Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Your employee will appreciate your acknowledging his birthday, advanced degree graduation achievement, wedding engagement, wedding, or other personal milestone event. If he (or she) shares with you information about any important event in his life, take the opportunity to congratulate him, honor him and acknowledge him. You can give him a card. Or, take him to lunch. Or, even a simple handshake can go a long way. Taking an interest in your employee goes a long way and it's one of the easiest,  meaningful  actions you can take. If you manage a large team, you'll likely want to create a way to help you remember upcoming milestone events for each of your employees.

Take one hour to read Brian Tracy's pocket-sized guide for managers,  Motivation . You'll finish the book within that hour, and it'll be well worth your time. "You cannot motivate other people," explains Tracy, " but you can remove the obstacles that stop them from motivating themselves . All motivation is self-motivation. As a manager, you can create an environment where this potential for self-motivation is released naturally and spontaneously." In his book, Tracy presents chapter-by-chapter his  21 most reliable and powerful methods for increasing the effectiveness of any individual or group . Each chapter includes a couple different  action exercises . Toward the end of the book, Tracy explains the importance of the  Friendship Factor  in motivating employees.  "Every manager can tap into the power of friendship in everyday employee interactions by remembering the three Cs:   Consideration, Caring and Courtesy . Practi...

There are  eight specific actions  business leaders can take to  show that they value their employees , according to  Andrew Leigh , author of the book,  Ethical Leadership -- Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Business Culture . Those  eight actions  are: Attention  -- Pay attention to what people say to show your interest. Listen  -- Make time to hear what colleagues, peers and employees have to say to show you care. Positive Language  -- Find words and phrases to show employees they're needed.  Examples are, "We couldn't have accomplished this without you," "That was really useful." Document  -- Put praise in writing to increase its impact.  Make clear where the credit belongs. Micro Sessions  -- Create two-way communication sessions. Visits  -- Schedule visits to teams and work areas. Stories  -- Share stories that highlight unusual contributions and provide your personal response...

Your employee will appreciate your acknowledging his/her birthday, advanced degree graduation achievement, wedding engagement, wedding, or other personal milestone event. If they share with you information about any important event in their life, take the opportunity to congratulate them, honor them and acknowledge them. You can give them a card. Or, take them to lunch. Or, even a simple handshake can go a long way. Taking an interest in your employee goes a long way and it's one of the easiest,  meaningful  actions you can take. If you manage a large team, you'll likely want to create a way to help you remember upcoming milestone events for each of your employees.

Your employees have lots of ideas. So, be sure you provide the forums and mechanisms for your employees to share their ideas with you. Hold at least a few  brainstorming sessions  each year, as well. And, when you are brainstorming with your employees, try these  five tips : Encourage  ALL  ideas. Don't evaluate or criticize ideas when they are first suggested. Ask for wild ideas. Often, the craziest ideas end up being the most useful. Shoot for quantity not quality during brainstorming. Encourage everyone to offer new combinations and improvements of old ideas.

Your employees appreciate clearly knowing how what they do each day specifically contributes to your company's or organization's success. So, it's important that  you explain the relevance of each person's job .  Help each employee or team member to understand how what they do makes a difference . Answer their questions about the significance of their work. Demonstrate how if their job isn't done well, or isn't fully completed, how that negatively impacts the rest of the process or your business' overall product or service. Sometimes in organizations too much time is spent explaining the relevance of sales positions or management positions. But, everyone on the team needs to understand their relevance and the importance of what they do.

To help you bring out the best in your team, you need to get close and understand their skills, abilities, and motivations. So, the authors of the book, Your First Leadership Job , recommend you hold getting-to-know-you conversations with each of your direct reports. Ask these open-ended questions . Let each team member know the purpose of the meeting in advance. And, don't cheat by adding in work-specific questions. What do you enjoy doing most as part of your work? Why? What do you  miss most about the jobs you've had in the past? Why? What things about your current job do you enjoy the least? Why? How do you cope with or relieve stress? To help you do your job, what could I change about: Your work environment? The content of your work? How you get your work done? What form of recognition do you prefer or not prefer?

