Monthly Archives: April 2015

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Why Are You Worried About Losing Employees to Competitors?

“I’m amused when other agencies try to hire my people away. They’d have to ‘hire’ the whole environment. For a flower to blossom, you need the right soil as well as the right seed” William Bernback

William Bernback really hit the nail on the head with this quote. If we, as leaders, have created the proper environment within our organizations, we should not be concerned about losing our best employees to the competition because no one will want to leave. We will have a culture that attracts and retains employees and few recruitment agencies will stand a chance in luring our staff away .

The million dollar question is, what does this “miracle” environment or culture look like? What sort of “soil” do we need to have to promote the growth of our employees and our business?

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Boost Employee Productivity and Retention With One Tool

Recently I read The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. Although I think the authors took a few too many chapters to explain their thoughts, I really did like the concept they titled “Tours of Duty.” A Tour of Duty is simply a formal or informal arrangement between an employee and employer. This arrangement defines the parameters of a work assignment that the employee will take on that will both develop their career and advance the company at the same time.

This is not a new concept by any means. It has existed in the military world for eons and I was introduced to it when I started in business back in the early 90’s. Essentially, it is an assignment with a defined term, expected personal development outcomes, and expected business outcomes. The employee is motivated to successfully execute the Tour of Duty so they can be promoted or get moved to a choice assignment, etc. (as defined by the agreement with their employer).. The business benefits because the employee is completely engaged in the process and is typically adding significant value to the business.

The authors of The Alliance specify three types of Tours of Duty

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Why You Need To “Talk Like TED”

A few months ago I purchased Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds with my monthly Audible subscription (I listen to books when I am driving or at the gym…maybe another blog post on this at some point). I was so impressed with the book that I bought a hardcover version so that I could read it and take some detailed notes.

Talk Like TED interested me because I am always trying to improve myself in all areas of professional development. Although I will never be a Tony Robbins or a Sir Ken Robinson, I do quite a few presentations in the course of a year so any improvement that I can make in how I present will make a positive impact in my career. And, if a person is going to get tips on presentations, what better source to turn to than the world’s premier public speaking events!

Carmine Gallo did an outstanding job in boiling down the best TED presentations and establishing nine common elements that each of us can incorporate into our own presentations:

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Why You Need Solitude To Get Serious Work Done

“Without solitude, no serious work is possible.” Picasso

Our world today is incredibly busy (see Do You Suffer From Continue Partial Attention Deficit Syndrom) and interruptions are almost constant. In 1789, Benjamin Franklin said “. . . nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” I think in 2015’s world, we can revise this to say “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and constant interruptions.” Chances are, a large percentage of you were interrupted by your office phone, cell phone, email, text message, instant message or some other modern day technical marvel at least once during the time it took to read this!

As business leaders we must set aside time that is insulated from interruptions so that we have time to strategically plan our business. We need to think through issues, set vision, direction, goals and communications. This cannot be done when you are being interrupted every 30 seconds! You need solitude to get serious work completed!

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Who is Watching You and Why You Should Care

Do you ever get that freaky feeling that you are being watched . . . that someone, and you can’t tell who or where they are, is watching you for some reason?

Well, brace yourself . . . It is true! You are being watched! You are being watched by all kinds of people and you really should care. You should care because, for starters, you are being watched by your;

  • Employees
  • Current customers
  • Potential customers
  • Competitors