by Michael Holland We all like to engage in discretionary spending. Tapping into an employee’s discretionary energy can be just as rewarding. What is discretionary energy? It’s that willingness to go “above and beyond,” give the extra effort, have a personal commitment to excellence or provide creativity that enhances the team. An employee’s discretionary energy can be [...]
by Michael Holland Advancing in an organization provides fantastic opportunities for you to leverage your loyalty and relationships. Some of these relationships may have been forged before you were a manager. A difficult challenge for most leaders is developing a clear demarcation line with regard to friendships and the leader’s authority role especially when managing [...]
by Michael Holland Is there a way to get your employees to act accountably? Yes! Start by making sure you allow it and support it. Ask yourself: Are you role modeling accountability - are you stepping up, solving problems and acting accountably? Are you coaching accountability - are you talking about your expectations, providing feedback when you [...]
by Michael Holland Some people think that just having positional authority – title of Manager, Director, Vice President, etc. – will provide them the authority they need for people to listen to them and follow their directions. But having truly effective authority goes far beyond a title. People want to respect the people they report to. They [...]
by Michael Holland Great leaders portray an image of knowing the outcome of events well ahead of time. They seem to visualize the future and know exactly when and how to turn the motivational dials of the human team machine to exact great performance. For the rest of us aspiring leaders, we have moments of [...]
by Michael Holland Yes, there are some things you gain when you become a manager, but you lose things as well. Make sure you’ve left these behind or they could be impacting your effectiveness: Being one of the “guys” – you can no longer expect to socialize to the same extent or maintain the close personal [...]
by Michael Holland Leadership inspiration is often conveyed through words – both spoken and written. Employees listen, process and then attempt action. Your behavior can add to your inspiring words if you are illuminating the behaviors you truly desire. I guess either way, you will illuminate behavior; your employees will know if your behaviors match [...]
by Michael Holland You’ve heard the noise. The car next to you has a booming base radiating out through its closed windows. You can feel the sound in your car. Is it techno or is it classical or is that a pop beat? Are you moving to the beat? Or maybe you’re looking in disgust [...]
by Michael Holland A recent study showed that paying someone a compliment activates the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash. So what’s the cost/benefit factor of positive feedback? Potentially priceless. You can effectively influence behavior through regular positive feedback. It increases a person’s energy, motivation, makes people more receptive to new [...]
by Michael Holland We’ve all gotten into those conversations where at some point we realize we’ve made some incorrect assumptions. That happens when we are managing an employee’s performance also. As managers, we frequently think we know why a person did what they did, or know what they intended, or draw conclusions about someone’s performance [...]
