Leadership

1. CEO Blog — Time Leadership: Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada, talks about how you, too, can meet business success.
2. Dispatches from the New World of Work: Tom Peters heads a consulting services company. His personal motto: “The starting point of all significant change is mindset.”
3. Extreme Leadership: Have you heard of extreme sports? Well, now there are extreme leaders, too. Steve Farber heads up Extreme Leaders Inc., a business-development company, and he also shares his thoughts on his site.
4. Leading Blog — Building a Community of Leaders: Michael McKinney thinks that everyone is a leader. Find out how to tap into your potential with his musings about learning, creativity and communication.
5. Leadership Turn: “Leaders DO — and it’s your turn,” according to this site solely based on leadership and management.
6. Management Craft: Management is an art, according to Lisa Haneberg, a professional management and leadership trainer, coach, and organization-development consultant.
7. LeaderValues: LeaderValues aims to help leaders in all kinds of organizations and provide a meeting place for emerging trailblazers.
8. Slow Leadership: The title of this blog is legitimate: Postings are aimed at truly developing a leader through mindset and behavior change.
9. Say Leadership Coaching: This Polynesian-themed blog offers mentoring, coaching and training advice to managers and leaders.
10. Wally Bock’s Three Star Leadership Blog: Wally Bock’s very easy-to-scan site dishes up regular doses of information on leadership issues for North American business leaders.

