How much time and effort do we invest in our ‘B’ and ‘C’ employees? What could we accomplish if we spent half that time working with our ‘A’ players? How many of those ‘A’ players would we retain? Best line from the article:
“Star performers need training and coaching, too — and as the global war for talent continues to heat up, organizations need to step up and deliver the goods.”
Star Performers Don’t Succeed On Their Own – Kevin Evers – Harvard Business Review.
Very interesting article. Most organizations are still holding on for dear life to the old command and control model. What they fail to recognize is that the old model is being replaced by openness, transparency and empowerment.
Whole Foods Employees Have Open Salaries – Business Insider.
The Build Network posted an article the other day on the Business Insider’s site detailing their thoughts on Lincoln’s strategy for handling setbacks. It was a great article and highlights that motivation, team building, accountability and talent development are not new issues. They have been around for a long long time. (Link to the article below)
The main point I took away – the same methods Lincoln used are some of the same we teach today and do in fact work.
A man is sitting on a train after a long day at work. He’s had a terrible day and just wants to sit and read his paper in peace. Next to the man are a father and his two children. The two children are jumping and playing, causing a small ruckus. The first man tries to ignore the commotion and continues to read his paper, however the kids just continue to get louder and louder. After about 20 minutes, the man can’t take it any more. He turns to the children’s father and says, ‘Sir, can you please control your children and ask them to settle down and lower their voices. Some of us here are trying to unwind from a very long day at work.’ The father turns to the man and immediately apologizes, ‘I’m so sorry sir, we didn’t mean to cause any issues. See, we are on are way home from their mothers funeral. This is the first time I’ve seen them happy in days, so I figured I would let them enjoy this little break from reality.’
We tell this story to make a point. Several can be derived, however I think in this context, it helps illustrate the same point as Lincoln and Carnegie understood.
Overall – great article – I highly suggest the read!
http://www.businessinsider.com/lincolns-strategy-for-handling-setbacks-2014-2
In Marilyn Hewson’s article, she Quote’s a Gallup poll which showed the four main attributes people look for in a leader are: stability, trust, compassion and hope.
While we could spend hours discussing each of these, Marilyn does a wonderful job delivering the point.
I do want to add my two cents on hope or what she also refers to as “…a vision that motivates.” Often times business leaders think they are “running the company”. How many times have you heard “I don’t have time for ‘that’, I have a business to run”?
We sometimes forget that our job is to “lead” not “run”.
Check this out Marilyn’s article below, quick but insightful read.
What People Look for in Great Leaders
Great article from Peter Mitchell. Setting clear expectations is key!