Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

With only one one day left of 2016, it's time to identify your New Year's Resolutions for 2017. To get you started, how about selecting one or more of these 70 New Year's resolutions for leaders? Perhaps write down five to ten and then between now and tomorrow, think about which couple you want to work on during 2017. Don't micromanage Don't be a bottleneck Focus on outcomes, not minutiae Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times Conduct annual risk reviews Be courageous, quick and fair Talk more about values more than rules Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance Constantly challenge your team to do better Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own Err on the side of taking action Communicate clearly and often Be visible Eliminate the cause of a mistake View every problem as an opportunity to grow Summarize group consensus aft...

In their book,  Millennials Who Manage , authors  Chip Espinoza  and  Joel Schwarzbart , quote  Donna Hicks 's explanation about how  dignity is different from respect . Dignity is different from respect in that it is not based on how people perform, what they can do for us, or their likability. Dignity is a feeling of inherent value and worth. Therefore, Espinoza and Schwarzbart recommend that leaders treat those they are leading with dignity and follow Hick's  10 Essential Elements of Dignity : Acceptance of Identity  - Approach people as being neither inferior nor superior to you. Assume that others have integrity. Inclusion  - Make others feel that they belong, whatever the relationship. Safety  - Put people at ease at two levels: physically, so they feel safe from bodily harm, and psychologically, so they feel safe from being humiliated. Acknowledgment  - Give people your full attention by listening, hearing, valida...

Edward M. Marshall's book,  Transforming The Way We Work -- The Power Of The Collaborative Workplace , remains relevant today, more than a decade after Marshall wrote it. Particularly useful is the book's section that teaches readers how to be a collaborative leader. Marshall says that there are  seven different, important roles and responsibilities of collaborative leaders when leading teams , and those leaders should select the appropriate style to meet the team's needs. The seven roles are : The leader as sponsor  -- You provide strategic direction, boundaries and coaching for the team. You also monitor progress and ensure integrity in the team's operating processes. The leader as facilitator  -- You ensure that meetings, team dynamics, and interpersonal relationships function effectively. You also ensure internal coordination of activities among team members. The leader as coach  -- You provide support and guidance and you serve as a sounding bo...

Author  Paul Falcone  offers the following great advice for how to become a  stronger career mentor and coach  by helping your subordinates grow and develop in their own careers. Encourage others to engage in random acts of kindness. Find creative ways of surprising your customers. Focus on making bad relationships good and good relationships better. Look for new ways of reinventing the workflow in light of your company's changing needs. Think relationship first, transaction second. Realize that people can tell more about you by the depth of your questions than by the quality of your statements. Separate the people from the problem. Always provide two solutions for each question you ask or suggestion you raise. Employ right-brain imagination, artistry, and intuition plus left-brain logic and planning. And, one of my favorite pieces of advice from Falcone: Convert "yes...but:" to "yes...and" statements to acknowledge the speaker's point of v...

Too often, businesses don't have clearly defined goals and even less often specific plans to reach those goals. When you set a goal for your business, be sure it is  SMART : S pecific M easurable A ttainable R elevant T ime-related Share that goal with your employees, so they understand all of the five attributes of the goal. And then for your plan (sometimes called "program"), keep these tips in mind : Realistically assess the obstacles and resources involved and then create a strategy for navigating that reality.  For me this year, that meant adjusting my race schedule this summer to accommodate a nagging hamstring injury. Plan for more than just willpower.  Instead, plan by taking into consideration your business environment, your employees' schedules and workload, and everyone's accountability so that all these factors will work together to support you to achieve your goal.

Here are  10 important questions  business leaders should ask, according to  Ken Blanchard  and  Garry Ridge , authors of  Helping People Win At Work : Does my business have a clear, meaningful, and easily understood vision/mission? Do I have the right people in the right seats on the bus? Do I have a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal), and have I communicated it to my employees? Are my values driving the behavior I want in my organization? Am I creating a culture that increases employee engagement? Am I cultivating a spirit of internal and external learning? Do my employees know what an A looks like, and am I supporting them to get that A? Are our products/services creating lasting, positive memories for our customers? Do I have the best, most timely data and information to help my business make good decisions? Are our key performance indicators the right ones, and are we measuring what matters? And, one more questions to ask is: Do w...

To find the best business, communications and leadership books to add to my "to read" list for 2017, I reached out to some of the best experts in the field. Individuals I admire and respect. Here is what they read this year and recommend adding to your 2017 "to read" list: Paul Smith Organizational Storytelling Speaker, Trainer/Coach, Author The Elegant Pitch: Create a Compelling Recommendation, Build BroadSupport, and Get It Approved , by Mike Figliuolo . "As a storytelling trainer and consultant, I’m constantly asked by companies to help their managers 'tell a better story.' When I dig in to find out what the issues and needs are, about half the time I conclude that it’s not actually storytelling that they need. What they need is the ability to craft a simpler, more logical, and more compelling argument that they can deliver in a presentation or in a memo. The Elegant Pitch teaches that and does it well," says Paul. Web...