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MANAGING AND SUPERVISING

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  • 10 Great Ways To Say Thanks

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Without great employees, most businesses would suffer ― if not shut down. That’s why smart managers find ways to thank workers for their efforts. This brief article suggests 10 big and small ways to acknowledge employees and make them feel appreciated.

  • 17 'Must Ask' Questions For Planning Successful Projects

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    17 insightful queries that can expose the uncertain aspects of your project, and thereby help you avoid expensive surprises

  • 3 Ways To A Happier And More Productive Workplace

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    In today’s shaky economy, many employees have the doldrums. After all, they face longer work days and heavier workloads, and they fear losing their jobs over using vacation or sick time. With a stressed work force, morale and productivity may be low. To boost employees’ spirits and get them working at full speed, employers should foster a more humanistic attitude in their companies. This brief article offers three tips to help them get started

  • 4 Ways To Stamp Out Unethical Behavior

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Unfortunately, eliminating immoral actions is not easy, because there are many complicated reasons for why unethical behavior goes unchecked at some companies. They range from having a corporate culture more concerned with results than how they’ve achieved them to lacking adequate policies and procedures for whistle-blowing. But change isn’t impossible. This article reviews four ways to efficiently and cost-effectively improve ethics among employees.

    1. Revamp your company’s hiring process

    2. Develop a business code of conduct

    3. Work with managers

    4. Create an ethics hotline

  • 5 Ways to Better Disaster Planning

    by Liz Guthridge

    Steps for effective disaster planning in the work place

  • 6 Mistakes Managers Make Delivering Performance Reviews

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Ask employees how supervisors could improve the performance review process and you’ll probably get more responses than you know what to do with. This article addresses six common mistakes managers make and how they can improve.

  • 6 Steps To Becoming A More Effective Leader

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    What makes a leader great? One key skill is the ability to garner the support of others. And good leaders realize they must continually enhance their skills and set an example for the rest. This brief article offers six steps to becoming a better leader.

  • 7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Meetings

    by Liz Guthridge

    Best practices for running effective business meetings so that they don't control you 

  • Are You Getting Ready To Explode? (Growth-wise That Is!)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Establishing a robust foundation, developing personnel expertise, removing obstacles to productivity, aligning consequences, managing projects, and refining customer experiences with your offerings can produce an organization that thrives on growth — and then sustains its momentum through constant refinement.

  • Ask The Advisor: Are Your Employees Breaking The Dress Code?

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    How to handle the don'ts of employee dress codes.

  • Ask The Advisor: Should You Track Workers' E-mail and Internet Use?

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Monitoring employees’ use of company e-mail, the Internet and even instant messaging is a common practice in business today — and for good reason.

  • Ask the Advisor: Will You Be in the Doghouse If You Allow Pets at Work?

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Many HR professionals and business owners are unsure of the issues they need to consider when allowing pets in the office. In addition to considering the industry and checking the office lease, they should keep in mind the interests of both animal lovers and non-pet owners. This article looks at items business owners and HR managers should review.

  • Attracting Latinos for Long-term Success

    by Robert Rodriguez

    Why the Latino workforce matters, plus effective tactics and strategies for finding Latino talent

  • Become a Better Communicator by Keeping Your Mouth Shut

    by Kenny Moore

    A former monk reveals the value in being silent at work. 

  • Boosting Productivity: 10 Ways To Eliminate Obstacles To Success

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Are you unsure of where to begin identifying your burning hassles? Try asking your staff or colleagues what’s impeding their work. Remember to use these ground rules: No blaming or accusing! Everyone should feel free to speak up without being criticized, and everyone can help brainstorm the solutions.

  • Building the Total Team: A Lesson from Professional Sports

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Whether it's the NHL, NFL, WNBA, major league baseball -- name your league or team -- there is always something going on in professional team sports. When they are playing effectively, sports teams teach us much about building the Total Team. We'll look at some of those lessons.

  • Building Trust in an Uncertain World

    by Drs. Dennis and Michelle Reina

    The importance of building trust to improve employee satisfaction, productivity and profitability

  • Can't We All Just Get Along? 6 Steps To Handling Team Conflict

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Personality clashes, work style differences, deadline stress and petty irritations can take a toll on a team’s productivity and cause morale to plummet. That’s why managers play such an important role in leading the team or project. If your managers are struggling to keep their teams focused and respectful of each other, take comfort in the fact that they’re not alone. This article details six steps that your managers can employ to effectively deal with conflict within a team.

  • Coaching and Counseling

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    How everyday coaching boosts performance, what makes an effective coach, when counseling is needed, and how coaching and counseling create change.

  • Coaching to Redirect: Pin the Tail on the Donkey

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    The childhood birthday party game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, with blindfolded children assisted by supportive parents to achieve the mark, smartly illustrates the elements of coaching to redirect employee performance. Apply these tips to create a constructive coaching environment and increase employee confidence.

