Do you look up with your eyes when you’re listening to someone or sharing a story? Do you breathe from the middle part of your chest? Do you memorize info by doing rather than watching? Depending on how you answered each question, you’re either a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner. I learned a lot about different learning styles and the human brain at an intensive training I recently attended given…
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Do you have crabs in your business? You know, the kind of team members that keep the best people from rising and performing at their very best. There is a toxic environment that exists in some companies called the “Crab Mentality” and that is when the average employees don’t want anyone or anything to come in and change the status quo. This moniker comes from watching what happens when a…
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It could be a lawsuit or a slump or just plain fatigue, but most businesses will at some point hit a wall and need to recover. The biggest loss from a crisis is often company morale. If you see your employees losing their enthusiasm, it’s time to be a leader and pave the way back to the environment you enjoyed before the issues arose. If you’re a small business owner…
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I am a small business owner and encountered a problem I didn’t think would ever impact me. I’ve been in business for 12 years and employ over 35 full-time employees. I run a nice service business where everyone gets along fine. Or so I thought. One day I opened the mail and found a sexual harassment and discrimination charge had been filed with the EEOC claiming that the company had…
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Mentoring and leadership may sound the same at first, but there are very important differences between the two. Depending on your goals and the type of business you have, you can draw upon either or both to build a more successful team and a sustainable, scaleable business. There are many types of businesses and some are better suited to different growth methods than others. What I want to talk about…
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Working with human resources can be very rewarding or very disappointing. How your HR function performs depends on a variety of things. In the 25+ years of leadership roles in HR, I’ve seen examples of the best and the worst. As an HR consultant working with small to mid-size employers for almost a decade now, I’ve seen business owners and supervisors who are experts in their specific field who break…
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As I write this article, we are officially half-way through the year. Now is a perfect time to check in on your business and see where you are now compared to where you plan to be at the end of the year. How big or small is the gap? When I work with small business owners, one of the best practices I find consistently is that the owner sets very…
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Your Quantum Leadership Lesson: Organizing a Skip Level Meeting Have you ever organized or been part of a skip-level meeting? If you want to keep your finger on the pulse, periodically invite a few of your employees to a “Skip Level Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner.” This means if you are the business owner, you invite some of your front-line employees from different departments to meet with you in a group…
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4 Essential Steps for an Easier Leadership Transition Managers and leaders may sound the same but there are big differences in the roles they play and the people who perform them. While managers do often lead a team, a leader such as a C-suite professional, has larger responsibilities that go well beyond tasks with predefined goals. Management is a big responsibility, and a good manager can be the backbone of…
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Your Quantum Leadership Lesson: Using Desk Procedure / Standard Operating Manuals Having a desk procedures manual, often called standard operating procedures or a training manual, is essential to assure that the job gets done right every time and that nothing slips through the cracks. For small to mid-size employers that often face high turnover, it’s especially important that each position in the company has an up-to-date desk procedure manual, and…
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