employee engagement Archives

An Open Door is not enough – How about an Open Ears policy?

It is time to get rid of the open door policy buzz phrase in business and replace it with the open ears policy. Here are some tips to making open ears work for you as a leader, and a challenge to followers to step into the space created by your leader to listen. Talent management is about great conversations, and having that conversation requires a minimum of two people, coming together, and willing to share the roles of talker/listener. This is a foundational leadership development topic, and should be repeated often if you are building a leadership development strategy.

Should we do an employee survey?

Talent management is about having great conversations. An employee survey is a tool that can help leaders listen more effectively and create some momentum towards the building a stronger culture. It also does not make sense in some cases. Here are some tips for thinking about whether it is the right thing to do for your organization.

Ingredient #1: Owning your development

Talent management is about great conversations. One conversation that is powerful is around career development. Looking into the future to plan a career or commit to mastery is exciting, and not easy. Personal ownership is the big key to success, and that is step 1. Here are some tips for owning your own career development and some books/resources that might help.

Beware of MORE Leadership

Talent management is about great conversations. Ultimately, great conversations are laced with the right words, the right intent, and the right actions. MORE is a word that is part of startup, growth, and leadership conversations, but beware of it. Ultimately it causes motion, but erodes most of the other things that are part of great relationships. Here are 5 reasons why MORE is dangerous.

Leaders – How are your people feeling? 3 Tips for starting this conversation

Talent management is about great conversations. It is important for leaders to know that these conversations have to have a place for people to share how they feel. Learn why this question is important and three strategies for leaders to create moments where this information can be shared.

How do I know you are a high potential? My 5 Qualifiers

A key part of talent management is identifying, developing, and retaining your high potentials. Here are five things I look for in the identification of high potentials. The students that inspired this post were just highlighted at the The Michigan Economic Summit that was put on by Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan. It was a great event.

4 Keys To Successful Transitions

Talent management is about great conversations. Preparing for and managing through transitions is something we can prepare for, and there are conversations we own as inner work and through the work we do with our community. Here are 4 keys to preparing for and navigating transitions.

Empathy – How I experienced it with a dog and 3 ways to build it with humans

Empathy is critical if you are a leader that wants to build their relational capacity with peers and teams. It has to matter for you, and here are three ways to begin to build it. My reminder was reading a great book called The Art of Racing in the Rain. I will never look at Harper the same, and it is a daily reminder that I have to listen differently. Talent management / great relationships are about great conversations.

3 Tips For Making Any Personal Journey A Success

Talent management is about great conversations. Getting to those conversations takes some habits/steps to help keep us focused over time. Here is something I learned yesterday as I went to support a friend who was sharing is expertise. I also learned a lot, which was my secondary goal.

Forget your brand. What is your art?

Talent management is about great conversations. For an individual to participate in these conversations, it is critical for them to bring a self awareness of what gifts and talents they have. Creating this self awareness as part of helping people find their place is critical. One key is how we talk about it, and Seth Godin uses the term Artist vs the traditional approach of talking about Brand.

Employee Survey 101

Talent management is about great conversations. Doing an employee survey correctly requires the courage to step back and answer some fundamental questions about why you want to do it and what commitment you are willing to make as a leadership team. Here are some tips for having a conversation in the beginning that will build a foundation for success.

Listen: If you hear any of these 3 things you/we have a problem

Talent management is about great conversations. If you hear any of these statements coming from your own mouth or someone else’s, then there is a problem. Listen for these, figure out where it is coming from, and fix it. It is natural to have these barriers as leaders seek to have greater conversations with their people, but if we get stuck on one of these then things will get messy.