Leadership Challenge #1 – The Customer Service Fail
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Leadership Challenge #1 – The Customer Service Fail

You are the owner/manager of a retail department store. Your store is busy so high sales volume also means a lot of returns. One of the new employees is tasked with handling the checkout register and for restocking items as they are returned when checkout traffic permits. The employee has gone through the company’s orientation...
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Is doing what you do getting you what you really want?
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Is doing what you do getting you what you really want?

Start-ups are, in many ways, a lot easier than leading a seasoned company or organization. Once systems, methods, and procedures are in place they can become part of the corporate identity. Indeed, they become you and you become identified as them. If they work, okay. If they move your department, company, or organization toward your...
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The hidden cost of meetings and why hiring someone to facilitate can be a great idea
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The hidden cost of meetings and why hiring someone to facilitate can be a great idea

The scene: Window Rock, Arizona, capital of the Navajo Nation. The participants: A group of educators representative of several organizations and agencies. The Purpose: Develop an vocational training program to enhance the skills of leaders already in place throughout the tribe. The plan had to satisfy the practical needs of skill development and the intangible...
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7  traits of a great planner
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision

7 traits of a great planner

It’s time to become small minded. Visionaries are big thinkers. Planners may make big plans but they think small. They take the grand scheme of things and turn it into smaller steps. Planners are comprehensive thinkers whose skillset includes the ability to break things up into increments and whose experience has shown them the necessity...
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The magic word – planning
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision

The magic word – planning

What’s the magic word? The guest speaker was seated on the stage, ready to deliver his keynote address. On his right sat the coordinator of the event, the person responsible for pulling all the many strands together to create a worthwhile encounter for speakers and participants alike. On his left sat one of the other...
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5 phases of your role as leader
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision control delegation Effective Leadership employees Leadership management Motivation organization planning responsibility vision

5 phases of your role as leader

The expectation that leadership can be a singular role is unrealistic. We wear a lot of hats. We manage, we motivate, we correct, we monitor, we inspire, we facilitate, we coordinate, we focus, we bark, we growl, we whisper, we articulate, we define, and we execute. A couple of posts ago I wrote about our...
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7 ways to kill strategic implementation of vision before it gets off the ground
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision control delegation Effective Leadership employees Leadership management Motivation organization planning responsibility vision Leadership management strategy vision

7 ways to kill strategic implementation of vision before it gets off the ground

It was to be the biggest and most comprehensive realignment of health care ever. When President Obama engineered the Affordable Care Act the vision for the project was grand and promising. (NOTE: I am NOT concerned about politics here. I reference this ONLY because it is a graphic and present example of how things go...
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The next 2 steps. What to do after you have a vision statement.
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision control delegation Effective Leadership employees Leadership management Motivation organization planning responsibility vision Leadership management strategy vision Leadership management vision

The next 2 steps. What to do after you have a vision statement.

The vision is in place. It’s been focused, defined, and articulated. Now what do you do with it? First, you’ve got to get the word out. Everyone must know and must come on board. I may be assuming too much here, but you didn’t create the vision entirely in isolation did you? I am assuming...
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Viability – lessons from Studebaker
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision control delegation Effective Leadership employees Leadership management Motivation organization planning responsibility vision Leadership management strategy vision Leadership management vision Effective Leadership Efficiency Leadership management productivity vision

Viability – lessons from Studebaker

They started making wagons for farmers, miners and the military in 1852. Incorporated in 1868 under the name Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, they entered the automobile business in 1902 making electric vehicles. By 1904 they were making gasoline-powered vehicles and for the next 50 years became a major player in the business. With a reputation...
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Leadership’s happy family – Vision, strategy, & tactics
customer service Effective Leadership employees leadership development learning management problem-solving teaching training Effective Leadership Leadership management planning productivity strategy tactics vision Effective Leadership Leadership management planning delegation Effective Leadership management organizing planning productivity vision Effective Leadership Leadership management organization planning strategy tactics vision control delegation Effective Leadership employees Leadership management Motivation organization planning responsibility vision Leadership management strategy vision Leadership management vision Effective Leadership Efficiency Leadership management productivity vision associates Effective Leadership employees Leadership management strategy tactics vision

Leadership’s happy family – Vision, strategy, & tactics

One non-profit agency operating in Africa opened restaurants as part of its fund-raising strategy. A charitable organization working on the African continent developed a focused vision and successfully imprinted it upon those who worked in the organization both in the US and in Africa. The board and the organization’s director turned their attention to the...
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