There are a few keystone behaviors that once established as habits make a significant difference in your leadership effectiveness. One of these habits is to have regularly scheduled 1-on-1 meetings with your direct reports. Managers consistently say, “But I talk to my staff all the time, why do I need a separate meeting?” In [...]
by Michael Holland Sometimes you have to go back to square one of your management training and practice the basics. Sports coaches know well that players must keep their basic skills fully in tune. Pro football coaches bring their guys back to the line again and again during practices to run the same play over [...]
By Michael Holland There was a distinct moment when my first child was born that I awakened to the full weight of being a father. Before that moment of birth, I intellectually understood that I was becoming a father. But upon birth and holding my child in my arms I became distinctly aware [...]
By Michael Holland It’s a beautiful morning in the City of Brotherly Love and I have a fantastic view of the sun rising over the Ben Franklin Bridge. The bridge is a beautiful suspension bridge connecting Philadelphia, PA with Camden, NJ over the Delaware River. The same river the great George Washington famously [...]
By Michael Holland Does this mission statement sound familiar: ________ Incorporated provides its customers with quality __________ products and the expertise required for making informed buying decisions. We provide our products and services with a dedication to the highest degree of integrity and quality of customer satisfaction, developing long-term professional relationships with employees [...]
by Michael Holland Great leaders do all the right things. They establish a culture and traditions within their teams; they communicate and coach up their employees constantly; they situationally adjust their leadership style to match the environment and the mood of their employees; they encourage their employees to stretch their abilities; and on and on [...]
by Michael Holland I could feel the controls with my left hand on the side of the big leather seat. Touching each lever made the seat move: I could scoot the seat up, tilt it back a bit, and raise up my legs. Soon enough I had a full reclining lounge chair which would’ve been [...]
by Michael Holland When we hear the word Amish, the stereotype most people imagine is a horse and buggy driven by a bearded man in a wide-brimmed hat. We think of people who live without modern advances and adhere to strange customs like the excommunication of young adults who venture away from the community. But [...]
by Michael Holland Normal managers are everywhere: in fact, most managers are virtually the same in the way they manage and lead their teams. These normal managers follow the status quo of the culture and fight to maintain the mediocrity of entitled management, wearing their self-proclaimed status symbols of “Back to Back Meetings” [...]
by Michael Holland How effectively are you integrating new employees into your company? Into your team? To be honest, orientation programs usually suck. From an employee’s perspective, being loaded down with hours of mind-numbing data and stale presentations on the vision-mission-values of the company sets the stage for personal soul searching regarding whether or not they [...]
