You only need two things to meet your goals ✌️

Motivation and support.  When you have the motivation to do the thing, and the support to get it done, you have the perfect formula.  Motivation means willingness, but it is more than that. Motivation is also the excitement of doing the thing, it means looking forward to it and being a reliable party.  Support means…

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How to be a good leader: (hint: know when you should follow 😉)

One way in which people demonstrate leadership is by knowing when to be followers.  This was a lesson I picked up recently from listening to the McKay Interview podcast episode with Dr. Cynthia Cherrey and Professor Mike Hardy.   (If you want to both feel and be smarter, spend some time with The McKay Interview).  A…

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An introduction to company culture

It’s not really a “thing”, it’s more of a concept. An abstract we can talk about but not physically build. Right? No that’s not right. Culture is when we put ping pong tables in the office and offer beer on tap and relaxation pods. Right? Is it when I let all my employees work from…

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How to be specific and not too specific at the same time

Tell your employees exactly what is expected of them.  But don’t tell them what to do.  A client recently asked me how to balance these two instructions.  We were building role descriptions and she wanted to know how to be specific enough that people knew what to do but also open enough that she wasn’t…

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The three pillars of a sustainable business

When you search for images of an ancient Greek temple, most of what you see will have at least a foundation and columns remaining.  This image springs to mind when I think of a sustainable business.  The foundation is the mission.  The columns are the business pillars of happy employees, loyal clients, and business goals. …

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The formula for happy employees

One of the top three challenges that new employees have is unmet expectations: the job is not what they expected it to be.  That means difficult conversations where they are telling you that they expected something different, and what are you going to do about it. Or even worse: they quit.  One simple fix will…

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How to talk to problem employees

Happy employees

Nothing you tell your employees should ever come as a surprise.  This is especially important with bad news.  If you are telling an employee that they are at risk of being fired, and they had no idea, then you are the one who made a mistake, not them.  But don’t tell your employees about their…

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Who are you hiring?

You have described the problem you are solving and used that to decide what role you need to hire.  Let’s now transition to “who” you have to hire.  And yes, I did say transition. It’s a journey, not a step.  Hiring for impact Answer one question before making further decisions: Which roles have the biggest…

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Why are you hiring?

Why did you hire your last employee?  When asking business owners why they are hiring, their answers are usually a version of the following: they have gotten too busy, there is too much to do in their business, their client base has grown, they feel it is time to bring on a [insert job title:…

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Your employees don’t know what to do

Job titles are great for algorithms in job search sites; job roles are better for managing your business.  Following my March article explaining this difference, I received some great feedback from people writing roles for their own business.  The next step is to instruct your team. Does everybody know what they should be doing? It’s…

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