  • Communicating to Influence: Build Loyalty and Trust on Your Team

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Communicating to Influence, that is, using our best collaboration and negotiating skills, gives us a key advantage when leading teams.

  • Continued Performance Management Success

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Many organizations define performance management — procedures for monitoring employee performance — narrowly or ignore it altogether. Progress is not always smooth, and resistance can cripple a design team. This article provides four fundamentals that can ensure a current system’s success or be used to create a new performance-management system.

  • Cost Reduction Within Marketing and The Sales Process

    by Philip Krone Philip Krone

    11 steps you can take that will help increase revenues and hopefully reduce costs.

  • Creating Meaning at Work

    by Jamie Walters

    How to discover meaning in your work and encourage your co-workers to do the same. 

  • Delegating Smartly

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Delegation directly affects the bottom line. When it is done well, tasks are completed at the most efficient and least expensive level. Are your supervisors skilled at delegating? Or is productivity slowed by supervisors who try to do it all?

  • Don't Let Missing Information Undermine Your Business Success

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    By systematically providing access to key information, and by using training appropriately, you can avert potential disasters, bolster employee morale, and cement a solid foundation for business success.

  • Effective Employee Performance Management

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Three steps to developing an effective performance management system

  • Electronic Support Systems: A Great Way To Stretch Expertise

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This kind of guidance can come in the form of interviews, tightly interwoven tips and hints, overviews, demonstrations, wizards, decision guidance, calculation tools, and other systematic interactions that intelligently aid people in achieving their goals.

  • Enhancing Employee Performance With Regular Feedback

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Providing employees with feedback is an important part of every supervisor’s job. People need to know what they’re doing right or wrong and how they can do better. But often managers provide ambiguous details or no positive reinforcement. This article explains how to give workers feedback to improve their performances.

  • Five Easy Steps To Guide Employees In Negotiating Promotions and Raises

    by Jeanette Nyden JNyden

    According to a recent job satisfaction survey of full-time employees, 69.1% of employees feel that they are underpaid for their qualifications. Here are some additional statistics: There are 2 out of 3 employees walking around feeling underpaid and 1 in 3 employees are seeking job growth opportunities that will presumably lead to more pay.

  • Five Leadership Guidelines: Your Personal Gyroscope

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

     Any leader can have a personal leadership gyroscope to stay on track and in balance.

  • Flexibility = Productivity

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Flexibility in the workplace can take many forms. There’s growing evidence of businesses that accommodate how their employees get their jobs done are reaping benefits like never before.

  • For Greater Success, Get Good Promises

    by Jeffrey and Laurie Ford Jeffrey and Laurie Ford

    The 5 parts to getting things done at work by getting good promises

  • Four Steps on the Path to Influence

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Influencing effectively, gaining support for ideas and plans, listening to understand objections, and collaborating to determine a solution -- these are key responsibilities of both parents and human resource professionals. Here are four steps to take to handle these responsibilities well.

  • Getting to Team Synergy, part 1

    by Elizabeth Doty Elizabeth Doty
  • Getting to Team Synergy, part 2

    by Elizabeth Doty Elizabeth Doty

    Teams are interdependent.  Learn how they are, and why it matters.

  • Great Customer Service: A Critical Competitive Edge

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Great customer service is one of the last differentiating factors in an increasing competitive business market.

  • Grooming Your Stars For Greatness

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Promoting from within is a sound strategy for most businesses. It’s a way to keep high performers in your organization, retain the company’s investments in human capital, motivate the staff to see that success is rewarded and fill top spots efficiently. But promotions can backfire if they’re handled incorrectly. Putting your stars into roles that they’re not suited for or moving them up before they’re ready can quickly erase all the benefits of promoting from within. This article explains how doing your homework before, during and after the transition helps ensure your organization and employees both get the full benefit of promotions.

    But promotions can backfire if they’re handled incorrectly. Putting your stars into roles that they’re not suited for or moving them up before they’re ready can quickly erase all the benefits of promoting from within. By doing your homework before, during and after the transition, your organization and employees will get the full benefit of promotions

  • High Anxiety: How To Assess Performance and Lower Stress

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Evaluating employee efficiency is a process, not an event. Then why is it usually such a dreaded - and often poorly managed - workplace function? Employers may look at the process as a time drain, perhaps even superfluous. Meanwhile, workers may not understand its potential benefits and may even fear subjective judgment. In reality, performance assessments are objective ways to improve both employee and organizational performance. A comprehensive system correlates behavior with results, helps justify salaries, promotes worthy performers and, if necessary, terminates poor ones. This article examines how to conduct the performance evaluation process painlessly.

  • Hiring the Best Talent: Casting Call!

