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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.

  • 12 Ways to Thrive in Challenging Times

    by Carol Kinsey Goman Carol Kinsey Goman

     A dozen tips to consider, whether you feel secure or think your job may soon disappear

  • 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

  • 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 Secrets to Psych Yourself Out of Pre-Presentation Jitters

    by Dianna Booher Dianna Booher

    Seven hints helping you deal with that sense of discomfort known as stage fright.

     

  • 7 Steps for Pinpointing Your Audience and Designing Your Offerings (Part 1)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Seven recommendations for identifying your audiences, discovering the most compelling ways to speak to them, and then using the information you gather to create your book, product, service, Web site, or custom solution.

  • 7 Steps for Pinpointing Your Audience and Designing Your Offerings (Part 2)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    In Part 2 (this article), we’ll explore the remaining steps in the sequence to continue determining what to offer your audiences.

  • Aim Your Sights at Your Customers' Downstream Success

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    By using a variety of techniques to expose more of your clients’ and customers’ needs, you can pinpoint more completely the project, product, or service requirements.

  • Aligning Consequences: 4 Keys To 'Walking Your Talk'

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Aligning consequences with expectations is easier said than done. But by becoming aware of and applying these cause-and-effect principles, you’ll encourage the very best performance from your colleagues and staff.

  • Apologize--Do It Wrong and You'll Be Sorry

    by Dianna Booher Dianna Booher

    Suggestions on good ways  to apologize and  preserve the relationship with coworkers and friends.

  • Appraising Performance: The Slide Show

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Many supervisors dread conducting the periodic performance appraisal discussion. That's often because they don't have a framework to make the discussion painless, constructive, and valuable. We see the discussion as a slideshow in which supervisor and employee revisit events and experiences.

  • Are You Aligning Your Business Purpose with Your Passions in Life?

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    From sending crystal-clear, compelling marketing messages, to maintaining our business momentum, to developing a distinct competitive advantage around an appealing cause, nothing speaks as powerfully as doing what we love.

  • 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: Cutting The Slack

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    4 ways your organization can maintain productivity

  • Ask The Advisor: How To Deal With The Wayne Arnolds and Nelson Muntzes of The Workplace

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Bullying in the workplace.

  • Attracting Latinos for Long-term Success

    by Robert Rodriguez

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

  • Back to Basics with These Communications Tips

    by Liz Guthridge

    Seven tips for better communications at work. 

  • Become a Better Communicator by Keeping Your Mouth Shut

    by Kenny Moore

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

  • Become Idea-Prone

    by Jack Foster

    In need of a good idea?  Look no further. 

  • 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 Consensus: The Art of Getting to YES

    by Michael Wilkinson

    Differences of opinion can derail many meetings.  Here are some tips for managing and leveraging disagreements. 

  • 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.

  • Communicate With People The Way THEY Need To Communicate

    by Carolyn Thompson Carolyn Thompson_

    Design your communication around the preferences and expectations of your receivers. With a bit of practice, you’ll see a dramatic increase in your communication effectiveness!

  • 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.

  • Corporate Funerals and the Joy of Change

    by Kenny Moore

    Any transition worth it's salt must be intentionally experienced and even celebrated.  Here is a prime example. 

  • Creating Meaning at Work

    by Jamie Walters

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

  • Dealing with Anger and Insults

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Consider these suggestions on how to handle angry, hostile, or mean-spirited written messages when a phone conversation or a face-to-face meeting won’t work.

  • Designing Information To Help People Act Quickly

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Consider using information design principles -- classifying, chunking, simplifying, arranging, and illustrating -- to help guarantee their success.

  • Diversity Means More Than Just Numbers

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Diversity is no longer just about race and gender. It’s about providing a climate in which all employees, regardless of background and beliefs, know their contributions are valued. It also now encompasses vendors, suppliers and business partners. Embracing differences and inclusiveness is the name of the game. This article discusses how to compete in a diverse global economy, including starting the process and committing to diversity.

  • Do You Know What Your Body Just Said?

    by Carol Kinsey Goman Carol Kinsey Goman

    Successful body language tips for the workplace and life.

  • Don't Forget to Breathe

    by Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D.

    A simple way to focus: breathe

  • E-Mail: The Shortest Distance Between You and Trouble

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Here are some ways to protect your company from devastating e-mail consequences.

  • Effective Selling: Does your aroma come on too strong?

    by Nani Paape Peer-submitted content

    Is your fragrance or cigarette smoke losing you sales?

  • Eight Indicators of an Extraordinary Group

    by Geoff Bellman Geoff Bellman

    Discover the key traits of  highly effective teams.

  • 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.

