I don’t think this foxnews.com story needs much analysis – Business Owners Confess to Checking E-mail While Driving, Using Bathroom. The survey suggests that entrepreneurs cope with the lack of time by working whenever and wherever they can. Forty-nine percent of respondents said they make business calls and check while driving, and 18 percent admit they read work-related e-mail and documents while in the bathroom. I think this survey redefines the definition of work-life imbalance.
Continue ReadingA Culture of Fun
From abcnews.com – How to Have More Fun at Work. This topic is going to become more common as Gen X ascends and Gen Y populates the workforce. Already we are seeing numerous articles on work/life balance enter the article sphere. I’ve worked for many Boomer managers who were suit-and-tie, get your work done leaders with no time for, well, fun at the office. At one technology employer, we had a dartboard and ping pong table in the lunchroom that was a huge hit. In the sales department, we would take a 15 minute afternoon break to go trash-talk each other while competing like we were in the Olympics. To… Read More
Continue ReadingCommunicating With The CEO
In Selling Power’s latest Sales Manager’s Newsletter there is an article from Anthony Parinello, author of Selling to VITO and Think & Sell Like a CEO. As a sales manager who is working with a salesperson on their messaging, Anthony makes some great points about assumptions CEO’s hold about the business world. He provides seven assumptions – if your sales approach aligns with the CEO, he/she will not feel you are wasting his or her time: Knowledge is power. CEO’s seek knowledge. They understand that the more they know, the better their decisions. Thus your message must expand his or her flow of critical information, not clutter that flow. Passion… Read More
Continue ReadingDo We Really Need A Study For Bad Bosses?
This morning I heard numerous references to this Florida State survey regarding lying bosses. I caught up to the story and found a slightly different read – Study: Bad Bosses Abound in U.S. Really? I’m not sure how this is newsworthy, but it hooked me. Here are the stats from the upcoming survey: 39 percent of workers said their supervisor failed to keep promises. 37 percent said their supervisor failed to give credit when due. 31 percent said their supervisor gave them the “silent treatment” in the past year. 27 percent said their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers. 24 percent said their supervisor invaded… Read More
Continue ReadingTime-Wasting Miscommunication
The information topic seems to be appearing everywhere we look this week. Now this article from Selling Power – The Cost of Poor Communications – attempts to put some metrics to inapt communication between managers and employees. While managers are off worrying about sales trends and marketing plans, they often overlook a primary drain on productivity: poor communication. 55 percent say their employees are not easily able to find information they need. 44 percent say the information they use lacks appropriate detail. What amount of money could this miscommunication be causing your company? There is a way to neutralize this problem – assess your team and provide your sales manager… Read More
Continue ReadingA Line for Sales Managers
I got this military quote from my brother-in-law: Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans. That sounds like a great line for a sales manager when reviewing his or her team’s forecast this new year.
Continue ReadingWorkplace Fibs (in Britain)
From Yahoo News – Gadgets seen as best way to tell white lies: More than four out of five people admit to telling little white lies at least once a day and the preferred way of being “economical with the truth” is to use technology such as cell phones, texts and e-mails, a survey on Thursday said. I’ve never seen the phrase “economical with the truth.” What a pathetic turn of phrase. This survey was conducted in the UK, for what that is worth. No surprises here: The workplace was a favorite location for fibbing with 67 percent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work.The top lie… Read More
Continue ReadingInformation Motivation
Yesterday I posted on an interesting article involving the importance of providing information to your employees. Now I as I catch up on my RSS reading for this week, I have kicked up a complementary Selling Power article with a quick reference to the same topic – Low-Budget Motivation. From the article: 4. Keep them in the loop Your people often depend on you to be the intermediary to the corporate powers that be, and the information that may affect them and their jobs. You need to honor that role by keeping them abreast of whats going on as much as possible. In the midst of bad times, your candor… Read More
Continue ReadingHow To Motivate Employees
I’ve been reading Hidden Business Treasures blog of late and have found some…well, treasures. Their post today – Stupid Motivational Tricks – provides an excellent suggestion to managers in regards to motivating their employees. We measure motivators using our assessments, but I think they hit on a more fundamental, over-arching principle that applies to all employees. Employees have been cross-trained, sensitivity trained, multi-tasked and quality circled. They’ve been enhanced, advanced, mission driven and value positioned. They’ve even been downsized, right-sized, smart-sized and out-placed. Don’t you think its time for just plain informed? What motivates employees? The same thing that motivates you. Trusted members of any team must have access to… Read More
Continue ReadingA Failure To Communicate
From salary.com: 82% of managers believe they provide clear goals to their employees prior to their formal performance review, but only 46% of employees say the same. Nearly half of the employees surveyed said their performance has at some time been reviewed against goals that were not previously communicated. A bit of an indictment of manager’s communication skills. Of course, employees have been known to hear only what they want to hear also. Whatever the reason, may I suggest assessing your existing team to ensure you are communicating with them in the most effective manner? Part of our business is solving these problems for companies by identifying the ideal communication… Read More
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