By Patrick Valtin
Jim was the perfect candidate with many years of solid experience as a professional sales rep and had an obvious talent of persuasion and communication skills. But the hiring manager had some strong reservations during the interview. Jim’s strong focus on results “right now” and a certain aggressiveness that could probably overwhelm or upset clients were some of the weaknesses he was concerned about.
By Jean Kelley
If you look back over your career, chances are you can identify one or two people who stand out as memorable leaders. Even if these people didn’t hold an official leadership role, their actions and words rallied people together to achieve a common goal. And whether that goal was large or small, far reaching or contained, you remember these leaders for a long time.
By Jean Kelley
Mention the phrase “social media” and most people automatically think of Facebook and Twitter. But if you have any dealings in the corporate world—whether you’re a CEO, salesperson, human resource manager, administrative assistant or anything in between—you’ll want to take a closer look at LinkedIn. You will find it a useful tool to make your business relationships more meaningful…and more profitable.
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By Jean Kelley
Whether you’re in a new leadership position due to a promotion or being newly hired, you may have to learn to think in a new way. To be successful, you need to shift your mindset so you can focus on the new requirements and outcomes you’re being held accountable for. In other words, you need to let go of many tasks that have made you successful thus far and focus on what your team can deliver. If you don’t, you won’t make the leap into your new position successfully.
Unfortunately, many people don’t transition into leadership roles well. Why? Sometimes they simply don’t know what’s expected of them. Communication is poor in many companies, and few people receive detailed instructions on how to lead and what competencies it takes to lead. So while someone may get a new title, they have no idea what to actually do in this new role. As such, they face ambiguity every day. Other times people are moving from a technical role into a leadership role, and they don’t want to let go of their spreadsheets, maps, or other technical responsibilities. They enjoy the details of the work and aren’t ready to delegate those details to others. They claim that it will take them longer to teach someone than to actually do the work themselves.
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By Ford R. Myers, Career Potential
Many people make significant job search mistakes and never even know about it. These blunders are easy to make, and they can cost you the job offer or lose you thousands of dollars.
Below, I reveal 10 of the biggest mistakes, and explain how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Relying on Online Job Postings
In general, job postings and “want ads” produce little value. However, it is also a mistake to ignore them altogether. Some of the best chances for jobs from ads are in specialty trade publications and websites of specific industries. I suggest you spend no more than five percent of your valuable time on public job postings.
By Dr. Donna LaMar and Betsy Laney
In light of today’s economic landscape, it’s more important than ever for companies to have happy and productive employees. When employees are loyal and engaged in the company, profits are higher. Conversely, when people feel unmotivated or undervalued, the company suffers. Additionally, studies show that engaged employees miss less work, perform better, and are more supportive of changes and willing to make them happen.
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By Lorraine Haataia, PhD
When the global economy is in a recession, all companies—from Fortune 500s to small, family-owned businesses—suffer. And some of the weakest ones become casualties, leaving their employees without jobs, and losing customers to their competitors. During these tough times, owners, executives and managers often make decisions about jobs, resources and facilities they think they can do without, and then they cut. But this isn’t necessarily the best answer. The truth is, excess waste accumulates in all of these areas during prosperous times. When managers don’t have to worry about the pennies, the company can quickly begin to leak dollars. And it can easily go unnoticed for months and even years.
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6 Criteria to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Learning Department
By Sam Palazzolo
Nothing contributes more to your organization’s profits or losses than your employees. Having the right employee in the right position at the right time executing the right processes is a recipe for success. However, few managers are fortunate to have this recipe, consistently, in their organizations, so they rely upon the learning department to train employees for success. Unfortunately, the guidance these employees receive from the learning department often causes them to fail because the training doesn’t provide tangible or measurable results.
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The economy isn’t in the best shape. Maybe you’ve noticed. Your employees certainly have.
The bad news – job losses, home foreclosures, bankruptcies, and a tanking stock market – comes, in the words of Shakespeare, not single file but in battalions. And prognostications by economists (how bad will it get? how long will it last?) provide little comfort. “This has translated into less productivity at work,” according to a report by CNN, “because of anxieties about salary, heavy workload, and job security.” Continue reading
By Jay Arthur
Businesses seem to be waiting for government stimulus money to trickle down into their cash flow. Unfortunately, few people seem aware of the glacial slowness of big government. Rather than wait on the Fed, businesses can create their own stimulus plan. While in this economy it’s hard to increase sales, it’s easy to focus on reducing costs. Every dollar saved goes straight to the bottom line. And employees love finding ways to simplify, streamline and optimize the business to better serve customers. According to the July-August 2009 Harvard Business Review survey (How Bleak is the Landscape?):
Shouldn’t your business be using this opportunity to improve the value chain?