How To Make Easy Course Corrections

Back in the days before 9-11, I found myself on an overnight flight across the Atlantic Ocean to England. Seated all around me were drunken, Estonian sailors who had proceeded in 1.5 hours to drink the airplane dry of any and all alcohol. At only three hours into the eight-hour flight, I was becoming increasingly agitated by the drunken sailor next to me who insisted on practicing his 3-word English vocabulary replete with spittle, belches and the occasional waft of stomach gases.

The flight attendant, sensing my agitation, took pity on me and asked me to accompany her to the back of the plane. In the back galley, there were several seats occupied by other flight attendants and I was invited to take a seat amongst them and take a break from the beer-burpy-spittle sailor.

After about an hour of quiet, being served coffee and tea and a few munchy snacks, the Chief Flight Attendant asked if I would be interested in meeting the Captain and seeing the cockpit (remember, this was pre 9-11).

Upon opening the cockpit doors, I found the pilot and co-pilot facing one another and playing a game of cards to which the captain chuckled, "I'll bet you're wondering who's flying this thing huh?"

The captain then proceeded to show me how it all worked. To my amazement, I learned that once in the air, the computer flew the plane. The Captain pulled up our flight path on the computer screen which indicated anything but a straight line.

"At 40,000 feet, it's windy and our plane gets knocked off course all of the time," the Captain said. "The computer's job is to make a small series of corrections along the way to keep us on our course so we don't end up in Spain when we were heading for England."

This story illustrates the useful strategy of small course corrections versus the major reactive strategy of trying to recover from a serious, uncorrected error along the way. This same strategy can be applied to daily interaction and communication with employees to make small course corrections so that you don't end up in Spain when you were heading for England.

The Annual Performance Review, as many managers have explained it to me, is like ending up nowhere near where you were headed. The Annual Performance Review only allows for major corrections - the big things that went unsaid for months and were never dealt with when they should have been.

However, Tweaking™ your employees daily in simple ten-second interactions daily will give your people better feedback, better direction and build better trust culminating in better loyalty and reduced turnover.

Remember, if you prefer chaotic crisis intervention, putting out major fires and stressing yourself out in dealing with setback, by all means, stick with the Annual Performance Review of having only one discussion around each employee's performance per year. But if you want to watch your employees get better every day, watch them improve their performance, increase their engagement levels and come together as a cohesive team, then I suggest the Tweak™ Strategy for management.

Small course corrections are much easier to do but require you to pay more attention to your people.



For more information on how Kevin can help your managers get better at communicating with employees and building engagement, value and culture, check here: http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy

25 Percent To Jump Ship In New Year

As you gather for your Christmas parties, (sorry, Holiday Parties - my PC vocab is underutilized), be aware that this is likely the last party for many of your staff. If the numbers are right, and they usually are pretty close, almost every survey indicates that up to 25% of employees are willing to jump ship in the New Year as soon as a better offer comes along.

Y'see, as a manager, you've been doing a terrible job of building employee loyalty. In fact, while you are in your all-too-often management meetings or locked away in your office with the door closed, your staff are whining about their jobs and how they're ready to jump ship at the first opportunity. It's probably because you don't say enough to them about how much you value their contribution.

Oh sure, you talk to them about how you fought for a raise and how your hands are tied by senior managment, but other than that, you really don't say much do you?

The truth is, although more money is always nice, it isn't the reason your people are secretly planning to leave. No, they're planning their exit strategy because they don't feel fulfilled in their work because no one tells them that their contribution is important, that the work matters or that their talent is recognized.

But you're not comfortable with that are you? That's too touchy-feely (Eew). Better to just keep it simple and throw out a few basic but non-commital platitudes in the "annual" performance review. That way, your ass is covered if they ever raise a stink about something you said that may have been heartfelt.

At this time of the year, people have gift-giving on their minds. Eyes and faceslight up when they get a gift. Think of how much your people would light up and light a fire under themselves if they got a regular gift: someone who articulates that they are appreciated.

But there will be no gift come the New Year. No, your lump of coal will be to train their replacement in the New Year. And when that person leaves, then you will do it again, and again and blame it all on a lack of employee engagement. It's always easier to blame turnover on "problem" or "issue" employees.

But Employee Engagement isn't the problem. Management enagagement is the problem. Employees will engage in direct proportion to their direct manager's engagement of them. Without engagement, their is no employee loyalty.

Stop looking for tips and tricks to fix your people. They don't work long-term. What works is honesty. Talk to them. Appreciate them. Be grateful for their work. That's how you keep them. All it takes is a little humility. But that seems to be the problem doesn't it? You think being humble equates to weakness. Not much wonder they're leaving you.

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For more information on how Kevin can help your managers get better at communicating with employees and building engagement, value and culture, check here: http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy

Why HR And Management Are To Blame

Below is an excerpt from Kevin's forthcoming book, Tweak™ - Building A Better Workplace In 10 Seconds Or Less!

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Ultimately, every organization having difficulty with turnover, staff retention, customer retention and recruiting can point their fingers and blame one of two things within their organization: Human Resources (the people they hire) and Management (how they manage them). That's it. Simple. It's either Management or HR to blame for where your company is today.

Are you employing the same kinds of people you did 20 years ago? Are you managing the same staff you did 20 years ago? Are you using the same technology from 20 years ago? Overwhelmingly the answer is "NO."

So why are you hiring the same way you did 20 years ago and still using outdated management practices? The truth is, both conventional (what we've come to know as conventional) Management practices and conventional Human Resources practices are out of date. What ultimately holds almost every organization back is the people they hire and how they're managed. And what propels and organization forward is exactly the same: the people they hire and how they're managed.

Knowing this, why do you think so little effort is spent by organizations in training managers to a level of excellence and/or deploying a forward-thinking and highly-motivated staff of recruiters to go out and steal the best talent in the market?

Is it because companies are happy with mediocrity: a middle-of-the-pack performance? Or is it because that's what everyone else is doing? We don't think companies are "happy" with being in the middle of the pack - that's just where they end up when they follow someone else's model for management and HR.

Not everyone can be a Google or a Starbucks or a Netflix: industry/market leaders. Once your industry has a leader, everyone else automatically becomes a follower. Following another company's management practices or their hiring practices or their training practices will only make you a shadow of what they are. That is no way to ever achieve market-leader status nor is it any way to ever be top-of-the-heap when it comes to attracting the best talent, the best ideas and the best managers.

