Jim, I enjoy reading your newsletter. I’m looking for a “best practice” in the area of teaching managers how to have effective performance review conversations. I don’t want this to be limited to just conversations with poor performers, but with all employees. Any ideas? Thanks, Bob Hi Bob, You’re asking a very broad question. The […]
Read post »The downside of today’s focus on accountability and performance management is a fragmented view of how work flows across every organization. As a result departmental silos are reinforced and way too much finger pointing occurs. This leads to a culture of “if it’s not our fault, it must be yours.” I love to get examples […]
Read post »A new consulting Client is struggling with organizational change in an industry that is experiencing rapid change. The pressures on this company to reduce costs while improving customer service is some of the most ruthless we’ve seen. We’re helping them completely overhaul their systems and processes as well as leadership practices and culture. Understandably, there’s […]
Read post »Few managers deliberately set out to hurt, sicken, or kill people in their organization. Yet many managers (often unconsciously) accept that there will always be some injuries and, regrettably, maybe even a death. Many times these incidents are called “accidents.” Too often, they are the predictable outcome of a culture, process, and system that is […]
Read post »Within a few days I received two e-mails asking for help dealing with a team member who was unmotivated and a loner who doesn’t care about the team, doing the minimum required to get by. In one case the person writing to me was a peer of the team member. In the other case, he […]
Read post »Following are a few “how to” steps from the Responsibility for Choices section of the new workshop I have designed around Leader’s Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success. You might want to share and discuss them with your team. Identify common “victim speak” used within your team. This might include blaming other departments […]
Read post »The July issue of the Leader Letter is now available. It contains some of the “greatest hits” from the blog, so it’s a useful recap if you’ve been too busy to keep up. Click here to view the July edition on-line Click here for a printer-friendly version Click here to view the PDF version**
Read post »“The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one.” – Brooks Atkinson, drama critic “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer/philosopher “If we […]
Read post »Poorly designed organizations, ineffective processes, bureaucratic systems, unaligned rewards, unclear customer/partner focus, fuzzy visions, values, and purpose, unskilled team leaders and members, cluttered goals and priorities, low trust levels, and weak measurements and feedback loops all cause communication problems. Whenever a manager contacts us to solve a “communication problem,” we always know we have some […]
Read post »I came across the emerging research on emotional intelligence about 10 years ago. Having focused much of my own personal development on these issues and then making the training and development of these “soft” skills my life’s work since 1981, I was really excited by this new research. Finally we had hard proof for the […]
Read post »The title of my fourth book, Growing the Distance (now available on our web site as an e-book download), reflects its focus on personal growth for personal, career, and family success. Following is an exercise taken from it’s Personal Implementation Guide. Both Growing the Distance and the Personal Implementation Guide are now part of an […]
Read post »As most of you know by now, I’m currently working toward the Fall release of my latest book, Moose-on-the-Table: Courageous Conversations in the Workplace. Last month I surveyed readers of Growing the Distance to get some feedback, and also see what new products and services would be of interest in the future. One of the […]
Read post »A web site that posts a number of my articles for their visitors/members asked me which are the three most memorable articles that I have penned in my career. The editor was having a tough time choosing from the approximately 250 articles and columns available on our website (see https://www.clemmergroup.com/resources/articles/for the index). I replied that […]
Read post »Improvement Points subscriber, Larry Beckon, sent me a comment about something I sent out recently. Here is the original Improvement Point, followed by Larry’s comment. I love getting feedback from readers, so leave a comment about this or any other post I make. “There are as many ways to change and improve as there are […]
Read post »Just telling people they need to grow is one thing. Actually offering practical ideas is what really helps leaders to reach their full potential. Here are a few ideas from dozens listed in the Growing and Developing section of the Growing the Distance: Personal Implementation Guide. Get a personal coach or counselor to guide your […]
Read post »During a recent survey, we polled visitors about new products they’d like to see in our store. In the results we noticed a significant interest in ebooks. Obviously the advantages to ebooks are numerous. You can store and view them on your computer or PDA for easy reference, or print out specific pages to share […]
Read post »Two and half years after I began writing (and more than fours after I conceived the book idea), I have finally finished the first draft of my Moose-on-the-Table book! Squeezing this writing between a major web site redesign, increasingly busy Client work schedule, and all the other writing I do for our newsletter and various […]
Read post »Over the last five months, we’ve been making some changes to the site. Some are big, and some not so big. We’ve made these changes in order to make all the information you need available quickly and easily. Some of the new features include: “News & Events” column on the home page Top Ten Articles […]
Read post »Some industries and professions are under particular strain these days. That’s certainly the case for healthcare professionals during these times of financial constraint, aging populations, and really scary pandemic scenarios. I was the opening keynote speaker for the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association at one of their annual conferences. Their conference theme was, “Discover the Leader […]
Read post »Here are my personal three choices of the Improvement Points we sent out in May: “Improvement planning, process management, teams, skill development, and the like are either constrained or boosted by our organization’s structure and support systems. If they are poorly aligned with our Context and Focus (vision, values, and purpose), strategies, and goals, performance […]
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