7 Ways to Teach Your Staff ROI: The Pivot to Billable Activities

Building a successful organization requires a comprehensive business strategy across each of your departments. It is also closely related to your business model, the industry you belong to, the status of your finances, the available opportunities, and—of course—your team. While your senior management team may be aligned with the company goals and vision, you want to build a culture of self-managed rockstars. Otherwise, you'll fall into the trap of micromanagement. My guiding light is ROI.  Often, your resources are only limited. You do not have all the time to spend and disperse across hundreds of initiatives. There is always a… Continue Reading

8 Crucial Business Skills to Weather the Recession Storm

The current decade has been turbulent at best, challenging business paradigms, industrial practices, and biological presumptions across the planet. It begs the question: What is the successful route to developing resilient business skills for the years to come? From a global pandemic ranking near the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920 to worldwide lockdowns suffocating the travel and hospitality industries, through an overnight transition to remote work, a massive bump of cryptocurrencies, a housing market growing like crazy from Hong Kong to San Francisco to a global crash in 2022, businesses definitely had to endure a lot. Back to The Global Recession… Continue Reading

How to Handle a Resignation by a Key Player on Your Team

Handling resignations can be a tough process especially when it’s the top employees who are leaving. Searching for the best replacement for that soon-to-be-vacant role is the most challenging part of the process. So, as much as possible, you want to prevent them from leaving and ensure that employee turnover remains acceptably low for your company. There is a very common fallacy stating that people don't quit jobs, they quit managers. That's definitely the case in many corporations and large organizations with tens of thousands of people and tons of different management layers. Managers are important. But in large organizations,… Continue Reading

Creating an Employee Performance Review and Feedback Workflow

Resilience is my number 1 hiring trait.  As a manager, you will have ups and downs with your employees, and your feedback should reflect this. It's not about harshness or power play, mind you. Receiving critical feedback may be absolutely devastating for juniors and many introverts.  However, your options are very limited and you don’t want to do any of the following that might only jeopardize the entire company: Stick to praising (missing out on improvements) Prolong tough times until it becomes unbearable Sugar-coat problems Look for a replacement because a civilized conversation is unlikely Deliver feedback and receive a… Continue Reading

Employee Motivation Strategies For Managers And Executives

What determines “progress” in terms of employment? Progress is defined by focusing on a higher goal without having to constantly worry about day-to-day needs (food, water, shelter, clothing). Those are the basic survival needs. Until you are sure that those are taken care of, your mind constantly switches back to the urgent needs at hand which are the absolute minimums for survival. A business organization employs that same process, but on steroids. Considering that the paycheck covers the basic needs and then some, employees must feel safe, comfortable, and motivated at the workplace. However, the reality is that employees may… Continue Reading

Workplace Communication Techniques and Strategies

No matter what role you have in an organization - a manager, a vendor, a consultant, or an advisor - each comes with its own challenges, particularly in managing workplace communication issues. Effective communication is the lifeblood of any successful organization, and navigating these challenges is essential for fostering a productive and harmonious work environment. These communication issues often involve conflicts in employee relations. It's usually the nitpicking or annoyance from the older hire that shows. Or, complaints about too much communication overhead or lack of proper onboarding internally primarily caused by the lack of Wiki or other documentation in… Continue Reading

The 4 P’s of Employee Relations and Conflict Management in the Workplace

Workplace conflict costs $359 billion in paid hours or 385 million working days annually. This is according to the “Workplace Conflict and How Business Can Harness it to Thrive” report. There were news articles about Apple employees having concerns about the ‘rigid’ rules in hybrid working, while Google’s people were frustrated about the ‘two tiers’ remote working. No wonder why in the month of April 2021, the Great Resignation started happening. Given the diverse range of expenses related to workplace conflicts, it becomes imperative for organizations to prioritize conflict prevention, early intervention, and constructive resolution strategies. By fostering a positive work… Continue Reading

22 Self-Improvement Areas for Effective Leadership

As a manager, you need to be an exemplary leader to help your organization grow. There are lots of leadership traits that define great managers. Most of them are hard to observe and investigate unless you know what you are looking for. In this piece, I will uncover some of the most important traits that we look for when hiring intrapreneurs and top talent internally, as well as the main areas to work on with individuals and managers for professional self-improvement across different organizations. 1. Defining Success In order to be successful, you first need to figure out what success… Continue Reading

Managing Interruptions And Boosting Work Performance During Crisis

Digital businesses were forced to move fully remotely during the social isolation of COVID-19. But this is one of the worst experiments of "testing out remote working." Employees experience different dynamics at home. Kids are home-schooled (or babysitters are no longer available). Social contacts are non-existent. The biological weapon creeping out there keeps everyone alert. So do you still think coronavirus is the best social experiment for assessing a distributed company? Remote Work In COVID-19 Times Enter the world of interruption science. Different studies under interruption science report that interruption during productive hours may take 15 to 45 minutes for… Continue Reading

8 Specific Tips to Work Around Business Meetings

Time is money. Time lost means money lost. Time wasted means money wasted.  One of the leading causes behind businesses losing and wasting a lot of time and money is the amount of time they spend in business meetings. Middle managers typically spend 35% of their time in meetings while those who belong to the upper management spend 50% of their time. Employees, in general, spend up to 6 hours every week just to prepare for status update meetings. According to Bain and Company, 15% of the collective time of an organization is spent in business meetings and this has… Continue Reading