Agendas Make Meetings Productive

Meetings take up time and effort, so they need to be very productive. And one aspect worthy of special focus is how well you organise your meetings. Using a great agenda does just that.rrHaving a meeting agenda template that works well for you, week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people bought into the meeting process. Delivering an efficiency and effectiveness which makes. . .

Book Summary : Primal Leadership

This article is based on the following book: Primal LeadershipLeading To Lead With Emotional Intelligence By Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie Mckee Published by Harvard Business School Press 2004ISBN 1591391849306 pages Primal leadership takes center stage in this book. This concept goes beyond the set of conventional competencies on the making of a leader. Beyond bottom line figures,. . .

A Lasting Leadership Lesson: George Washington's Greatest Leadership Talk

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.comWord count: 745Summary: The most important victory of the Revolutionary War w. . .

7 Strategies for Sustained Innovation

The need for constant reinvention is a given in todays business environment. And while a breakthrough product or concept can catapult an organization ahead of its competitors, in these fast-paced times, that advantage is often short-lived.While major product or service breakthroughs make headlines, its the steady incremental innovations made by employees every day that give an organization . . .

Present your statistics in context for more impact

I didnt have 3000 pairs of shoes. I had only 1600 pairs.Imelda MarcosEverythings relative. A million dollars sounds like a lot of money to someone who makes an average salary, but its a drop in the bucket to a Warren Buffett or a Bill Gates. Running a hundred metres in a few seconds seems like a miracle to ordinary mortals, but a track and field athlete will work hard to shave even more o. . .

Communicate and Prosper

How much has poor communication cost your company in the past twelve months? Chances are, you have no idea. Chances are even better it's a lot more than you can afford.But you wont find the numbers in the financial statements or year-end departmental reports. Nothing shows up saying "lost productivity due to miserable meetings" or "missed business opportunities through sorry selling skills" or. . .

Procrastination and JDI!

Getting better information makes for the more correct decisions. Yet the fear of 'getting it wrong' sometimes means that we use collating information and all sorts of other seemingly completely valid tactics as a good excuse for being slow to decide.In a management role procrastination can seriously hold back progress and demotivate individuals and teams who, full of innovation and drive to mo. . .

More Time Wanted? Deal with Your Time-wasters Now!

Focusing your time to be as productive as you can has never been more important - yet many of us waste our precious time on employees, who frankly don't deserve it. They will never fit. Solving this problem for you will almost certainly be solving a problem for them - so don't be fearful. Want to know more - and how? Read on...Ever feel that you spend too much time shoring up the performance of. . .

Effective Meetings Begin With a Real Agenda

Everyone knows that an agenda is the key to an effective meeting. But an agenda that consists of a list of nouns, such as budget, software, and picnic, is useless. Heres how to prepare a real agenda that puts you in control of the meeting.1) Goal. Every real agenda begins with a goal that describes the result wanted at the end of the meeting, such as: find a way to reduce travel costs by 10%. . . .

Trust - The Most Vital Component in Leadership

______________________________________________________"Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together." - Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus "If you dont believe in the messenger, you wont believe the message."- James Kouzes and Barry Posner ______________________________________________________ I see it all the time - leaders who blame followers for breakdowns in the organ. . .

The Four Laws Of Leadership (Part One)

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.comWord count: 597Summary: The best leadership is motivational. But the author c. . .

Character -- Why It Matters In Leaders

"Character is much easier kept than recovered. - Thomas Paine The best index to a persons character is (a) how he treats people who cant do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who cant fight back. - Abigail van Buren Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to bui. . .

What You Can't Ask a Job Candidate is as Important as What You Can Ask

What You Can't Ask a Job Candidate is as Important as What You Can AskBy Stephen Spainmepatwork.comAs a human resources professional or business owner, you face many challenges during the hiring process, from sorting through stacks of job applicant rsums to making an attractive offer to the one person you believe best matches the specifications of your open position's job description. The who. . .

Hiring Tip Picking the Best Candidates

I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask questions about hiring the right person. Their questions usually sound like these:- What if their resume looks great but they have a bad attitude? - What if they put on a good act and then dont work hard?- How can I tell how they will perform after I hire them? A great way to answer these questions starts with a well-defined interview p. . .

Managing Change - Get it Right

Managing change in organisations is a challenging, process driven exercise, unless you have been courageous enough as an organisation, to be enlightened and multi-inclusive in decision making.In any event, getting the process right is a vital component. The credibility of the change managers will be scrutinised closely enough on the issue itself, with all processes in place. If process is at fa. . .

Top 7 Tips for Maintaining a Team Connection

Thousands of love songs portray sad stories of the fire going out in a romantic relationship. Business teams face the same danger. Members of a team can become too familiar and stuck in patterns of doing the bare minimum when it comes to teamwork. Similar to the song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore," the feeling that occurs when the thrill is gone is usually felt by all involved. As a leade. . .

In Leadership, Good Enough Is Pretty Bad

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.comWord count: 331Summary: Having a "good enough" attitude is a serious stumblin. . .

Find the Right Coach: 9 Guidelines for Executives

Find the Right Coach:Nine Guidelines for Executives It seems that coaches are everywhere these days. Senior Executives are hiring executive consultants in increasing numbers, and for a wider variety of reasons. In the past, coaching was viewed primarily as a remedial tool for executives whose careers were skidding. Today more and more leaders use coaches on a consultative basis, for everything. . .

Meaningful Diversity: Creating Cultures of Inclusion

As you look around your workplace do you see a too comfortable sameness in the faces present? Are you able to make decisions almost too quickly because youre all on the same page? Do you find yourself doing things the same way and getting the same, or even diminishing, results? Same, safe, easy, comfortable, nice, and good will never get you further down your road to innovation, excitement. . .

Unlock the Hidden Creativity of Your Employees

To release creativity in employees, managers must get involved in their employees work. Look at each employee as if he or she is the expert on the job and tap into their creative energy.Weve learned that we can use the energy of the wind and the sun. Weve also learned to harness energy stored in the form of coal and oil. Creative energy, like any other kind of energy, can be harnessed and ma. . .