When companies pay big money for expertise from outside resources, they had better be getting ideas and strategies that weren't even thought of 20 years ago. I know professional "speakers" that if they were to open a book written in the last five years, they would have to scrap everything they're currently preaching because it's old, outdated and just doesn't work anymore. Consultants offering up the same ideas they offered to clients twenty years ago shouldn't be rewarded for not being current. Management trainers who regurgitate old concepts built on hierarchy, bureaucracy, planning and control should refund their paychecks. Google did not achieve market-leader status by doing what everyone else is doing.

This is a new time, a new market, with new faces employing new ideas, new concepts and new values. And the changes are only going to get bigger and faster. In fact, in the year 2015, seventy-five percent of your workforce is going to be either over age 50 or under age 30. That means you are more likely to see seventy year-olds working alongside twenty year-olds. Are your managers prepared to manage a 50-year age disparity? If you think you can manage a Gen Y the same way you've managed a Baby Boomer, because you've always managed that way, you're sadly mistaken. You will not be ready and your company will suffer as a result.

For more on Kevin's Tweak™ Management program, check out http://kevburns.com/speaking/tweak-a-new-management-strategy
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Nine-Minute Seminar On Future Workplaces

I have just posted a new mini-seminar on where workplaces are headed over the next three years. It addresses the challenges in management, generations and hiring. Take nine minutes out for yourself today and view the mini-seminar.

What The Future Holds - A Mini-Seminar

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Closing Time And Employee Engagement

"We're closing in five minutes!!!!"

How many times have you been told that by "customer service" personnel (yes I used quotations on purpose)?

I have even been yelled at upon entering the store twenty-five minutes before closing. What does that say about the staff? Worse yet, what does that say about management that lets staff get away with, in essence, saying, "your needs are less important than me getting out of here so hurry up Buster."

While looking at expensive dishes in a small, Independant store, I was approached hurriedly by the sales clerk who seemed impatient that we were still in the store so close to closing time.

Exasperated she exclaimed, " we are closing in like two minutes."

I immediately shot back, "we'll leave then" looking her square in the eye.

She backpedaled making some lame apology. Too late. I didn't want to buy here anymore.

The evidence in retail establishments is staggering but this happens in every organization: people who don't want to start something that they know they can't finish before closing time. Clock watchers are time-thieves. They cost your organization money and productivity and take a big bite out of a culture that claims to be customer-focused.

How your people handle the end of the day is more tell-tale than how they handle the start of the day - especially around engagement.

If you, as a customer, get the warning that they will soon be closing, walk away. You deserve to be treated better. Besides, there's a huge difference between locking the doors and being "closed."


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Some People Need To Be Left Behind

I sat on a panel at a Chief Information Officers' Conference this week with other thought-leaders from around North America. One of the questions posed to me concerned the push by populist politicians to gain points with the public by endorsing a "leave no child behind" policy when it comes to education and how a policy like this will affect workplaces in the future.

The truth is, although noble, it is not reality-based - at least not in the workplace. In the workplace, not everyone moves ahead. Some people get left behind. Some perform better than others. Some are management material. Some are not. Some are leaders. Some are followers. Some succeed. Some fail. Some are promoted. Some get laid-off. Many get left behind. Maybe you've been left behind once or twice yourself. If you did, I'll bet it changed who you are and how you apply yourself. If it didn't then you'll likely be left behind again.

Success is not a right. It is a privilege. It is earned. It is not simply given away.

In the real world, we don't turn low-achievers into managers and corporate executives. Bottom-achievers are the first to be laid-off when the economy turns. Look, we are already whining, moaning and complaining about poor service, low initiative, poor employee engagement, declining morale, rock-bottom motivation and terrible work-ethic. I'm not sure how lowering the bar so that more mediocre employees can squeak through university makes our workplaces better.

Sorry, but sometimes we need to leave people behind. Not everyone is a top-achiever. Not everyone is a star employee. Not everyone is future management material. If we lower the bar in education, the expectation next will be to lower the bar in employment. And that, in my estimation, is non-negotiable.

We need to raise the bar when it comes to personal performance, to how we deliver service, to how we engage in our work. Removing the consequences of not applying oneself seems counterproductive.

People need to experience difficulty and turmoil. It shapes character and resilience. People learn more from failure than from an easy ride. And I am all for those who do the work, make the effort and achieve what they are capable of. THAT builds better and more cohesive workplaces and I am completely and utterly in favor of that.

If you're still having trouble with this, imagine a world that leaves no person behind when it comes to testing for a Driver's License. Now do you see my point?


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The Critical Key To Succession

Succession Planning is on the minds of many organizations today. As older workers retire, the challenge is to get the information out of the heads of the retiring workers and into the heads of a new generation of workers.

And this is where it all falls apart.

Don't even try.

Yes, get the information out of the heads of your retiring workers. Yes, do whatever is necessary to get retiring workers to commit to disseminating what they know and yes, put it someplace where future generations of workers can get to it.

But don't expect that the new generation of worker will WANT to put all of that information into their own heads. They won't. They don't. In fact, what's the point? They change jobs more often than any other generation. Really? Do you want to invest in getting the info into their heads only to have them walk away from the job within a year or two?

No. Put it in a place where everyone can access it. Get it on video, audio, written word, seminar, workshop, PowerPoint but DO SOMETHING.

Generation Y is probably the best generation for being able to locate information only when they need it and not have to walk around with it in their heads. Theirs is a generation of written (albeit short form text code but it is written) word. They will want to access the writing or video or other media. That's where it should be anyway - not wasting away in someone's head where you're going to have to try to retrieve it when they leave.

Think ahead.

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How To Build Better Teams And Engagement

Organizations spend a lot of money on trying to build better teams, better culture and better communication in an attempt to build better engagement. Companies want their workplaces to be more warm and fuzzy, friendly and personal so that employees might connect better with their work, coworkers and managers. And yet these same companies still hire using the most impersonal (and broken) model available: ARIH (Advertise-Résumé-Interview-Hire).

Advertising job duties (instead of desired personal qualities), selecting shortlist candidates based on impersonal stuff written on paper (applications and résumés), asking interviewees questions from a prepared list of impersonal questions and then hiring based on who was best able to remain cool and detached from stress during the interview seems like a surefire strategy to hire cold and impersonal people. All you create are workplaces that make it difficult to build organic teams and a sense of personal connection to the work.

