The Value of Metronomics
We all know what a metronome is. A metronome is a device that helps its user stay in time. The user sets the beat of the metronome, and the metronome produces an audible click or other sound for the user to follow. The metronome is typically set in beats per minute because it’s traditionally used by musicians to help them keep the pulse when playing an instrument.
Why Leaders Shouldn’t Take People Leaving Quickly Personally
People leave their jobs for all kinds of different reasons.
They thought the role was right for them, but it wasn’t.
They thought they were going to spend most of their time working on the parts of the role they enjoyed, but quickly realised that the less enjoyable ‘administrative’ parts of the role were what the job is really about.
The Life Cycle of a Salesperson
Way back in 1974, a guy called Marvin A. Jolson wrote an article called ‘The Salesman’s Career Cycle’ for a US publication called The Journal of Marketing. It starts like this, “The Product Life Cycle (PLC) has been found to be a fundamental key to successful and profitable product management, from the introduction of new products to the phasing out of obsolescent ones. An analogous continuum that ranges from the recruitment of a new salesman to his termination suggests that appropriateness of the salesman’s career cycle (SCC) as a general model for assisting sales executives.”
Employee Retention and the Real Cost of Employee Turnover
It’s easy to think that the only guaranteed way to retain employees is to pay them more money than your competitors. If only it was that easy because there’s a lot more to employee retention than that.
Forward Planning: Where Do You Want Your Business To Be Next Year?
Hopefully, when you take that inevitable moment between now and 2023 to look back over the last twelve months, you'll see a lot to be happy about. As far as business is concerned, if a few things didn't go so well or a couple of your leadership decisions might have been better, that's what being a leader or a manager is all about—making mistakes and learning from them.
Gen X and Gen Z in the workplace: How can leaders retain their younger employees?
One of my colleagues recently created a presentation about generational differences among employees. It went something like this:
Generation X people, who were born between 1965 and 1980, tend to be ‘over workers’ with an ‘I’ve got this job for life’ mentality. They typically have high levels of faith that the company they work for will stay loyal to them.
Generation Z people, who were born between 2001 and 2020, tend to have a more transient approach to work. They’re focused on finding a work/life balance and they don’t have faith in the loyalty of the company they work for.
….could The Great Regret be starting?
The Great Regret is the fallout of The Great Resignation. While The Great Resignation was all about the mass exodus of employees who decided to pack up their jobs post-COVID and look for something better, The Great Regret is what's happened now they're starting to realise that the new, 'better' job they found isn't all it was cracked up to be.
According to recent studies conducted by the Harvard Business Review and the recruitment site The Muse, almost a third of US workers who quit during The Great Resignation are suffering from The Great Regret. The Muse even has a new buzzword for it. They're calling it "Shift Shock". In The Muse-speak, Shift Shock is "that feeling when you start a new job and realise, with either surprise or regret, that the position or company is very different from what you were led to believe." That's because the job changer has had:
With The Great Resignation over…
Economists, politicians, academics and newspaper editors with too much time on their hands love to make up buzzwords.
One of the most recent examples is the phenomenon that occurred soon after the COVID pandemic ended, when a massive wave of people who were fortunate enough to still be in work decided to pack in their jobs and look for something else.
The buzzword the economists and their cronies gave it was 'The Great Resignation'.
Poor Planning on Your Part is Not My Emergency
As a leader, I know it’s tempting to go for option one or two because when someone you’re working with has screwed up so badly – especially if it’s somebody on your own team – you’ll want to make certain that the solution is handled thoroughly, delivered correctly, and disruption to the project and the other members of your team are kept to a minimum. Arguably, that’s what a responsible leader would do.
The Art of the ‘Reverse Plan’
I just did a Google search of what being a successful leader means.
The results that came back described all the essential leadership qualities I’ve already talked about in previous articles, so if you’re a regular reader none of them will come as a surprise.
“A leader sets and achieves challenging goals.”
“A leader takes fast and decisive action.”
“A leader develops their team’s skills so they can reach their full potential.”
“A leader communicates their vision and inspires their people to do the work needed to achieve this better future.”
But, surprisingly, what none of the results has come back with so far is this:
Successful leaders know that a plan without a goal is just a dream.
