Posts

Supervisors See Four Kinds of Personnel

/in , , , , /by

What makes a good worker? Here is a collection of criteria from seven different types of organization, where Supervisors – not Managers – defined four levels of employees.

Read more

Getting Clear about “Difficult People” – Don’t Make it Personal

/in , , /by

Difficult people – is it about personality, or about the results they do (or don’t ) produce. Here is one manager’s solution to dealing with “difficulties” between people in the workplace.

Read more

What’s the Source of the “Productivity Deficit”?

/in , , , /by

The Marketplace newsletter has an answer for a question I hadn’t thought to ask: “Why are workers less productive?” It seems the output produced for each hour of labor worked (aka non-farm business productivity) dropped in the second quarter of 2015. It’s the third quarter in a row with a decline in US labor productivity. Innovations like smartphones and 3D printing […]

Read more

Un-Productive Communication – Let’s Ditch it for Now

/in , /by

Complaining. Blaming. Gossip. Those conversations are usually unproductive. The word “productive” comes from the ideas of “leading and moving forward”. In that sense, being productive is a good thing. Unproductive conversations are everywhere – they aren’t wrong, but they don’t produce much value. Complaining could be productive if you are committed to following through to […]

Read more

Unproductive Talk Is Toxic

/in /by

The July 10 issue of Dilbert (shown below) provides an excellent example of two types of unproductive talk: gossip and complaining. Disparagingly talk about the work of others is gossip and contributes to animosity, bad feelings, and conflict.  Complaining (also known as BMW = bitching, moaning, and whining) is a morale killer and contributes to […]

Read more