Still, companies complain about employee disengagement, employees who don’t feel a connection to the mission of the company, employees who lack any sense that their work matters, employees who don’t really like or respect their co-workers or their boss. Yet these same companies continue to use the detached approach to hire people who they will later complain aren't connected to their work.

If the whole hiring process is based on disconnect, is it really a surprise that your people end up disconnected from their work, boss and workplace? Really?

If you want to change your culture and build your team organically, you must first change up those who do the hiring, conduct the interviews and set the tone for the expectations of the new employee. The first point of contact of most organizations is Human Resources and it needs to change.

Start hiring personable HR people who are prepared to have side-by-side conversations with potential employees instead of the adversarial model of job-candidate facing the power-panel of intimidating interviewers. Get rid of the "power trip" and start finding ways to make connections with candidates. Start building relationships instead of attempting to justify your job.

If you want to attract people who connect naturally to other people, their work and contribute to a warmer culture, you need to model that behavior for every new employee right from the very first contact with your company.

A couple of ideas that attract a completely different candidate can be found here http://buildingabetterworkplace.com/?p=971 Sadly, most HR people would find a million reasons why it can't be done that way because it is out of their comfort zone. But it can be done and is being done. And it works.

If you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to keep getting what you've always gotten.


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A Place To Go To Die

I spoke with a manager today whose employees score their workplace low on "passion for the work" while at the same time, that same company boasts of some of the longest serving employees in any industry.

Simply put, although the employees don't have a lot of passion for their work, they are willing to put aside their apathy for the work and stick it out for 30 plus years - all the way to retirement.

Got a few of these in your own workplace? How would you manage and/or attempt to change a Culture like this?

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Relevant Managers vs Irrelevant Managers

Irrelevant managers say things like: I don't have time to read management books. I don't have time to subscribe to management Blogs and email newsletters. I don't have time to get away to attend that seminar on working with the new generation. I don't have time to work with social media. I don't have time to coddle every one of my employees just to tell them they're doing a good job. I don't have time to go over it and over it again just because a few don't get it.

Relevant managers say things like: I make it a point to read at least 4 new management books each year to stay current. I subscribe to a handful of solid management thought-leaders by email and Blog because they inspire me with new ideas. I have worked out a schedule to attend at least one seminar or training session each year that can help me help my employees. Since I started working with social media, I now see how employees and customers use it to communicate better. I reach out to each employee everyday so that they feel value in the work they do and valued for the contribution they make. I will do whatever I have to do to make sure that every employee gets it right and does it right because our customers deserve our best.

So, are you too busy for the people who depend on you to be your best or are you just too self-absorbed to really care? If you cared, don't you think you'd do something about it?

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New Productivity Tool

I don't often openly endorse a product but this one is a brilliant tool for anyone wanting to help build better performance for themselves and their company. And it's FREE.

http://idonethis.com/ is a brilliantly simple program to get you focused on not just keeping busy ... but more importantly, being productive. And I am using it and loving it.

I get an email at the end of each work day asking me to take a few moments to itemize the things that got done today - hence the name "I Done This." Then, by simply replying to the email, my accomplishments are placed on a calendar of things I got done. Once you register, you can view your calendar of accomplishments and all of your past history at any time.

Anything that didn't get down today gets moved to the top of the To-Do list (your own list) for tomorrow. This is so much MORE than simple time management.

This is about that voice in your own head that forces you to make decisions, take action and get things done. And did I mention it's free?

Start focusing on what you DID get done and stop placing too much emphasis on what still needs doing. You, like me, will find yourself working smarter and getting a lot more done in the same amount of time.


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All The Time In The World To Complain

I want to follow up yesterday's post Fixing Tomorrow's Problems With Yesterday's Ideas as I have received some concerns by email.

What I was referring to yesterday is how we hire, manage, communicate and build workable cultures has changed from 30 years ago. Unfortunately companies are still hiring, managing, communicating and are not making any adjustments to culture any different than 30 years ago and yet are throwing their hands up in the air and complaining about turnover, poor retention, absenteeism, lack of loyalty, poor engagement, poor work ethic and a terrible entitlement mentality in their employees.

They are lost for answers and end up hiring outside consultants who also still employ 30 year old philosophies.

We are in the information age but no one seems to want to do the work to keep current or to read anything for fear that they might have to make changes to how they do things.

The key to building better workplaces is NOT in reacting to changes in the marketplace but in being AHEAD of those changes. That requires a commitment to learning and a commitment to keeping current.

Sadly, most will say they don't have the time to keep current - but apparently they have all the time in the world to complain about it.


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Fixing Tomorrow's Problems With Yesterday's Ideas

Thirty years ago there were no smart phones, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Blogging, no Generation Y in the workplace, no retiring Baby Boomers, no handheld GPS, no laptops, no tablet computers, no MP3 players, no workplace drug testing, no perpetual job-hopping, no workers' smug sense of entitlement, no focus on ergonomics in the workplace, no leadership development for middle managers, no outsourcing to third-world countries, no growing use of part-time and contract employees, no instant access to training videos on YouTube, no text-messaging at work, no telecommuting, no Corporate Culture initiatives, no succession-planning strategies, no anti-bullying programs and no stringent workplace safety programs.

It is a different workplace today than it was thirty years ago.

So why then, are so many organizations and so-called experts clinging to outdated models of management and organizational development when the workplace is clearly a different place today than it was 30 years ago?

What worked thirty years ago will not work today. And it certainly wont work tomorrow. If you're not keeping up - then you're falling behind.

The world won't stop changing just because you're not up to speed. If you're not prepared to read the Blog posts, the books, view the videos, attend the seminars and take a portion of your day, everyday, just to stay current, then you're in the way. You're holding up your organization or, at the very least, giving your organization some very bad advice.

If you don't want to do the work of staying ahead of the changes instead of always having to react to them, then maybe it's time you stepped aside and let someone else take your place - someone who is prepared to offer real-world, current solutions to today's challenges.


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How To Define Workplace Success

It's very simple to define a great workplace. A great workplace is one that has a lineup of high-performers wanting to come work there.

Plain and simple, that's all that's necessary. No need to talk of management, money or culture. Any workplace that has a lineup of people willing to come over and work obviously is firing on all cylinders: management, money and culture.

Let me put it this way: who would you rather do business with? A company that has attracted all of the industry's top performers or a company that struggles to attract the leftover mediocre employees?

If you want to build a better workplace, you have to start with the end-goal in mind - creating a lineup of high-performing job-applicants - and point everything you do at that. Simple.


