Conscious Rapport

People who are like each other, tend to like each other.
Do you agree with the above statement?  Think back on your experiences personally and professionally.  Who in your life do you have a good rapport with?  Is it someone with whom you have something in common?  Or is it someone with whom you disagree at every [...]

Management by Walking Around

My wife’s grandfather used to walk around his factory every morning, greeting each employee by name and catching up on what was going on with their work and their life.  This morning routine took a good amount of time, but whenever someone mentioned that he might want to stop, he assured them that this was [...]

Understanding: Getting What You Expect

Understanding is a critical element of effective communication. Like the father in this story (see post “Basis of Buy-in – Step 1: Understanding”), when you are communicating to another person, you obviously understand or have an idea of what you want to communicate. However, this does not mean that the person will understand what you [...]

The Power of Praise

Praise is most effective when it is delivered right away.  Don’t wait to deliver this positive feedback at your next follow-up meeting.  Offer praise immediately when you catch someone doing something right.
Be specific and let your employee know exactly what they did right.  By being specific about what they did right, they gain a clear [...]

Purpose of Objectives

Objectives are desired results and the term is used interchangeably with goals.  While there are many benefits to establishing objectives, most of them fall into one of three categories.
1.  Organize and Direct Behavior
2.  Evaluate Organizational Alignment
3.  Evaluate and Improve Performance
Organize and Direct Behavior
While the ultimate goal of a company is to maximize shareholder value, how this is [...]

Vision/Mission and Buy-In

Many businesses are first created by identifying a need in the market and subsequently organizing resources to satisfy that need, forming the basis of the company’s mission.  Starting with the mission statement, the company creates a vision statement to focus their efforts around central objectives.  These objectives are then broken down further into specific tasks [...]

Using the Vision and Mission

Creating vision and mission statements are powerful tools that can help promote understanding, agreement, and unity throughout an organization (see “Vision and Mission Statements” post).  Of course, such an effect is dependent on the degree to which those in the company buy-in to the company vision and mission.
While there are many ways that vision and [...]