Focus on Business
01/30/2012 7:00:00 AM
Even the best-intentioned, savviest business plans can fail if the organization lacks consistent employee commitment. But you can’t just mandate commitment. Organizations that achieve the promise of their business plan are able to create “positive accountability” – a powerful, healthy culture that results from goal alignment and workforce engagement.
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01/23/2012 7:00:00 AM
When the choice is to feed your family or break the rules, your decision isn’t tough. Who could blame Jean Valjean in Les Miserables for his choice to feed his family? We even applaud Robin Hood for stealing. But when you are the boss and you have to decide whether to fire employees or fudge numbers so you can keep them on board, the decision might be more difficult. Being ethical has a higher cost in hard times than in good times, which makes being ethical difficult in our current economic climate. But, even good times can encourage bad behavior as one might get a sense of invincibility when the money is rolling in.
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01/16/2012 7:00:00 AM
Given the huge financial risks involved in M&As, it is important to find ways to improve the odds. One root cause of failed mergers is top leaders focusing too much energy on the mechanical and financial aspects of the consolidation and not enough on the cultural integration.
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01/09/2012 7:00:00 AM
We’ve heard a lot recently about bullying in the classroom, but what about bullying in the boardroom? Yes, workplace bullying is a pressing problem in today’s workplaces. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), 35 percent of the U.S. workforce report being bullied at work. That’s an estimated 53.5 million Americans being bullied right now! An additional 15 percent of people have witnessed workplace bullying. In all, half of all Americans have firsthand experience with workplace bullying in some way.
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01/03/2012 8:52:46 AM
The job of a leader has become more difficult and dangerous than ever courtesy of anti-bullying laws. State governments have been caving in to public pressure to pass tough anti-bullying laws to make the workplace safer for employees. However, they are a Catch-22: the harder you try to comply with them, the worse the bullying gets.
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12/27/2011 7:10:00 AM
If you look back over your career, chances are you can identify one or two people who stand out as memorable leaders. Even if these people didn’t hold an official leadership role, their actions and words rallied people together to achieve a common goal. And whether that goal was large or small, far reaching or contained, you remember these leaders for a long time.
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12/19/2011 7:00:00 AM
Are you aware of how others perceive you? Are you reflecting health, vitality, strength, and mental sharpness? The message you are sending out to the world may not be the one you would like. ...
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12/12/2011 7:00:00 AM
These days, it seems that the words “business” and “change” go hand in hand. From dealing with regulatory changes and economic shifts to responding to new customer demands and emerging technologies, sudden and externally mandated changes affect organizations of all sizes. ...
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12/05/2011 7:00:00 AM
Leadership would be easy if it weren’t for those we lead. As any leader or manager knows, getting people to actually want to do the tasks you need them to do can be a challenge. Without their motivation to want the same goals and objectives as you have, people will not fully commit to a task. ...
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11/28/2011 9:11:38 AM
The overarching principle behind organizational development is that all employees have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be harnessed and tapped into to enable the organization to grow. Managers are the organization's primary facilitators of knowledge and experience at their specific level. Growth can only be successfully accomplished when employees are focused upon a shared vision and common goals. ...
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11/21/2011 7:15:00 AM
The essence of leadership is found in team building and development where leaders apply specific skills to the task of bringing a diverse group of individuals together into an effective working team.
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11/14/2011 7:00:00 AM
The application of performance management aligns all employees with the overall goals of the company. This enables each employee to understand both their role in the organization and how their efforts contribute to its success, as well as to work toward the mutual accomplishment of those goals.
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