  • Engaging Your Team for Success

    by Cindy Ventrice

    Seven tips for team leads who want to spur high performance in their people

  • 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 Tips to Improve Your Personal Curb Appeal

    by Carol Kinsey Goman Carol Kinsey Goman

    The essential elements for making the best impression in face-to-face contacts with your colleagues and clients.

  • 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.

  • Focusing on Consistency (Part 1)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    To recognize the value of consistency in customer retention and in over-delivering on promises, both explicit and implied.

  • Focusing on Consistency (Part 2)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article, Part 2, explores four more techniques that can help ensure top-to-bottom consistency in creating positive customer experiences.

  • 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.

  • Glow

    by Lynda Gratton

    How you can radiate energy, innovation and success to create a great work environment and deliver superior value through work

  • Great Advice

    by David Schmaltz

    Advice about, well, the flimsy value of getting and giving good advice.

  • 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

  • Gut Check: Hearing Your Intuition

    by Jamie Walters

    Use and benefits of intuition in the work place.

  • Have You Ever Tried Being A Peacemaker?

    by Sue Miller Sue Miller

    Here are several ways to politely engage in "peacemaking".

  • 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.

  • 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 Do You Measure Your Customer's Wow Factors?

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    By continuously measuring your customer "wow" factors — such as ideal features and functions, ease of use, simplicity and elegance, and error-free operation — your efforts will pay for themselves many times over through customer loyalty, a solid reputation, and increased profitability.

  • 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 Say Thank You

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Send an email, jot a note, write a card of thanks. Make someone feel valued. Be grateful and show it.

  • How to Write an Apology

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Apologies communicate the message “I respect you” without actually using those words.

  • How to Write E-Mail That Gets Results

    by Natasha Terk Natasha Terk

    Steps to better your professional email communications, and common problems to avoid.

  • How to Write Faster and Get Results

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Helpful tips on writing quickly, effectively, and efficiently in your business.

  • How to Write Persuasive Business E-mail

    by Natasha Terk Natasha Terk

    Do's & Don'ts of writing an email that sells.

  • I'm Sorry.

    by John Kador

    An effective apology can repair strained customer relationships and avoid lawsuits.  Here are ten ways to get it right.

  • 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.

  • Is A Master Mind Group On Your Horizon?

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Developing the perfect Master Mind or other support network can take a bit of work. Parties who mirror your values and are qualified to meet your particular needs aren’t always easy to find.

  • IsYour Writing Too Abrupt?

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Seven simple ways to warm up your writing and reduce the risk of abruptness

     

  • Just Say No: How To Sound Positive When You're Negotiating The Negative

    by Jeanette Nyden JNyden

    Saying no does not have to be awkward or damaging to relationships. Saying no can actually help you do your job better. That's right; saying no can be a good thing. Negotiators say no all the time. The negotiators who are skilled at saying no are often the most respected and popular in their field because they are more likely to craft an agreement that meets the needs of both sides.

  • Keeping Your Offerings Easy to Use (Part 1)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Keeping your offerings simple and consistent, while simultaneously supporting whatever people are really trying to accomplish, should lead to years of customer gratitude and loyalty.

  • Keeping Your Offerings Easy to Use (Part 2)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Part 2 (this article), we’ll probe more deeply into how to reverse this trend by simplifying what we have to offer.

  • 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.

  • Know Can Do

    by Ken Blanchard Ken Blanchard

    People today know a lot more about leadership and management than anyone ever sees. The gap between knowing and doing is probably wider than the gap between ignorance and knowledge.

     

  • Know When to Hold Them and When to Fold Them; How to Build, Repair and Disband Work Teams

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    When professionals think of the word “team,” they probably think of one thing: people pulling together for a common cause. But that’s where the commonality ends because each group differs in its objectives and the way it operates. Moreover, each team’s lifespan varies: Some start out strong and die quickly, while others work effectively for years. This article discusses when organizations should assemble a team, spend time rebuilding it or simply pull the plug.

  • 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.

  • Learning from Your Successes

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    "What can we learn from our missteps?" and "What can we do differently next time?" are two questions that often come up in project debriefing sessions. But two other key questions -- especially useful in managing your career -- have to do with accomplishments. Ask yourself "What did I do well?" and "How did I do it?"

  • Make an Impact with Storytelling

    by Lynda McDaniel

    How to engage your business readers with good storytelling 

  • Make Testing and Evaluation Your Best Friends

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    By making testing and evaluation your partners and allies, you will give your brand and offerings enormous competitive advantages.

  • 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.

  • Making the Business Case for Transformation through Training

    by Edward Trolley Edward Trolley

    Discussing how and why training employees can turn profits.

  • 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.

  • Managing Time in Fast Forward

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    "Fast forward" is normal speed in business today. As we move through meetings, demos, projects, plans, phone calls, contacts, and videoconferences, it is difficult (if not impossible) to set our days on "Pause." And "Stop!" is our last resort. In this article, you will find strategies -- some new, some tried and true -- for managing time in fast forward.

