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  • love employees

    Your Employees: Go Ahead and Love Them

    February is “love” season. You know, Valentines Day and all. In terms of the workplace, it kind of begs the question, “Can we show love at work?” In this day and age of harassment suits and political correctness, many managers shy away from showing love for their employees. I’m here to suggest that a little […]

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  • learning

    5 Ways to Create a Learning Culture

    Every day when I arrived home from school my mom would ask the same question. It was deliberate and predictable. She would ask me, “Marnie, what did you learn today.” Early on my response was also predictable. “Nothing.” Year after year my mother asked this question and eventually I learned that “nothing” was not an […]

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  • promoted

    Get Promoted Using Self-Deprecation

    The more self-aware you are the greater your leadership effectiveness will be. In a recent study from PDI Ninth House and the University of Minnesota, researchers found that leaders who were out of touch with how others perceived them were more likely to see their careers stalled. When a leader’s self-perception was more positive than […]

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  • rating employee performance

    How to Rate Employee Performance

    The end of the year is performance evaluation time for many organizations.  If you are expected to assign a rating to the performance of your employees, consider five perspectives that can take the pain out of this often dreaded process. All levels of the scale should be used. When we tell employees that they have […]

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  • Text on a red background with a crown at the top reads, "KEEP CALM and put your ideas in the Suggestion Box." The text, aimed at employees, is in beige capital letters.

    Employee Input for Performance Evaluations

    As we enter the fourth quarter, you may be starting to think about writing annual employee performance evaluations for your employees.  Just remember, you don’t have to do it alone. Soliciting the employee’s feedback before you begin writing can provide you with helpful and specific input. I am not a proponent of having the employee […]

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  • Two men sit at a table in an office setting. The man on the left, with a mustache and suspenders, wears a white short-sleeve shirt. The man on the right, in a dark suit and patterned tie, wears glasses. Both look forward attentively, reviewing papers related to employee performance.

    Employee Performance: Do you Have Time?

    You do not have time to NOT manage employee performance! If managing employee performance is not a high priority for you on a daily basis, your employees may not be receiving the support and feedback they need to be effective.  It is the manager/supervisor’s job to spend time helping employees be successful. And, employees expect […]

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  • A hand, belonging to an employee, holds a pair of car keys close to a car door. The background is slightly blurred, showing a grassy area and the exterior of a blue car. The image is taken in daylight.

    Employee Owners or Employee Renters?

    Employees are a lot like cars.  The amount of care, attention to detail, and feelings of permanency we project toward our cars is comparable to the way employees view the employer-employee relationship.  Consider this analogy. Employee Renters   When we rent a car, most of us don’t spend a lot of time caring for it, […]

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  • A hand holding a piece of chalk draws a strategic game plan on a blackboard. The diagram features Xs and Os representing players, with arrows indicating movements and strategies, epitomizing a detailed strategic plan typical of a sports playbook, possibly for football or basketball.

    Working Your Strategic Plan

    Has your organization joined the many that are embarking on a strategic plan?  Public sector organizations are turning to strategic plans en masse with the hope of defining a better future.  Beautiful documents are being created to represent visions of a better state.  In a recent poll of public agencies, we found that nearly 80% […]

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  • The image is split into two sections. The left half, with a white background and black text, reads "I didn't say it was your fault." The right half, with a black background and white text, reads "I said I was going to blame you." This underscores the lack of accountability in addressing the issue.

    Accountability Doesn’t Work

    The outcry is loud and clear: public agencies must be held accountable! It follows that if the agency is going to be held accountable, employees who make up the agency should be held accountable too. As a result, public sector leaders are considering accountability initiatives intended to improve the performance of public employees. And it […]

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  • A stylized illustration of a person in a business suit running with a briefcase on an upward road that stretches towards a bright light at the horizon. The background features dynamic rays emanating from the light, enhancing the sense of momentum and purpose.

    Gaining Momentum

    I’m part of a volunteer organization that went through a bit of a slump in the past few years.  We found ourselves begging for board members and scraping by financially.  Attendance at events was at an all-time low. The leadership team struggled to agree on a direction. Priorities were cloudy. Have you ever found yourself […]

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