Creativity and Inspiration

11. A Budding Contrapreneur: This snappy new blog by Matthew K. Ing talks about ideas and why some fail.
12. Liderlik/Leadership: Both English and German readers can check this blog to become inspired.
13. Life Beyond Code: Categories on this blog cover business models, distinguishing yourself and innovation.
14. Stephen Shapiro: Changing the Rules of Innovation and Creativity…: Steve shares his “unconventional approach on business innovation, creativity, goals, performance and critical thinking.”
15. Simplicity: The author of “Simplicity Is the Key” offers tips and tidbits on management, such as “Staff at the front line know all the answers. All the time.”
16. Springwise: Springwise offers a wellspring of ideas for entrepreneurs.
17. Orrin Woodward Leadership Team: Orrin discusses “ideas of consequence.”
18. Leading Answers: This blog offers leadership and agile project-management ideas, observations and resources.
19. Crossderry Blog: You’ll learn how to see “the forest for the trees” and take “the correct fork before heading into the woods” on this site.
20. Creative Energy Officer: Recharge weekly with “ideas and insights for optimistic, yet cynical humans.”
21. Troyworman.com: Troy Worman cultivates creativity in every page of this blog.
22. Chief Happiness Officer: Alex apparently is the “leading expert at happiness at work.” If you think “happiness” and “work” can’t possibly go together, fill up on his posts, which include research, lists and cute pictures.
23. Slacker Manager: With pictures, funny lists and useful tips, this slacker blog works hard to keep you interested.
24. The Bing Blog: You’ll surely find out what not to do to become an effective leader in this blog that covers bad jobs, bad bosses and how to zone out in an all-day meeting.
25. The Bogle E-Blog: The founder of The Vanguard Group Inc. tells you how to be as successful as he is.
26. Iinnovate: Iinnovate is a podcast by students at Stanford University’s Business and Design Schools.
27. How to Change the World: This “practical blog for impractical people” shares the secrets of being an agent of change.
28. BrandSoul: This consultant wants to help you awaken the soul of business with some inspirations and ideas.
29. Digital Roam: You’ll clear up the fog in your mind’s eye with this site on visual thinking.Self-Awareness
30. The Leadership Evolution: This site offers quotes, examples and information from books on leadership.
31. BrainCram: Brain Cram inundates your mind and soul with lengthy posts on you and your work.
32. Timothy Coote: Timothy Coote works for a French company but gives you his views in English.
33. Lead on Purpose: This site fosters discussions on being a leader in your organization.
34. The Recovering Leader: Another behavior-modification approach to building your inner leader can be found at this blog.
35. Marshall Goldsmith Blog: The co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners LLC, a network of top-level executive coaches, wants to help “successful leaders get even better.”
36. The Practice of Leadership: How-tos and inspiring quotes fill this blog.
37. Zinger On Strength-Based Leadership:“Strength-based leadership applies strengths, caring and energy in the service of engagement. Powerful leaders transform energy into engagement leading to improved results.”
38. Seth Godin’s BLog: The best-selling author, entrepreneur and “agent of change” gives you personal insights on the leadership landscape.
39. 800-CEO-READ Blog: Do what the blog says and read up on the latest on business books, authors and the publishing industry.
40. Bigger Isn’t Always Better: This blog imparts the wisdoms of the book of the same name, which was written by management consultant Bob Tomasko.
41. The Long Tail: Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, shares the theories behind his book “The Long Tail,” which purports that the economy is shifting its attention from mainstream products and markets to niches.
42. David Maister: This leading authority on the management of professional-service firms shares his ideas with readers.
43. Mavericks at Work: This blog covers “Mavericks at Work,” a veritable how-to book for “what-if executives and entrepreneurs — a collection of new and provocative answers to some of the most basic questions facing companies of every size and leaders in every field.”Development, Marketing and Finance
44. Kent Blumberg: Learn leadership, strategy and performance tips at this site.
45. Pink Slip: Maureen Rogers wants to make sure that you don’t get the pink slip and offers advice on business lessons learned the hard way.
46. Ed Batista: Executive coach and change-management consultant Ed Batista wants to tell you how to become the best possible leader.
47. Business Pundit: Learn how to cope when your venture fails, the six traits of idiot bosses and other useful leadership information.
48. Sanders Says: “Sanders Says is an advice Weblog about business, culture and spirit.”
49. Managing Leadership: Stay on your toes with this blog “designed to help busy directors and executives understand how leadership really works in their organizations.
50. Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog: Get daily doses of leadership development advice on the go.
51. SustainableWork: Novices can get tips for innovation, startups and emerging enterprises, while established leaders can get know-how on developing sustainable new products and services.
52. Signal vs. Noise: This blog discusses design, business, experience, simplicity, the Web, culture and more.
53. apbLIFESUCCESS Blog: Positive posts permeate this site.
54. Mary Schmidt: This marketing troubleshooter wants to help you get your business back on track.
55. Trusted Advisor Associates: Speaker and executive educator Charles H. Green tells you how to build trust in your business.
56. ASK THE CZAR: You’ll never again require business advice from another source, according to Gerry “the Czar” Czarnecki.
57. The Trump Blog: Financial fodder straight from the Don’s mouth.
58. The Becker-Posner Blog: Becker and Posner are the Siskel and Ebert of business and financial info.
59. Digital Rules: The Blog: The publisher of Forbes magazine blogs about — you guessed it — business and finance, along with a smattering of politics.
60. Feld Thoughts: Emailing, rejection and photos of bloody injuries greet you on this blog by Brad Feld, an investor and entrepreneur.Using Technology
61. Web Worker Daily: The site amasses advice for using the Web for work..
62. Biz Stone: The co-founder and creative director of Twitter ruminates on social media and business.
63. Scobleizer: Known as a “technical evangelist,” Robert Scoble can help you discover the newest ways of communicating with customers.
64. Marketing with Technology and More: Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail LLC, an email-marketing service, offers tips on marketing using technology and email marketing.
65. The Business Blog at Intuitive.com: These online strategies and communication tips are applicable to leadership.
66. TomBomb.com: Tom Hayes is the bomb at discussing viral business.
67. MarketingProfs Daily Fix: These professors will tell you how to market your business using social-media, Web 2.0 and other tools.
68. Daniel H. Pink: Businessman, author and lecturer Dan Pink blogs about business and technology in the new workplace.
69. Listen Up: John Porcaro’s unofficial blog about marketing, public relations, the Xbox, management and personal life.
70. Pause: Personal anecdotes pepper this blog by Jory Des Jardins, a media consultant who works with businesses and media companies to develop communications strategies.Getting Results
71. Steve Yastrow: Reinvent the way your company connects with customers through Yastrow’s know-how.
72. Bob Sutton: Gear up to get better results with the professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University’s School of Engineering.
73. PyroMarketing: Greg Stielstra, author of “PyroMarketing: The Four Step Strategy to Ignite Customer Evangelists and Keep Them For Life,” shares his marketing mastery on his blog.
74. Bird’s Eye View: Learn how to better engage employees and get results with this blog by Susan W. Bird, an author and expert on leadership.
75. ManagementIQ: BusinessWeek writers Diane Brady, Michelle Conlin and Jena McGregor gather insights from the business thinkers and critique the latest management trends to help you manage smarter.
76. Fred Reichheld: Fred Reichheld blogs about bettering your business through customer, employee and partner loyalty.
77. Cali and Jody: Cali and Jody created ROWE — Results-Only Work Environment — to reinvent the relationship between employers and the people who get the work done.
78. Made to Stick: Another blog based on a book, this one is about communicating ideas that will sink in.
79. KR Connect: Kevin Roberts serves as the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s leading creative organizations, which employs more than 7,000 people in 83 countries. Translation: He knows his stuff.
80. Management by Baseball: “Management consultant and ex-baseball reporter Jeff Angus shows you almost everything you need to know about management you can learn from baseball.”
81. Rock & Roll Lessons: John O’Leary blogs about business lessons from rock-and-roll bands, which he also using to compile a book.
82. Play the Game of Life: Columbia University Business School graduate and world traveler Ryan Petersen shares his thoughts on business.Branding
83. The Engaging Brand Blog: Employee-management tips permeate this blog by Anna Farmery, speaker and social-media coach.
84. Influxinsights: “The goal of Influx is to provide ideas for brands that help connect them to culture and allow them to thrive” by “using a combination of skill sets: Account planning, anthropology, trend forecasting and creativity, Influx helps create future pathways for brands.”
85. Hog Blog: Action, insight and inspiration will make you happy that you checked out these musings from a speaker, author and branding expert on radical innovation.
86. MartinLindstrom.com: Martin Lindstrom, who founded his own advertising agency at the age of 12, is a branding guru who imparts knowledge on transforming marketing strategies into positive business results.
87. Name Wire: Experts with experience at Pillsbury, Kraft Foods Inc., Pizza Hut inc. and other companies blog about brand development and strategy.
88. The Simmons SOM Library Blog: This blog is for the Simmons College School of Management community and is maintained by the school’s librarians.
89. Frontline Leadership TRENDS: Get leadership tips, lessons and ideas.
90. Personal Branding Blog: Learn how to not abandon your brand but instead see it through from conception to completion and beyond.
91. What’s Your Brand Mantra?: Jennifer Rice blogs about brand strategy, integrated marketing communications and customer research.
92. Metacool: Marketer, engineer and educator Diego Rodriguez wants to inspire your innovation. Women
93. The Power of the Purse: Fara Warner finesses on how companies can cater to “the world’s most important consumers”— women.
94. The Wild WE: This fun blog targets businesswomen.
95. WonderBranding: More useful information on marketing to women appears on Michele Miller’s blog.
96. Great Leadership: Opinions on information on leadership and leadership development by Dan McCarthy, manager of leadership and management development at an undisclosed Fortune 500 company.
97. Learned on Women: This blog researches female customers to help your business target them.
98. Boomer Women Marketing: Mary Brown, president and founder of Imago Creative — the only marketing firm in the U.S. specializes exclusively in marketing to baby boomer women — shares her beliefs about creative branding relying on human connections.
99. Rethink Pink: News about marketing to women can be found at this blog.
100. Women’s Leadership Exchange Blog: Leslie Grossman threads news and politics with business basics for women.