  • Meet Your Customers More than Halfway: Anticipate Their Circumstances of Use (Part 1)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    By packaging the components of your products in complementary formats, you can help your customers consume what you offer in any mode they choose. You’ll also provide more value than your competitors will by giving your audiences more convenient ways to learn or do what they’ve turned to your offerings to receive.

  • Meet Your Customers More than Halfway: Anticipate Their Circumstances of Use (Part 2)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article, Part 2, addresses an often-overlooked arena — how people might try to use products or services in unusual or even extreme circumstances.

  • Meet Your Customers More than Halfway: Anticipate Their Circumstances of Use (Part 3)

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    In Part 3 (this article), we’ll explore another aspect of meeting our customers more than halfway by screening their eligibility for what we have to offer.

  • Meeting Change with Resilience

    by Marla Mason Marla Mason

    How do we use the challenges presented by change to strengthen our skills and boost our creativity?

  • Meeting Change With Resilience: Preparing For Change

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    What has changed lately? In business, roughly everything: the economy, technology, travel, tourism, employment rates, energy costs and availability, regulations, the global marketplace, and more. Change is everywhere -- some of it anticipated, some without notice. In this article, you will find four key questions. Answering these questions will help you prepare yourself and your organization for the inevitable changes ahead.

  • Navigating Change and Uncertainty by Rebuilding Trust

    by Drs. Dennis and Michelle Reina

    Seven steps to restoring trust at work in uncertain times

  • Negotiation Preparation on the Fly: Five Down-and-Dirty Questions You Should Answer Before Your Next Negotiation

    by Jeanette Nyden JNyden

    More and more, negotiations happen in pieces and on the fly, meaning that you quickly shoot off an e-mail or leave a voicemail in response to someone else’s e-mail or voicemail. This disjointed approach to negotiating will not change for the better any time soon. Negotiation preparation improves outcomes. In fact, it is the single-most-important thing you can do to influence the negotiation in your favor.

  • 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.

  • Personnel Development: 7 Keys To Aiming Your Talent In The Right Direction

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Your staff will be much more productive and your customers more satisfied when you apply far-sighted personnel development instead of shortsighted luck.

  • 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.

  • Quality Lives In The Eye Of The Beholder

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Remember that quality in perception is not a substitute for quality in fact. But it can go a long way toward minimizing customer and client dissatisfaction, as well as powerfully reinforcing stellar quality when you ultimately deliver it.

  • 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.

  • Recipe For success; Measurements Should Reflect Your Strategy, Goals And Initiative

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    There are traditional measures HR uses — the number of people hired, turnover rates and the number of training hours delivered — but this data focuses on activity, not necessarily value. This brief article explores how using more meaningful metrics better illustrates the value HR brings to your company.

  • Retention: Cost Effective Ways To Improve

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Ways you can retain key employees on a tight budget.

  • Setting and Achieving Goals: Six Questions

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    It's always a good time to set and work toward goals, especially at the beginning of a new year. But every now and then we need to think too about how we set and achieve our goals. Are we doing the right things to achieve meaningful results? Does our approach work for us and for our teams? Consider these questions.

  • Setting the Criteria and Conditions For Success

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    This article explains how developing a set of"business success criteria" can help you select a worthwhile undertaking with much deeper insight, and thus establish conditions for successfully pursuing it.

  • Seven Steps to Your Goal

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Although we cannot control our readers’ behavior, we can easily adapt our writing to improve our results. Here are seven steps guaranteed to improve your chances of achieving your objectives.

  • 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.

  • Six Steps to Written Communication that Gets Results

    by Natasha Terk Natasha Terk

    Six-step writing process to get the results you want from your written communication.  

  • Slim Down Your Writing

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    To trim your sentences, cut extra words and phrases.

  • 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.

  • Telling Compelling Stories

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

    Stories help people make a personal connection to the learning experience they are on – a connection that helps them remember what they learned long after the training session has concluded.

  • The 10 Principles of Resolutionary Thinking

    by Stewart Levine

     Intention is everything when your aim is resolution.  Here are the 10 things you need to keep top of mind when entering into and working through this kind of critical relationship.

  • The Art of Relationship at Work

    by Jamie Walters

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

  • The Cure for Your Training Department

    by Jim Hopkins

    A straight-forward way to make your organization's training group as healthy and productive as possible

  • The Introverted Leader: Thriving in the extroverted business world

    by Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D.

    Introverted leaders, the challenges they face and how they can thrive 

  • The Masterful Strategy Meeting

    by Michael Wilkinson

    A step-by step guide to running meetings that can produce powerful strategies for your organization

  • The Power of a Smile--Yours

    by Jennifer Kahnweiler, Ph.D.