The Three Life Lessons I’ve Learnt From Business
If someone asked you, "What are the three biggest business lessons you've learned over the course of your career?" how easy would you find it to answer?
When I sat down to think about it, I didn’t find it easy at all. Hopefully, neither would you.
Building Better Relationships: The Importance of Equal Business Stature
I hate it when people think that, because they’re the customer, they can treat the supplier like something they’ve found on the sole of their shoe.
You know what that something is. It starts with the same letter that something does.
Customers who treat their suppliers like that are toxic, and suppliers who let their customers get away with it are digging holes for themselves they’ll never jump over.
Characteristics of Leadership: See The Bigger Picture
I’ve always believed there’s a crucial difference between Leaders and Managers.
Leaders lead.
Managers manage.
I know. That’s quite a revelation, right? But, all sarcasm aside, you’d be surprised how many leaders I’ve met over the years who don’t understand that distinction.
Characteristics of Leadership: Avoid the ‘Tunnel Vision Mentality’
There are two definitions of tunnel vision.
As far as leadership and management are concerned, tunnel vision is not being able to see the bigger picture. There can be many reasons for that, but the main one is usually this; we’re so confident that the decisions we’ve made and the outcome we’re focused on is right that we’re unable to accept there might be better ways of achieving our goal. We don’t even stop to consider other possibilities or seek the input of other people. We just keep forging ahead, certain that we’ve got it all worked out, and unable to see the wood for the trees.
Notice I used the word ‘unable’ a couple of times there. That’s because, in my experience, having tunnel vision doesn’t tend to be an obstinate ‘I’m right; you’re wrong’ refusal to see things any other way. Tunnel vision is much sneakier than that. It’s the complete inability to recognise that there are other ways of doing things.
Overcome Your Fear of Failure
Here’s the bottom line: You can't be an effective leader if you're afraid of making mistakes.
And, by the same token: You can’t be an effective leader if, once you’ve made mistakes, you don’t learn from them.
There are plenty of bad leaders around who coast through life in their ivory tower comfort zones. On the one hand, you can't blame them. If it's not broken, why take the trouble to fix it and risk the whole thing blowing up in your face, potentially exposing what an incompetent leader you are? But, on the other hand, if you’re a leader with an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude, your business won’t evolve. Before you realise it, you’ll be left choking in the exhaust fumes of the more effectively led companies roaring past you, sweeping up your customers and profits as they go.
The Three Biggest Mistakes I’ve Made in Business
In my previous article, I talked about how we all make mistakes in business, and if someone says they haven't, they're almost certainly lying. Either that (P.S. there's no 'either that', they're definitely lying), or they haven't tried hard enough to fail, which says even worse things about their qualifications to be a leader. In fact, it says very bad things about their qualifications to be a human being. All human beings fail, all leaders fail; it's how we learn, grow resilience, and become better at what we do.
Tall vs Flat Organisational Structures: What Are The Pros and Cons?
Did you know that the word ‘organisation’ comes from the Greek word 'oragon', which means 'tool'?
The idea behind it is that an organisation needs to have a structure to function correctly, and all the people inside that structure are the tools that make the organisation work.
That’s ironic when you consider that, in modern-day slang, calling people “tools” is guaranteed not to make you friends, but, according to the ancient Greeks, ‘tools’ are what we all are.
How to Boost Employee Morale and Motivation
If your employees aren’t motivated, two things will happen.
Best case scenario: your business will chug unspectacularly along, doing just enough to stay afloat but never reaching the heights of productivity and performance it could achieve if your employees were motivated to do their best.
Worst case scenario: sooner or later, your business will sink without trace.
Not the right fit? Maybe it’s time to let your employee go
Letting people go is something that no business leader likes to do. It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth of everyone involved. But, sometimes, letting an employee go is doing both of you (them as much as you) a favour. That’s because it leaves them free to find a role they’re going to be good at and happy in, and it leaves you free to find somebody who will perform the role more effectively and be a much better fit.
What is inclusion in the workplace?
Many people confuse 'workplace inclusion' with 'workplace diversity', but they're two very separate things. Whereas 'workplace diversity' is all about having a wide demographic of people within your organisation, 'workplace inclusivity' is about making everyone in your organisation feel welcome and a valuable part of your team. There's no point in having a diverse workplace if you haven't already got an inclusive workplace to bring all those diverse people into.