Source: http://www.hrworld.com/

Performance is a lot more than coming to an office everyday and doing ’stuff’. In today’s ultra-competitive and global economy, people that skate by are expendable and easily replaced. So how do we take that and turn it around? How do we create a unique value that our bosses are willing to pay for? No, the answer is not to play sycophant and brown-nose. While that may get you a free lunch, it won’t be the long term approach you’ll want to base a career on. Instead, consider the six ways I am about to mention.

By the way, I have received two successful promotions in the past using these methods and I think these could work for you too. And yes, contrary to the tempting title, these may not be secrets but these are things that tend to be forgotten in the daily minutia you face. If you already know about them, consider this post as a reminder to follow them in your job.

Perform
That’s the bottom line and blatant truth. If you don’t perform, sooner or later you’ll be fired. Until that happens, you will wallow in mediocrity. It’s not that performance is the only thing securing your job or that good performers can’t be fired but it is certainly the most important thing when it comes to retaining your and advancing in the company.

Understand your job well and learn to perform. Hard work and smart work, both are needed for the purpose. Decide the right direction and work in that direction to achieve your goal. You can easily become one of the best performers out there if you’ve got the willingness to do it.

Innovate
As I mentioned initially, performance is important but it’s not just about that. Every company looks for the unique value in their employees. This could range from those that invent new methods to work, find errors before customers, etc. The workers with these skills and the ability to ‘market’ them internally, are the apple in the eyes of the firm. Such employees are always entrusted with important work and hence they have better chances to move ahead.

Think laterally and try to find new ways to get the work done and be productive at the same time. Once you find it and you think that it’s good fit for the firm, tell your bosses about it. Market your innovation…spread it. You’ll see the good results soon.

Go an extra mile
Think back to the training you received as you were joining your company. At some point, someone must have said, “Go that extra mile to help out your customers. That way you can build trust and rapport with them.” The same thing holds true when it comes to your own work. Going that extra mile and producing better results than expected is what you have to consistently strive for.

Don’t shy away from working long hours when there is a need and although work/life balance is a must, understand the need for an occasional Saturday in the office. Remember, you are here to get ahead of others.

Coordinate and cooperate
Many multi-national firms are now adopting the 360 degree evaluation method for the performance appraisals of its employees. It means that an employee is judged by the feedback received from everyone on the team. These people include bosses, colleagues and subordinates. Hence someone who’s having a good relationship with co-workers is sure to get the benefit here.

Try to coordinate and cooperate with your fellow workers and your boss. Lend out a helping hand when they need it and be humble and nice to them. By the way, this means no gossiping, back-stabbing, etc.

Be punctual
It’s not just about reaching your workplace on time, working and then leaving on time. It’s about completing your projects on time and attending the meetings on time too. Nothing says “I don’t care” like walking into a meeting ten minutes late. If you slack and miss out on important deadlines and also don’t care about being on time then expect a rude awakening during review time.

Attitude Matters
Yes, attitude matters. It matters everywhere, at every stage of your life. Your attitude with your co-workers, other employees in your office, with your boss and your overall attitude towards your work is always being closely watched upon, no matter what you think. A positive attitude always works in favor of you while an attitude which is impulsive and rash can easily ruin your reputation. Make sure that you don’t lose your cool during critical situations and you patiently handle them.

Here’s a cool observation about the word ‘ Attitude ‘. If you add up the position of alphabets in this word, it comes out to be the number 100 ! So you got to be that 100 percent !

Source: http://www.dumblittleman.com/

Believing this is costing you valuable time, revenue, employees…and even threatening your own job. Cash will always be a major factor in motivating people and a solid compensation plan is critical to attracting and keeping key personnel. But the key is that additional cash is not always the only answer and in many cases not even the best answer.

Too many bonus or commission checks get cashed, spent and forgotten just that quickly. Grocery stores and gasoline stations are among the necessary stops that
seem to get in the way of using your extra cash on something special for you.

