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…
Dear Madeleine, I am the manager of a large group of service professionals. Earlier this year, I was inspired by a management book to set goals with my people and then give them the autonomy to decide how to achieve them. It sounded good on paper, but here we are at the end of the…
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…
When The Ken Blanchard Companies asked 1,400 people the question “What is the biggest mistake leaders make when working with others?” 41 percent of respondents identified inappropriate communication or poor listening. When these same respondents were asked to look at a list of common mistakes and choose the five biggest missteps by leaders, two responses…
Best-selling business author Ken Blanchard believes that instead of using performance review as a way to sort and grade people, organizations should use a process that helps everyone “get an A.” “I’ve always talked about helping people get As. Early in my career as a university professor, I was often in trouble because I would…
How is performance management going in your organization? If the emphasis is on assessment, it’s likely that employees and managers alike would rather avoid the whole affair. Who wants to judge—or be judged—and face all of the emotional fallout that comes with it? Instead, I recently have been working with clients to approach performance management…
Dear Madeleine, I have an excellent employee who has been working for me for over three years. She has always had a good attitude and she meets her deadlines, turns out reliable work product, and gets along with others—truly a model employee. The problems started about four months ago when she started coming in late,…
A survey conducted by Training magazine and The Ken Blanchard Companies found that 89 percent of those polled want to meet with their manager at least monthly, and 44 percent want to meet weekly. The majority of respondents are looking for either 30 or 60 minutes of one-on-one time with their manager on a regular…
More than 90 percent of major corporations have formal performance management systems in place. Yet recent research by Deloitte Consulting reported that only 8 percent of these organizations find their performance management process worth the time they put into it. Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity seems to fit here: “Doing the same thing over and over…
After analyzing four years of check-in data, Gold’s Gym found that February 18th is the date with the steepest drop-off in gym attendance. By looking at the self-reported health club check-in data of Facebook users, a recent Wall Street Journal article found that gym check-ins rise 50% in January but then decline in February as…