Dear Madeleine, I have a high-stress technical job serving the sales department of a professional services company. I have one direct report I am struggling with. Everything is an emotional event with him. He takes everything personally and even finds ways to get offended by positive feedback. He is always melting down and getting sick.…
Performance planning, coaching, and review are the foundation of any well-designed performance management system, but the results of a recent study suggest that leaders are falling short in meeting the expectations of their direct reports. Researchers from The Ken Blanchard Companies teamed up with Training magazine to poll 456 human resource and talent-management professionals. The purpose was…
“I don’t want to be a micromanager!” I hear that statement all the time from my coaching clients. I get it—no one wants to be known as a boss who hovers over people and tells them what to do all the time. However, what I’ve noticed with some clients who desperately do not want to…
Managers don’t have enough high quality conversations with their direct reports, according to Ann Phillips, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. This deficiency has a negative effect on both productivity and morale. “Part of effective communication between manager and direct report is a mindset and part is a skillset. Both are required,”…
My wife is a big fan of TV cooking shows. You name it, she likes to watch it: IronChef, TopChef, Great American Food Truck, and MasterChef, just to name a few. Since she owns the TV remote control in our house, I’m pretty much forced to watch all these shows with her (I know, I…
Dear Madeleine, I am an experienced manager but I am in a situation that is stumping me. I have a large team, and we have a reputation for getting a lot done, very efficiently. One team member—L— has been with the team since before I took it over. She is in her early 40s, a…
Hi Madeleine, I run a business where we manage large projects and serve customers all day long. I have a new hire who just isn’t working out. She is rude to customers and makes constant errors. She needs to have instructions repeated again and again and just can’t seem to retain anything. Last week I…
Dear Madeleine, I report to the general counsel of a large global organization and I have a team of seven attorneys. I routinely work at all hours of the night finishing projects my people committed to completing and then didn’t—and the deadline, of course, can’t slip. My husband says I let my people walk all…
What is the key to being an effective manager? Ken Blanchard takes a look in two new videos. In the first, Ken shares a story about being a college professor and giving out the answers to the final exam on the first day of class. In the second, Ken identifies the three aspects of performance management—goal…
Like many people, I have a smart phone. It’s excellent for both working and personal connections. In an instant I can exchange words with friends who are scattered across the country and participate in a stream of communication. I can monitor email from anywhere, which proves handy whether I’m keeping an eye on urgent issues…