One alternative to giving commissions or bonus dollars is to give gifts through a catalog point system.

The company you choose will provide you with catalogs, price sheets and point checks at no charge. The structure for your bonus plan can remain the same but instead of awarding cash to your employees you award equivalent points. Those points may then be used to purchase an enormous variety of gifts or travel plans from the catalog.

The stimulation involved is long-lasting. It begins with the employee being able to browse the catalog choosing what they will strive to earn. The catalog acts as a tangible reminder of their goal. The gift itself will last as evidence of their achievements.

Whenever I have implemented this program, the employees are overwhelmingly in favor of the point system as opposed to cash. This type of program is very popular with employees because they purchase things they would never normally have the “money” to afford.

With solid compensation in place, let’s look at non-monetary motivation…20 steps to success.

1. Recognition/Attention. When your employees accomplish something they have achieved something. Your recognition is appreciation for that achievement. I believe that most managers don’t give enough recognition because they don’t get enough. Therefore, it doesn’t come natural to do it. If this applies to you, you need to drop this excuse like a bad habit! Become a giver! Look at the price. Recognition is free!

2. Applause. A form of recognition yes, but a very specific form. Physically applaud your people by giving them a round of applause for specific achievements. Where? When? The answer is wherever and whenever. At meetings or company-sponsored social gatherings, a luncheon, or in the office. At the end of a shift, before a shift, and whenever possible in the middle of a shift.

Using plaques or trophies is another effective way of applauding your people. Although “wooden applause” is often successfully used in the form of Employee of the Month plaques, more creative ideas are sorely underutilized. Take the time to be creative, matching special accomplishments with unique awards.

3. One-on-One Coaching. Coaching is employee development. Your only cost is time. Time means you care. And remember your people don’t care how much you know… until they know how much you care.

Whenever the emphasis is on positive feedback, I make sure to do this coaching in “public.” Whenever you recognize and encourage people in “public,” it acts as a natural stimulant for others who are close enough to see or hear what’s taking place.

4. Training. Is training ever finished? Can you possibly overtrain? NO and NO. For whatever reasons, too many people feel “My people have already been trained” or “I’ve got good people…they only need a little training.” But training never ends. Schedule “tune- up” training sessions. These should be led by you or by a supervisor with help from specific employees who show a particular strength in the skills taught. I know this takes time, but these types of training sessions will continually enhance the performance of your people and the productivity of your business.

5. Career Path. Your employees need to know what is potentially ahead for them, what opportunities there are for growth. This issue is a sometimes forgotten ingredient as to the importance it plays in the overall motivation of people.

Set career paths within your organization. Do you promote from within? I hope you can answer yes to that. Although specific circumstances require you to look for talent outside your company you should always first consider internal personnel. If you do this you are sending a very positive message to every one that there are indeed further career opportunities within your organization.

6. Job Titles. When you talk about job titles you are tapping the self-esteem of people. How someone feels about the way they are perceived in the workforce is a critical component to overall attitude and morale. Picture a social gathering that includes some of your staff. The subject of work inevitably comes up. Will your people be proud, or embarrassed, to share their title and workplace? The importance of feeling proud of who you are and what you do is monumental.

Be creative as you think of possibilities for titles. Have your staff come up with ideas giving them input into the titles. Bottom line, you are dealing with pride…and pride enhances a positive attitude…and a positive attitude is the foundation for continuing success.

7. Good Work Environment. A recent industry study shows just how inaccurate your results can be. Employers were asked to rank what they thought motivated their people
and then employees were asked to rank what really did motivate them.

Employers felt “working conditions” was a nine (or next to last) in terms of importance. What did the employees say? Number two! Working conditions are very important to the way employees feel about where they work.

Cosmetically, does your office look nice? Are there pictures on the walls, plants and fresh paint among other features that generally make people feel good about their environment? Does their work space have enough room or are they cramped in a “sardine can?” What about furniture? Is the desk the right size, chair comfortable? Is there file space and do they have the miscellaneous office supplies needed for maximum performance? Is the temperature regulated properly so they don’t feel they’re in the Amazon jungle one minute and the North Pole the next?

8. On-the-Spot Praise. This too is associated with recognition but the key here is timing. When there is a reason for praising someone don’t put it off for any reason! Promptness equals effectiveness. Praise people when the achievement is fresh on everyone’s mind.

What is effective is for us to get off our keisters and go out and tell whoever it is what a great presentation it was or applaud them for the sale…praise them promptly for what they accomplished or achieved! Don’t allow time to creep in and snatch away any ounce of the positive impact that praise can have when it is delivered promptly.

9. Leadership Roles. Give your people leadership roles to reward their performance and also to help you identify future promotable people. Most people are stimulated by leadership roles even in spot appearances. For example, when visitors come to your workplace use this opportunity to allow an employee to take the role of visitors guide.

A great place to hand out leadership roles is to allow your people to lead brief meetings. Utilize your employees’ strengths and skills by setting up “tune up” training sessions and let one of your employees lead the training. The best time to do this is when new people start.

Or, assign a meeting leader after someone has attended an outside seminar or workshop. Have them lead a post show, briefing the other employees regarding seminar content and highlights.

Have your employees help you lead a project team to improve internal processes.