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Talent -- the success of your organization depends upon it. But are your managers taking the right steps to fill key roles with the most talented players? This article uses a creative analogy to share tips on the hiring process.

  • Holding Effective Meetings Can Be Easier than You Think!

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    With a little fine-tuning, you can convert your meetings from profit stealers into profit boosters.

  • How To Get Out Of 'Project Overwhelm'

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article explains how to get out of "project overwhelm" and restore sanity to your endeavor. It may be time to regroup and swiftly chart a new course.

  • How to Run an Effective Meeting

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    "We've got to stop meeting like this!" Does that well-known quote sum up people's feelings about meetings at your company? If so, try these strategies for running productive, effective meetings.

  • How To Stay Ahead Of The Harassment Curve

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    By Jan. 1, 2006, many California companies finished their initial mandatory training for supervisors. Although the law applies specifically to California companies, the details are worth noting regardless of your location. This brief article looks at the new law and why all employers should take notice

  • Identity Theft Precautions For Your Office

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    It happened to Bank of America when employees stole customer financial records and sold them to collection agencies. It happened to LexisNexis when hackers accessed the personal information of hundreds of thousands of people. “It” is that hot button issue on everyone’s mind: identity theft. This article discusses best practices, including creating a policy and minimizing use of sensitive data, to prevent identity theft in your office.

  • Improve Internal Service

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Many organizations take great strides to improve customer service, but neglect to examine the service their employees provide each other — or internal customers. By failing to look at how workers serve each other, businesses are missing opportunities to enhance their external clients’ satisfaction. This brief article looks at ways to foster internal customer service.

  • Interviewing: How To Talk Only 25% Of The Time

    by Carolyn Thompson Carolyn Thompson_

    Pre-interview planning - gaining information before the interview, planning the best time and place and the questions, assessments and others to meet - will allow you to control your percentage of time talking about the position and your organization so you can spend as much time listening and probing as possible.

  • Keys to Successful Project Management

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Having a great project idea, and even having the perfect people to do the job, offer no guarantees that your project will succeed. According to Murphy, if anything can go wrong, it will. But with the right planning and preparation, you can ensure that your project sidesteps any pitfalls and succeeds. In this issue, we'll offer some important tips to skirt Murphy's Law.

  • Leadership Learning Transfer

    by Telly Courialis Telly Courialis

    Supervisor Involvement. Involving the participants’ supervisors and gaining their support to facilitate the training creates a supportive transfer environment.

    Coaching. On-site trainer coaching with each participant on his/her individual work-related prob­lem/s is provided to generate ongoing interest and provide immediate feedback.

  • Leading at Net Speed: How to Stay on Course

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Today's leaders face countless challenges, familiar and unfamiliar. But by following just a few clear principles, leaders can stay on course despite the pull in many directions. We look at five such principles: (1) Create an optimistic culture; (2) Promote collaborative relationships; (3) Encourage exceptional performance; (4) Focus for high impact; (5) Cultivate trust.

  • Leading by Taking Initiative

    by Jeffrey and Laurie Ford Jeffrey and Laurie Ford

    Leading starts with an invitation to act.

  • Make Your Sales Compensation Plan Hit The Mark

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Pinpoint weaknesses, redesign your plan, and support your strategic vision for an excellent compensation plan.

  • Managing Project Risks (Part 1): Don't Be Snared by These 6 Common Traps

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    You and your team can learn to avoid project pitfalls by paying close attention to the cause-and-effect relationships among these six important keys!

  • Managing Project Risks (Part 2): 10 Major Mistakes Your Team Can Avoid

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    10 major mistakes to avoid (or risks to flag) when choosing, estimating, and staffing your projects.

  • Managing Project Risks (Part 3): How To Quickly Assess Potential Pitfalls

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article (Part 3 of the series) explains how you can quickly evaluate any risks you’ve identified to see whether they’re likely to overwhelm your project.

  • Managing Project Risks (Part 4): A Simple Risk Mitigation Process

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article (Part 4 of the series) takes you through asimple, four-step risk management process.

  • Mentoring For New Employees

    by Renie McClay Renie McClay

    Many people have benefited from a mentor in various stages of their work life.  Providing opportunities and guidelines for these relationships can help individuals and the organization can benefit as well.

  • Navigating Change and Uncertainty by Rebuilding Trust

    by Drs. Dennis and Michelle Reina

    Seven steps to restoring trust at work in uncertain times

  • Off to the Races: A Five-Step Model

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    It's time to plan for a major event, a triathlon. How will you prepare for this goal of a lifetime? And how about new employees at your organization? Are they being prepared to hit the ground running, or are they slowed down at speed bumps not of their making?

  • Performance Appraisal On Purpose

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Purposeful performance appraisals produce effective outcomes.

