I’m sure you’ve heard the term Emotional Quotient (EQ, or Emotional Intelligence). It’s been a buzzword for a while now. But do you understand its importance and why you should care about it? EQ is important because it’s what separates the high performers from the low performers. Travis Bradberry, of TalentSmart, has done the research […]
Today’s low unemployment rate is spurring lots of comment about how hard it is to find employees. It is difficult to find employees, of course, but in my experience, great employees have always been hard to find. Great employees are those who truly make a difference to your business. The ones who can raise the bar […]
Annual performance reviews. Everyone’s least-favorite time of year. Whether you do this burdensome task at the end of the calendar year, or the fiscal year, or if you wait till each employee’s anniversary date, you know they’re coming and you dread their arrival. Not only are formal performance reviews time-consuming and disruptive to your normal […]
Every manager has, at some point, worked with an employee who was not cutting it. They were not a good match for their role which led to poor performance. And every manager has let those employees slide, at least for a while. Why is it that even though problem employees are easily identified, action to […]
People often joke when a newlywed couple gets a puppy that they’re just practicing for when they have children. And they’re right, because dogs are great “training wheels” for becoming a parent. But they can also be great training wheels for becoming a manager. Your pooch can teach you a lot about management. Here’s an […]
Low morale, low profits, lack of staff engagement, high turnover, rampant gossip – all these problems can be attributed to a company that’s being led by either a Watchmaker or a Beekeeper. Care to guess which is the type of leader whose company suffers these troubles? If you guessed Watchmaker, you’re right. Why? Watchmakers, as […]
The real obstacles to a company’s growth are often hard to identify. They are frequently issues that affect multiple areas of the company. They may look like seemingly simple issues at first. But once you’ve solved the superficial problems, there’s still no relief. That’s because you didn’t get to the heart of the underlying issue. […]
Congratulations to all of the award winners from last night’s CBIC Gala, but a very special congrats goes out to our client Baron Schwartz of VividCortex! Baron was named the 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year. Baron is always looking for new ways to improve and grow both the company as a whole and himself as […]
Entrepreneurs, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. You are great at starting and growing businesses. You are full of energy and ideas. You make things happen. That’s the good news. Because you are great at solving problems, are quick with your decisions, are great at firefighting, you, knowingly or unknowingly, make yourself […]
Have you noticed that your managers are reluctant to have those tough, but necessary, conversations with their employees? When those conversations are had, do they tend not to be as direct as they could be? Do the employees not hear what was intended? Do managers simply “Hint and Hope” that their employees will eventually get […]