10. Team Spirit. Have a picture taken on your entire staff (including you!), have it enlarged and hang it in a visible spot. Most people like to physically see themselves as part of a group or team.

When running contests in your area, try to create contests and affiliated activity that are team driven. People driving to reach goals together definitely enhance team spirit solely because they must lean upon others and be prepared to be leaned on.

One very effective idea for me has been building a collage of creative ideas with the “Team” theme. All employees are responsible for submitting a phrase referring to TEAM on a weekly rotation. Each of these ideas (such as TEAM: Total Enthusiasm of All Members or There is no I in Team) is placed on a wall, creating a collage of Team-oriented phrases. Don’t have one person responsible for this…do it as a team.

11. Executive Recognition. This is the secret weapon. And like any secret weapon, timing is most critical. If this is used too often the value is diminished. And if it is used only for special occasions and rare achievements the value is escalated. We talked earlier about general recognition and the positive impact that has on your people. That will go up a few notches when it comes from an executive. Some of the same vehicles can be used here such as memos and voice mail. To add yet another level of stimulation, have an executive either personally call to congratulate someone (or a group) or even show up in person to shake hands and express his or her appreciation.

12. Social Gatherings. Scheduled offsite events enhance bonding which in turn helps team spirit, which ultimately impacts your positive work environment. Halloween costume parties, picnics on July 4th, Memorial Day or Labor Day, and Christmas parties are only some of the ideas that successfully bring people together for an enjoyable time. Some others that I’ve used with equal success are softball games (against other companies or among employees, depending on staff size), groups going putt-putt golfing or movie madness.

13. Casual Dress Day. This will apply more to the Business-to-Business world based on the difference in normal dress codes from the Business-to-Consumer arena. For those required to “dress business” every day a casual day becomes a popular desire. Use holidays to create theme color casual days such as red and green before Christmas or red, white and blue before July 4th, or black and orange prior to Halloween. This will add to the impact you’re trying to have by calling a casual day in the first place. Establish pre-vacation casual days for each individual employee to enjoy on the day before his or her vacation.

Major sports events are a perfect opportunity for casual days to support your local or favorite team with appropriate colors, buttons, and logo wear. Spontaneous casual days produce a lot or stimulation based on the element of surprise. Announce a casual dress day for the following work day “just because.” Use individual or team casual dress days as contest prizes or awards for specific accomplishment.

14. Time Off. Implement contests that earn time off. People will compete for 15 minutes or 1/2 hour off just as hard as they will for a cash award. And in many cases, I have had people pick time off over cash when given the choice. Put goals in place (padded of course) and when these goals are reached by individuals, teams or the entire staff, reward them with time off. Allow early dismissals, late arrivals, and extended lunch periods or additional breaks.

15. Outside Seminars. Outside seminars are a stimulating break. Because outside seminars are not always cost efficient for most people, consider on-site seminars or workshops for your staff. Use outside seminars as a contest prize for one or two people. Then set up a structured plan for those seminar attendees to briefly recreate the seminar to the rest of your people when they return. Now everyone gets educated for the price of one.

16. Additional Responsibility. There are definitely employees in your organization who are begging for and can handle additional responsibility. Our job as managers is to identify who they are and if possible match responsibilities to their strengths and desires.

17. Theme Contests. Over the years my contests have produced up to 170% increase in performance. But equally as important, they’ve helped maintain positive environments that have reduced employee turnover by 400%.

Overall the most successful contests seem to be those affiliated with different themes. Holidays, anniversaries, sports and culture are examples of ideas to base contests on. Sports, without a doubt, provide the largest opportunity for a wide variety of contests. Even Culture can be used to create theme contest. My favorite is using the ’50s and ’60s as a theme for a contest that I run at least once a year.

18. Stress Management. There are many articles and books available on the subject. Make this reference material available to your people. Make sure they know it is available and encourage them to use it.

If possible, have an in-house seminar on stress management techniques. So that production time is not lost, you might consider having a brown bag luncheon with a guest speaker on this subject. Because stress is an ongoing concern, anytime is a good time for a seminar like this to take place.

Be as flexible as you can with breaks during the course of the day.

19. Pizza/Popcorn/Cookie Days. Every now and then pizza, popcorn, or cookie days will help break up that everyday routine and help people stay motivated. Because it is a natural tendency for people to get excited in anticipation of something, structure some of these days in advance. Then buy some pizzas or different cookies or even whip out some different types of popcorn.

20. Gags and Gimmicks. Use different gimmicks as awards to help inspire performance increases from your people. The key to awards is establishing the perception of priceless value that is associated with them. They should be recognized as status symbols in your environment. Here are some of my ideas:

• Plastic/rubber whale for “whale” of a performance.
• Pillsbury dough boy for the person raisin’ the most bread.
• Cardboard stars for star-studded performances.
• Plastic phonograph records for setting a new record.
• California raisins for those with the highest percentage of “raisin” their productivity.
• Special parking space for the person who drives the hardest.
• Toy cymbals for those “symbolizing” total effort.
• Special Mountain Dew can for that person who exemplifies the “can do” attitude.
• A figurine of E.T. for out-of-this-world performance.
• The Eveready Bunny for those that keep going, and going, and going.
• Large Tootsie Roll replica for those on a “roll.”
• A drum for the person that “drums” up the most business.