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Delicate Little Egos At Work

Funny how people only seem to want to hear compliments and not necessarily listen to good advice. Because of insular and delicate little egos, constructive criticism is increasingly being viewed as criticism - which in the receiver's mind isn't constructive - it's destructive.

You were told by your parents, lovingly I suppose, that you are special. Well, the workplace surveys would say that most workplaces don't hire special people. Largely, workplaces hire mediocre people with mediocre past employment and mediocre resumés touting perhaps competence but certainly not excellence. Very few people achieve excellence. For those who do achieve excellence, well, they're not standing in the same job-line as you. It is rare that those people need to line up with resumé in hand to compete for a mediocre job.

So, how do you move from competence to excellence? You ask for constructive feedback.

But your co-workers say nothing (the reason 360 degree feedback rarely works as advertised) for fear of creating animosity. Your co-workers don't want to get on your bad side because they've seen how vindictive you can be when your delicate little ego gets bruised. Your managers say little because they weren't trained properly in how to build trust with you resulting in any input they offer as sounding like a personal attack. And, customers never tell you why they chose another vendor because you never bother to ask, so that you can avoid hearing that there was something wrong with you and not the product or the price.

So unless you've done something wrong, you're likely to never hear a thing from anyone - which, if you did, you would probably interpret as criticism - a personal attack. Remember how you acted the last time someone attacked you.

Y'know, once upon a time, you asked people's advice - people who have been where you are and who have been successful. But now you don't because you have YouTube - the perfect way to avoid being judged. Now, unless you ask or click, you don't want to hear what people think.

You especially don't want to hear that its your fault - especially if it is. And when you do ask someone else to chime in, you only want to hear compliments - not necessarily what you NEED to hear.

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Why Working Hard May Not Be Rewarded

You've heard it before. That person who feels that just because they "worked hard" they deserve to be rewarded.

So let's say you started out driving from Detroit and drove for ten hours. You should end up in New York after 10 hours of driving. But you could just as easily end up in Des Moines, Iowa after ten hours because you made one incorrect decision leaving Detroit. You still drove for ten hours. The effort remains the same. The result? Very different.

So if you end up in Des Moines, do you deserve to be in New York just because you drove ten hours?

Working on a complex Algebra equation for hours only to end up with the incorrect answer doesn't get you a passing grade just because you worked hard.

Working hard on the wrong thing doesn't get you a reward, a raise or a promotion. It may get you ridicule though - especially if you whine that you should be rewarded for your effort.

You don't get rewarded just because you're busy. You get rewarded for your results. Keep that in mind when you get passed over for promotion or a raise. Working hard and getting results don't always coexist. Sometimes they do but not always.


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Front-line People Reflect Their Managers

I worked with and addressed a group of retail managers this morning. The first message that I made abundantly clear was this:

"To become an outstanding retail manager, you need to first become an outstanding retail customer. Once you've experienced both good and bad service alike, only then can you differentiate. Only when you have set a standard of how you wish to be served can you demand of your staff any sort of standard. If you show apathy in being a customer, you will show apathy in how you train, apathy in how you hire, apathy in how you communicate and apathy in how you manage. The people on the front-line of service are a good reflection of their immediate supervisor's willingness to train and develop his or her people."

You know, come to think of it, this doesn't just apply to retail.


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Playing The Odds With Customer Service

The printing order I needed on Friday arrived the following Monday. I had placed my order nine days previous and had chosen 7-Day Expedited Shipping and paid a premium for it. They, VistaPrint, missed the deadline because they shipped it by standard mail.

First they first offered a re-order - which seemed pointless since I hadn't yet received the first order. Then they offered a credit which I refused as I didn't want a credit, I wanted a refund - especially since they promised guaranteed delivery and then missed it. They complied and I was refunded.

Upon thinking about it, it seems that they are a company playing the odds. Here's what I mean: by offering a premium purchase option for delivery within 7 days, if they were to ship by Express Post, they would be guaranteed to have it delivered within 3-5 days. But standard Expedited Parcel usually arrives within 7 days. So instead of actually paying extra to ensure every parcel arrives on-time, they are playing the odds - the odds that they only have to pay out on the rare occassion that the Post Office doesn't get it there within 7 days. Do the math. This questionable practice could be a huge financial saving to them but they are taking a risk with their customers.

The third option, a full refund is the only costly option for them and ONLY when their customers say no to the first two options.

I will not do business with them again because they failed in their promise and their web site has no contact info, phone numbers or email addresses. I used to be a regular customer. But this time, I had to Google to find a phone number and got it from a third-party web site whose users complained about the same things as I did here.

So let me ask you, are you treating your customers in a similar way? Do you hide behind your email, voicemail, phone trees and hidden contact info on your web site? Do you make your customers work hard to reach you? Can you think of anything more rude? You know it irks you when it happens to you so why do you do it to others? You are NEVER too busy for your customers.

Here's my commitment to my customers and prospective clients: if you want to reach me directly, my direct telephone number to MY desk is 403-770-2928 and MY email address is abetterworkplace@gmail.com. I answer my own emails and I answer my own phone. I have voicemail, sure, but it gets delivered as an MP3 file directly to my iPhone when I am out and I can call you back as soon as I get your message. I AM available to you.

By the way, I wrote this while waiting on Hold to speak to someone at the phone company, Telus. So far, 48 minutes on Hold and counting....finally, someone. Gotta go.


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Titles Don't Make You A Leader

Leadership. The word conjures up images of men in suits in high-powered corporate positions leading their companies through the minefield of competition. But yet, leadership has nothing to do with companies or competition or even men in suits.

Corporate America has somehow stolen the word leadership and equated it with executive position within an organization. That has done a huge disservice to the concept of leadership by dumbing it down to a simple philosophy of title equating to leaders. There are many struggling and failed CEO’s who fancied themselves leaders but couldn’t convince their employees and shareholders to follow. It boils down to this simple premise: if you have no followers, you’re not leading – and just because you pay them doesn’t mean that your employees can be called followers.

There is no governing body that administrates leadership, leadership consultants, leadership courses or books and media dealing with leadership. You will, however, see re-branded management courses touting themselves as leadership courses and offering certificates in leadership if you pay your tuition and spend your time in the classes. But is that leadership really?

People don’t follow a certificate or a diploma (sorry to rain on your parade MBA’s). No, leadership is something more than checking items off of a list. Leadership is an ATTITUDE. Leadership is an attitude in the way that you conduct yourself in the world – a way in which you carry yourself and the way you think and treat others.

