Let’s face it, performance coaching isn’t easy. In many organizations, if an employee’s performance is poor enough that a coach is called in, it means the manager is in a last ditch effort to save them. Emotions are running high, termination may be looming, and the relationship between boss and employee may have degraded into…
Dear Madeleine, I am fairly new to managing a large team in the property management industry. I was a team member for a long time. One of the reasons I was promoted was because I was a work horse. I have a lot of energy and was used to putting in ten- and twelve-hour days…
Dear Madeleine, I have been managing a team in the insurance industry for the last fifteen years. There has been a lot of change—mostly reductions in staff size and increases in work load—but basically it is pretty much the same stuff, just a different day, and has been for a long time. My last kid…
Dear Madeleine, I am about eight months into my first senior department manager position at a government agency. I have a lot of experience in this sector and was brought in to shake things up and make some changes. My boss literally told me that my job is to kick *ss and take names. After…
Dear Madeleine, I hate my job. I am just bored to tears. When I completed graduate school, I was recruited into what I thought was the perfect job for me—the job description was exactly what I was looking for. A year later, I am doing a ton of mindless administrative work and almost none of…
One of the biggest challenges leadership, learning, and talent development professionals face when they propose a new initiative is convincing their CEO of the financial impact of the proposed initiative. Without a clear sense of the positive financial impact, it’s easy for a leader to dismiss a new proposal as being too disruptive, too expensive,…
A new study conducted by The Ken Blanchard Companies with 1,300 people in managerial and non-managerial roles found important correlations between an individual’s identification as a self leader and positive work behaviors. – People who exhibit the behaviors of a self leader are more likely to expend discretionary effort on behalf of their organizations. –…
Any organization can begin to improve employee engagement by implementing a simple and practical strategy. This one technique will immediately increase the frequency and quality of conversations taking place between managers and direct reports—a relationship that is critical to employee work passion. The best way to reduce turnover and increase engagement is to make sure…
Trust is a challenge in today’s organizations. Even though trustworthiness is generally recognized as an important managerial attribute, the reality is that leaders are falling short in this area. According to Tolero Solutions, 45 percent of employees say lack of trust in leadership is the biggest issue impacting work performance. Two new research reports just…
Consultants at The Ken Blanchard Companies have been recommending short bi-weekly conversations between managers and direct reports for over 20 years. The reason? They work in decreasing intentions to leave a company. In this short video, I share a quick story about the impact regular one-on-ones have on improving employee relationships. Why don’t more managers…