By: Dave Worman, Dr. Motivation
http://www.biztrain.com/

Here is yet another free list that will help you to be more productive.

Remember to save it in your del.icio.us for future reference and to let others know through StumbleUpon.

Project Management Software

To do lists

Blogs

Presentations

Books

Online Communities

- Gantthead

- IT Toolbox

- Professional PM Networkign Group

- 43 Folders

- David Allen’s GTD

From Tony Collins, who writes a well-researched blog on government-related IT failures in the UK:

1. Projects with realistic budgets and timetables don’t get approved
2. The more desperate the situation the more optimistic the progress report
3. A user is somebody who rejects the system because it’s what he asked for
4. The difference between project success and failure is a good PR company
5. Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn’t have to do it
6. Every failing, overly ambitious project, has at its heart a series of successful small ones trying to escape
7. A freeze on change melts whenever heat is applied
8. You understood what I said, not what I meant
9. If you don’t know where you’re going, just talk about specifics
10. If at first you don’t succeed, rename the project
11. Everyone wants a strong project manager – until they get him
12. Only idiots own up to what they really know (thank you to President Nixon)
13. The worst project managers sleep at night
14. A failing project has benefits which are always spoken of in the future tense
15. Projects don’t fail in the end; they fail at conception
16. Visions are usually treatable
17. Overly ambitious projects can never fail if they have a beginning, middle and no end
18. In government we never punish error, only its disclosure
19. The most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest
20. A realist is one who’s presciently disappointed in the future

Interest and Motivation
She made several more horse drawings, in assorted artistic shades, and gave them to her grandparents an an uncle. I was impressed by the sense of color balance she demonstrated, as well as her skill level in drawing a horse that actually looked like a horse.

Late in the day she handed one to my sister. I jokingly asked her where mine was. She turned, matter-of-factly, and asked me what color I wanted it. I picked red. Just a few minutes later she returned and presented me a mono-chromatic red drawing of a stationary horse.

It’s a wonderful drawing that my wife has already hung on the refrigerator door, but it is not the artistic, multi-hue drawing of a horse in motion that she had done in all her others.

Be Careful What You Ask For
Have you ever done that at work? Have you ever been impressed with the way an employee completed a project so you assigned them another one like it and it got done, but wasn’t exactly what you wanted? Why do you suppose that was? What can we learn from my request of my niece that can help us as managers.

What Not to Do
Granted it was a joking request without significant consequences, but here is what I did wrong as I asked her to do something:

• Didn’t clearly tell her the desired end product
• Didn’t tell her what it was that I liked about the relevant previous efforts
• Didn’t involve her in the planning
• Didn’t monitor her progress
• Didn’t establish a timeline
• Didn’t effectively motivate her to produce her best

It is the same way with the people that work for you. If you want to get the best out of them, you have to give them all the information they need to succeed. Let them know what you expect. Let them know what will be used to evaluate it as a success. Get them involved in the planning. Then, and most importantly, motivate them to do their best.

Motivation and Enjoyment
We all do best the things that we most enjoy doing. I got into management because I could do the planning and directing that it requires. I got good at managing because I spent time doing it. I spent time managing because I enjoyed doing it.

If you have an out-going people person, don’t stick them in a back room and have them spend all day adding numbers. They will soon get bored, start making mistakes, and either quit or get fired. Don’t put a shy, introverted person into sales and have them make cold calls. They will hate it and won’t make many sales. Don’t put a dreamer in charge of your accounting and don’t put a detail-oriented person in charge of strategic planning.

What I Did Right
While my niece’s drawing wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it was a nice drawing. Here are the things I did right in making the request:

• Did tell her I wanted her to do something
• Did tell her I liked her previous drawings
• Did avoid micro-managing her
• Did thank her for making the drawing

Try This Yourself
After you have assigned a task, and had the work come back less than what you wanted, look first at what you did wrong – as I did above. Then you can look at what the employee may have done wrong. Be sure to tell them what they did right and that you appreciate them making the effort. Finally, make sure you take a moment to look at what you did right. If you don’t do positive reinforcement for yourself, you may lose some of the desirable actions.

By F. John Reh
http://management.about.com/

1. Select the best people
As a manager, you are only as good as the people on your team. Give yourself a better chance to succeed by picking the best people from the start.Read Job Interview Questions to Ask to learn to be better at selecting the best candidate for the job.

2. Be a motivator
Human beings do things because we want to. Sometimes we want to because the consequences of not wanting to do something are unpleasant. However, most of the time we want to do things because of what we get out of it.It’s no different at work, people do good work for the pay, or the prestige, or the recognition. They do bad work because they want to take it easy and still get paid. They work really hard because they want to impress someone. To motivate your people better, figure out what they want and how you can give that to them for doing what you want them to do.

