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Know When to Manage and When to Coach

management

Have you ever wondered why the head of a baseball team is called the manager and the head of a basketball team is called the coach? (These are the kinds of things I sometimes ponder on long airplane rides.) The answer has to do not just with the obvious differences between the two sports, but also with how the players are coached and managed during the games. Just as baseball and basketball are two very different sports, coaching and managing are two very different activities. One has to do with directing, the other has to do with teaching. Managing is…

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Not Enough Hours in Your Day? Start Making Better Choices

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Daydreams can really have a way of soothing our stressful days, as it not only allows us to escape reality for a few minutes, but it also gives us a little hope. Here is a daydream for you: If money was not a worry, where would you live? What is great about this daydream is that it can really get you thinking. For example, some of us would dream about living on a beautiful island, while others are dreaming about living in a great neighborhood where they are treated like royalty. But seriously, if money was not a worry, where would you live?

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Tear Down These Walls!

holly

In 1987, president Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech in which he implored Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” I’m going to paraphrase his history-altering quote and urge today’s business leaders to tear down these walls! Which walls? The ones that get in the way of cross-communication within organizations and prevent innovation from taking place. Unlike the Berlin Wall, you can’t see these walls because they’re invisible. But they exist, and they represent major impediments to creating meaningful innovation, especially in large companies. Just look at the way most organizations are physically set up. Accounting in…

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Global Study Reveals Ineffective Change Management Practices

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Managing change in today’s organizations is not getting any easier. However, doing it well is the new imperative. How are organizations faring with moving their people and systems in new directions? IBM’s Making Change Work Study on global change management practices reports most CEOs think their organizations largely ineffective at bringing about change.

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Are You Engaging? Funny, Smart, And Easy To Dance With Is Not Enough These Days

holly

You may be funny, smart, and easy to dance with, but if you are not engaging employees on an ongoing basis, all of your work in developing a strategic plan will be for naught. In my last two blogs, we talked about informing and inspiring employees during implementation of the strategic plan. The last piece of the puzzle involves engaging people so that they fully commit continuously to achieving the plan. When we inform people by clearly communicating the company’s destination, they develop a sense of direction and focus. When we inspire people by explaining why the destination is important,…

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How to Avoid “Hitting the Wall” in Your Strategic Plan

holly

I focus a lot of my time and energy on helping clients remember the importance of ongoing communications as their strategic plan unfolds. Keeping employees informed on a regular basis helps to keep the finish line in sight and ensures that everyone runs the same race. But getting from where you are now to where the organization needs to go can often feel like running a marathon. How do you keep people motivated and inspired when the finish line seems miles away, and when some days, it is unclear what race you are in? At the beginning of a marathon…

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Burning the Midnight Oil

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One of the best parts of being a business owner is not having to burn the midnight oil… unless you choose to, of course. The secret to your success is your passion, dedication, and unique set of skills. So why on earth would you be focusing on the “outsourceable” parts of your business? I know you would rather burn your midnight oil than that precious cash, but what about your precious talents?

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Five Steps to Breaking the Multitasking Cycle

hollythehumanfactor

Is constant multitasking wearing you down and eroding your effectiveness as a business leader? Here are five steps for recapturing your time, attention and productivity: 1. Focus. Focus starts with having a very clear definition of what winning looks like for your organization. Be as specific as possible. What will it look like at the end of 2011 when you have been insanely successful? What key operating achievements will you have accomplished? Who will your customers be and how will you serve them? What products will you have in the market and in the development pipeline? Who will your competitors…

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