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Managing People

To get the most out of employees, modern managers need to be coaches, diplomats, and teachers, sometimes all at once.

Finding Needles in the Haystack

Unreasonable demands can mean the difference between a high performance and low performance. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

If You Have Too Many Employees to Manage

So what do you do if you really want to be a hands-on manager but you just have too many employees to manage? (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Dealing With A Problem Employee - Part I

There are three kinds of employee performance problems -- Productivity, Quality and Behavior (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Dealing With a Problem Employee - Part II

All employee performance problems that are not the fault of the manager fall into one of three categories: Ability, Skill, or Will. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Dealing With a Problem Employee - Part III

Sometimes you have to fire people. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Optimizing Business Travel

As productivity gains have slowed for U.S. businesses, particularly for small and medium sized businesses, the need to find new ways to increase worker productivity has become critical. (SWABIZ)

Managing When You Lack Expertise

You don't have to be an expert on an employee's work to hold that person accountable. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

The Hard Realities of Managing

The pendulum of management thinking, books and training, has been going in the wrong direction for decades. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

How To Manage Employees Who Manage

Learn steps to guide managers towards the type of manager they need to be. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Getting Off On The Right Foot

The first steps of a new (or renewed) management relationship (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Do You Dread Confrontations With Employees?

The "Myth of the Difficult Conversation" and how regular and consistent techniques can quickly solve and even avoid problems. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Consider the Culture of Your Workplace

Managing in a hands-off status quo environment can make even the strong manager feel like a duck out of water. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Do More for Some People and Less for Others

You can't do everything for everybody. But why would you ever want to? (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Solve Small Problems before They Turn into Big Problems

The typical hands-off manager basically avoids performance problems until they can no longer be ignored. But problems always come up. And by the time a problem can no longer be avoided, the dreaded confrontation is inevitable. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Benefits Packages For Emerging Businesses

Creating Long-Term Value for Your Employees (Inc.com)

Track Performance Every Step of the Way

Knowledge is power: The more you keep track, the easier it will be to keep track. (Rainmaker Thinking, Inc.)

Tell People What to Do and How to Do It

Get what you want out of your employees by setting clear expectations (RainmakerThinking,Inc.)

Performance Reviews and Employee Development

An employee evaluation or performance review process is a great way to market your company to your employee and further develop your existing talent. (Inc.com)

Employee Terminations

Keeping the termination process legal, fair and productive. (FastCompany.com)

Global Workforce Engagement Vs. Productivity: A Paradox?

As talent management professionals we are often being told or telling others that one of the reasons employee engagement is so important is the direct link to better workforce. productivity (HCI)

The New Role of the HR Leader

Talent management is distinct from human resources, in part, because it is the responsibility of leaders across the organization rather than a discipline that can or should reside in just one department. (HCI)

Take It One Person at a Time

Every employee is different, yet most managers take roughly the same approach to managing every person in their group. Whatever techniques they use to manage---weekly reports, monthly team meetings, or annual reviews---it is rarely calibrated to the individuals being managed. Instead, it is based on prevailing practices in the organization and the manager's own style. This is what I call one-size-fits-all management.(RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Brand Yourself as a Great Boss!!

Do you want to become a magnet for high performers? Branding yourself as a great boss (like any branding effort) requires first that you figure out who you are targeting. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Learn to Talk Like a Performance Coach

The best way to build rapport with your employees is actually by talking about the work. Work is what you have in common; in fact, it's the reason you have a relationship at all.(RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

10 Demandments: Rules to Live by in the Age of the Demanding Candidate

(Talent Mindset) - What does an organization have to do to attract and keep today's most talented candidates? Just know the rules - and abide by them.

Demandment 01. Earn My Trust

Demandment 02. Inspire Me

Demandment 03. Make It Easy

Demandment 04. Put Me in Charge

Demandment 05. Guide Me

Demandment 06. 24/7

Demandment 07. Get to Know Me

Demandment 08. Exceed My Expectation

Demandment 09. Reward Me

Demandment 10. Stay with Me

Can I Have a Raise?

A transient workforce and increased competition for talent have companies hearing this question more and more. From profit sharing to "phantom" stock plans, innovative CEOs and managers are experimenting with new compensation techniques. (Inc.com)

Your Loyal Workers and how to keep them that way

This Monster research report is designed to help employers understand loyal workers by identifying the components that define their loyalty and recommending strategies to inspire loyalty in workers.

Poised Workers and how to retain and recruit them

This Monster research is designed to help companies better understand these Poised Workers. By understanding what motivates a Poised Worker, employers can avoid losing them to an outside opportunity, while recruiters can create strategies to attract and capture this loyal worker and prime recruitment candidate.

