Halbert Company Blogs

The Winning Formula

2011-07-15T10:14:09-05:00

What does it take to motivate employees? What role does fear play? What about hope?

Requires Action!

2011-06-30T10:09:04-05:00

Consistent, exaggerated action gets attention.

Get Better @ How You Work: Practice Continuous Process Improvement

2011-06-23T19:30:53-05:00

Continuous Process Improvement Includes Improving Business Relationships

Emphasize Pre-Calling Over Post-Critiquing (Post-Mortems)Pre-calling Tips

2011-06-01T12:34:52-05:00

1. Know what you expect a person or team to do and what training is necessary to success.
-How is the work to be done?
-Who will the person work with to complete the task?
-With whom does the person need to communicate before, during, and after the task?
-If you can’t describe clearly what the person needs to master, you’re not ready to make an assignment.

Emphasize Pre-Calling Over Post-Critiquing (Post-Mortems)

2011-05-30T16:33:59-05:00

"Time for the post mortem," Jan says as she passes Dwight’s desk.

"I’m coming," Dwight says as he gathers his project notes. "I wish we had a better name for this meeting. I always think, Well, this project’s dead because it’s time for the post-mortem. I guess that’s right, but it’s depressing."

Post-mortem. I learned that word in conjunction with death, as in, "We won’t know the cause of dead until the post-mortem is complete." But now it is the name of a meeting that brings everyone together who has worked on the project or at the end of the week to evaluate the effectiveness, quality, timeliness, and value of a project/work. Is that really what we want to say happened to our project-it died?

Power of Positive Feedback, Tips

2011-05-27T11:34:30-05:00

One of the problems we have with positive feedback is just telling people, "You did a good job." We’re not specific; we don’t give examples; we rush or delay. All of these things make those who receive our feedback skeptical. Here are some tips that will help
reduce such skepticism.

Power of Positive Feedback

2011-05-25T17:38:03-05:00

You can predict the outcome of an employee’s performance based on what you reinforce!
Believe me? Here’s why.

If you only or mostly catch me doing things wrong and correct me, I’ll give you more wrong behavior.

If you only or mostly catch me doing things right and complement me, I’ll give you more right behavior.

So -as amazing as it sounds one of the assurances in high productivity is letting people know when they are doing things right.

Create a "Work With" Rather Than a "Work For" Environment

2011-05-10T15:42:30-05:00

Working "with" means that even though you report to the person you feel like the two of you are working side by side toward the same goal. You have different tasks to do, but you're moving toward the same goal.

Follow up Correction with Praise

2011-03-31T14:35:46-05:00

Reward and recognize reworked or corrected mistakes.

Offer Feedback ASAP

2011-03-22T11:25:25-05:00

A coach provides immediate instruction, direction, and prompting.

Give Specific - Avoid General - Feedback

2010-11-08T09:26:31-06:00

Effective feedback is specific information—good or bad—about a performed task.

Use a Dianostic Prescriptive Approach for best training results

2011-03-10T14:06:38-06:00

Training is often designed for a “one size fits all” approach, but the best learning occurs when areas needing improvement are identified.

Train for Team Building

2011-03-03T12:29:52-06:00

Plan regular activities away from work for the team to practice being a team.

Team-building is enriched by placing members in an environment other than the work setting to develop the emotional, social, physical, and intellectual parts of the team

Build a Culture Based on Hope Rather Than on Fear

2010-08-26T17:24:02-05:00

Treat paid workers like volunteers and watch what happens to the culture in your organization! Think about your workplace and employees. If your employees were volunteers, would they come back to work tomorrow? Managers at nonprofits know they must ...

Model by Exaggeration and Consistency

2010-08-26T17:25:57-05:00

Do what you want others to do in order to bring about the desired behavior.

Want your team to be accepting of different ideas, collaborate, or be accountable? Great! You can make that possible by modeling that behavior yourself in exaggerated ways.

Practice Continuous Improvement

2010-08-26T17:28:58-05:00

Change is all around us and technology seems to drive most business changes. However, technology shouldn’t be in the driver’s seat, people should be. Some changes will continue to be initiated by technology updates in our organizations, but making the best use of such technological changes is up the users of the technology.

Pre-Calling Beats Post-Critiquing

2010-08-26T17:33:19-05:00

Sports provide us with a wide-range of examples of coaching. We’ve seen coaches who:

Yell and scream at their players throughout the game.
Sit or stand stoically on the sidelines no matter what is happening on the field of play.
Kneel with clipboard in hand while players surround them.
Say nothing during the game and yell after the game.

The Power of Positive Feedback

2010-08-27T11:32:41-05:00

I’ve been thinking about the seeming disparity of the use of praise with employees and colleagues and dogs. It seems to me that we more easily give praise to dogs who behave well than to employees or colleagues who perform or produce well. Follow me on this.

Create a “Work With” Rather than a “Work For” Culture

2010-08-27T11:38:00-05:00

Have you ever worked for a boss? You know what I mean:

The boss was always right…even when he or she was wrong.
When individual employees or the whole work group came up with a great idea that worked, the boss took credit.
You were told just to do the work assigned and not think of ways to improve the work.
The boxes on the organizational chart were unchangeable and the more boxes under a boss, the more important the boss.

I could go on but just thinking about such “bosses” and environments is depressing.

Now, imagine...

Three Ideas that Work in a Slow Economy

2010-08-27T12:02:58-05:00

Business leaders trying to develop ideas and strategies in this slow economy need to ask this question: What resources do we have that give us security at this time?

I have three ideas that will help you deal with the slow economy. I think you can get new equipment, replace supplies, but without investing in your human capital, you are limited in what a workforce can accomplish.

There are three important ways to look at each situation:

Conflict: A Mind-Stretching Opportunity?

2010-08-27T12:05:19-05:00

Have you ever given an unflattering performance of conflict in the workplace or observed one? When words challenge, voices are raised, and eyes glare, not much rational, helpful information is being shared. Many of us grew up being told conflict was bad, unhealthy, and to be avoided. Many of us didn’t learn or haven’t learned how to deal with conflict other than to be listen and then talk behind the person’s back or to explode!