Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--The-Great-Turnover-Bubble.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--The-Great-Turnover-Bubble.html It may well become the great turnover bubble of 2011. Or maybe 2012. The turnover bubble that is referenced has been created by economic conditions that began largely in 2008 but have been festering ever since. The bubble relates to a great number of people that would like to change jobs but cannot because other jobs are not available. When those jobs become available again, the bubble will burst and we will see a large migration of talent between companies and organizations. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Social-Networking-for-Leaders.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Social-Networking-for-Leaders.html Social networking has had a more profound effect on the business community than anyone could have imagined a mere two years ago. News travels quicker on Twitter than on the wires of Associated Press. Personal relationship status changes are known to thousands within the blink of a keystroke. Holiday and birthday greetings over the internet have put Hallmark on the defensive. Millions have been raised for both worthy and shady charities. Images have been enhanced and careers have been ruined on the unfortunate tag of a picture. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Drama-Queen-and-Emotion-King.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Drama-Queen-and-Emotion-King.html I know you know them. You may work with them. They may live in your neighborhood or even your own home. Drama Queen and Emotion King. To Drama Queen (DQ) and Emotion King (EK), every event is worthy of sharing and over sharing. Every small thing that the rest of us brush off and rack up to another day, they turn into a major crisis. As we work to calm others, they work to stir up others. When we try to fix a problem, they tend to make it worse. When they exist in the workplace they offer some significant challenges to leaders. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--A-Culture-of-Tattling.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--A-Culture-of-Tattling.html When we were all five years old, we couldn’t wait to tell on someone. Our job as little kids was to make sure than someone was held accountable for their buffoonery and with a little luck, it made us look good along the way. Unfortunately, that same behavior at age five can become pervasive and very destructive in the modern working environment. Team members telling on each other. Supervisors and leaders that validate the behavior. The creation of a culture of tattling. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Stump-the-Dummy.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Stump-the-Dummy.html A game for the entire organization to play. And many do play it regularly. Stump the Dummy goes something like this: “How are you doing with that Smith file” says a senior level manager to a mid level manager. Or the company president asks a unit executive “where are we at with the remodeling of the meeting rooms?” Or the mayor asks a department head about the pothole on main street. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Skin-in-the-Game-Are-You-Interested-or-Invested.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Skin-in-the-Game-Are-You-Interested-or-Invested.html Most often attributed to the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, the phrase “skin in the game” probably originated in a California newspaper in the summer of 1912. Regardless of origin, the phase has been quoted millions of times in baseball dugouts, football huddles, board rooms and corporate meeting rooms. One of the more famous recent uses of the phrase came from Barrack Obama prior to his being sworn in as president of the United States. The president-elect was describing the shared sacrifice needed by all Americans to resurrect the economy. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Recover-Your-Leadership-Mojo.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--Recover-Your-Leadership-Mojo.html I’ve been there. You’ve been there and there is a high probability that all people in a leadership position have been there sometime during their career. Some people will call it malaise, cruise control, mailing it in or going through the motions. For our purpose, we will call it Mojo Deficiency Syndrome. Whatever label it gets, it is the blocks of time where you just don’t have the passion and desire to move forward and you are content with managing the status quo. Unfortunately, leadership is really not about keeping things the same. It is much more about making it better. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--The-Balanced-Leader.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/Leadership-Insight--The-Balanced-Leader.html Workaholics need not apply. Throughout the late seventies, the Charlie Sheen Wall Street eighties, and even through a good part of the nineties, work ethic was defined as living at work, living work and committing every waking moment to work. To be a boss, you had to commit your life to the organization and outwork your peers and potential competitors for promotion. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/The-Seventh-Commandment-of-LeadershipSelf-Management-and-Relationship-Power.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/The-Seventh-Commandment-of-LeadershipSelf-Management-and-Relationship-Power.html The most difficult person that you will manage in your leadership career is you. That is a very hard statement to get your hands around and grasp but managing yourself is a very challenging task. Without good self-management, the delicate balance between leader and follower is jeopardized. You can loose credibility. You can damage relationships. You can completely become irrelevant. First, a little background on self management. Self management is half of the science of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence tells us that eighty percent of our reactions, responses and projections are driven by emotion and not by logic or processed thought. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/10-Commandments-of-LeadershipCoaching-and-Providing-Feedback.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3485/10-Commandments-of-LeadershipCoaching-and-Providing-Feedback.html Coaching is defined in many ways, terms and contexts. For our purpose, coaching is a stream of communication from the leader to team members for the purpose of maintaining and improving performance. Often times, coaching is viewed as an athletic function and visions of Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, Tom Osborne or Lou Holtz are summoned. The model provided by the athletic version of coaching is not far off from the business model but there are some distinct differences. One of the comments that has often been expressed about coaching is the lack of time to devote to this activity. This is a classic symptom of a leader being too involved in doing and not involved in leading. When debunked this comment is really more about a lack of comfort in coaching skills than it is about available time.