The worst assumption that managers can make about their area of responsibility is that they know everything that is going on in the department In reality, they only know what their people want them to know or think they need to know

Now do I have your attention I’ve written on the subject of motivation and incentives in the past, but recently have come across some additional information and research that continues to challenge conventional business wisdom as it relates to use of monetary incentives to encourage higher performance

I do not make New Year’s resolutions I find that the process of deciding what I want to accomplish in the next year is much more intense than simply coming up with a few “like to do’s” for the coming year

Most managers feel that a major part of their job is to motivate people who work for them The problem that many have is distinguishing the difference between motivation and manipulation

The term “groupthink” was first used by Irving Janus in 1972 when he was researching why teams made excellent decisions one time, yet made disastrous decisions another time The two most famous and widely used examples of groupthink that led to disastrous outcomes are the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion

In the early 1970’s Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed one of the most popular and used leadership models which is called Situational Leadership While I think a more appropriate name would have been situational management since it deals primarily with task execution, the model is still very relevant and useful today

A key role and responsibility of any manager is to develop those people who report to them Often, when developing subordinates through delegation or training activities, managers may fail to take into account that each person has different learning preferences

Bobby Cox, the manager of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, is retiring at the end of this season after 29 seasons as a manager He is fourth on the all time list of wins by a manager

Jay Niblick, a colleague and friend, has recently published a book titled, What’s Your Genius (available on Amazon

Many employers are not aware of this, but the EEOC is currently working on new guidelines regarding the use of background checks in hiring decisions Also, there is pending action on both the legislative agenda as well as legal field to prohibit the use of credit checks in hiring processes

One of the chapters in my book, Turning Potential Into Action: Eight Principles for Creating a Highly Engaged Work Place is titled The Power of Optimism I won’t repeat the chapter here, but the gist is that an optimistic environment creates more energy in people and enables higher levels of performance

Imagine that these are numbers for your business: 70% of users are dissatisfied with the process 50% of customers regret their buying decision 46% turnover among new buyers 46% failure rate from the process Less than 20% of transactions ate successful If these numbers were related to customer satisfaction, a business could not survive

A few weeks ago I watched the new TV program Undercover Boss I am not much of a fan of reality programs, but the concept intrigued me and since I am in the organizational development business it seemed like good research