To grow a garden you need seeds, water, and lots of sunlight to help bring the eager seedlings above ground for all to see. But to grow a toxic workplace, all you need are a few controlling people to make sure things stay hidden and off limits … a thorny environment with the help of […]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about productivity goals. Yes … I do have extra time on my hands. But it’s just that I see the word productivity blasted all over social media. How to get more for yourself. How to encourage others to produce more for your company. And how we can be more […]

Being a boss has its own problems. First of all, unless you own the business, you usually have other bosses. And even if you are the head cheese, there may be

Hate managing others? You’re not alone. I recently got a great comment from Angela on my I Hate Being a Boss post.  She’d had it up to HERE with being a manager — and she wasn’t going to take it any more! While browsing my stats, I often see search terms like “I hate my […]

I get lots of visits from searches like “stupid boss”, “hate my boss”, “boss is an idiot”, “boss hates me”, “my boss is arrogant”, “can’t stand my boss”, BUT

What makes a great leader? OK. Clearly the post title is a bad pun. Hope you and Trekkies everywhere can forgive me for that. But the point I want to make is a much more important one. Lots of people get put in charge of staff, but what truly makes a great leader? I started […]

If you ask different managers about their toxic culture definition, you probably will get different answers. I see the term “toxic culture” used all the time. And I’m sure each of us has some mental picture of what a toxic workplace might look like. Seeing it discussed so often lately, got me thinking. Does everyone […]

One of the biggest management mistakes any manager can make is letting the word “don’t” dominate their management style. Yet it’s fairly common practice for many managers — especially ones who are new to the job. ⇒   15 Mistakes Inexperienced Managers Make   When you “don’t” your staff

Work meetings can be notoriously big time-wasters. So we create agendas to help keep our meetings from going off into all kinds of directions. And from never getting to the original point. But they aren’t always well-thought through. So I put together a basic sample meeting agenda to help you keep your business meetings on […]

One of the most exciting things in anyone’s career is that first time you get promoted to manager. Finally, a chance to show your real talents and put fresh ideas into action. And, while still bathed in that glow of success, you probably give little thought to all the mistakes inexperienced managers make. Mistakes you […]