When I started my career fresh out of grad school, I worked as a recruiter in a highly competitive IT consultant firm. It didn’t take long to realize that, more often than not, if a candidate failed to succeed it wasn’t because he/she lacked the technical skills necessary to complete the work. The key issue was always a soft skills gap. Communication, time management, a positive attitude, problem solving skills, etc. It was always a soft skill deficit that created conflict and resulted in having to back-fill the position. I learned to ask all candidates to “Tell me about a … Read More
Hiring Leaders: Look Inside or Outside?
An opening on the leadership team is more than just an open headcount to fill. It’s a potential tipping point for the organization. Before you post that job req, think through the impact this hire will have on the organization. The decision to promote from within or hire externally should really come down to what the organization needs. When it’s time for a breath of fresh air, hire external. Nothing shakes things up like an external hire.
Reboot Your Leadership with Ctrl + Alt + Del
Every once in a while we all need to hit the reset button. When projects are off schedule, budgets are blown, morale is low, sales are down, and deliverables keep mounting, it can feel like nothing is going right. It’s hard to break the downward spiral and cycle of negative thoughts. As a leader, it’s easy to get stuck in desperation mode and keep wondering “how did we get here?” While reflection is certainly important, at times we just need to STOP and RESET.
Better Than a Trust Fall
I once had a really great sales team leader who lived by the motto “if you do the right thing, the numbers will just come.” What he meant by that is if you spent time building real, caring relationships with your customers so you know, understand, and solve their pain points, the sales will happen automatically. Any time a sales team member had a unique customer request and they went to that leader for approval, the conversation always went like this: Sales team member: “The customer needs X, but that will mean we need to do Y, which requires us … Read More
Cutting Off the Ends of the Ham
A young girl was watching her mother bake a ham for a family gathering and noticed her mom cutting off the ends before placing it in the oven. “Mom, why do you cut the ends off before baking the ham?” she asked. “Hmmm… I think it helps soak up the juices while it’s baking. I’m not sure, though. That’s just the way your grandma always did it, so I’ve just always cut them off. Why don’t you call grandma and ask her?”
Leading the Charge for Onboarding
Hiring a new employee is the gift that keeps on giving. New team members bring new energy, excitement, ideas, and perspective to the team. A single new employee with a positive attitude and engaging personality can shift the mental energy of the entire team. New employees also ask innocent but tough questions that force you to question how and why you do things a certain way. They don’t accept “this is how it’s always been done” as an acceptable answer to their questions. And when training a new employee, skills gaps for the rest of the team may be uncovered. … Read More