We sometimes hear about “living up to expectations”, but it’s time to recognize that it’s impossible to do such a thing without a few prerequisite conditions. We would be better off insisting that people practice communication instead of expectation.
A compliment is always nice to receive. No matter what world it comes from.
We used to think people should “just do their jobs”. That day is pretty much gone. Now that we need to reinvent the job – often, and sometimes every day – we’d better get really good at productive communication.
Procrastinating on our unfinished chores and projects is natural. Maintaining an effective “Results Wanted” list – and doing the work to check things off that list – isn’t hard either. But we sometimes forget that’s what it takes to get some things done.
Employee engagement means communicating what you want them to be engaged in. What is the goal they are working toward? Are they making progress? What is the “accomplishment of the month”? If people are disengaged at work, it’s a clue that there’s not much available to engage in.
A woman who had been waiting for an executive in another department to make a budget decision finally stopped waiting and… communicated productively. Good work, Kelly!
Almost every HR initiative begins with a Needs Assessment. One HR training specialist announced to a group of manufacturing Operations Managers, “Our most important deliverable to you is the Needs Assessment.” The Operations Managers hooted. “We don’t need your needs assessment! We just need you to train our operators to use the equipment without breaking […]
You can make a resolution to reach a goal – just include a communication plan to support your successful change.
Matthew, the CEO of the company that is closing a regional office and laying off 11 staff members, talked with the HR manager. Her name was Emmeline, and everyone called her Em. She is tall, smart, and lovely, and she knows her business. When I told her I wished she had been at the first […]
Conversation at a lunch meeting with a world-class manager the other day was centered around one word: “tracking”. Jake said, “Communication is important for managing, but the way I know if someone is going to be a good manager is when they tell me they are good at tracking.” Tracking what? Tracking certain communications! Jake has […]
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