5 Ways to Hire Employees Who Will Stay Longer, Complain Less, and Produce More

It took Thomas Edison over a thousand tries to get the light bulb just right. Yet how many of us give up if we don’t nail something perfectly the first time out? The best baseball hitters in the game fail approximately two out of every three times they step up to the plate. Still, how many of us won’t step up and try something new unless we can be assured of success first? The problem is how we think about ourselves in relation to failure and its consequences. In this article, I’m going to challenge you to change the way you think about failure, and, in the process, change the way you think about yourself.

First of all, forget the tired, old adage; “The customer is always right!”             It’s just not true…or even relevant, anymore.             Replace it with, “The customer is always…Vulnerable.”               Customers feel vulnerable, helpless, out of control, and anxious. That was the clear message we got from them when we dissected 1,000 random customer […]

Every year, valuable employees leave companies for reasons no one really understands–not even the departing employees. In fact, when asked why they quit, many employees simply state: “I didn’t like the job.” This leaves many business owners, managers, and HR professionals scratching their heads, as they believe it’s impossible for anyone to pinpoint what constitutes “like.” In reality, what makes people like their job is something you can control, although it’s also something most companies don’t focus on.

It’s 5:30 am. The alarm clock rings. You wake up with a smile on your face. You can’t wait to get out of bed. Your job gives you challenge, a sense of pride, and your workplace is one of collaboration, teamwork, and respect. In short, you feel a sense of family at your organization. Does this sound like you? If so, you are VERY fortunate. For most Americans, the alarm clock brings a sense of anxiety and dread. The morning commute is fraught with stress and the day is filled with to-do lists, meetings and foreboding questions like: “How long will this job last?” “Who can I trust?” “What impossible-to-achieve quota will I be asked to accomplish THIS month?” and “How soon before my retirement?”

One of the most intriguing issues that surfaces when working in organizations is the lack of effort to align sales and marketing. There are numerous companies that have sales and marketing groups that refuse to even talk or dialogue with each other. It is equally amusing that the leaders of these companies do not understand why their sales results are below expectations. There is a simple solution – align the sales and marketing teams.

According to a news report from in-forum.com, “Shane Balken bought the oldest building in town last year and started renovating it as a hobby.”

If you’re frustrated in your efforts to elicit the best from each of your subordinates, chances are it’s not that they can’t be motivated, but that the wrong methods are being used to motivate them.

Partnering has for almost two decades been a goal for many teams. Whether for a specific project, a strategic initiative or an alliance, partnering has proven to be a great way to expand the pie for everyone involved. Too often the attempt falls short of the desired outcomes. When partnering fails, many times it is because the team leaders and team members didn’t know how to make it succeed. Seven Core Competencies have been identified for making partnering succeed.

When most professionals think about getting new business, they think about brand new markets to penetrate and focus on, or launching new initiatives to appeal to a new crowd. They attempt to identify potential customers they have ignored or those who have not been apparent to them in the past. They look for the new and different-for the proverbial “shiny penny.”