by Michael Holland We challenge ourselves each and every day to achieve. Problems arise and we solve them. Employees have issues and we deal with them. As a leader, you expend a great deal of energy to creatively solve small and big problems. At times you’ll find your energy level to be low, [...]
by Michael Holland The sky is falling and you have yet another staff meeting at 1:00. The USA is in a recession, the markets are falling, or rising to fall yet again, budgets are being reviewed/cut, and layoffs are being announced. Once-venerable companies teeter on the sharp edge of bankruptcy or engulfment by [...]
by Michael Holland There are times in your life as a leader when you will need to make a decision regarding doing the right thing, and treating people the right way. We could discuss the pros and cons with various approaches to doing the right thing and the varied scales of defining right, [...]
by Michael Holland I’ve been pondering how American Diplomats are assessing their exposure, given the forced transparency of some of their secret cables via the WikiLeaks cable dumping. Are they embarrassed? Worried? Fearful? Relieved? Anxious? Distraught? I imagine that each individual is wondering how others view their integrity as compared to the perception [...]
by Michael Holland I’ve become intrigued with a book by Robert Sutton titled The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't which came out in paperback in September 2010. The premise of the book is that organizations bear a huge cost due to the behaviors and impacts of [...]
by Michael Holland Are you a leader or a functional leader? Companies expect leaders to be generally strong at leading others and specifically strong at leading functions. Unfortunately many leaders grow up within specific business functions, gaining experience and greater levels of authority. The scope of responsibility is a combination of people leadership [...]
by Michael Holland Time seems to slip by, minutes here, hours there, then suddenly weeks have gone by. As a leader, you have many competing interests for your time during any given day. Current business protocol encourages an endless run at meetings, and at times, it seems you have little control of your [...]
by Michael Holland Have regular conversations with your employees, one-on-one, about their work and themselves. It shows your employees you are interested and care about meeting their needs. The information you learn will help you to better manage each person and you will find that your employees will appreciate the conversation. Below are [...]
by Michael Holland Overwhelmed in a meeting with a large project? Is an employee struggling with how to get through all the work in front of them? Use this simplistic project planning tool to help get a handle on the project or work load. Let’s use an example: your boss comes to you, [...]
by Michael Holland All seasoned leaders at one point in their careers have been challenged with the departure of a key employee who had certain work knowledge that was painful to replicate. Companies invest time and money in developing succession planning for leadership roles. They invest in developing strong leaders to make sure [...]
