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Effective Persuasion: How to Sell an Idea at Work

Posted on 06/19/2014 by ·
Effective Persuasion: How to Sell an Idea at Work by Laura Stack #productivity

"Persuasion is often more effectual than force." –- Aesop, ancient Greek storyteller. Every innovation—from the fishhook to the miniskirt to the Space Shuttle—started with a simple, intangible idea. In business, new ideas help us improve everything from mechanical and work processes to our product lines. In a very real sense, businesses depend upon ideas to survive. This does not mean, however, that those who operate those businesses are invariably open to new ideas. They may prefer sticking with what they know, rather than taking a chance on something unproven. You can yank up your ideas like weeds before they have time to mature. This may be a good thing, but may also prove bad if you can't—or won't—distinguish between the true weeds and the flower seedlings. There may come a time … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Cleaning House: Identifying and Rooting Out Team Weaknesses

Posted on 06/17/2014 by ·

"Over the years, I've learned that a confident person doesn't concentrate or focus on their weaknesses—they maximize their strengths." –- Joyce Meyer, American speaker and author. As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This principle applies to business "chains" as well as the mechanical kind—and sometimes I’m surprised to see the weak link high on the chain of command. It was the top execs at oil transport company Enron who ruined that company back in the early 2000s, taking the auditing firm of Arthur Anderson down with them. More recently, Hewlett-Packard canned career exec Leo Apotheker for his poor communications skills and bad choices—including the decision that HP would stop making computers—that put them on the verge of mortally injuring their core … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: ,

Looking for a productivity boost? Go back to school this fall!

Posted on 06/12/2014 by ·

NEW Complimentary eCourses from Laura Stack, delivered right to your inbox! In more than twenty years of helping leaders create high-performance cultures and accelerate growth, I've identified four key factors that must be in place for a leader to execute strategy efficiently. Without these elements, execution can fail—even when it's based on a mature strategy. The Four Keys to Effective Strategic Execution—Leverage, Environment, Alignment, and Drive—represent solutions to the 36 Execution Obstacles and form the L-E-A-D Formula™ outlined in www.ExecutionIsTheStrategy.com. The following four eCourses comprise the Four Keys to Efficient Strategic Execution (each one is a 13-week eCourse): Leverage Environment Alignment Drive Register for these additional complimentary eCourses … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Increasing Your Team’s ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training

Posted on 06/12/2014 by ·
Increasing Your Team's ROI: The Benefits of Consistent Training by Laura Stack #productivity

"Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you're not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were." -- David Rockefeller, American banker. Great managers understand that in order for your team members to be productive and do a great job, they need to have the right tools. Some need blazing-fast computing power; others require smartphones and tablets that let them do their work on the go; still others might require specialized instruments to maximize their performance. Whatever the case, all of them need consistent training, undertaken as often as necessary to stay ahead of the changes roiling through the business field even as I write this. No one wants to spend money when we can avoid it, especially the funds … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , , ,

Bitter Reality: Making the Wrong Decisions vs. Making No Decisions At All

Posted on 06/10/2014 by ·

"It doesn't matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions." –- Jim Rohn, American motivational speaker. By the time you reach management, you certainly know the consequences of paralysis analysis. This "vapor lock" of the brain can kill a project through indecision and perfectionism as surely as pulling its funding. In fact, pulling a project's funding represents a cleaner fate, because the project dies suddenly, rather than flopping around like a fish out of water, pretending to be viable for months or years, causing damage to the entire organization. One of my clients, a massive consumer products organization, has a highly “collaborative” culture, which is code for taking forever to guy buy … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders

Posted on 06/05/2014 by ·
Thinking Outside the Box: Five Behaviors of Successful Leaders by Laura Stack #productivity #leadership

"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out." -- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. If I had to pick just one piece of business advice that's become pure cliché over the past few decades, I’d select "think outside the box." I’ve heard this so many times in business circles, I have to resist rolling my eyes when I hear it. However, the intent has merit. Although overuse has run it into the ground, the lesson remains valid: don't let your preconceptions, habits, lack of information, and narrow-mindedness keep you from considering all possible aspects of a problem. Get outside your own mental constraints and consider all the information at your disposal, allowing yourself to see beyond your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Sowing the Seeds of Hope: How to Boost Team Productivity Through Coaching

Posted on 06/03/2014 by ·
Sowing the Seeds of Hope: How to Boost Team Productivity Through Coaching by Laura Stack #productivity

"In both children and adults, there can be a hard-to-deny link between a robust sense of hope and either work productivity or academic achievement." -- Jeffrey Kluger, senior writer for TIME Magazine. Today's leaders communicate a vision for the team and blaze the trail for everyone to follow. They figuratively fire up a bulldozer, clear out the brush, and smooth the way from here to there. Leaders make it easy for people to get where they need to go—and give them hope that they can. Coaching has always been one of the primary ways to achieve this, by offering workers the opportunity to improve. To paraphrase an old Meineke Muffler commercial, coaching can “make them fit.” Coaching isn’t just for executives. A recent article in Forbes magazine pointed out that coaching most often … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: , ,

The Power of Gratitude: How Saying Thanks Contributes to Your Bottom Line

Posted on 05/29/2014 by ·
The Power of Gratitude: How Saying Thanks Contributes to Your Bottom Line by Laura Stack #leadership

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude." -- A.A. Milne, British author of Winnie-the-Pooh. Shortly after Robert Eckert joined the ailing Mattel toy company as CEO back in Y2K, he convened a large meeting of all its employees to thank them all for their fine work—and for the even finer work they were about to do. Eckert firmly believed that most people go to work willing to over-deliver. From that foundational belief, a culture of gratitude sprung forth, allowing Mattel to become the envy of the manufacturing industry. While it took several years to turn the company around, Mattel made Fortune's list of the “Best Companies to Work For” from 2008 through 2013. Adding the Attitude of Gratitude to Your Business … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Rebuilding SWOT: Turning Threats into Opportunities

Posted on 05/27/2014 by ·
Rebuilding SWOT: Turning Threats into Opportunities by Laura Stack #productivity #execution #leadership

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister. You may find it hard to believe, given its powerhouse status now, but the music recording industry came very close to dying before it ever got started. The potential for recording music became obvious immediately after Thomas Edison perfected his phonograph in 1887; in fact, Edison founded one of the very first recording companies. But many performers and managers viewed the technology as a threat to their traditional business model. If fans could purchase recordings of their favorite performers' music, they argued, no one would come to their concerts when the performers came to town. We all know how accurate that prediction turned … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , ,

Challenging Your Best: Dealing Proactively with the Bright But Bored

Posted on 05/22/2014 by ·
Dealing Proactively with the Bright But Bored by Laura Stack #productivity

"We must accept life for what it actually is -- a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature." -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist. America has enshrined the concept that we're all created equal into the very foundations of our culture. As such, there’s also “the American Way,” which has unwritten ground rules around certain benchmarks of education, work ethic, intelligence, and drive. However, these expectations of equality doesn’t mean we're all the same, though many people misinterpret it that way. Certainly, some people are unequal, in the sense their average is a notch above the mean. You probably fall into this class yourself, since you’re reading this article. I didn’t say that as an attempt at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,