Clear Needs Lead to Clear Hires

May 29, 2012 | Succession Planning

I received a telephone call recently from a client desperately trying to fill a vacancy in her accounting office. After describing the situation she read the position description to me. Among other general items, it noted, "At least three years of accounting experience." Well that's just dandy, but what does that really mean? Does the person she hires need to have three years of experience in her company's industry, or will three years of public accounting experience be OK? Does the person...

Control Freaks

May 22, 2012 | Leadership Development

It's happening again. We've been contacted by several clients all dealing with the same issue: current top management is ready to move on (retire, sell, quit, transfer to a new division, etc.) and there's no staff ready or able to replace them. The problem from the clients' perspective is: How are we ever going to replace "Joe" as he's been here from the start and knows everything about this business and this company. There's no one out there that's going to be able to do everything Joe does....

Love to Hate Meetings

May 16, 2012 | Leadership Development

If you ever want an easy topic to generate debate among a management team, try: Meetings - A waste of time or an effective use of time? I've had several conversations with clients lately concerning meetings. Invariably, the newer or less effective managers have the position that meetings are a waste of time. However, my clients who are successful as managers find tremendous value in meetings. But let me be perfectly clear: They find tremendous value in meetings that are necessary, focused, and...

Developing Your Future Leaders: It’s Your Responsibility

May 8, 2012 | Leadership Development

Many business owners still believe their Human Resources (HR) department is primarily responsible for developing their organization's future leaders. However, the longer these business owners keep this limited mindset, the further behind their organizations become. You see, this crucial activity is not primarily HR's responsibility, it's ours - the business owners - and that scares the heck out of most business owners. So, as business owners, if developing our organization's future leaders is...

Directors Direct. Managers Do.

May 1, 2012 | Leadership Development

Recently a colleague asked me for advice to help him with one of his clients. My colleague's been working with this particular client for several years, but it's getting to a point of frustration where my colleague's ready to walk away. The manager -- or as my colleague now calls him -- The Teflon King, is incredibly skilled at deflecting responsibility and accountability. He's also amazingly skilled at bamboozling the board of directors by not bringing issues to their attention that would...