People follow people who deserve to be followed - not because they have a title.

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How To Engage Employees

"Go make some cold-calls."

I can't remember how many times I heard that from my boss years ago when I was selling copiers and fax machines for a living. Yes, I've been in the trenches too.

Truth is, cold-calling was 98% unsuccessful. Or put another way, if we called on 100 businesses we were likely to sell about two machines - usually small purchases - and usually months in the future. But you would have to endure a LOT of rejection, animosity and sometimes, downright nastiness. But I suppose it is how I would react to having my day interrupted too.

When managers have no idea how to communicate effectively with their people in a way that taps their motivation, their inspiration and their drive to excel, yeah, you tell them to go make cold-calls.

Barking orders is not engaging your people. If you want your people to engage in their work, you, as a manager, need to engage them. People will engage in their work in direct proportion to how they are engaged by their supervisors.

Otherwise, they shut down when they are told WHAT to do and not given the WHY it is important.

Managers, you get what you give. When you engage them, they engage on the job. There are no shortcuts when it comes to engagement. You MUST do this.

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Senior Management Needs A Safety Wake-up

Safety conferences are not just for Safety Managers and EHS personnel. Safety conferences are where we should be seeing presidents, CEOs and senior management personnel who are NOT related directly to OHS in their workplaces.

And until non-EHS senior management takes an active role in safety and the adoption of cultures of safety, safety will never completely take hold in an organization.

Safety needs to be treated on the same level as finance, marketing and sales.

Senior management needs to stop treating the health and safety of their employees as an arm's-length after-thought. Senior managers need to get serious about creating cultures and mindsets of safety in their people, but more importantly, themselves.

If you as a senior manager won't make attending safety functions as paramount in your workplace, neither will your people. People will model the behavior of their leaders. And your people will continue to get hurt because, like you, they don't take safety seriously.


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Introducing Games At Work

There are a lot of self-proclaimed trainers who are willing to waste your company's time and resources by playing games during their learning sessions (make that "games AS learning sessions"). Really? Games like back in Kindergarten? Or spending an hour cutting pictures out of magazines and building dream-boards? Yes, this is STILL happening and companies are paying big dollars for Kindergarten-like games and building dream collages.

Sorry, but games is what you do when you are bored with your work or when trainers are either out of ideas or have nothing of substance to offer to the conversation.

Forcing games into the workplace does two things: 1) it proves that yours is not a fun place to work because if it was fun, it would be happening organically instead of needing to be manufactured, and 2) it gives people an excuse to NOT take their work seriously. After all, if the game is more important than the work at this moment, how important is the work?

If the games are supposed to represent "learning," what is supposed to represent "work?"

"Gamification" is the new buzz-word creeping into the workplace and it seems to be aimed squarely at Generation Y - who bore easily once in the corporate world. (Funny that many Gen Ys want to join in the Kindergarten-like games yet, at the same time, want to be respected and not treated like children in the workplace).

Games are more likely to DISTRACT a workforce - not engage it. A disengaged workforce doesn't happen because there isn't any fun in the job. Disengagement is the result of poor management, poor hiring, poor training and poor communication of purpose and mission. I'm not sure how playing a game for an hour or two fixes all of that because when the game is over, you still have poor management, poor hiring, poor training and poor communication of purpose and mission. Games don't fix - they distract.

Instead of games, Why not find ways to establish purpose and meaning in the work, hire fun people (not just the best resume) and improve the amount of time managers spend engaging their staff?

Managers who don't engage their staff tend to have workers who don't engage. (Do you see the relationship there?) Fix the managers, train them to be better communicators, coaches and inspiration-centers, and you will develop longer-lasting engagement than playing games in the workplace for an hour or two.

If you want to play games, do it off-hours as a social event but don't make it mandatory that everyone join in, because being "forced" to play a game makes the game not fun anymore.


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3 Questions To Better Workplaces

All successful workplaces have one thing in common: they are operating successfully in 3 different categories: communication, management and culture.

Every issue within an organization will fall into one of these three categories.

For example, let's say sales are down 20% based on year-to-year performances. Now before you enroll the entire sales team into another redundant sales-training course, perhaps you should be identifying the reasons why sales are down in the first place. Three questions will identify the issue squarely:

Is it a Communication problem?
- Are the sales people not communicating to the customer why our product still holds more value than our competitor's recently rolled-out product?
- Are the managers not communicating to the sales people new strategies to combat new competition?
- Are the customer service people not communicating trending in customer concerns back to sales?
- Are the customers not being asked about their thoughts on the products, the sales process, the quality of the sales people and/or the service personnel?

Is it a Management problem?
- Are the managers not mitigating threats in real-time to new challenges from competitors?
- Are managers not front-line managing as well as they could be - coaching, inspiring and troubleshooting with their salespeople individually each day?
- Are managers so busy doing paperwork or tying themselves up in meetings that they are not available to their salespeople on a timely basis to handle issues?
- Are managers simply waiting to respond to a crisis instead of taking leadership roles and being more proactive?

Is it a Culture problem?
- Do our service people just not care enough to work to fix a problem?
- Are the salespeople blaming lack of sales on the economy?
- Are we taking our clients for granted because they've been loyal to us for a long time?
- Have we, as an organization, become complacent?
- Are we, as an organization, accepting "good enough" as our basis for serving and selling to customers?
- Have we given up our training programs because our people complained that they weren't getting anything out of them?
- Are our people asking "what's in it for me" if they go over and above to help our clients?

Don't just treat the symptom of a problem or, worse yet, the result of a problem. Figure out where the problem is originating from and address that. Stop throwing useless money and pointless resources at issues and "hoping" that they get resolved. Be sure.


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If You Had A Bad Manager...

... chances are you will become one if ever you get promoted.

But if you were coached, encouraged and inspired by a good manager, then you are likely to become one of those.

But if you don't know the difference, you are more likely to become a bad manager. I mean, how can you know a better way if you have never been taught or experienced a better way?

The trick to building better managers is to school them properly. Don't you dare give someone a management promotion with no management instruction to support them. That's like getting a new car without an engine: it may look nice but it's useless.

Shave the budgets on office supplies, photocopying, heck, even the Christmas party but DO NOT shave the Management Training budget. There are too many people who are affected by your managers. How your managers conduct themselves impacts culture, hiring, turnover, absenteeism and workplace respect. Spend your money here first.


