No bad apples allowed

One bad apple can spoil the rest so please remove them from the basket. As a leader you must establish, promote and support an inviting, comfortable and respectful working environment and as such you can’t allow any single individual to jeopardize your workplace. No matter how good and valuable they may be from a functional perspective if they can’t cooperate …

Top 3 areas to focus on at a new job

Top 3 areas to focus on at a new job may vary when it comes to specifics and details. However, the overall theme of the three areas that deserve and need you attention once you join a new organization are: Meet your coworkers – learn what their hopes, goals and ideas are. Leverage their institutional knowledge and experience in adapting …

We are all in customer service

No matter what you do, what your title or position says, part of your responsibilities is customer service. In order to create organizational culture where everyone is on the same page and provides consistent level of quality to clients (both internal and external) each team member must understand that their interactions with customers matter. All of us must embrace this …

Leaders empower people, they don’t micromanage

Micromanagement demonstrates lack of trust in the abilities of your staff and that is never the right thing to do. Enable and empower people to make decisions, take actions and move forward without the need to constantly come to you for every single detail. Obviously, levels of empowerment and decision making abilities will vary based on experience and your familiarity …

People matter the most

People matter the most and as such they should be the primary focus of every leader at every level in every organization. Attracting quality personnel to your team(s) is essential in order to be efficient, effective and competitive. Focus your search and positioning on quality over quantity, every single time. While it is very important to have adequate resources (funding, …

When possible, promote from within

When possible, promote from within as this keeps employees motivated and it shows there’s room for growth and opportunities. Organizations should also focus on mentoring employees by helping them discover their strengths. Additionally, promoting from within will greatly aid in creation of the culture of collaboration, effort, commitment and the overall success. Having said that it is important to note …

Organizational policies must be communicated

Whether it is a new policy or an update to an existing one, all changes must be clearly communicated across the organization and an official start date needs to be set. Furthermore, enterprise policies needs to be written with your organization, people, culture in mind – don’t simply copy them from other organizations as they won’t make sense in your …

New? Listen, absorb and learn, then act

Started a new job? First order of business is to listen, absorb and learn the culture, environment and players within. Depending on your placement within the organization the impact of your decisions and actions will vary and as such it is essential to educate yourself with the current state of affairs. Your experience is essential, but don’t assume that every …