We all want to make a difference, from the most senior to the most junior, the need has never been greater. Use this as a starting point for your own contribution, add/subtract as you wish, but please start now.
Category: Company Culture
The culture of your company is perhaps your most important competitive advantage. For the most successful companies they build their culture as often as they breathe.
Things to consider …
Good organizations want to find good people and good people are seeking jobs with good organizations. In today’s “Tools Everyone Can Use,” there are tips for both sides to use that work that you can start using right now that will make a difference.
PEOPLE
One of the questions I am asked the most is about handling staff issues or “problem people” in an organization. Being a leader is full of challenges, but perhaps the hardest one is “How to effectively deal with someone who is causing problems.”
Few issues are “black and white” and often taking actions can create follow on problems. Today’s post is a short guide to helping you overcome these issues and is one more set of “Tools Everyone Can Use.”
ADJUSTING, FITTING IN, and CONTRIBUTING
oining a new organization can be both exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Everyone wants to adjust, fit in, and begin making a contribution as soon as possible. Many people, myself included, can struggle with finding that sense of belonging. Everyone knows what they want to do, just finding the “how” to make that happen is what is difficult.
Subtleties of working with people … Take a short quiz.
I hope as an entrepreneur, manager, supervisor, or someone who aspires to take on any of those roles, you will ask yourself “Would you work for you?”
To be truly effective as a leader, you must consider the effects of your decisions, systems and processes, and their impacts on your people. My challenge today is to take a few minutes and consider the questions in this post. It is possible to be a manager but not a leader, considering this quiz may help you to become better at both.
Not as impossible as it might seem …
Have you ever wanted to complain about your boss but felt you had no mechanism that you could access, or do you feel that if you did, you would be the one punished not your boss? Some complaints are minor, others can be quite severe. Many of us feel frustrated and powerless to influence this situation.
Maybe there is a path you could try. Have you considered ways that you might be able to “manage your boss?”
21 Questions/Lessons Learned
Small and medium-sized organizations, retailers, service companies, and even charitable organizations struggle even in good times. When inflation is high, the labour market is tight, and competitive pressures cause many sleepless nights it is an even greater struggle.
Success, the ability to adapt and overcome is achievable, a good place to start is to consider the lessons learned in “beware the rabbit hole.”
Don’t cry, learn from spilled milk …
People are the “everything” for any organization. What if I told you, your organization could be much more successful without seeing any more clients or customers than you are right now? Every organization has “spillage,” clients or customers who leave your organization unsatisfied.
Starting today, especially after reading this short introduction, you and your people, regardless of your place in our communities, can do better. Providing an “Exceptional Customer Service Experience” is the starting point. This is true whether your organization is dedicated to sales or an established charitable organization. Take 5 minutes and see what you think.
Leading by example … one mentor’s difference
I write “Tools Everyone Can Use,” for small and medium-sized organizations, community issues we should all know about, and personal stories that might help people professionally, academically, and/or personally.
Today I am writing about a singularly unique person; what makes him remarkable isn’t what he has done, it’s about his willingness to share what he has learned and how that knowledge ripples outward from him.
This post reflects his generational ripples and it is my hope that anyone who reads this will be able to use his lessons to make a difference for themselves.
Don’t be too quick to say “NO”
I regularly speak about topics such as job searching and keeping a job from an employers perspective to high school students and other adults. Recently, several people suggested writing about employee retention from the employee’s perspective.