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How To Hire More Creative Thinkers

Fall hiring season is upon us. It's taking place at the same time as hockey Training Camps.

So here's the idea: combine hiring with Training Camps (whenever possible).

Have you got four or five real good candidates all vying for that one job? Bring them all in at the same time and put them to work for a day or two. Have your candidates job-shadow your best people (the ones with the best personalities and who would represent your organization best).

After a day or two, you would be in a very strong position to determine who would best serve and bring some strength and creativity to your workplace.

You can weed out the ones who LOOK good and really find the gems who ARE goodl.

If the Training Camp idea isn't possible, then how about making each candidate deliver a presentation, using the media of their choice, on why they should be the successful candidate. Make them deliver it to the manager and some of the staff they will be working with.

Stop thinking that interviews will suffice. Basing your hiring on people who can answer inane HR questions like, "tell me about a time your were forced to speak up and how that made you feel." Oh please make it stop.

If you want to find the really cool employees, the really creative thinkers, then stop using the same interview techniques as every other mediocre organization. Be creative and you will attract the creative.


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Leader Or Loser: Quick Quiz

Leaders, in the non-traditional sense of the word, are people who help you set yourself up to achieve small victories. Leaders don't have to be bosses. Leaders can be co-workers or customers (who may have to sometimes irritate you before you can actually see what they see) or friends - but usually not family. I only mention that because most family think the rest of the family are dumber than they are. Anyway, another discussion another time.

Losers (my opposite word to leaders) are the kind of people who wait for that moment when they find you doing something wrong and then pounce on you and use your mistakes as leverage. They somehow believe that by tearing you down, they magically elevate themselves in the process. Maybe you work for or with someone like that or maybe you're married to one. Again, another discussion another time.

But my point here is this: which one are you?

If you want to build a better workplace, you need to thoroughly study what you communicate and how you communicate with others.

It takes a good, hard look in the mirror sometimes before we figure out that we are sometimes being the kinds of people we hate being around.

Do you try to catch people doing something wrong? Do you help people do something right? Or worse yet, do you just put your head down and do nothing at all?


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Seriously, Stop Whining

If you were not dumped out of a white panel van at your workplace today with your hands bound behind you, blindfold over your eyes and gag over your mouth then you arrived at work ... willingly.

People who say they can't function until they've had their first cup of coffee need to get up about an hour before they normally do, have their coffee at home and THEN go to work.

People who are counting the days until retirement are living a jail sentence. If you can't find any happiness in your work, you are likely to find less in retirement.

But what about the people having a good day who are forced to endure people who complain because it's Monday, Tuesday, 3 more days to the weekend, etc? For the complainers, do you think people actually want to hear you complain? Seriously?

If you disliked your last job and the one before that and the one before that and you've begun to dislike this one, it's not the job that's the problem.

If you're seriously unhappy about your job, then find another job. That's not a flippant statement. Do something else. Run a french-fry truck, weave baskets or do whatever brings you joy. But seriously, stop whining. It really isn't making you very attractive, or your co-workers any happier, is it?




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Mediocrity Is Where Most People Live

Kevin Spacey, in the opening of the movie Casino Jack, does a monologue in front of his bathroom mirror. Featured below are some of the highlights from that monologue.

People look at politicians and celebrities on the TV, newspapers, glossy magazines. What do they see? "I'm just like them," that's what they see. "I'm special. I'm different. I could be anyone of them."

Well guess what? You can't. You know why? 'Cause in reality, mediocrity is where most people live. Mediocrity is the elephant in the room. It's ubiquitous.

Mediocrity is in your schools, it's in your dreams, it's in your family.

Those of us who know this, those of us who understand the disease of the dull, we do something about it. We do more because we have to. The deck was always stacked against us.

You're either a big-leaguer or you're a slave clawing your way onto the C-train.

I will not allow the world I touch to be vanilla.

Is today a "vanilla" day or are you going to strive for something more?

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How To Find Hidden Clues About People You Work With

This guy was all set to drive his new fridge home in the trunk of his car (sort of) in Richmond, British Columbia this week. That is until the cops stopped him before he ever left the parking lot (store staff called police when they saw this).

When asked by the police officer if he thought his load was safe, the driver replied that he thought it was indeed safe since it was secured by ropes and the seat belts from the back seat.

Police told him to find another way to transport it home. Seems he was attempting to not pay the $50 delivery fee the store wanted to charge him.

Now while you're chuckling to yourself and shaking your head, think about this: this guy works for someone and wherever it is that he works, he thinks that this is a safe way to transport a refrigerator.

An attitude like this is a possible danger to this guy's co-workers.

You have got to make it clear how important safety is, not just IN the workplace, but outside of the workplace too. The guy with the fridge may abide by safety procedures at work but it is obvious that he doesn't believe in safety or possess a Safety Attitude or mindset.

You can't build a safe place to work on a shaky foundation. Address the attitudes - not just the rules.

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3 Questions To Better Meetings

Prior to the recession, a Canadian financial services company hired a former U.S. President to address their company. You could ask what a former President could say that would be worth a six-figure speaking fee? And the answer would be "nothing really." But the company would be sending a message that it had done well enough that it could afford to hire a former U.S. President. But luckily, for most organizations, those days of self-aggrandizing have been replaced by more fiscally responsible strategies.

A national bank hired a professional football coach to speak for 90 minutes on leadership to its managers. After the speech, the coach came down into the audience, shook hands and made small-talk with each attendee. When asked to recall the celebrity's content, most had difficulty - but everyone could recall verbatim the small-talk. His celebrity overshadowed his own message - the reason he was paid to speak.

If your organization is going to take the time to meet, then the organization needs to be better as a result of the meeting.

I have spoken with associations who feel the need to hire celebrities as marquees saying, "we use celebrities to bolster registrations for our meeting." Dare I say, if you need a celebrity to get people to come to your meeting, then perhaps you need to reconsider having the meeting altogether. There is obviously little perceived value in attending. (Note: a few select celebrities have been able to transition their celebrity into functional, how-to strategies for organizations - but very few. Choose wisely.)

The same goes for your meetings in the office. Here are 3 questions to achieve better meetings:

1. Is there a specific purpose for this meeting or are you holding it because you've always had a Tuesday Management meeting?

2. Is one person holding the meeting to look like a celebrity or is it really going to make the workplace better and is it readily evident how the organization might become better?

3. Could all but one point of your meeting agenda be replaced by a single page memo and if so, can you focus the meeting on just one issue and still call it a meeting?

