Over the years I’ve worked with many private business owners – entrepreneurs – helping them get everything they want from their businesses. While there are many owners who ARE getting what they want there are a lot who aren’t. When things are stuck and you’re not seeing the results you expect, almost always you can trace it back to something …
We Create Our Own Monsters
Some of the best business advice I ever got came from my mother-in-law, Jane. She was the mother of thirteen children, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. An expert on human behavior, she always said that if she hadn’t been so busy being a mom, she would have loved to have been a ‘businesswoman.’ Knowing her as I did, I …
Genuine Praise and Helpful Criticism
You can’t be a Great Boss if you shy away from giving feedback, both positive and negative. When you see something, you must say something. Failing to say something speaks volumes about what is important to you. It’s probably no surprise that employees would prefer feedback to be positive. But what may surprise you is that employees would rather have …
Truthful, Specific and Positive Feedback
In my last post I helped you understand the importance of giving your direct reports both genuine praise and helpful criticism. Today, I want to elaborate on how to give genuine praise. I recently attended the 2nd Annual Conference for Companies Running on EOS, held in Minneapolis. It was my privilege to speak on the topic of being a great …
The Best Defense is Good Offense
Employee Retention is No Accident Since I began working the with private business owners 16 years ago, one of the biggest challenges that always comes up is finding good people. This hasn’t changed yet and is not likely to anytime soon. Last month unemployment dropped to 3.9%, lowest since 10% back in October of 2009. This plus a steadier economy, …
The Power of Positive Recognition
Napoleon once said that a soldier will fight long and hard for a strip of yellow ribbon. Although compensation is important, don’t underestimate the power of positive recognition. So, when you see something, it’s important that you say something. Often, as bosses, we’re so focused on issues and obstacles and solving problems that we don’t slow down long enough …
3 Ways to Develop Your People
During quarterly conversations when you get to “next steps”, have a meaningful conversation around developing the right people who are in the right seats, which I believe is the number one people issue. This was pointed out recently in an EOS session when a member of the leadership team said that he was spending most of his valuable time as …
Having Quarterly Conversations – Part 2
Accountability starts by keeping expectations clear. This is a two-way street, where your direct reports are crystal clear on your expectations of them, and just as importantly, you’re clear on their expectations of you. George Bernard Shaw said that the problem with communication is the illusion that it’s actually occurred. In a quarterly conversation, at a higher level, we …
Having Quarterly Conversations
When I start working with clients, they invariably tell me that their performance review process is either broken or it’s just not very effective. This is after they’ve spent an inordinate amount of time focused on getting the forms right, editing them, chasing people down to make sure that they’ve completed the forms and that they turned them in. In …
Three Tips to Improve Your Communication
To communicate effectively, we must avoid making assumptions of others based upon what they tell us or the non-verbal signals that they send us. Remember, this is a two-way street. Sometimes, they’re making assumptions of us based upon the exact same things. So, avoid making assumptions. When we make assumptions, we invite a breakdown in communication. That’s how rumors get …
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