Here are some ideas:

• The Lesson of the Red Horse
• Employee Motivation Is Key

3. Build Your Team
It is not enough that people are motivated to succeed at work. They have to work together as a team to accomplish the group’s objective. After all, if we just want them to all “do their own thing” we don’t need you as a manager to mold them into a team, do we?Here are some ways to improve your team building skills:

• There Is No “I” In Team
• Team Building

4. Be a Leader, Not Only a Manager
You have built the best team from the best employee available. You motivated them to peak performance. What is missing? Motivating a team is worthless unless you provide direction; unless you turn that motivation toward a goal and lead the team to it. It is the ability to lead others that truly sets a manager apart from their peers. Remember that leaders are found at all levels of the organization, so be one.Here are a couple of examples, one good and one bad:

• The Best Leader I Ever Knew
• The Toxic Boss Syndrome

5. Improve as a Communicator
Communication may be the single most important skill of a manager. After all, all the others depend on it. You can’t be a leader if you can’t communicate your vision. You can’t motivate people if they can’t understand what you want. Communication skills can be improved through practice. Here are two exercises you can use to improve your ability to communicate effectively.

• Getting Your Point Across
• Writing for Business

6. Get Better At Managing Money
To stay in business, a company has to make money. That means bringing money in the door and it means spending less than you bring in. Depending on your function in the organization, you may have more influence on one area or the other, but you need to understand both. You can help your company, your employees, and yourself be getting better at managing the company’s money.Don’t be put off by the numbers, or by the fact that “it’s math”. Start learning more about money management by reading these articles:

• How To Read An Income Statement
• But Am I Making Any Money?

7. Get Better at Managing Time
The one thing you will probably have less of at work than money is time. The better you get at managing time, yours and others, the more effective you will be as a manager. Here are two key skills:

• Project Management 101
• Pareto’s Principle – The 80-20 Rule

8. Improve Yourself
Don’t focus so hard on your people that you forget about yourself. Identify the areas in which you are weak and improve them. The fact that you are reading this article shows you understand the concept. You need to put it into practice.

• Management Tips for Personal Development
• Management Books You Need To Read

9. Practice Ethical Management
Enron-like scandals have really driven home the point about how important ethics is in business. If you want to avoid similar mistakes, here are some things to consider:

• Lessons Learned From Enron
• Business Ethics Resources

10. Take a Break
You are less effective as a manager if you are over-stressed. You are less tolerant. You snap at people more. No one wants to be anywhere near you. Take a break. Give yourself a chance to relax and recharge your batteries. Your increased productivity when you return will more than make up for the time you take off. Have a good laugh or go lie on a beach somewhere.

• Business Humor
• Do I Dare Take Vacation?

Bottom Line
Management is a skill that can be learned. You can improve as a manager by working every day to get better. Bookmark this page and come back every day for the next two weeks. If you pick one subject each day, and work on improving in that area, you will be a better manager before you know it. And others will notice it too.

By F. John Reh
http://management.about.com/

The Questions to Ask
You want to ask questions that, in increasing order of importance, tell you 1) whether the person has the skills to do the job, 2) how they function under pressure, and 3) how well they will fit into the team.

Can They Do the Job
These are perhaps the easiest questions. You have seen the person’s resume so you know they claim to have the necessary skills. Ask a few questions to verify what they claim.

• “I see you managed the payroll for three subsidiaries. What was the most difficult part of integrating all of them?”

• “When you were the Marketing Manager for ABC company what were the steps you took when planning the annual marketing budget?”

• “I see you program in (whatever language). How would you link an indexed field variable to display on mouseover?”

Notice these questions ask how or what. They can not be answered yes or no. Listen to the answer to see how quickly they answer, how complete/correct their answer is, and whether they actually answer what you asked or go off to something with which they are more familiar.

How Well Do They Function Under Pressure
This may be the area where most managers have trouble asking good questions, but they are more important than the job competency questions above. We are reluctant to be the “bad guy”, to put someone under pressure. However, there are very few jobs, and certainly none that report to you, that don’t place the employee under stress from time to time. Anybody can do well in calm times. You want people who can function well when things get confusing or difficult. To identify which candidate will perform best under pressure, ask tough, stressful questions.

• “What makes you think you are better for this job than all the other candidates?”

• “Tell me about a stressful situation that occurred repeatedly on your last job and how you handled it.”

• “Which co-worker at your last job did you get along with least well? What did you do about it?”

Again, the important thing here is how quickly, directly, and completely they answer your questions. If a candidate says he has never been under stress, avoid that person. Either he is lying or he is out of touch with reality. If a candidate says she get along with all her co-workers and never has a conflict with anyone, press for more information. She is either a saint or a doormat.One question I like to ask here is “What did you think of our website?” I tells me whether the person has taken the time to visit our website to learn about the company, but it also tells me how they will respond to the pressure of being put on the spot.

How Well Will They Fit In
Among equally qualified candidates, this is the most important attribute. You need someone who will fit with the team and be a productive member, someone who will add to the team and not be a distraction. Be careful, though. You aren’t looking for the “nicest” person. You are looking for the best fit. In addition to personality, you need to evaluate work habits, a complementary skill set, and where the team needs help.In a very low key office, a loud, boisterous new hire would probably decrease the team’s production, because the team would be so busy staring at the new comer and quietly discussing among themselves why the person is so loud. On the other hand, someone moderately outspoken could be just what the team needs to get them fired up and producing again at top levels.

If everyone in the group comes in between 8:30 and 9, but works until 6 PM or later, it will be difficult for a new hire to fit in if they always come in at 6:30 or 7 so they can leave at 3.