GenX Turns Forty - Part I

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - What are we learning from Generation X? Today, more than 21% of the workforce is younger than the youngest Xers.

GenX Turns Forty - Part II

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - As Generation X becomes the first generation to reach mature adulthood in the real new economy, we are having the peculiar experience of watching our youthful indiscretions proved correct and become mainstream.

Maximizing the Schwartzkopf Generation

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - We refer to the 7.5% of the workforce born before 1946 as the Schwartzkopf Generation, with all due respect to the General. In the United States alone that amounts to more than five million workers, representing an incredible store of skill, knowledge, wisdom, institutional memory, relationships, and the last vestiges of the old fashioned work ethic.

Bring Bickering Employees Together

If you're looking to curb chronic fighting, backstabbing and other crimes against the team, just remember: Getting people to make nice needs to be a long-term project.

When Peers Don't Perform

Increasingly, work environments demand more collaboration and team approaches. But what happens when the peer you're paired with doesn't carry their weight?

Boomers: After all these years, still the trend-setters?

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - Boomers hold the lion's share of leadership positions in most organizations in most industries today.

'tis the Season...to hire Generation Y

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - As Generation Y enters the workforce there are seven important things to know about Generation Y employees.

Recruiting the Overqualified

Some people are reluctant to hire the overqualified, either because they believe that they won't make good employees, or because they feel threatened. Joanne Murray talks about ways to overcome that reluctance.

Managing Overqualified Employees

In part 2 of our discussion of overqualified candidates, Joanne Murray offers guidelines for integrating them into your workforce.

Flexible Work Arrangements Build Loyalty

(SPHR) - Many employers around the country are meeting their project deadlines and need for quality by engaging employees in a wide range of nontraditional employment configurations.

Managing a Culturally Diverse Staff

Workplaces are becoming more culturally diverse, which often requires managers and others to continually rethink the ways they work with people.

Religious Accommodation in the Workplace

Federal law mandates that employers accommodate employee religious practices, but sometimes, an accommodation in compliance with the legal requirement may not meet an employee's needs.

Creating a Telecommuting Strategy

Many employers still have their doubts, but with the right strategy in place, telecommuting can be beneficial to both your company and your employees.

Help Soldiers Get Back to Work

Citizen soldiers returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere are no doubt happy to be home, but the transition from battlefield to workplace can be fraught with difficulties not addressed in any policy manual.

Manage Off-Site/Telecommuting Employees

More managers are overseeing workers who are outside of the office. Ensure telecommuting success with these tips.

Part I: Real Lessons From Real Managers in the Real World

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - Lessons from the Manager's Boot Camp

Part II: What They Should Be Teaching In Management Training

Part III: The Most Common Obstacles Preventing Managers From Being Stronger And More Hands On

Part IV: Partial Solutions To The Top 3 Obstacles In Order Of Readers' Requests.

Part V: Partial Solutions To The Most Common Obstacles

Part VI: Partial Solutions To The Next 3 Obstacles

Part VII: How To Jump Start Becoming A Strong Manager

Want to Understand Loyalty? Look First at How You Survey

(BNA Research and Performance Metrics) - This article focuses on encouraging employee participation in surveys and managing employee expectations about the results.

The Undermanagement Epidemic... Revisited

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - Most managers simply do not spend enough time attending to the basics of managing people

Managing the Generation Mix, Part I

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - Welcome to the Generational ShiftT. Schwarzkopfers are streaming out of the workplace. Baby Boomers are redefining aging and retirement. Gen Xers are the new generation of leaders, and Gen Yers are the fastest growing workforce segment. How do you become an expert leader of multi-generational teams when everyone has finally realized that job security is a myth and long-term promises are broken every day? How do you engage workers of all ages in sharing their time, talents, expertise, and experience so that collaboration, high morale, and productivity become the hallmarks of your team?

Managing the Generation Mix, Part II

Managing the Generation Mix, Part III

The Top Seven Management Myths in Today's Workplace

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - There are seven great myths that have arisen among managers in today's workplace.

The Pendulum of Management Has Been Swinging in the Wrong Direction

(Rainmaker Thinking, Inc.) - Nowaday's it's even harder to manage people.

What Kind of Boss Are You Going to Be?

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - Low performers vs. high performers sound off.

Talk About The Work

Strategies used to build rapport with employees. (RainmakerThinking, Inc.)

Get in the Habit of Managing Every Day

(RainmakerThinking, Inc.) - You don't have time to NOT manage people