Bill Lisowski's Blog

Tough Times Require Much More "Honey"

2008-11-16T16:58:00Z

When times are tough and when employees and business partners are stressed out, managers can create tremendous motivation and loyalty simply by showing appreciation in the workplace, or so believes author Kristin Tillquist, author of Capitalzing on Kindness: Why 21st Century Professionals Need to be Nice . She says that simply saying "thank you" boosts morale and keeps people's attention correctly focused on activities that can protect the bottom line. No one comes to work wanting to...(read more)

Tips on Avoiding Hiring Mistakes

2008-11-15T16:07:00Z

Many people trust their gut when hiring new people for their organization (even when they are hiring senior executives). Unfortunately for them, they usually find out pretty quickly that their guts were wrong. How can you do a better job of finding the right new employee? Sheila C. Johnson ( Inc. magazine, Sept. 2008) offers her insights: Hiring processes take time, especially the higher up the ladder you go. Expect at least 6 months. Remember the adage: hire slowly and fire quickly. Administer personality...(read more)

3 Critical Keys to Leadership

2008-11-11T22:26:00Z

Jack & Suzy Welch offered an interesting perspective on Barack Obama's successful campaign to win the presidency, illustrating the 3 successful leadership principles used during the campaign. Those three factors (BusinessWeek, Nov. 17, 2008): Start with a clear, consistent vision. To galvanize followers, provide a simple, inspirational picture of the future to excite your team members. Stick to a limited number of points, repeat them relentlessly, and this will turn people on to your ideas...(read more)

Lessons Learned by a Leader

2008-11-09T15:44:00Z

Here are some of the guiding principles that helped Christen Day, CEO, Lululemon Athletica (Fortune magaizine, Nov. 10, 2008): Learn to live with criticism; learn to be in the spotlight. Efficiency isn't always effectiveness. Sometimes by making something so efficient (gross margin, supply chain, etc..), you end up taking the things out that create value. Live your values at work. Don't try to be someone you're not. Work only at a place that allows you to be you. Be aligned on purpose...(read more)

Advice on Grooming and Keeping Talented Employees

2008-11-09T15:26:00Z

Every organization shares this common problem: developing talented individuals for bigger responsibilities while at the same time guarding against the very real possibility that these efforts will be wasted because they are lured away by a better opportunity. Fortune magazine (Nov. 10, 2008) offers 3 perspectives: Paul Russell, Director, Leadership and Development, Google : Ask people within the organization to name people they respect, and then challenge these folks with training tasks. It all starts...(read more)

Reasons People Choose to Work For Your Company--and Stay!

2008-11-01T13:09:00Z

While paying highly competitive salaries may seem like a way to prevent high turnover of a workforce, many other factors are involved to create employee loyalty. And with the 5-year retention rate of employees down to 52.8% (from 55.4% in 2007), here are a few other factors to review that help other organizations boost their retention rate (BusinessWeek, Sept. 15, 2008): * 72% offer flex time, * 37% have programs to accelerate careers of "high potentials," * 56% offer more than 2 weeks...(read more)

Managing Your People During a Tough Economy

2008-10-30T11:06:00Z

Economic downturns offer at least one bright spot--savvy leaders can find much less expensive talent to add to their organizations, espcially as other organizations layoff people or as smart workers look elsewhere for more promosing opportunities. to prevent losing your own talented individuals, some tips ( BusinessWeek , Nov. 3, 2008): Set tough but realistic goals. Make 2009 goals achievable. If there's no shot of making them, why would anyone try? Add metrics such as customer satisfaction...(read more)

Share Information During Bad Times

2008-10-28T10:47:00Z

Today's unnerving economic times are having an unanticipated impact in the work place itself. Employees are so uncertain about their company's future, and their own, that over 70% polled would welcome some kind of communication from senior management about the uncertainty, according to research firm Weber Shandwick. Unfortunately, 54% of employees have not received any such communication, leading 62% of employees to predict their companies would have trouble meeting performance goals next...(read more)

Digging for Information

2008-10-28T10:41:00Z

What happens to the sensitive information on your company cell phones and laptops when they are replaced? Does your organization have a defined process to totally erase your company's secrets? Researchers from British phone company BT Group recently purchased 161 discarded cell phones at auction, and found that one in five still contained sensitive company and personal information (BusinessWeek, Nov. 3, 2008), including bank account numbers, company client information, pricing guidelines, employee...(read more)

Control Labor Costs Through Location

2008-10-24T13:57:00Z

Does your office need to be located in the area it is? If not, moving it could help you reduce your labor costs. Many parts of the country, and many parts of your local area, can allow you to tap into lower cost labor alternatives. When looking to move, here are some considerations ( Entrepreneur magazine, Nov. 2008): Analyze prospective areas to ensure the type of talent needed is available. Are their training subsidies available? Computer equipment subsidies? What is the history of the work force...(read more)

Are You an Agent of Change?

2008-10-22T11:13:00Z

"True change agents have a track record of seeing around corners, and their visions of the future will not let them rest." This statement from Jack and Suzy Welch (BusinessWeek, Oct. 20, 2008) illustrates a major factor that makes change agents so much different from their peers. They believe such individuals compromise no more than 10% of all employees. What are the factors that make up change agents? The single most critical one, they believe, is the power to enact change. Sure, transformative...(read more)

Tips on Running Great Meetings

2008-10-21T16:06:00Z

Everyone spends part of their week in meetings--some short some long, some good, some dreadful. What follows are some tips for running great meetings ( Fortune magazine, Oct. 27, 2008): Diane Bryant, CIO, Intel: To ensure effective and efficient meetings, new hires receive training on conducting meetings. Each conference room has a poster with guidelines. Agendas must be emailed to participants before meetings so everyone comes in prepared. Attendees must be critical to the decision making process...(read more)

Incentive Progam Pitfalls

2008-10-19T22:10:00Z

"When you try to measure people's performance, you have to take into account how they are going to react," believes Joel Spolsky, columnist with Inc. magazine (October 2008). "Inevitably, people will figure out how to get the numbers you want at the expense of what you are not measuring, inclduing things you can't measure such as morale and customer goodwill." He contends that incentive plans based on measuring performance always backfire because people have brains and...(read more)

Success through Asking the Right Questions

2008-10-18T15:39:00Z

Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of Mariott International, shared with readers of Fortune magazine (Oct. 13, 2008) that the best advice he ever received was that success came from asking the right questions and making people feel they were participating in the decision making process. Some of his other pointers on success: Get out of the office and talk to people, especially customers. Visit competitors. See what's going on and inspect. There are a lot of best practices out there--find them. Listen...(read more)

Tips on Giving Great Presentations

2008-10-13T09:54:00Z

At some point in everyone's career, you will face the prospect of giving a presentation to an audience larger than your work group. When that time comes to give a keynote talk or something similar, here are some pointers to make a great impression and get your message through ( Entrepreneu r magazine, Oct. 2008): Have something interesting to say. If you have nothing new to offer, don't accept the speaking invitation. Cut the sales pitch. Your purpose may be to inform and/or entertain. It's...(read more)