Manage This Issue
When you interview candidates for a job opening, you need to ask questions to be sure they can do the job, but it is even more important to ask questions to make sure they can handle stress and that they will fit in with the team.

By F. John Reh
http://management.about.com/

Do your employees trust you? A recent suggests they probably do not. They trust their co-workers and they even like their job for the most part, but they don’t believe that their managers are making the best decisions. This is especially true when it comes to decisions made about them.

I have two questions for you to think about:

1) Does it matter that your employees don’t trust you?
2) How do you find out?

I believe the first question is the easier one to answer – YES, it matters very much. The two biggest reasons why it matters are related - PERFORMANCE and Profits.

Their Performance
I guarantee you that you will not get top performance out of any employee who does not trust you. If they don’t trust you to make the best decisions AND trust you to look out for their best interests – they feel they have to do it themselves. The time they spend doing that, or thinking about how to do it, takes away from their production, their quality, and their creativity.

Okay, be a Type A, or a 9,1 on the GRID. You may be able to push performance levels up, but you can’t keep them there. Without the employees’ trust you won’t get that spark of creativity from them that is so important. They won’t innovate that one little idea that could have kept you ahead of your competitor.

Your Performance
Let’s face it. The performance of your employees reflects heavily on your own performance. After all, Management is the ability to get things done through others. If you can’t get top performance from your employees, how can you prove to your boss that you are a great manager?

If your employees don’t trust you, you probably aren’t going to trust them too much. You will end up spending your time, and you are short of that already, checking up on them. That time could be better spent elsewhere, couldn’t it?

Profits
We just documented the time wasted by both the manager and the employees because of lack of trust. You can measure the cost of those wasted hours, but the bigger cost is lost innovation and creativity. Profits are not made by doing a job well. They are made by DOING IT BETTER.

It doesn’t matter too much whether that is by “Continuous Improvement” or by sudden change. All that really matters is that it happens. Your competitors are going to find newer, better, cheaper ways to do things. If you don’t, you’ll lose customers and then lose profits.

Question Two
Question two may be a little harder to answer (how can I find out whether they trust me?), but here are some suggestions:

Ask Them
One of the simplest ways to get an answer is to ask direct questions. You probably have someone in your group whom you trust. Don’t ask them how they feel, instead ask them how the group feels. Don’t try and isolate comments about specific individuals. Concentrate instead on group impressions. You will be surprised at what you can learn.

Listen to Them
When you ask an employee a question, really listen to their answer. It’s almost like reading between the lines. If they start to tell you something and then stop, that is a pretty good example that they don’t completely trust you.

Be Less Formal
Get out of your office. Management by Walking Around (MBWO) really does work. Not only are people more apt to approach you in “their territory,” but you will hear and see things that never make it into the reports that come into your office. Besides, when your employees see you walking around, they begin to see you as a person, not just as “the boss.” It’s a lot easier to mistrust “the boss” than to mistrust an individual.

Summary
Trust is earned. It takes time to earn the trust of your employees, but you can be part of the top third, part of the group of managers whose employees trust them, part of the group that is maximizing performance and profits. Show them that they can trust you to look out for their best interests, and it is surprising how quickly they will begin to trust your ability to make good decisions.

By F. John Reh
http://management.about.com/

We do the same thing in business. Who is the best sales organization? The most responsive customer service department? The leanest manufacturing operation? And how do we quantify that standard?

Related Issues
Once we decide what to benchmark, and how to measure it, the object is to figure out how the winner got to be the best and determine what we have to do to get there.Benchmarking is usually part of a larger effort, usually a Process Re-engineering or Quality Improvement initiative. The US Department of Energy’s Quality Management Implementation Guidelines shows one way of fitting it all together.

Why Should I Benchmark
If you don’t know what the standard is you cannot compare yourself against it. If a customer asks “What is the MTBF on your widget?” it is not enough to know that your Mean Time Between Failures is 120 hours on your standard widget and 150 for your deluxe widget.You also have to know where your competitors stand. If the company against whom you are competing for this order has a MTBF of 100 hours you are probably okay. However, if their MTBF is 10,000 hours who do you think will get the order?

What can I Benchmark
Most of the early work in the area of benchmarking was done in manufacturing, like the example above. Now benchmarking is a management tool that is being applied almost anywhere. The Fortune Magazine article “Beat the Budget and Astound your CFO” outlines how Rank Xerox even applied benchmarking to their sales effort. (Note: This article is now in their archives and there is a small fee if you are not a subscriber.)

Where can I learn more
The Benchmarking in Australia site includes the feature “Ten Benchmarking Mistakes to Avoid” which is a good place to start.The Defense Technical Information Center maintains an Business Process Improvement site site. Their Business Transformation Toolkit explains how to implement many of the steps.

The VA Office of Acquisition and Materiél Management’s Guide to Logistics Best Practices has extensive citations in both categories.

And the American Productivity & Quality Center has a page of benchmarking terms.

Final Thoughts
You know you need to benchmark, but you are just too busy. Well if you don’t benchmark, and then implement improvements based on it, you will find yourself out of business. Then you’ll have plenty of time to benchmark, but it won’t matter.