Make your meetings worthwhile. Have a purpose, a strategy and an outcome of making your workplace better. Otherwise, let your people do their work. There needs to be perceived value in attending a meeting.

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How Low Is Your Bar Set?

Students are not tested on their ability to think beyond the scope of their studies. Uniform tests have made sure of that. The average student simply says, "what will I be tested on - I will study only that."

The same philosophy follows a student into the workplace. A worker, knowing what he or she is likely to be graded on, will do only that. They are called performance reviews and they are narrow-focused, spirit-killing, motivation-halting tragedies that happen at work daily.

Managers and organizations set the bar too low in an effort to reduce their potential turnover. The criteria for performance is laid out and the employee is forced into complying with the criteria only. Otherwise, they may receive poor performance reviews if they are not fully focused on their assigned criteria.

Most corporate web sites make it easier for customers to file complaints than pay compliments. My bank's web site didn't provide me any outlet to compliment a call-centre employee but there were several ways to file a complaint. I wonder which they get more of.

Organizations who set the bar low for their customers get just what they ask for.

"Tell me what you're scoring me on and I will do only that," is a terrible attitude that leads to an apathetic Culture. But it happens because most organizations have no way to measure going over and above. Therefore, it rarely happens.

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How To Motivate Staff

Time Management is rarely about time. It's about setting priorities.

If you can decide what is most important in every situation, who is most important, how it needs to be done and then do that thing first, you won't ever be left wondering what to do next.

But how do you choose which of the dominos needs to be knocked over first? By answering the WHY part of the equation. People are rarely helped to see WHY what they do is important. Without answering the WHY, they are unable to fully understand the HOW. When someone is muddy on WHY and HOW, WHAT seems impossible.

So before you penalize your entire team by forcing them into a generic Time Management session for the sake of one or two (which many managers do), ask yourself if your people fully comprehend the WHY of their jobs.

Don't leave staff motivation in the hands of some guy who delivers the same Time Management course to thousands of differing industries. If Time Management worked, there would only be one course and it would be mandatory for each person to take it in University and never have to take it again.

Time isn't the issue. It's an issue of having a basic understanding of why the job exists in the first place. Communication is your best motivator.

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If You Can Do Better ....

... Why don't you?

Have you succumbed to the "good enough" attitude of your co-workers and your workplace?

Really? Can you really feel good about leaving your best effort in your big-boy pants at home?

Don't ever complain about the job if you're not giving your all. Don't complain about the job if you can see ways to improve the organization but choose to say nothing. Don't complain about the job if you're not actively encouraging your co-workers to do better by your example.

The truth is, how we one thing is how we do everything. If you don't give your best at work, you don't give your best to your friends or your love partner. You can't possibly give your best to your relationships if you don't give your best at work.

"Doing your best" is an on-off switch that is either on all of the time or not at all. Sadly, for most, it's not at all.


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Are You Still Afraid To Be Honest?

Honest communication is the backbone of any successful corporate Culture initiative. You can plan and strategize all you want but in order to make a positive change in Culture takes communication - people talking directly to people.

Hiding behind voicemail and email doesn't make a workplace any better. Harboring bitter resentment towards a co-worker without addressing it only creates more animosity. Filter-Free Fridays are designed to get stuff off of your chest before that stuff eats into your guts and creates an ulcer.

You don't have to be hurtful in being honest. In fact, honesty is so rare in the workplace that any sign of it might be conceived as a breath of fresh air.

So, on Friday, take back your spine, pony up and if there is something that needs to be addressed, then address it - in a non-hurtful way. Here's a key ingredient to excellent communication on Filter-Free Friday: be respectful - not regretful.


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How Easy Are You To Work With?

Dr. Phil asks a similar question: how easy are you to live with? But really, it's the same question only for the workplace. So?

Are you a blustery co-worker with an opinion on everything? Do you suck up all the oxygen in meetings? Is it your voice and ideas that are more important?

Or...

Do you offer help when you can? Do you encourage your co-workers to voice their ideas? Do you congratulate your co-workers who get promoted ahead of you?

Here's the real gauge: how many of your co-workers ask you to join them in social events and activities outside of the office? If you're not invited to play outside of the office, it's probably because you're difficult to work with.

Can't argue with your results.


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Nice Guys Earn 18 Percent Less

Oh crap, just what we need, a survey showing that nice people at work earn less - as much as 18% less. Workplaces are already facing a civility crisis and now this?

The survey also points out the problem most times: managers who just don't get it.

If you've got a manager who is mostly absent and you want to get noticed for promotion or at least a raise, you have to raise your profile and get in the boss's face. Most people don't know how to do this positively so they act like jerks, the manager doesn't want to deal with it, the employee gets the raise - rewarding lousy behavior.

Got a jerk in the workplace? That jerk getting paid more? Bring it up and into the open. Point out that not-so-nice people are being rewarded for their lack of civility. Ask your boss if that's what they had in mind for the department. Maybe your boss isn't even aware that they are rewarding poor behavior.

Let's be civil in the workplace. There are already enough jerks that we have to deal with daily. Let's not reward them.


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Are Good-looking People Hurting Your Workplace?

Anyone who has ever been set up on a blind date, and told their date has a "great personality," gets nervous. People want to be seen with the beautiful people. But it's not just when it comes to relationships that this happens. Companies do it too. They put really good-looking people in charge of their reception desks. And sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn't.

Unfortunately, sometimes companies choose beauty over substance choosing eye-candy with little else in the way of skills - on the phone, in person and in communication. They think they are making a great first impression by putting someone attractive at their front desk when what they should be going for is high- performance and high-function.

The job of the receptionist should not be left to just beautiful people. In fact, I vote that the ones with the really good personality get to be the ambassador for our workplaces - the ones that can carry on a conversation, know what's going on and recognize the importance of their work: the VP of First Impressions.

That person at the front desk speaks volumes about your organization. Hire for substance, not for looks.


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Vacation Time

I will be taking a little time off over the next month or so to spend some time relaxing, some time thinking and some time writing. Most of all, I want to spend some time developing new strategies to help you build better workplaces. I will return here in August.

Meanwhile, for our Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day on Friday (July 1). For our American readers, Happy Fourth of July on Monday.

Be safe, be courteous and continue to make building a better workplace a priority in your respective workplace.

Kevin

Video: Are You Putting Your People At Risk?

