I recently had the opportunity to attend a team meeting where the manager was giving feedback to his team of 30 millennials who worked for him in a local catering business. I remember some of my supervisors in the past saying the same type of things to me. His statements brought back a flood of memories and reminded me how ineffective such statements can be.
Many of us will remember a catchy tune by Paul Simon from the 1970’s called, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. As I listened to it in my car yesterday during my commute, I found myself actively thinking about trying to follow along with the song as I pondered some strong themes in how we can support those who lead us.
For those who have utilized career centers at colleges, or for those who have read one of the many advice articles about planning one’s career, this process may seem familiar to a growth plan.
Managers avoiding feedback are like fish that avoid water. One of a manager’s main roles at a company is to provide employees with both negative and positive feedback when appropriate. Yet so many managers avoid giving feedback and will go to great lengths to avoid telling their employees how they are doing.
We all face that conundrum on occasions whether to listen to our head or to our heart when making decisions. Some of us lead with our heart and forget or ignore our head. Others start with their head and then pull on the heartstrings. Both are troublesome. So, what should you watch out for when making job and career decisions?
Your project’s off schedule and you’re frustrated. You’ve applied more heat to your Project Manager, but nothing has gotten any better. You’re scratching your head because normally this guy’s solid. If your project’s off course, despite your project manager’s best efforts, take a deeper look to see if in any of these factors are at play.
If you’ve ever been part of a great internship program–on either side of the desk– you know that it can be a fantastic job preview–an extensive 2-way interview process. It’s an opportunity to try before you buy.
More than ever before, organizations rely on their employees’ involvement, enthusiasm and commitment to be successful. The best customer service can only be achieved when employees bring their best selves to work each and every day. But how can leaders in an organization ensure that each employee does this?
It seems that everyone these days is racing to transform their organization in order to take advantage of the Big Data wave. As I’ve been saying for several years, Big Data and Business intelligence are important and valuable technologies every organization should implement if they want to keep up with their competitors.