, will you issue a call to action? Baldoni offers many other tips in his book,  The Leaders's Guide to Speaking with Presence .

Set a good example for your employees and follow through on everything you say you are going to do. If you promise to get an employee an answer, get it for him or her. If you say you'll send a team member a report, do so. As the Nike campaign/slogan so aptly says, "Just Do It." Too many leaders don't follow through. Perhaps they get busy. Perhaps they forget. However, following through is critical to keeping your team effective and efficient. And it's necessary for gaining respect from your employees. Following through also means doing so in a timely fashion. If you take too long to follow through, it's as bad as not following through at all.

"Connection is what transforms a dog-eat-dog environment into a sled-dog team that pulls together," says  Michael Lee Stallard , author of the book,  Connection Culture . "Connection builds an emotional bond that promotes trust, cooperation, and esprit de corps among people in the workplace." Based on  shared identity, empathy, and understanding , connection moves primarily self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership. "Without that sense of connection, employees will never each their full potential," states Stallard. The  10 ways you can improve your connection skills  are to: Recognize varying connection needs Be present in conversations Develop the ability to empathize Develop the habit of emphasizing positives Control your tone of voice Negotiate with the mindset to solve a problems rather than to win Provide autonomy in execution Learn to apply the five languages of appreciation  Apologize when you make a mista...

The book,  Step Up , shows readers how to step up to the plate during  six critical leadership moments .  Readers learn how to: Use anger intelligently in the workplace. Recognize and deal with terminal politeness. Make decisions when no one else is making them. Take ownership when others are externalizing a problem. Identify and leverage pessimism. Inspire others to take action. And, before you start to read the book, you can take (via a QR code in the book) a  fifteen-minute online Step Up Leadership Assessment , which will give you instant feedback on your  leadership readiness  and point you to the most relevant chapters in the book. The book's two authors awhile back shared these insights with me: A Conversation with Henry Evans and Colm Foster, authors of  Step Up What is a “leadership moment”? These are moments when leadership is required in order to see a problem solved, opportunity seized, mome...

To learn how to stay motivated, read  High-Profit Prospecting , by  Mark Hunter . It's a powerful read that includes counterintuitive advice and cutting-edge best practices for sales prospecting in today's business world. Today, I share one of my favorite sections of the book where Hunter describes his  seven things motivated people do to stay motivated : Motivated people  ignore voices in their lives . These might be people in the office and friends who have bad attitudes. They're out there, and if you're not careful, they'll control you, too. Motivated people  associate with highly motivated people . Just as there are negative people in the world, there are also positive people. Your job is to make sure you spend as much time with the positive people as possible.  Motivated people simply  look for the positive in things . Positive people count it an honor to live each day, learn from others, and impact positively those they meet. Positiv...

If you want to build the psychological body armor to achieve personal resilience, then the book,  Stronger , is a must-read for you.  That body armor consists of  five factors of personal resilience : active optimism decisive action moral compass relentless tenacity interpersonal support According to the authors, these  five factors of personal resilience  are keys to improving your work habits and output in the workplace, and to achieving overall satisfaction from life. Backed by compelling scientific findings and packed with powerful stories of resilience in action,  Stronger  teaches you how to gain an edge on making sound decisions under pressure, bounce back from setbacks and layoffs, and motivate peak performance in others as well as yourself, Each chapter includes  self-assessment questions  and  homework  for choosing one thing you'll do the next day to help you begin to develop each ...

With clear caution against stereotyping people by age, Valerie M. Grubb has written an incredibly insightful book on how to manage the  new workplace reality . A reality driven by the fact that by 2020, 25 percent of the labor force will be over the age of 55, and Generation Z is just now entering the workforce. All of which will drive a clash of cultures that demands a new management approach. Key takeaways  from Grubb's new book,  Clash of the Generations , include: Old habits - not old people - kill innovation , and pairing veteran workers with younger ones has proven to spur innovation at many companies. Learning is a lifelong pursuit , and motivating senior team members to develop their skill sets is just as important as mentoring new and mid-career members of the team. Employees and managers worry about job stability, and  taking part in developing individualized career plans for your talent is a critical way to retain them . In the book, you'...