You want to get the most out of your employees, and they want to develop their skills while doing something meaningful. If you think about it, those are pretty complementary ambitions, so you should find a tool that satisfies them both. Setting objectives for your employees that are tied to your organization’s mission helps them […]

Authors from Plato to Daniel Pink (well, maybe not Plato) have talked about the importance of intrinsic motivation among your employees, that is, being motivated by their own interest in their work rather than by external factors like compensation and pats on the head. You get your best work from people, they say, when those […]

Dave Packard, of Hewlitt-Packard fame, had a pretty amazing life. Back in 1958, speaking at a management convention, he shared some guiding principles for himself and the people working for him. It seems like developing some “rules of the road” for yourself will help guide your own actions and remove some uncertainty, and also make […]

Discrimination based on personal factors like religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political beliefs, and other personal factors, have no place in the work environment. Discrimination based on talent, effort, and potential, though, are necessary for maximizing performance. When it comes to compensation, benefits, training, coaching, and even promotions, many leaders try to be “fair” rather than […]

We made the point last month that good leadership is a choice. It follows, then, that poor leadership can be a choice, too. I don’t think of bad leadership as “unfortunate” or “just a fact of life.” I think it’s offensive. Is that too strong of a word?? Why does it bother me that much? […]