Before You Fire Someone, 8 Questions to Absolutely Ask Yourself

by Rich Henson May 4, 2015

How well do you sleep the night before you fire someone?

Some firings are no-brainers. For instance, an employee does something so unacceptable that dismissal was never a doubt.

But what about the other ones. You know, the employees who struggle mightily to make the cut? The ones you’ve been on the fence about for quite some time?

So you can lay your head on the pillow at night knowing you made the right decision, here are eight questions you absolutely need to ask yourself before you fire someone.

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Leadership

7 Timeless Management Techniques You’re Probably Not Using Enough

by John Walston April 26, 2015

When your employees are humming along and doing their best work, more than likely you’re humming, too.

Unless you’re just damn lucky, it’s not an accident.

If you’re like most of us, you had to work to create that environment. And you have to work even harder to sustain it.

To do that takes a well-thought-out plan. Don’t have one?

Well, here are the seven key components I use:

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Employee Engagement

11 Surprising Statistics About Women In The Workplace

by Rich Henson April 19, 2015

“We are becoming the men we wanted to marry,” Gloria Steinem declared in the 1970s.

A journalist and social activist, Steinem was a leading voice in the feminist movement that took off in the 1960s.

So, have women really become the men they admired?

Well, women have dramatically joined the workforce. They are increasingly doctors, lawyers, politicians and scientists.

But for her quote to be true today (some 45 years later), all those men would have to take a 22.5% pay cut.

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Professional Development

Finally! The Truth About Why We Hate Meetings [Infographic]

by John Walston April 6, 2015

In a perfect world, every meeting would be short and to the point, start and end on time and something meaningful would get accomplished.

But in the real world, many are too long, start late and end later, and nothing really gets done.

And that’s frustrating for a lot of managers who think they have much better things to do.

In fact, a ResourcefulManager survey of 948 upper-level executives, directors, middle managers and frontline supervisors says nothing gets accomplished in 44.8% of the meetings executives and managers attend.

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Employee Engagement

Turn Your Biggest Whiner Into Your Leading Innovator

by Rich Henson March 30, 2015

Anyone can complain. And for the most part, they do.

But anyone can innovate, too.

Good managers strive to create the environment – and the opportunities – so that any employee in most any position can play the role of a problem-solving innovator. It’s far more doable than you might think.

Here are some thoughts on how to make that happen.

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Leadership

Terrified Of Managing Talented People? Why Being Smart Isn’t Enough

by Rich Henson March 16, 2015

One of the best things that can happen to a manager is having the opportunity to hire someone smarter, more talented and more accomplished than you.

Now, why does managing talented people seem so terrifying?

Successful leaders know – or should know – that hiring talented people is like winning the lottery. You gain an employee whose abilities could be that proverbial high tide, raising all boats, including yours.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

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Professional Development

Even Mick And Keith Argued, But Turned Disagreements Into Beautiful Music

by Rich Henson March 2, 2015

The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do. – Keith Richards

Ha! So how is it, with all that dissent, that the Rolling Stones became one of the most popular and longest-surviving acts in rock music?

Disagreements are at the heart of destruction. But good people, and apparently even Keith Richards, know the value of handling disagreements favorably.

It’s true that people can disagree without being disagreeable.

With the intense turmoil on the national political landscape, this is a great time to review some of the most effective soft skills when it comes to handling real-life workplace disagreements.

But first, just a reminder that soft skills aren’t always about being soft.

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Employee Engagement

Why The Danes Love Their Jobs – And U.S. Employees Don’t

by Rich Henson February 23, 2015

Danes aren’t just happy at home. They love their jobs, too!

It a mostly different story in the U.S.

A Gallup poll found that 1 in 5 Americans feel emotionally disconnected from work and 70% said they were not reaching their full potential.

Home life? We won’t even get into that.

So, why do Danish workers love their jobs so much more than their American counterparts?

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Leadership

The Leadership Quality That Makes A Difference – By A LOT

by John Walston February 16, 2015

Is there one leadership quality that rises above the rest?

A fascinating examination of that very question, done by the Harvard Business Review, answers with an unequivocal “yes!”

Respect.

Or, to quote a phrase, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

No other leadership quality had a bigger effect on employees than respect.

Being treated with respect was more important to employees than recognition and appreciation, communicating an inspiring vision, providing useful feedback — even opportunities for learning, growth, and development.

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Hiring

Stop Hiring Stupid People. You Can Do It By Changing This One Thing

by John Walston February 9, 2015

Hiring people may be the most important a manager does.

Every new hire changes an organization. If the new employee is better than – or has the potential to be better than – half the people already doing this job, your organization just got better.

Yet organizations repeatedly hire people who are in the bottom 50% of employees the minute they walk in the door.

That brings everything down.

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