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When I was a kid, my father would come home from work and describe the training he had participated in that day.  His comments were rarely positive.  Training related to human relations was called ‘charm school’.  And all of the training, regardless of the type, he called ‘sheep dip’ – meaning that trainers came in,

As a young department line manufacturing manager, I had many reviews of the results in my department.  I remember one review in particular with my plant manager.  He acknowledged where we were doing well and asked several questions about what had not been done during that quarter.  He then proceeded to tell me that he

I remember sitting down with my boss after 14 months in my professional career. Since I had just begun reporting to him, I asked if I was ‘doing OK’. He responded with a question, ‘What do you think?’. I had to pause – because, in that moment, I didn’t know. He looked me in the

Frederick Douglas said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”  I don’t think that he meant that everything in life needs to be difficult.  But I do believe he meant that sometimes to make progress, a struggle is part of the process.  That sometimes it takes work and persistence and time and struggle

A couple of weeks ago I was watching an interview with Simon Sinek, author of the book Start With Why. In the interview he talked about hearing from companies that working with Millennials is difficult. He then went on to explain what he thought was at the root of the difficulties. One item really stuck

With the beginning of a new year, many organizations set up new business goals.  These sessions usually include a review of the previous year’s performance, the new goals, and then action steps to get to the new goals.  Contingency plans are sometimes discussed but rarely do they include personnel.  Nearly every organization goes into execution

Holidays bring together friends and family for what is hopefully a ‘good time had by all’.  But this time of year, is also stressful as more people and more events combine in relatively short periods of time.  I had this happen to me at Thanksgiving.  All of my children and my mother were in my

Now that you have decided that you want to move into a management role, it is transition time.  With some thought about your transition into this type of a role, you can set yourself up for success and avoid many of the potholes that new managers fall into.  The first 90 days are critical, so

You are ready to take on the next assignment in your career – and you have a choice.  You can continue to be an individual contributor, or you can become a manager or supervisor.  It may be that becoming a manager is expected in your organization.  Becoming a manager may have more future advancement potential

Bob Nelson, a motivational businessman said, “An employee’s motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager.”  So often this type of a quote is used from the perspective of the manager – putting the responsibility of the interaction with them.  This time when I read it, I thought