I hope you realized that this is a trick question. Great leaders will spend about half of their time on these two important key competencies. My focus on excellence in these two areas has been one of the keys to my success as a manager. In In the future, I will write articles that will focus on best practices for hiring great employees, but this article will focus on how to make sure your employees are productive in the first six months.
If we can create a federal workplace that is strong, empowered, connected and fulfilled, this will inevitably have extra ordinary ramifications for the world in general, since what happens in our federal workplace does not stay here but reverberates around the world though thousands of interactions we have on the world stage. Dr. Marta Wilson
Most of my friends know that I am a huge fun of productivity not just in SharePoint. I continue to get meeting requests from customers and coworkers with meeting locations of 888-555-1222 see 24 digit dial in code below or conference room B. I am on a quest....
One of the biggest variables in achieving transformational results is based on whether or not the company we are working with has culture of collaboration. If the company does not have a culture of collaboration; a consultant or information technology team is not likely change the culture based on a tool, process or a technology
A Guide to Building Better Business Partnerships
In the course of my career, I have had a lot of success using business partnerships to deliver solutions to customers. In most cases, our company had most of what the customer needed to solve their problem, but bringing in partners provided them the total solution. I have seen many business partnerships flourish, but I have also seen companies and individuals struggle with the day-to-day of business partnerships. Below are three insights to help you and your team build better business partnerships.
Tomorrow we will have the opportunity to talk about Xgility core value #2. I don't believe you need to take as much risk as an entrepreneur in order to have an entrepreneurial spirit and a growth mindset. I believe in the Google corporate practice of every employee taking a portion of their time to experiment with new ideas. In terms of having and entrepreneurial spirit there are 7 ideas I want to communicate to our team in order to help us live this value.
In terms of having is growth mindset, it is important to remember that what got you here won't get you where you want to be 1 or 10 years from now. You need to invest, likely after hours, in your professional growth. Henry Ford said, "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.," Alan Weis did the math that shows if you "Improve by 1% a day, and in just 70 days, you’re twice as good." We are blessed to live in a great county where free opportunities for growth abound including the internet, public library and user groups.
Recently I attended a session at the Microsoft partner conference in Orlando, Florida. The speaker was @KrisPlachy. She had some great advice for managers on how to coach performance gaps. She started by giving three reasons why employees don't perform. It is important to understand if one of more of these problems exist before choosing your strategy.
Knows what to do but unwilling to do it (mindset problem).
Does not know what to do but is willing to learn (skillset problem).
Does not know what and is unwilling to learn.
If an employee has a mindset and a skillset problem the mindset problem will need to be addressed first. A manager should address a mindset problem by creating awareness through inquiry, confirm willingness to change, follow up, measure progress.
Mindset Problem..
What are the reasons for not doing what they are supposed to do?
Do they blame others for external factors for non-performance
What thoughts do they have about doing their job or work?
Below are some questions to help create awareness.
What are your thoughts about the assignment?
How do you feel when you think that way?
How do you act when you feel this way?
What results do you get with these actions?
She suggest using the CTFAR Model to help employee work though mindset problems.
Circumstances
Thoughts (Evidence will change thoughts)
Feelings
Actions
Results
If the employee does not know how, but wants to learn you have a skillset issue. Kris suggests the following strategy to address skillset issues.
Skills Transfer
Tell: them what you want done
Show: them what you want done
Do: Have them do the work as you observe
Review: Provide Feedback on their skill
After using the skills transfer process be sure to follow up. It is going to cost your more in time to have an employee that is a performance issue than to practice good follow up. What are your thought on performance management?
Once a week at my company Xgility we spend 20 minutes covering one of our core values. This week we covered number three and I had the opportunity to share five practical ways to be an expert and not a know it all.
While nobody likes to lose a deal, losing business can be a valuable experience. Over the past nine years managing sales teams, most of the great sales people I have managed enjoyed talking about the big deals that they won. While I enjoy celebrating a win as much as the next guy, I believe that it is as important to reflect on the deal that got away, as much as it is to celebrate the business we won. Below 5 steps that will help your sales team learn from a loss and prepare themselves to move towards the light at the end of the tunnel.
Most people who achieve great things had a negative experience that shaped their motivation. For instance Daren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, started out trying prove himself to his dad. Eventually when you have had some success, it is time move up on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You should increase your motivation with things like helping others or a cause greater than yourself
