Category Archives: Coaching
Leadership whack-a-mole?
When we head to the amusement park, a favorite game is Whack-a-mole where the little critters stick their heads up and you try to whack them with a mallet. The person with the highest score wins a prize. Management and …
Employee Performance: Terminate or Rehabilitate?
Today we look at the one or two bottom performing employees you might have on your team or in your company. It could be job performance related or it could be negativity or behavior problems. Can they be ‘fixed’ or …
Faults of a few create punishment for all
Have you ever thought about how many of your policies and procedures exist because a few people broke the rules? In a similar way we all have to endure travel headaches because of the actions of a few individuals. Some …
Employees who feel entitled
What do you do with an employee who thinks she deserves a raise or a promotion but there is one thing holding her back – her attitude? Frequently the entitled employee is in a state of denial. Any attempt to …
Avoid bias as a new boss
Typically a newly transferred manager takes time to review the personnel files of his staff. This manager however did not want to become biased by reading the existing files. We’ll explore more on that below. Should a new manager read …
What is your leadership legacy?
After a number of years of being a manager, supervisor or team leader it can feel as though you have ‘been there and done that.’ With fewer opportunities for promotion, how can you re-energize your enthusiasm for your leadership role? …
Employee Retention: Give them a reason to stay
It was an exciting week last week – our book Employees Not Doing What You Expect rose to number two on the Globe and Mail Business Bestseller List. Irwin Schinkel and I are putting the finishing touches on our next …
How Ego Blocks Engagement
Having just wrapped up two more Front Line Leadership programs, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of potential in the leaders taking the course. One of the requirements of graduation is for each participant to document how they …
Raise or Praise?
I was reflecting back on some pre-training interviews with different organizations in the past two weeks. One theme was common – lack of positive feedback. Of all the leadership tools at the manager’s disposal, positive feedback is one of …
