While many employees have the potential to learn the processes and tasks it takes to manage people and resources, it takes an entirely different set of skills to be an effective leader. Leaders focus on the bigger picture and, instead of wasting all of their time focusing on single tasks and details, put systems, strategies and plans in place that benefit the entire organization and work towards maintaining success into the future.

Leaders have vision, and the ability to guide and mentor others into capturing and carrying that vision and eventually stepping into leadership roles themselves. How is your executive leadership? Learn more about strengthening executive leadership here.

Technorati Tags: management vs leadership

Don Brown, founder and CEO of Interactive Intelligence, explains in this month’s Chief Executive Officer how upgrading legacy systems can improve performance despite the tough economic conditions:

“With so much talk about recession and cutting costs, it’s no wonder there are so many fears surrounding capital spending. According to a study conducted by Forrester Research, 43% of large US and European businesses have cut their overall spending on technology products and services this year.

“Many companies feel that reducing their capital spending is the best way to beat the economic downturn. This means that plans to update or replace legacy systems could be shelved with the attitude that companies will weather the storm before making any major financial investments.

“However, with outdated equipment firms will struggle to deliver results and with a recession forecast and the threat of job cuts ever-present, can they really afford to make do with a second-rate solution?”

Read the full article: “Intelligence to Beat the Downturn.”

Technorati Tags: Business Technology, Capital Expenditure

This article from Management-Issues.com explains the issue in great detail:

“A report from the UK’s Cranfield School of Management has concluded that organisations which invested in their staff were generally best placed to save money, improve staff motivation and increase employee retention.

“The poll of more than 1,100 training and recruitment managers found that nearly eight out of 10 saw developing the skills of their existing staff as a more beneficial option than simply throwing money at external recruitment.

“More than four out of 10 felt firms that spent money on their staff ended up better placed to save money, with a third arguing that it improved staff motivation and more than half pointing out that it improved employee retention.

“The most successful organisations typically had formal training policies in place to nurture their talent, with less successful firms tending to rely on training that was delivered on an ad hoc basis.”

Read the full article: “When going gets tough, spend more on training.“

Technorati Tags: Employee Training, training in a downturn

Technorati Tags: Recruiting

• Being challenged each day
• Autonomy: Creating your own goals and defining your own destiny
• The ability to be innovative and creative
• Freedom to experiment
• Working with intelligent people

What kind of impression does your company give to prospective employees? Do your employees feel free to experiment, innovate and create?

Technorati Tags: Microsoft recruiting, Recruiting

In most organizations the recruiting function is entirely separate from the retention effort, yet the design of the hiring process has a dramatic and direct impact on future turnover. More than one-third of the factors that drive future turnover have their roots in the recruiting, hiring, and on-boarding process.

Recruiting Factors That Impact Future Retention

If you’re interested in reducing turnover, here are some of the hiring-related factors that impact future retention:

1. The source where you found the candidate.
2. Their average tenure in other jobs.
3. Hiring candidates who are focused on money.
4. On-boarding and orientation.
5. Recruiter involvement after the hire.
6. The lack of diversity orientation and retention.
7. Manager rewards for great retention.
8. Being aware of the most common causes of turnover. “

Read the full article “Retention Problems Begin During the Hiring Process.“

Technorati Tags: hiring process, talent retention

“Have you had great ideas to improve your organization that you were sure would be immediately embraced by all employees? Were you left wondering why the idea withered on the vine lacking the enthusiasm and support you had anticipated?

“You’re not alone. Whatever the change initiative was, based on industry experience, chances are less than 50/50 that it was implemented as planned and that you attained the expected results. The ability of any organization to adapt may be its only sustainable competitive advantage.

“Despite this, organizations experience resistance to important initiatives and a growing inertia. This lack of action undermines implementation and slows business results.”

One of the keys in any leadership role is the ability to motivate employees and get them committed to the same goals for personal and business performance. Without this ability, no effective organizational change can be instigated or completed. A recent article I read commented the following about employee motivation:

“A person’s motivation is combination of desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. Influencing someone’s motivation means getting him or her to want to do what you know must be done.

“People can be motivated by beliefs, values, interests, fear, worthy causes, and other such forces. Some of these forces are internal, such as needs, interests, and beliefs. Others are external, such as danger, the environment, or pressure from a loved one. There is no simple formula for motivation — you must keep an open viewpoint on human nature. There is a complex array of forces steering the direction of each person and these forces cannot always be seen or studied. Also, if the same forces are steering two different people, each on will act differently. Knowing that different people react to different needs will guide your decisions and actions in certain situations.

“As a leader you have the power to influence motivation. The following guidelines form the basic view of motivation. They will guide you in your decision making process towards influencing motivation.”

This article goes on to list some helpful tips to keep in mind when working towards increasing your influence and motivating those around you. Read the full article: “Effective Leadership to Influence Motivation.”

Technorati Tags: human resources effectiveness, leadership in human resources

“New research carried out by training company VitalSmarts and professional services firm, The Concours Group, has uncovered five crucial issues –what they term ‘crucial conversations’ - that have an enormous impact on whether high-stakes business initiatives succeed or fail.

The study, “Silence Fails: The Five Crucial Conversations for Flawless Execution“, suggests that when even one of these crucial conversations fails, a silent crisis plays out in a deceptively simple dynamic that results in initiatives failing 85 per cent of the time. The result of this failure sees projects going over budget, missing deadlines and failing to meet quality and functionality specs. Team morale is inevitably damaged in the process.”

Read the full article “Silence - the root cause of project failure.”

Access the survey results here.

Some key findings include:

• Major business initiatives, projects and programs fail at a rate of 85 percent when leaders fail to address one or more five common business issues.
• 90 percent of business leaders face the five common business issues routinely but only 17 percent are able to get their concerns heard and understood.
• Business leaders who successfully address one or more of the five issues are 50-70% more likely to fully achieve project objectives.

How strong are your communications skills? How strong is your organizational leadership? Read more about how to strengthen leadership communication to increase efficiency and productivity in your business.

Technorati Tags: effective communications, project failure, silence leads to failure

Have you had great ideas to improve your organization that you were sure would be immediately embraced by all employees?

Were you left wondering why the idea withered on the vine lacking the enthusiasm and support you had anticipated?

You’re not alone. Whatever the change initiative was, based on industry experience, chances are less than 50/50 that it was implemented as planned and that you attained the expected results.

None of us have a motivation fairy or the ability to immediately read our employees and understand what it takes the get them moving. However, we can help. Read our brief on “Creating Contagious Organizational Change.”

Technorati Tags: Creating Change, employee motivation, people reading

As evidenced in this recent New York Times article, invariably poor monetary decisions can definitely be costly to any company, even the preeminent.

In the midst of Bank of America’s gain following Merrill Lynch’s bankruptcy, the United States’ mortgage banking and credit calamities continue. Take a look at another recent media broadcast describing monetary corporate dissolve.

Technorati Tags: AIG buyout, Bank of America buys Merrill Lynch, Lehmann Brothers, Merrill Lynch bankruptcy, recession