How do you know when you need external help determining your strategic direction?
We see it quite often. Companies are struggling with growth and need to re-evaluate their strategy. Some enlist outside help early and others decide to go it alone. So how do you know when you should hire an external resource to help with your strategy development? Here are few things to consider.Does your strategy look the same from year to year, just the dates are changed? This is...
Read More
Does your growth strategy include acquisitions? Beware!
Merger and acquisition activity is expected to be up sharply in 2014. I find a couple of things interesting about that: 1) Anywhere from 50-90% of transactions fail to meet their stated goals, yet there is this exuberance to spend more money, when even the best odds are like a coin toss. 2) I wonder if this is being driven by companies that are having difficulty achieving their current...
Read More
It’s the holidaze. . .
As I sat down to compose this post, I got to thinking about how crazy this time of year can be. Just meeting someone for lunch seems to take more effort than normal; parking is more difficult, restaurants are crowded, and heaven forbid the restaurant you choose is in a shopping mall, you’ll be trampled! Seeing all of these people running around made me think...
Read More
Disengaged Employees? Why should you care?
If employee engagement is such an issue within American corporations, why are so few making any headway in correcting the problem? A number of years ago, the CEO of a very large company had heard that employees of his company were not happy, so he commissioned an employee survey which then confirmed those rumors. His reaction to the survey results? ‘Well, if they don’t like...
Read More
It’s that time of the year again…
Well, it’s that time of the year again when people are thinking about strategic and business planning for 2014 and beyond. Numbers are being crunched and most people are either being overly optimistic in their planning or sandbagging. You know who they are, those eager-beavers and those lay-in-the-weeds types. Of course, not every company’s process is the same. But I can tell you from experience,...
Read More
Retaining Top Talent: Yes, it really IS all about them.
Attracting top talent is difficult enough, but retaining them can be even more difficult. And given the high cost of hiring and training new employees, it seems to me you might want to consider all the ways you can retain high performers. In this article from strategy + business magazine, they confirm that, yes, it really IS all about them. Employees want to feel engaged...
Read More
‘Disengaged Employees: The New Normal’ – (Hint: It doesn’t have to be.)
Here is a great article by my long-time friend, Mark Sheffert of Manchester Companies: “Disengaged Employees: The New Normal – Workers who don’t care will eat up your profits”. In it Mark discusses some of the findings of Gallup’s “State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders.” So why are employees so disengaged? Well, I have some thoughts around that: For too many years, they have...
Read More
Help New Employees Succeed From Day One
It is amazing to me that the average new hire turnover rate is 25%. Man, that’s a lot of money down the drain, not to mention all the effort that went into the process to hire who you thought was the right person. INC Magazine’s article “Help new employees succeed from day one” offers some great tips for onboarding. Finding the right talent is one thing,...
Read More
U.S. Employees Are Disengaged—and Mismanaged
I was talking to a neighbor recently who told me how much she hates her job. She said what she mainly hates about it is her co-workers; no one talks to each other. They either ignore her completely or they’re nasty or some of them are just plain mean. This is a retail environment. Do you suspect how the employees treat their customers is any different than how they...
Read More
30 Outdated Leadership Practices Holding Your Company Back
Here is a great and apt article from Forbes – “30 Outdated Leadership Practices Holding Your Company Back“. It shows some ideas to ponder when thinking about change management and how you might bring your company into this century with your leadership.