For two decades we’ve been training leaders how to communicate in a changing environment. While this global pandemic is unprecedented, we have seen crises that rhyme with it. The Dot Com bust, 9/11, the North East Blackout of 2003, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the financial crisis of 2008, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake… Read more »
Business Management Blog
Unprecedented Opportunity
One of the most challenging elements of change management is creating urgency. If people can’t understand “why now?” and “what’s in it for me”, change efforts can slow to a crawl. Take technological change, for example. Decades ago, companies moving to computerized accounting would run manual processes in parallel with their new software systems. Instead… Read more »
Your Career Crisis Isn’t About Your Job
Everyone hits a career crisis at some point in their working life. They start seeing what others are doing and the FOMO builds. Social media keeps them in touch with distant people who only report on the very best aspects of their lives. Some people breeze past career troubles and come out relatively unscathed. They… Read more »
What To Do When Your Boss Can’t Manage
Speaking engagements are such a fun opportunity to gather intelligence on what’s going on in the practice of management. While Bellrock focuses on small business, seminars allow us to access a much broader audience of professionals. A version of this question came up three times in three weeks at various seminars in Vancouver: “My boss… Read more »
Your Career Mindset: Finite or Infinite?
Simon Sinek (he’s the one who told you to identify why your business exists, not what it does) has introduced some new thinking into our business lexicon: Do you have a finite or infinite career mindset? Illustrating the concept at the leadership level, a leader with a finite mindset focuses on winning and competition while… Read more »
How to Develop a Sales Plan
You’ve recently been charged with developing a sales plan but you don’t know what it should look like or how to do it. Though it isn’t easy, the process is fairly simple. A sales plan will help you: define your sales strategy (goals) identify sales tactics (activities) assign accountability for you and your sales team… Read more »
Promoted to Manager? Some Lifesaving Tips for Managing Your Peers
In the first class of our management training programs, we ask what each participant’s goals are. How to manage time, how to delegate, how to motivate, and how to develop employees are common requests. But the lucky few slated for promotion also ask, “How do I manage my peers? I used to be their co-worker… Read more »
I Can’t Get Any Work Done At Work!
The open office design movement was intended to increase and improve collaboration. Evidence suggests that it has had the opposite effect. People are increasingly hiding behind their noise-cancelling headphones to concentrate. When we hear, “I go in early so I can get some work done before everyone shows up,” we know something’s gone awry with… Read more »
I’m Sorry! The Do’s and Don’ts of a Good Apology
You’ve probably apologized many times in your life. When we apologize (and when we actually mean it), it’s important to be direct and own up to our mistakes. However, it’s hard to do this properly because our instinct is to protect our ego. We want to maintain our self-image so much that, when we say… Read more »
5 Tips to Overcome the Mid-Career Crisis
If you are experiencing the mid-career crisis, you are not alone. In 2004, Blanchflower and Oswald (and the Gallup organization in 2008) studied psychological well-being as it relates to age. What they found is a u-curve, with well-being bottoming out around age 50 and then increasing to its peak when people reach their 80’s. A… Read more »