John Manning's Blog, page 7

The Three Essentials of Business Planning—Do This Before the New Year Arrives!

Are you and your leadership team in the thick of business planning right now? We bet you are. It’s that time of year…when we reflect on our annual goals, successes, and shortcomings, and, from all that, develop a solid plan focused around what matters, or has the potential to deliver the results we want and need. In the blink of an eye, we’ll be celebrating January 1st, which is why it’s important to make sure you, and any department heads possibly helping with this activity, aren’t wasting a se...

The One Activity You Must Do to Retain Great Employees

It’s not uncommon for organizations to promote professional development as a job perk, or a reason for potential hires to come on board. The whole notion of training and upskilling can be a career game-changer. It reflects a proactive work culture, one that’s committed to empowering its staff, evolving with the times, and practicing a mindset that supports best practices. It’s also a retention strategy for great employees—a LinkedIn survey showed that 94% of employees would stay at a job longer ...

Tips to Align Your Leadership to What You Think, Say and Do

At MAP, we talk a lot about alignment between you and your direct reports. And we also focus greatly on the alignment around your organization’s Vital Few, or those goals around which you build accountability and drive consistent, positive, productive results.

But today, we want to shift the focus, turning “inward” to explore a different kind of alignment. And that alignment is one that’s between your leadership and what you think, say and do.  It’s an important topic, too, because the leader yo...

Grow Your Client Base Today, Building Alignment and Accountability

When you think about building alignment in your organization, what pops into mind?

Alignment between your vital goals and activities? Alignment between what gets measured and the results you’re getting? Alignment between leadership and the rest of your organization’s staff?

No doubt about it, all aspects of these key areas of focus need and demand alignment if you want to consistently drive success.

And yet when coaching MAP clients in our executive workshops or through our MAP Management System...

Facing Management System Failure? Here’s What You Need to Know

No leader wants to admit their organization is in trouble. Or that areas of significant weakness may be derailing whatever methods have been put in place for productivity to remain at its peak and people hit their targets.

But it happens to even the best of leaders. And maybe it’s happened to you. Seemingly out of nowhere, internal and/or external forces can unexpectedly strain the workplace. Clients who come to MAP for our breakthrough consulting services tell us either they never saw it coming...

The Power of a System

Is your organization too “loosey goosey”? You know what we mean. There are communication problems. Things feel out of whack. Unpredictable. Reactive. Disorganized. Employee morale could use a (big!) boost. So could customers—and revenue. And your teams, as well as management and even you—all feel like you’re operating in silos. Walls are up. Transparency is down.

Every symptom is a red flag signaling the need for change. And not just any change, but transformation that instills discipline, meth...

Spotting the Breakdown of a Team (and What Good Leaders Do About It)

The breakdown of a team can happen quickly, unexpectedly. Or it can happen over a long period of time. Either situation isn’t ideal for you as a leader or manager tasked with maintaining team wellness, performance, productivity and results.

Of course, the last thing you want is your team to break down. A strong team is vital to an effective culture. So spotting potential breakdowns, or the warning signs of “team trouble” is key. And, odds are, it’s something you’re going to have to do as ...

Team Building Time: Three Tips to Getting It Right

As a leader, you know that one of your most vital responsibilities is to lead your team, those direct reports who link to the rest of your organization, executing on its vision. As such, your team is an extension of your leadership style. As you model certain behaviors, those on your team learn effective strategies for management and effective self-discipline that connect to, strengthen, and fuel the entire culture.

No doubt about it, you count on your team to help you achieve your goals. And yo...

Three Pillars to Productivity

Could productivity at your workplace use a boost? Gallup Research shows that for the first time in a decade, employee engagement in the U.S.—which was trending upward for nearly a decade, even during much of the pandemic—dropped in the second half of 2021. For many of us, the decline may not be that surprising given all the hurdles of late, including those tied to hiring and retention.

We know productivity can wax and wane for a number of reasons. Yet the goal is always to develop discipline aro...

Trapped by Time Wasters? Break Free with These Productivity Pointers

Ever wondered what some of the top time-killers are at work? Those activities, or distractions, that pull you away from feeling productive and just getting your “real job” done?

Studies of U.S. workers show the big time wasters include: employees chatting and socializing, non-business related internet/social media use, meetings, personal calls, texts and emails, and work-related email. Then there’s things like noisy co-workers, operating within cubicles, and smoke, caffeine and snack breaks.

Thi...