Category: General
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Culture: commonality and exclusivity
The other day my friend Daniel Crosby pointed me to a company called Clearlink. I checked out their culture study at his urging, and it gave me some great ideas to pursue. Not that it’s scientific or the source of a deep revelation; it’s just one more piece of their culture that can be use…
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Recruiting family members
No, I’m not talking about recruiting your family members! I’m talking about going the extra mile and working to make the candidate’s family members more comfortable with the new company and job. I had a great experience a few days back when I brought in a new candidate and got to spend some time talking…
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Recruiting your candidate’s family
I had a great experience this past week. I have been recruiting pretty much 24/7 for some urgent hires, and I asked one of the candidates who accepted to stop by so we could get some paperwork out of the way. He said that his wife would be in the car since they were headed…
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The case for developing leaders at all levels
Today I’m going to make the case for leadership development at all levels, not just at the top of the organization. Think about it, do you want those employees positioned closest to your customers to have that training? I would. Yes, it’s a question of cost for many companies, but if your customer-facing people aren’t…
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Communicating with difficult team members
How do you communicate with team members with a chip on their shoulder? What do you do or say when they are stubborn, constantly interrupting, unapproachable, or unwilling to accept feedback? Well, for starters, you are not alone. Every workplace I’ve ever been has at least one of these people working there. Let’s look at a…
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How to manage a team (four key concepts)
Many new leaders wonder how to manage a team. It requires a unique set of skills, patience, and charisma, and it’s not for everyone. In my short career I’ve led teams in multiple ways; however, while I haven’t led a formal team in the workplace, I have seen firsthand how my own manager leads the…
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The What vs. The How
I covered the concept of the “what” and the “how” of work long ago in my review of The Pursuit of Something Better. In the book, U.S. Cellular is going through a dramatic culture change, and a large aspect of that is the shifting mindset from focusing on the “what” to focusing on the “how.”…