Involve Frontline Employees in Creating Strategy

Involve Frontline Employees in Creating Strategy

Even brilliant strategies fail if they aren't executed well by frontline employees. Still, many leaders struggle to help their front line understand and buy into new ways of doing things. Next time you change your company's direction, don't relegate strategy creation to a handful of say senior people in your business/branch. Involve as many of your employees as possible, especially those who interact with your customers. Make them part of the process by bringing them together to think about the company's future. Ask them for input about how the company can achieve its goals. Frontline employees who helped make a strategy are far more likely to do a stellar job of executing it and that is what you want isn’t it…

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Making Your Strategy Work on the Frontline" by Amy Gallo further adapted and brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Develop the 4 Qualities of an Inspirational Leader

Develop the 4 Qualities of an Inspirational Leader

Leaders need vision, energy, authority, and a natural strategic ability. But those things don't necessarily help you inspire your employees to be their best and commit to you as a leader. Here are the four qualities you need to capture the hearts, minds, and spirits of your people: Humanness. Nobody wants to work with a perfect leader. Build collaboration and solidarity by revealing your weaknesses. Intuition. To be most effective, you need to know what's going on without others spelling it out for you. Collect unspoken data from body language and looks given across rooms to help you intuit the underlying messages. Tough empathy. Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best. Uniqueness. Demonstrate that you are a singular leader by showing your unique qualities to those around you.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership, one of six HBR article collections in the popular 10 Must Reads series brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Steer clear of the One-size-fits-all Management

Steer Clear of One-Size-Fits-All Management

When the job market picks up, the first to leave are often a company's most valuable employees. Unfortunately, you may be inadvertently encouraging these future leaders to say their goodbyes by treating them as cogs in a wheel rather than the individuals that they are. Instead of managing everyone the same way, do these two things to manage your star performers person-to-person: Customize the position. Know what each employee's strengths, weaknesses, and preferences are. If your star performer doesn't want to manage people, don't make her do it, unless it is part of your development plan for that particular person. If she hates to travel, don't put her into a sales job with a large territory. If you have a person that is good with customer’s utilise that person in or such a role or, etc. Customize the rewards. Employees want different perks. A parent may want flex time while an ambitious, recent college grad may be looking for outside training or a mentor. Give people what they want, not what upper management has decided is best for them to have.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Retaining a Workforce That Wants to Quit" by Sharon Daniels brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

3 Ways to Identify your Inique Skills

3 Ways to Identify Your Unique Skills

All of us have at least one disruptive skill — a capability that we are uniquely good at that sets us apart from others. You may have been honing yours for years, or you may be so innately good at it that you don't even notice it. It is important that you know that not only for self confidence and selfbelief, but also to consciously improve it further. Here are three ways to identify your unique skill: Watch your reflexes. You may instinctively do what you're good at without even noticing. Ask yourself: when I feel most successful or invigorated, what am I doing? Look for confluences. A distinct skill may not be one thing, but an unusual intersection of ordinary proficiencies. Listen to compliments. Peers, managers, direct reports, and even spouses are often good mirrors of your inherent strengths. Don't habitually dismiss compliments, but mine them for your unique skills.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "How to Identify Your Disruptive Skills" by Whitney Johnson brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Forgive but Don't Forget

Forgive but Don't Forget

I know this is a difficult one… It is common wisdom that failure is inevitable, especially when innovating. If you want people to take risks and try new things, failure must be an option. But few organizations have actually created cultures that accept gaffes. To show your support for failure, encourage your people to make the most of their blunders. Try adopting a "forgive but not forget" approach. Forgive honest mistakes, but make sure employees learn from past failures so they don't repeat them.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Forgive and Remember: How a Good Boss Responds to Mistakes" by Robert I. Sutton brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Make Shared Leadership Work

Make Shared Leadership Work

Having trouble finding the right person for that leadership role in your branch? Perhaps there isn't one particular person with all the necessary capabilities, experiences, and interests. Maybe you should consider spreading the responsibilities across several people. Allow the most qualified person — rather than the most senior person — to step up to the leadership task. This gives all competent people in your branch the chance to demonstrate their leadership prowess. To lay the groundwork for this type of organizational flattening, create a climate in which people feel free to take on new assignments and managers are thought of as resources rather than authorities.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Sharing Leadership to Maximize Talent" by Marshall Goldsmith brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Motivate Employees Set in their Ways

Motivate Employees Set in Their Ways

Employees who are slow to react can be frustrating, especially in environments where it's imperative to respond and adapt to change quickly. Everything needs to happen quickly in the branches, isn’t it so…? However, don't assume these slow pokes are trying to undermine progress or resist change. They may have very good reasons for their response times. Next time you're waiting on someone's input, go talk to him/her. Explain that you are all under pressure and that you value knowing his response. Ask that he get back to you quickly — within a day or so. He may have a thoughtful rationale for proceeding cautiously, or when he realizes that the matter is in his hands, he may speed things up. This is what management is about.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from the "How do you motivate older reports who are set in their ways?" board on the "Ask the Expert: Peter Cappelli" board of the HBR Answer Exchange brought to you and further adapted by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

