One of the toughest decisions a manager makes is whether to fire someone. Sure, if they’re walking out of the office with a monitor under one arm and a big bag of money under the other, the decision is clear. But it’s rarely that obvious. Usually, the person is a middling performer but people like… Read more »
Business Management Blog
The Trouble With Small Business Advisory Boards
While the consultants and management gurus ramble on about the benefits of advisory boards, small business leaders clearly know something the theorists don’t. Consider a (admittedly out of date) 2014 Business Development Bank of Canada study that found 94% of Canadian small businesses decided against having an advisory board. The consultants are preaching theory again…. Read more »
The Great Office Migration?
As pandemic-related restrictions ease, small businesses are wrestling with a myriad of options regarding how/where their employees will work. While there is research to help guide this decision making, it is important to recognize that the context of this information must be examined. No one has experienced a global return after a global forced exit… Read more »
Motivation in Demotivating Circumstances
Everyone occasionally slips into a funk when they’re doing the same thing everyday, eating the same lunch, wearing the same clothes. Not because they’re avoiding decision fatigue like Warren Buffett or Steve Jobs, but because there’s nothing else to do. It often hits at transitional times in life – the last year of school, the… Read more »
Managing Yourself: Personal Hedgehog
There are times in a person’s career when they feel stuck. It might not be an urgent problem (yet), but it’s certainly an important one. As we spend so much time at work, this malaise can bleed into all areas of life, dulling feelings of happiness and amplifying stress. It’s not a fun place. One… Read more »
Managing Yourself: Values
Clarifying your personal core values is a key step to developing as a leader. Core values are the actions and behaviours we appreciate so deeply that we can’t help but behave in those ways. We are what we do, and we behave how we believe. Unearthing the language to express these beliefs further strengthens our… Read more »
Persuasion Tactics for Managing Change
Robert Cialdini has spent the better part of his career scientifically studying the principles of persuasion. His research has led him to conclude there are six main principles that guide persuasion. If you haven’t seen this 11:50 minute animation that summarizes his conclusions, you should. What follows are practical applications for these principles as they… Read more »
Incentive Programs: Paying for Performance
A regular incentive program (or bonus) can be an excellent mechanism to redistribute the wealth a company retains in the good years and remain solvent in less successful ones. Ad hoc incentives can also be used to reward above-and-beyond performance. Unfortunately, too often the enthusiasm around the first surprise reward quickly morphs into entitlement on… Read more »
Take The Stress Out Of Compensation
Few business leaders are immune to the anxiety and discomfort that go along with discussions of compensation. What we hear: “They think the bonus is a guaranteed part of their pay. It’s entitlement!” “They expect to be gifted equity for time served.” “They brought me an internet search that indicated they were 50% underpaid. That… Read more »
Discover Your Areas of Working Genius
Patrick Lencioni and his team at The Table Group have developed a 10-minute online assessment called The 6 Types of Working Genius. The premise is that everyone has work activities that give them joy and energy and others that don’t. If they do the former kind of activity most of the time, they love their… Read more »