Be a Leader Your Employees Trust

Closed doors. Rumors. Disappearance. Whispers in corners. Widespread panic. What was happening!?! It was 2001 and the company I worked for was laying off employees. People were given boxes for their belongings, then they were ushered out. Poof! They were gone. The worst magic act ever. This memory came to mind when I read leadership

Key Psychological Needs of Employee Motivation (2 of 3)

My Grandson is 2 ½ years old and his job, as with every 2 ½-year-old, is to learn and master skills.  Each week when I visit him, I see he has learned something new. Words with a lot of syllables in the same sentence. Catch a ball (sort of).  Read (memorize) a book. Run AND

  • Autonomy is one of three employee psychological needs

Key Psychological Needs of Employee Motivation (1 of 3)

“My wife, Mary Jean, owned a soft ice cream store, which operated from April 15 through Labor Day. Both of our children, Kate and Andy, worked there during the summer months. After they had worked there a few weeks, Mary Jean made this comment to each of them: ‘You’ll often be working by yourself. I

3 Things Employees Cannot Live Without

“Rumor has it you got advisor of the year. Congratulations.” This was a sterile email I received from my boss in 2008.  I still wonder why my boss didn’t walk the 50 feet from her office, to my office, to personally congratulate me on this statewide award. Well, I actually know why. I worked in

Can I Lead if I’m Not a Leader?

How can I lead and inspire with Generate G Factor? First, you don’t have to have a leadership title to lead.  You don’t have to be the boss, owner, supervisor, team lead, etc.  Ponder this for a moment.  We all lead unintentionally all the time.  Yes, that means people are watching and listening to you. 

How to Deliver Bad News

I have bad news …. No, not really.  But let's talk about how to deliver bad news. https://youtu.be/ULWJ9bcnOgo Have you met a person yet who loves to be the bearer of bad news? If you have, they are an anomaly and dare I say – twisted?  The reality is, like it or not, bad

Are you listening to understand or reply?

Listening Skills: understanding or replying?  Which is better? https://youtu.be/im1i6Q31Wtg Many of us were taught the importance of paraphrasing.  You know, put someone’s words into your words and repeat it back to them.  The problem with this technique is that we end up doing what I call PARROTphrasing.  We squawk someone’s words back to them

Conflict and Appreciation: Giving it

Conflict and appreciation: an interesting pair!  There are people, who when feeling threatened, are going to try to get you to show your appreciation for them, because they have a need for attention.  Lots and lots of attention sometimes!  Brinkman and Kirschner describe this behavior as requiring "a higher level of assertiveness and a people focus, in