Are You Actively Putting Your People At Risk? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns argues that companies who do not care about their people enough to ensure that they follow safe procedures it could be argued do not care about their customers either. How you do one thing is how you do everything. How can you say you care about your customers but not the people who serve your customers?

Video: Why Mid-Managers Are The Lifeblood

Why Mid-Managers Are Lifeblood from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, says most middle managers get very little training and are thrust into a role that most are ill-prepared for. It is the most thankless job and the one with the highest "hassle" factor. Add to that, when the economy tanks, middle managers are usually the first to go. The truth is, I am on the side of middle managers. I want them to get better.

Video: You Call Yourself A Professional?

You Call Yourself A Professional? from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, tackles the subject of being a "professional." How can you call your people "professionals" when you only give them formal feedback once a year? Do you think Tiger gets one golf lesson each year? How about Kobe or Sidney Crosby? You say you run a "professional" organization but do you really?

Video: How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes

How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert offers up advice to counter managers who systematically remove the incentive to perform well by giving away the farm to new hires by not tying it to performance. All your new hire has to do is the bare minimum - just enough to not get fired - and they will enjoy raises. Hiring a new employee is not simple. There is pressure involved to get it right and to start a new relationship on the right foot. So how do you do that?

Video: Where To Find The Best Workers

Where To Find The Best Employees from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert, shows you where to find the best workers. Do you HONESTLY think high-performers who are happy with their work are going to be checking the newspaper want ads or paying any attention to your "Now Hiring" sign in the front window? The only people who are likely to respond to your ads or your Help Wanted sign are the people who are already looking for a job - the available. And there is a reason that they’re available.

Video: How Managers MUST Engage Staff

How Managers Must Engage Staff from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns, thinks that the real purpose of a good manager has been lost with too many meetings and too much paperwork and that perhaps it’s time managers changed their minds and philosophies of what they are there to do. The truth is that managers work for the staff and NOT the other way around.

Video: How To Get Rid Of Toxic Employees

Part of building a better workplace is knowing when to remove the weeds from the garden. You don't just move weeds to another part of the garden. You pull them, trash them and protect the garden from future weeds. That's how your garden grows. That's how your workplace prospers.

Video: How To Reduce Pay Raises

Of the people who came to their boss, in an Accenture survey, and asked for a raise, eighty-five percent got a raise of some sort with sixty-three percent getting as much or more than they were expecting. So what does that say? That people are deserving of getting a raise just by asking for it? No. Of course not. It means that there are managers who have no confidence about their ability as a manager and they don't want to look like the bad guy.

Video: Managers Need Better Time Management

So managers, let me ask you this question, if only twenty percent of your time is spent actually managing, who is it that really needs a Time Management course? The truth is that Time Management is never about time. It's about having clearly defined priorities. And it is the manager's job to ensure that the clear priorities have been communicated to the staff. So how can the manager make that happen?

Video: Why Companies Say No To Social Media

Does it seem just a little strange that the people who are supposed to be visionary leaders of our organizations are looking like relics simply because they outlaw social media purely based on not understanding or using it?

A Manager's Easy Performance Review

Performance reviews rank second on the list of management duties that managers dread - right behind firing someone. The problem with these reviews is that they are left up to the manager to once a year prepare something to say to the employee.

Video: How To Fix Tardiness

When you let people get away with tardiness, you tell the rest of the staff - the other eighty percent of your workforce - that it’s OK to be irresponsible and you actually encourage more of the same behaviour. You, by not enforcing consequences, are making yourself look bad and ineffective as a manager.
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One-Phrase Engagement

Employees, left to their own devices, are likely to become distracted and maybe even bored with some of the work. But employees who are engaged by their bosses, who have regular conversations and are given small attainable tasks to accomplish are more likely to keep focused and on task. So how do you go from being an absentee manager to one who engages immediately?

Video: Lessons Are Repeated

Do you find yourself having to face the same problems and put out the same fires at work? Do you find yourself secretly questioning why does this keeps happening to you? Can I let you in on a little secret? It keeps happening because you’re just not getting it.

Video: The Open-Door Policy

Do you have an "open door" policy at your workplace? Almost every organizations claims to. So why is it that if so many organizations have an "open door" policy, so much takes place behind closed doors?

Video: Why "Family" Workplace Is A Bad Idea

This week, let’s take a look at the concept of trying to build a “family” in your workplace or imposing “team-building” on your people. The truth is, most of your staff have nothing in common with each other except where they work. So don’t force them into becoming a family or a team. That just creates a disconnect.

Video: Who Is To Blame For Employee Engagement?

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert rants on the fact that it just doesn't seem right that all of the blame for what is wrong with the workplace gets placed squarely on the shoulders of the disengaged employee.

Video: Create A Mission For Your People

Create A Mission For Your People from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Missions Statements are so muddled full of ambiguous language usually created by committee that has dumbed down and watered down any idea to be so empty of any meaning, that no one could take ownership of it. Don’t ever let a committee prepare your mission statement. So how do we fix it?

Video: Employees Are NOT Created Equal

Employees Are Not Created Equal from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Too much effort is spent in managing people into conformity. The truth is that too many managers want one employee to be just like another employee - one who models the traits and gets the results management likes. It's counterproductive when managers start trying to manage their employees the exact same way. It's worse when they expect each employee's results to be the same.

How To Handle 100+ Emails/Day

How To Handle 100+ Emails/Day from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Are you a manager who handles upwards of 100 emails per day? Well, the bad news is handling 100 emails a day is not management. That’s treading water. If you’re treading water as a manager, you’re doing it wrong.

Video, Kindle and Embracing Change

Video, Kindle and Embracing Change from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Workplace Expert, Kevin Burns, talks about recent predictions and current realities when it comes to change. Cisco predicts that by 2013, 90% of Internet traffic and 64% of cell phone traffic will be to watch videos. Kindle format books now outsell traditional paperbacks and hard-covers. Change is upon us. Are you ready?

Book Update

Just thought I would update you on what is happening. I am continuing to take time off away from blogging while I finish up my newest book,  "Tweak - The Definitive Management Strategy to Build Your Dream Workplace, Attract The Best Talent, Regain Your Sanity and Never Have To Deal With Problem Employees - In Ten Seconds Or Less!"

I hope to be back here blogging again within the next 30 days.

But that doesn't mean we're closed. Meghan is still taking bookings for 2011 speaking presentations. Feel free to go to www.kevburns.com to get more information or call us toll-free at 1-877-287-6711.

Looking forward to serving you better,

Kevin