  • Preparing For Retirement, But Not Yours, Theirs; How To Cope With An Aging Workforce

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

     Baby boomers are quickly approaching retirement age, which may drastically affect many organizations’ workforces. This article explains how preparedness and willingness to step outside the business-as-usual model can help companies make this demographic reality work for them, rather than against them.

     

  • Preparing Your Organization For The Impending Labor Shortage

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Strategies you can employ to reduce the effect of the upcoming labor shortage on your company.

  • Psychology 101; The Right Ways To Use Employee Testing

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    For years, companies have turned to personality tests, behavioral assessments and even psychological screening instruments to gather data about individuals when building teams, making decisions about whom to hire or promote, and addressing other employment issues. But a 2005 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling shed new light on the uses and limits of these assessments. Although the case has put the MMPI and similar tests in the spotlight, it hasn’t halted their use altogether. This article explains ways employers use — and misuse — these assessments.

  • Raising The Bar On Work/Life Balance

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Many supervisors have trouble creating a workplace where there is virtually no turnover and they no longer have to pay steep agency fees to fill difficult positions because qualified candidates are waiting in line to work for their companies. This article explains how helping workers balance their careers and personal lives will help employers craft a productive workplace.

  • Reap What You Sow

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Creating a successful and objective performance review process.

  • Six Steps to an Inspiring Work Culture

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    A leader sets the tone for employee performance throughout the organization. These six specific actions -- which involve vision, values, stories, branding, and other elements -- can lead your staff to higher performance through a work culture that inspires.

  • Strategies To Improve Meeting Effectiveness

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    During the past 20 years, meetings have proliferated in corporate America at a rather alarming rate. For instance, the average business professional was in several meetings about six hours a week in 1982. By 1995, the same business professional spent more than 12 hours a week in meetings. Unfortunately, more than 50% of meeting time is wasted. Corporations often have to carry the huge cost of these meetings. This article offers basic strategies that can help businesses curb meeting waste.

  • The Art of Relationship at Work

    by Jamie Walters

    The importance of relationships in today's workplace, and how to strengthen them.

  • The Case for Coaching: An Effective Business Strategy

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Individual and small group coaching is a viable strategy for improving individual performance, and ultimately, bottom line profitability.

  • The Case for Delegating Smartly

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    The Gallup Organization reports that only 16% of employees feel actively engaged at work. Organizations that want to develop that sense of engagement ensure that their managers and supervisors know how to delegate smartly.

  • The Power of Everyday Mentoring

    by Chip Bell

    Mentoring as an every day event leading to business learning, growth and success 

  • The Rules of Engagement: How To Increase Productivity and Keep Your Best Employees

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Improving performance, increasing productivity, and keeping your best employees.

  • Thoughts on Five Key Management Topics

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Would you like quick, practical tips and bits of wisdom on five important topics? Here is some of our latest thinking on communicating, delegating, managing one's career, transforming team conflict, and working with communication styles, taken from five new NetSpeed Leadership modules.

  • Three Decision-Making Techniques to Suit Any Purpose, Project, or Need

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Structured decision-making produces sturdy, satisfying results — even for complex projects or problems — while boosting both morale and profit potential.

  • Uncovering The Secrets of Great Bosses

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    There are plenty of reasons to be a good boss. Perhaps, most important, employees with good bosses perform well and are fully engaged in their work — which creates results that support your business. But also keep in mind that, when people jump ship, they generally leave because of their boss, not their job. Researchers have even linked a poor relationship with a supervisor to depression and other mental health problems. This article offers some of the secrets of top leaders’ success.

  • Want To Motivate Employees?

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    How to build team behavior and assign the right person to a job.

  • What Gen Y Wants You to Know

    by Louise Carnachan

    Gen Y-ers share their thoughts about today's organizations, working with their managers, and blending their work and their lives

  • What Works For Generations X and Y At Work

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Suggestions on how to understand both the similarities and the differences between Gen Xers and Gen Yers. Tips to keeping them on the job, motivated and productive.

  • What's On Your Meeting Agenda?

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Meeting notices, agendas, and summaries provide a robust structure that can compensate for any other aspects of meetings that are less than perfect.

  • When Workers Dress Like It's A Day At The Park

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Some businesses, particularly if they have a strict dress policy, relax their rules during the summer. Others that already allow business-casual attire don’t feel the need to loosen standards even more. But in either situation, employees may take it on themselves to make the dress code more casual by simply wearing more relaxing apparel to work during the summer. This article reviews ways to ensure workers’ appearances match your organization’s expectations.

  • Working with Purpose: A Powerful Key to Employee Engagement

    by Kenneth Thomas

    Improve employee productivity by making work engaging through non-financial rewards

  • Your Real Work: Management As More

    by Dan Kennedy

    As the one in charge, your real work is about more than getting the job done.  It's about your people being engaged in getting the job done. 

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