Leadership Coaching Can Solve Your Disengagement Problem [Infographic]

How can employers give their staff a boost and get them engaged in their work? The infographic below, compiled by MyWorkNinja, a service that connects people with ICF certified executive coaches, demonstrates how leadership coaches can empower employees with the tools they need to set personal and professional goals, develop new skills, and achieve a better work-life balance, all through individualized career development strategies…. Read More»

Managing Your Boss: Establishing Trust and Respect

Most bosses are really good at identifying your areas of possible improvement, but typically they are really bad at identifying their areas of possible improvement. So how do we help our boss take a good look in the mirror? This is a big topic, too big to be discussed to completion in a single blog post. But the overarching themes throughout should be Trust and Respect…. Read More»

Should Employee Appreciation Be Entirely Performance-Based?

One of the most frequent questions asked when I’m consulting a business is: Should you show appreciation to someone who isn’t performing well? Tension exists in the world of recognition, employee engagement, and appreciation. There are differences of opinion on the relationship between an employee’s performance and when, or how, you recognize them. Should you recognize an employee if they aren’t doing well in all areas of performance?… Read More»

Recognition and Rewards Are Two Different Things

It’s about time someone demystified and explained the differences between recognition and reward. Recognition and reward are two completely different things and are used for different purposes. Some people and their organizations tend to see the two as being one and the same. I’ve seen way too many managers and employees not understanding either the subtle, or even the more obvious, differences between rewards and recognition. Unfortunately, even professional and industry trade associations perpetuate the problem with no uniform vocabulary or definition…. Read More»

4 Translation Apps to Ease International Business Communication

English is generally viewed as the international business language, but that doesn’t mean you can coast on the expectation that everyone speaks it. Learning a few phrases in the local language shows respect for your associates and their culture and can serve as a great icebreaker. As the world becomes more globalized, however, many companies may expect you to have skills in more than one language (or at least the tenacity to find language support in foreign markets).
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Employee Recognition Programs: A Guide [Infographic]

Every organization’s most valuable asset is the same: its employees. Motivating employees to do a great job is extremely important, but it is easier said than done. The following infographic offers an overview of building engagement and enhancing productivity. Recognizing employee performance is the best way to increase productivity, and improve workforce engagement and retention. The infographic is a complete guide to employee recognition programs…. Read More»

Three Key Tips for Managing Change as a New CEO

When a new CEO takes the helm, a certain number of doors and windows for managing change will open, for a limited amount of time, and then shut again. These are opportunities to change the status quo, move in a new direction, or even change the culture. So as a CEO, how do you make the most of this fleeting opportunity? Here are some tips…. Read More»

Five Employee Engagement Ideas That Make a Difference

Employee engagement comes back to one key point: people. Bringing people together, removing barriers between people, encouraging honest and open communication, and having fun! Each of these factors increases employee engagement. And using your online community for these things can put even more power behind your engagement efforts…. Read More»

Want to Deliver a Great Customer Experience? Don’t Throw Your Employees Under the Bus

Want a great customer service experience? Start with the Employee Experience. In the case of Wells Fargo, employees felt the need to stiff customers. Why? Because in order to hit bank-dictated performance targets, they had to achieve goals around numbers of new accounts opened. But here comes the catch. Wrong or right, employees felt they needed to do anything they could, including lie or cheat, to meet these targets. Even if it meant defrauding the customer…. Read More»

How to Give Constructive Feedback to Your Employees [Infographic]

Human beings are complicated machines, and when something isn’t working right there’s no hard-and-fast method to fix us. When you’re results-driven and time is scarce, dealing with an employee who’s made a mistake or is consistently under-performing can be a daunting task. Naturally, you want a quick fix, but going at the problem with a hammer when soft skills and an evolved company culture are what’s needed can prove more costly than doing it right in the first place. … Read More»