Here, from the book,  Be A Network Marketing Leader , are some tips on how, as a leader, you can  connect with each of your team members individually : Send cards on their birthdays and anniversary-of-joining dates. Keep yourself updated with what's happening in their personal lives. Show your support during personal or family crises. Schedule weekly one-on-one phone calls or meetings. Pay attention. When you see an increase, decrease or change in results, get in touch. Schedule monthly whole team meetings. Applaud achievements and address concerns immediately. Be consistent. Make frequent thoughtful, spontaneous gestures.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Branham over the past few years. He's the author of the popular book called,  The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave . He told me that in research that he has done about the leaders of companies that have won " Best-Place-To-Work " competitions in 45 U.S. cities, that there are  six things these effective leaders do that don't cost money . They do, however, cost time and effort. But, that is time and effort that can pay big dividends. Here are the six things you can do : Make the commitment to create a great place to work. Inspire employee confidence in decisions and clear business direction Work to build trust based on honesty and integrity Practice open, two-way communication, especially in times of uncertainty Look out for the organization before you look out for yourself Believe employees should be developed and retained; not burned out and discarded Thanks for these great leadership tips, ...

As explained in  John Baldoni 's, book,  Lead With Purpose ,  Marshall Goldsmith  suggests all leaders make it a habit to regularly ask their employees these  six questions : Where do you think we should be going? Where do you think you and your part of the business should be going? What do you think you're doing well? If you were the leader, what ideas would you have for you? How can I help? What suggestions or ideas do you have for me?

Here, from the book,  Be A Network Marketing Leader , are some tips on how, as a leader, you can connect with your individual team members : Send cards on their birthdays and anniversary-of-joining dates. Keep yourself updated with what's happening in their personal lives. Show your support during personal or family crises. Schedule weekly one-on-one phone calls or meetings. Pay attention. When you see an increase, decrease or change in results, get in touch. Schedule monthly whole team meetings. Applaud achievements and address concerns immediately. Be consistent. Make frequent thoughtful, spontaneous gestures.

To help you bring out the best in your team, you need to get close and understand their skills, abilities, and motivations. So, the authors of the book,  Your First Leadership Job , recommend you hold  getting-to-know-you conversations  with each of your direct reports. Ask these  open-ended questions . Let each team member know the purpose of the meeting in advance. And, don't cheat by adding in work-specific questions. What do you enjoy doing most as part of your work? Why? What do you  miss most about the jobs you've had in the past? Why? What things about your current job do you enjoy the least? Why? How do you cope with or relieve stress? To help you do your job, what could I change about: Your work environment? The content of your work? How you get your work done? What form of recognition do you prefer or not prefer?

I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Branham over the past few years. He's the author of the popular book called,  The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave . He told me that in research that he has done about the leaders of companies that have won " Best-Place-To-Work " competitions in 45 U.S. cities, that there are  six things these effective leaders do that don't cost money . They do, however, cost time and effort. But, that is time and effort that can pay big dividends. Here are the six things you can do : Make the commitment to create a great place to work. Inspire employee confidence in decisions and clear business direction Work to build trust based on honesty and integrity Practice open, two-way communication, especially in times of uncertainty Look out for the organization before you look out for yourself Believe employees should be developed and retained; not burned out and discarded Thanks for these great leadership tips, ...

As a leader, it's critical that you understand the real reasons employees leave your company. To do that, you need to  ask specific questions  that may not be ones you currently include in your exit interviews. Fortunately,  Richard Finnegan , shares in his book,  Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad ,  four key questions you should include in your exit interviews : Why did you decide to leave us? Of all the things you've told me, what is the top thing that caused you to resign? It's great that you've found such a good opportunity, but why did you look? What one thing could we have done that would have caused you to stay? Your goal is to learn  the most important leave reason  rather than learn which three or five things contributed to your employee's decision to leave. The four questions above will help you learn the most important reason.