3 Ways to Help your Team have a GOOD FIGHT

3 Ways to Help Your Team Have a Good Fight

Teams that always agree on everything rarely produce innovative and creative work. Effective teams fight, bringing in disparate views and challenging each other to think in different ways. To help your team have constructive fights, try the following: Ensure mutual respect. Team members can only fight well when they feel respected. Ask people to focus on the content of the disagreement, not personal issues. Make sure they avoid attacking or exhibiting non-verbal behaviours, such as eye rolling, that offend people. Brainstorm first. Make it safe for people to propose crazy or controversial ideas. Once the ideas are on the table, people can push back on them. Do backstage work. When the fight is over, touch base with people to make sure they did not feel personally attacked or upset that their idea was shut down. Coach those who overstepped their bounds to behave differently next time.

3 Steps to Turning Around your Performance

3 Steps to Turning Around Your Performance

No one likes to be an underperformer. Yet, failing to meet expectations doesn't have to feel like the end of the world. Follow these three steps to turn your poor performance around: Accept it and ask for help. Don't be defensive. If the data show you are underperforming, accept it and ask for help to get better. Ask others to share insights about how you can improve. Understand the underlying cause. Do you not have the right skills? Are you uninterested in the work? Whatever it is, get to the bottom of what's causing you to come up short. Commit to change. Identify what it is you need to do differently and ask those around you to keep you accountable.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Help! I'm an Underperformer." by Amy Gallo brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Avoid the 2 Pitfalls of Best Practises

Avoid the 2 Pitfalls of Best Practices We all want to hear about best practises, or expect other people to adopt our best practises. It then work so well and it can be invaluable to know the "best practice."…. Yet, when it comes time to implement that exemplar way of doing things, many organizations fall short. It mostly does not work….Next time you want to do what the best in the field is doing, avoid these two hazards: Failure to adapt. What works in one business will not likely work in yours unless the practice is customized for your culture, environment, and people. Tailor any lesson from others to fit your unique situation. In essence before implementation ensure that you change it accordingly to fit your business. Failure to adopt. A borrowed process or tool won't work unless you have commitment from your leadership and fellow staff, as well as those responsible for using or implementing it. Be sure you have full support before you implement. Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Why Best Practices Are Hard to Practice" by Ron Ashkenas brought to you and further adapted by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

3 Ways to Increase your Team's Performance

3 Ways to Increase Your Team's Performance

Successfully managing a team is a complex undertaking. Increase the odds of reaching your goals by doing the following three things: Establish urgency. Team members need to believe they're working on something that matters. And it needs to matter today, not at a nebulous point in the future. Be sure the team sees the potential fruits of its labour. Set high standards. The higher the expectations the more likely the team will live up to its performance potential. Set ambitious goals and hold the team to them. Start off on the right foot. Pay particular attention to first meetings and initial impressions. How a team starts its work together often sets the tone for future interactions.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from Harvard Business Review on Building Better Teams brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

Turn Stress into an Asset

Turn Stress into an Asset

Stress is unavoidable, but it doesn't have to be damaging. When managed correctly, strain can positively impact productivity and performance. Here are three things you can do to make stress work for you: Recognize worry for what it is. Stress is a feeling, not a sign of dysfunction. When you start to worry, realize it's an indication that you care about something, not a cause for panic. Focus on what you can control. Too many people feel bad about things they simply can't change. Remember what you can affect and what you can't. Create a supportive network. Knowing you have somebody to turn to can help a lot. Build relationships so that you have people to rely on in times of stress.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Turning Stress into an Asset" by Amy Gallo brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.

3 Ways to create a culture of Innovation

3 Ways to create a culture of Innovation

It might sound difficult to manage innovation in the workplace. It could be because of limited resources, or because the consequences of failure are so high. Whatever the reason, it's not too late to start. Here are three ways you can take small but meaningful steps toward innovation: Question what you do. Encourage everyone to ask the question: Is there a better way to do this? This creates a culture of evaluation and new ideas. Engage members. Don't leave staff to figure it out alone. Ask clients and other partners to brainstorm with you about how your branch can improve. Partner, partner, partner. Chances are that others in your space are strapped for resources like yourself. There's no reason to be proprietary over innovations. Bring together partners to discuss new ideas and share resources to test them out.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Taking on Failure—and Innovation—in the Social Sector" by Erica Williams brought to you by Edwin van Wyk via Harvard Business Review.