Articles
No Easy Exits
There are no easy exits. There is no reason to think that, after building a successful business with that never-say-die attitude, you can effortlessly detach yourself through a sale or transfer. If you were learning a new skill or sport it would be prudent to take a few lessons. Exit Planning is no different. Have a process, follow the process, and be mentally ready and financially strong. The result will be a legacy business that will enhance the community, keep your employees on the job, and perhaps grow to new heights for everyone’s prosperity.
Are Strategic Thinkers Born or Made?
“What do we have to do today to be ready for an uncertain tomorrow?” Peter Drucker. What’s up with strategic thinking? How important do you think strategic thinking is to the success of your organization? If your answer is that it is one of the most important skills for you, your leadership team and all of your employees to have, you are on the right track. Recent studies have reported that strategic thinking is now the #1 most valued skill in leaders today. For some, strategic thinking comes more naturally. Some people have a positive tendency to be open minded [...]
CFO asks his CEO, “What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave the company?” CEO answers, ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”
Wow, I ran across this question--I am not sure where it came from but I thought it poses the question very nicely. If you believe, as I do, that people are the only real assets of any organization-their drive, focus, commitment and creativity, then it begs the question, what is your organization doing to keep and develop the best people and move the others into the right positions or out of the company.
Study on Managing Employee Performance
A study by the Aberdeen group reported some fascinating findings that should lead proactive business leaders to look more deeply at the satisfaction and engagement levels of their employees. The top 20% of the companies in the study improved emoployee satisfaction by 22% and employee performance by 21%. The median companies improved satisfaction by 1.5% and employee performance by 3.7%. The bottom 30% decreased employee satisfaction by 16% and decreased employee performance by 3.2% The results are very clear; want to improve performance, improve employee satisfaction and engagement.
How to Build Your Pool of Potential Business Leaders
Earlier we had talked about how businesses can benefit from cultivating their own leaders. There is no doubt that much can be said for molding managers from your existing employee pool. Many companies do want to promote from within, fully understanding the benefits of internal growth opportunities, but not all businesses understand how to develop a system for doing so. In this article I will discuss how your business can begin developing a system for internal growth and how to avoid common pitfalls that you may come across while doing so. Not All Employees Are Created Equal The first thing [...]
Where Are Your Company’s Leaders Coming From?
Any business owner or CEO knows that their company's leaders are crucial to the success of their business. Poor leaders equate to poor employee satisfaction and, as a result, poor performance. It is no secret that poor performance has a direct impact on your business's bottom line. Unfortunately, not all businesses are properly cultivating the best leadership for their employees. Over the next few articles, I will be writing a series about where, why and how you should be obtaining your organization's best leaders. Be prepared, however, because the truths you discover during this series may not be the ones [...]