Disengagement remains a fact of work for more than half of America's workers, according to the experts at Gallup. And, with unemployment rates dropping and the economy continually improving, reducing turnover should be a priority for business leaders. So, there's no better time then now for the new book, The Stay Interview, A Manager's Guide to Keeping the Best and the Brightest . Stay interviews are periodic, private, one-on-one meetings between direct supervisors and employees, both newly-hired and long-timers. The interviews shed light on any possible problems while there's still time for you to address them . They have the sole purpose of encouraging people to talk about themselves and what makes them happy. They: Reinforce good relationships Forge new relationships Help repair relationships that are strained Stay interviews are not performance reviews or disciplinary sessions. They are not team meetings or focus groups. They are not focus...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Branham over the past few years. He's the author of the popular book called,  The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave , and he's the owner of the Overland Park, KS-based business called  Keeping The People . He told me that in research that he has done about the leaders of companies that have won " Best-Place-To-Work " competitions in 45 U.S. cities, that there are  six things these effective leaders do that don't cost money . They do, however, cost time and effort. But, that is time and effort that can pay big dividends. Here are the six things you can do : Make the commitment to create a great place to work. Inspire employee confidence in decisions and clear business direction Work to build trust based on honesty and integrity Practice open, two-way communication, especially in times of uncertainty Look out for the organization before you look out for yourself Believe employees should be deve...

Overland Park, Kansas-based author Leigh Branham, along with Mark Hirschfeld, awhile back completed a survey of 10,000 employees in 43 states to better understand what separates a "best places to work" company from other companies. What Branham and Hirschfeld discovered is that the best companies use  six "universal drivers" that maximize employee engagement : Caring, Competent, and Engaging Senior Leaders Effective Managers Who Keep Employees Aligned and Engaged Effective Teamwork at All Levels Job Enrichment and Professional Growth Valuing Employee Contributions Concern for Employee Well-Being Branham also explains that to get the best from your employees you need to re-engage them. You can learn more about how to do that in his book,  Re-Engage .

I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Branham over the past few years.  He's the author of the popular book called,  The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave , and he's the owner of the Overland Park, KS-based business called  Keeping The People . He told me that in research that he has done about the leaders of companies that have won " Best-Place-To-Work " competitions in 45 U.S. cities, that there are  six things these effective leaders do that don't cost money .  They do, however, cost time and effort.  But, that is time and effort that can pay big dividends. Here are the six things you can do : Make the commitment to create a great place to work. Inspire employee confidence in decisions and clear business direction Work to build trust based on honesty and integrity Practice open, two-way communication, especially in times of uncertainty Look out for the organization before you look out for yourself Believe employ...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Leigh Branham over the past few years.  He's the author of the popular book called,  The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave , and he's the owner of the Overland Park, KS-based business called  Keeping The People . He told me that in research that he has done about the leaders of companies that have won " Best-Place-To-Work " competitions in 45 U.S. cities, that there are six things these effective leaders do that don't cost money .  They do, however, cost time and effort.  But, that is time and effort that can pay big dividends. Here are the six things you can do : Make the commitment to create a great place to work. Inspire employee confidence in decisions and clear business direction Work to build trust based on honesty and integrity Practice open, two-way communication, especially in times of uncertainty Look out for the organization before you look out for yourself Believe employees sh...

As explained in John Baldoni's, book, Lead With Purpose , Marshall Goldsmith suggests all leaders make it a habit to regularly ask their employees these six questions : Where do you think we should be going? Where do you think you and your part of the business should be going? What do you think you're doing well? If you were the leader, what ideas would you have for you? How can I help? What suggestions or ideas do you have for me?