    How often we smile at work has an impact on our effectiveness.

  • 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.

  • The State of Customer Service: What's Your Score?

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Developing systems and skills to deliver effective customer service.

  • Thinking to Break the Box: Asking Fresh Questions

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    We often talk about the need to think outside the box. Yet typically it's our thinking methods which create that legendary box. We box ourselves in by the way we approach an issue, problem, or opportunity. Here are some useful springboards for thinking to break the box, which involve asking different kinds of questions.

  • Three Internal Disconnects That Lead To Employee Frustration and Customer Angst

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    We can minimize employee and customer frustration by continually fine-tuning procedures and hand-offs within the organization.

  • Tips for Giving Written Feedback

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Here are nine tips to help you meet the challenges of written feedback.

  • Tips For Removing 'Burning Hassles'

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Here are some tips for getting rid of those “road blocks” that are driving you, your colleagues, or your customers crazy.

  • Tips for Removing 'Customer Hassles'

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Revealing and remedying annoying hassles can stem the exodus of cranky customers and help you begin building a base of “raving fans.” Your customers deserve no less than the very best of experiences with every facet of your offerings.

  • Tips for Winning Proposals

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Follow these 10 tips, and you will definitely increase your chances of having the winning proposal.

  • Transforming Team Conflict: First Steps

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    It's easy to sink under team conflict, especially when it gets "resolved" negatively. But it's possible to thrive and succeed when we constructively transform team conflict. Transformation begins with acknowledging the value of conflict, increasing conflict competence, and giving conflict situations a neutral name.

  • Transforming Your Meetings Culture: Establish Meetings Rights!

    by Michael Wilkinson

    Transforming your meetings at work by agreeing on a list of Meetings Rights

  • 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.

  • Using Positive Power

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Here are steps to creating a positive experience through writing.

  • Vital Success Measures: Keys to Rescuing Ailing Projects

    by Adele Sommers Adele Sommers

    Vital success measures help reveal why a troubled project has gotten off track and how to reframe its success. By 1) continuing to investigate where the project stands, 2) assessing and re-planning the project as needed, 3) resetting everyone’s expectations, and 4) aiming to deliver, you can resuscitate an ailing project and deliver the desired results.

  • Want To Motivate Employees?

    by Lynda Silsbee Lynda Silsbee

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

  • What do You Want to be Caught Dead Doing?

    by Kenny Moore

    In the certain face of death, what in your life needes doing?  A former monk shares his perspective.

  • 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 Should You Really Say When Your Customer Complains?

    by Bernice Johnston Bernice Johnston

    High quality service consists of three elements:

    1. Explicit quality: meeting the specifications,

    2. Implicit quality: delivering on the implied and unstated, and

    3. Benefit quality: delighting with the unexpected.

    If you consistently deliver on #1 and #3 and work smarter on #2, you may never have to learn what to really say when the customer complains or how to turn a complaint around: you won’t have any!

  • What to do in Tough Times

    by Kathleen Ryan

    When faced with tough economic times, choose engagement over self-protection.

  • 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 Your Networking Quotient (NQ)?

    by Mike Dulworth Mike Dulworth

    The Networking Quotient (NQ) self-assessment measures the strength of your current network and also your current networking capabilities.

  • 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 Communication Styles: A Tip Sheet

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    We are all different. That's a given. The challenge for us in the world of work is to recognize and adapt to style differences. Rather than going through our day thinking that others are "flaky" or "nit-picking," we need to work successfully with them. Here's a tip sheet on how to do it.

  • Working with Purpose: A Powerful Key to Employee Engagement

    by Kenneth Thomas

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

  • Writing for 1.4 Billion Readers

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    These are ten suggestions to writing effectively for viewers worldwide.

  • Writing for High-Speed Readers: On the Pit Crew

    by Cynthia Clay Cynthia Clay

    Imagine yourself on the pit crew of a high-speed auto racer. You want your vehicle and your team to win. But winning will require -- among other things -- efficient, foolproof, lightening fast communication. How can you communicate at high speeds? Read these 16 tips on writing for high-speed readers.

  • Writing Messages of Comfort and Condolences

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    It’s thoughtful and appropriate to send messages of comfort and condolences to anyone you know—not just friends and family but employees, clients, customers, vendors, and others. Everyone will appreciate your caring message in his/her time of discomfort and loss, and you will feel good about having connected with them.


  • Writing Tips for RecentGraduates

    by Lynn Gaertner-Johnston Lynn Gaertner-Johnston

    Six tips about writing for business

  • Your Personal Brand: Becoming a More Authentic and Effective Leader

    by Karl Speak

    Have a real impact on how people see you--for the better.

  • 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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