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“All managers should be taught the subtle signs of a disengaged workforce,” says Todd Patkin, author of Finding Happiness: One Man’s Quest to Beat Depression and Anxiety and—Finally—Let the Sunshine In. “They should all learn which words and actions tend to upset employees and which get people fired up. They should know how to handle […]
by Dan Oswald The cover article in the June issue of Harvard Business Review is titled “The Big Idea: 21st-Century Talent Spotting.” Since all of us as managers are constantly on the lookout for talent, the title of course grabbed my attention. The author, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior adviser at a global executive firm, boldly […]
by Dan Oswald My mother often said to me, “Look before you leap.” She was warning me to stop for a second and think before I threw myself headlong into whatever it was I was considering. That’s because out of her four children, I was probably the most impulsive. Let me reword that—I was the […]
Yesterday’s Advisor showed why “no good deed goes unpunished” applies to new supervisors and managers. Today, more tips, and five rules. New supervisors and managers try to do the best job they can, but their good intentions often backfire. Instead, they laid the groundwork for expensive lawsuits. The solution is training, training, and more training, […]
by Dan Oswald Sunday’s New York Times featured an article titled “Why You Hate Work.” Right from the opening paragraph, I must admit, I had my back up a bit. The article claims it’s very likely that I’m not excited about my work, I don’t feel appreciated while there, I find it difficult to get […]
On November 7, 1967, 1st Lieutenant Lee Ellis was shot down over North Vietnam. He would spend the next 5-plus years as a POW. Not only did he survive the North Vietnamese prison camps but he also remained in the military after his release, finally retiring as a colonel. And his combat decorations include two […]
A recent Gallup poll shows that only 30 percent of Americans are actively engaged at work. According to Gallup’s chairman and CEO, fully 20 percent of American employees are actively disengaged because they have “bosses from hell that make them miserable.” In turn, these employees “roam the halls spreading discontent.” But wait—there’s good news. According […]
by Dan Oswald On November 7, 1967, 1st Lieutenant Lee Ellis was shot down over North Vietnam. He would spend the next five-plus years as a POW. Not only did he survive the North Vietnamese prison camps, but he also remained in the military after his release, finally retiring as a colonel. And his combat […]
by Dan Oswald We live in a world where everything moves fast and is interconnected. There was a time when 20 miles may have represented an entire day’s journey. Now we can travel that distance in less than 20 minutes. And information moves even faster. We learn about things that are occurring halfway around the […]
When using contingent workers, defined as non-traditional and non-employee workers (often either independent contractors or workers leased from temp agencies or professional employer organizations), employers remove a lot of the hassles associated with managing a workforce internally. However, they also introduce some risks, especially since the decisions are often out of their hands.