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What to expect when you begin to hold employees accountable

Continue reading “The “J” Curve of Employee Accountability” »

There’s always a fairly good reason to procrastinate when giving feedback to a challenging employee. What if the employee pulls an attitude and holds you hostage? What if the employee gets hurt feelings and quits? What if the employee stops talking to you? Or, perhaps, there’s just no time. Be honest, there’s no time because you’re typically spending way too much time cleaning up the messes left by your challenging employee!

During our twenty years in the business, we’ve heard hundreds of great excuses for not dealing with performance issues. When managers get down to the real reason for procrastinating when giving feedback, they often admit to either not knowing how to give feedback, or lack confidence in their ability to provide feedback that will motivate the employee to improve. While there are many coaching models, perhaps the simplest approach is to focus on helping the employee develop their skills to achieve optimum performance.

Continue reading “Delivering Difficult Feedback” »

By Michael Mink, Investor’s Business Daily

Effective leadership can result in a stronger bottom line and account for up to 70% of an employee’s job satisfaction. With that comes increased productivity and better employee retention.

To be a supervisor who brings out the best in people, incorporate the following:

Be clear. Communicate company goals, says Peter Stark, co-author of “The Only Leadership Book You’ll Ever Need: How to Build Organizations Where Employees Love to Come to Work.”

Stark suggests a litmus test: “Ask (employees) on the front line what their three to five goals are and how their goals align to the (company’s) vision. When people are clear on the bull’s-eye, they will be much more productive and efficient.”

Continue reading “Give Your Staff A Spark” »

10 Steps to Negotiating a Pay Raise

Several times a year, participants will ask us, “Do you have any tips for asking for a raise?” Any negotiation regarding a sensitive issue like a raise can be difficult to negotiate. It is difficult because if your boss agrees to the raise, it almost always has multiple implications like an impact to her budget or creating a situation where other employees feel they are also entitled to a raise. For you, not getting the raise could ultimately impact your ability to live in the style you envision or have become accustomed to living. Asking for a raise can also be a risk. Not asking for a raise can carry a personal price. So, if you are going to tackle this topic, you need a plan. The following 10 tips will help you in maximizing your chances of obtaining a raise.

Continue reading “Asking for a Pay Raise” »

By Ricky Martinez, via mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS — Maureen Downer is seeing signs the recession is waning.

“For a while there, we would see 500 people a day in our service centers, even as many as 900 a day,” said the programs manager for Michigan Works! in Kent and Allegan counties.

“It’s really not at that higher level anymore.”

To help employers share ideas, gain momentum and get more people back to work, Michigan Works! is offering the Spring Into Action seminar May 13 at Western Michigan University’s downtown Grand Rapids campus, 200 Ionia Ave. SW.

The free half-day event includes a keynote speech by Peter Barron Stark, a San Diego-based management consultant who has authored nine books.

There will be seven breakout sessions on human resources, social media, employment law, training, emerging jobs and Michigan Works!

Continue reading “Michigan Works! hosts employment seminar, networking event” »

We often train clients’ employees in the art of customer service, but, up until recently, we have not touched on the power of Social Networking as it relates to creating highly satisfied, loyal customers. Our goal is to share with you information that will raise your awareness about the power of Social Networking when it comes to customer service.

It has been predicted that Social Networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are the main sources where people will soon be getting all their news from. Recently, we realized that this is where the NEWS gets their news from. Shortly after we felt a 7.2 earthquake here in San Diego, we turned the television to CNN to see if they had any reports on the magnitude, central location, etc. After only three minutes had passed, CNN reported on the earthquake, saying that they heard about it through users’ updates on Twitter.com. Then they presented a live screen cast of Twitter user’s comments on the event which were coming in by the hundreds every few seconds. Twitter informed thousands of people, including major national news stations, before the USGS was able to.

Continue reading “Social Networking Sites make Customer Service the New Killer Business App” »