We ran across this terrific book by Aubrey Daniels last week and love his contrarian approach to “common sense” management. have a look.

When times are tough, managers are expected to reach into their bag of tricks and pull out the ones that will motivate employees.

Unfortunately, the ones that managers resort to all too often turn out to be illusions that backfire, inadvertently rewarding bad behaviour and punishing good.

Aubrey Daniels identifies 13 management practices that waste time and money, and prescriptions for how to change them:

1. Employee of the month

What’s wrong with it: It acknowledges just one employee and leaves out the rest.

How to right it: Acknowledge achievement when and where it happens.

2. Stretch goals

What’s wrong with it: Employees end up exhausted and frustrated if they fail to reach lofty targets.

How to right it: Set achievable short-term goals; chart employee progress month by month.
3. Annual reviews

What’s wrong with it: Universally despised by managers and employees; ignored the rest of the year.

How to right it: Give immediate management feedback whenever employee excels or falls short.

4. Ranking employees

What’s wrong with it: Even if there is little difference between employees, some end up at the top of the list and others at the bottom start to think of themselves as also-rans.

How to right it: Set performance benchmarks all employees are expected to reach. read more

We all make mistakes, and our instinct is to cover them up - hopefully learn from them - and then quickly move on. When we share our resumes or publish our websites and bios, we seldom dedicate a section to our failures. After all, the first impression is so valuable and you wouldn’t want to taint it with anything negative…right?

Well, it turns out that we are all human. And, when someone is looking to hire you - or work for you, they are likely curious about your weaknesses. Why? Because they want to know what they’ll need to deal with. It is a fair question, and increased transparency would only lead to better matches and collaborations.

Why does the process of finding one’s weaknesses need to be so difficult? The obvious answer is the shame associated with mistakes and imperfection. If we all acknowledged that everyone screws up sometimes and were willing to talk about our failures and lessons learned…well, we’d probably develop and perform better on the job.

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In the world of writing, blank pages can be daunting. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to interview Eli Attie, Supervising Producer and writer for The West Wing (one of my favorite shows at the time). I was especially interested in Eli’s productivity as a writer, how ideas take a life of their own, and what guiding principles helped him capture the ideas that led to scripts, episodes, and ultimately nominations for multiple Emmy Awards and Writers Guild awards.

Just a little on Eli’s background: After serving as chief speechwriter for Al Gore from 1997 until Gore’s concession of the 2000 election (and previous stints with President Bill Clinton and Congressman Dick Gephardt), Eli was burned out and ready to change careers. A wild turn of events landed Eli as a writer on the show - and eventually a Supervising Producer.  A few snapshots from the interview are enclosed below and can help us all value the role of organization in pushing ideas to fruition. read more

Note on the ongoing series: I have always believed that quotes encapsulate concepts that are a catalyst for great insights and introspection. As such I will be sharing some of my favorite quotes on various topics along with some brief commentary. For this episode, we will focus on INNOVATION.

“Innovation” is a word that is thrown around way too often. I like to think of it as the discovery of new paths. Whether you are creating something new or something that already exists, innovation is all about finding new ways to do it. read more

I recently spent a day visiting Zappos – the largest online shoe company that is especially well-known for their great customer service, corporate culture, and almost magical speed when fulfilling orders. As I toured the campus and met with some of the leaders, I was struck by a number of features at the core of the company’s culture. Here are a few that caught my eye…

#1: Celebrating Visitors
As I took the tour of the headquarters, I was taken to a special room called the “VIP Room” where I was asked to wear a king’s crown and pose for a photograph. The Polaroid was then placed on the wall among thousands of other photographs. I suspect Zappos was keeping Polaroid in business for quite some time. My lesson here, visitors are worth celebrating (especially if they travel from NYC to Henderson, NV to visit).
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If you’ve ever been part of a team within a company that launches a home-run product that is making tons of cash, you’ve likely experienced the “cash cow” syndrome. A very interesting dilemma comes up when a team encounters success: they are asked to keep doing what they’re doing rather than focus on new things. If your team is making a lot of money, you may be asked to stop being creative and just keep doing what you’re doing. This lofty price for success poses a very interesting challenge for the manager: How do you keep consistency and avoid any risky changes without damaging morale with boredom and monotony?

Leaders in such businesses must remember that the source of their success is a group of motivated people. Continuous challenges and new projects help keep people engaged – especially in creative teams. While the near-term prospects of switching things up in a successful department may seem discouraging, the long-term need to keep people engaged is real. read more

Some call it the side hustle, others call it the side project, but it’s been coined as “daylighting” - working jobs on the side while on the clock at your full-time job.  And for the next generation of business thinkers, it’s become a way of life.

Blogger Neil Bennett has termed the young workforce as the “slash/slash generation” In Bennett’s own words, “The Slash Slash generation are best described as do it all teens and twenty-somethings that undertake multiple careers - often creating brand names for themselves. In the age of online communities and digital media, the mash up of platforms empowers online creatives to be good at a number of things rather than just one.”

While the notion of employees doing their “own thing” at a business can be threatening, it may also be an opportunity for those who manage it responsibly. How can companies free people in the slash/slash generation from the rigidity of corporate policy?  Can companies accommodate multiple interests and passions to further develop the potential of their employees?  What if they actually allow, or even encourage, “daylighting”? read more

Are there large, time-consuming activities that exist in your company just to make sure that everyone is doing their job? Do you, as a manager, have processes to simply check in on people? Weekly reports, formalities, Monday morning “posting meetings,” etc…?

As companies grow, leaders have the tendency to govern with compliance tools rather than learning tools. It is easy to fall into the trap of adding more layers of bureaucracy rather than instilling mechanisms that encourage experiential education and growth. People must be allowed to fail as long as they take the steps to fix the situation and learn.

There is a new playbook being written on business. I believe we are entering a new era of work with increased flexibility coupled with higher expectations for performance and flexibility. Yes, you will be able to pursue new ideas more readily and enjoy a more mobile work environment. However, at the same time, you will be expected to add more value.

You will also be expected to change. Gone are the days of having one expertise and one responsibility. As the economy shifts and industries reinvent themselves, you will need to learn new ways of doing old things and how to do new things. Your “performance” will not only be a reflection of actual job performance but also your ability to learn and adjust to new conditions. read more