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Browse published articles attributed to Gregory Covey, with full-archive search.
One of my favorite quotes by Jesus is found in Matthew 17, versus 17 through 20. The story is about a man who brought his son to Jesus to be cured of an evil spirit. The man had told Jesus that the disciples were unable to cure him. Here is the King James version; Matthew 17.17 – Then Jesus ...
The most important aspect of issuing a written warning letter for any violation of policy is to make sure you are being fair and consistent!
Preparing a written warning letter for insubordination is no different than any other disciplinary action! However, one of the major mistakes that many supervisors make is mistaking insubordination with disrespectful behavior. In short, insubordination is defying authority or in opposition to it. Although it is easy to confuse the two it is still important to define the poor behavior correctly.
One of the biggest challenges for new supervisors is to understand and develop a performance improvement plan for an underperforming employee. The first question that must be answered before doing anything is to ask if the poor performance is can't or won't! If the employee is able to perform a task but simply isn't doing it, then the answer may be won't! But don't act to fast! Many factors could come into play that were not originally there.
One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to leadership styles. Just like snowflakes, every human being is a little bit different. They respond differently to situations, even if on the surface the situation looks exactly the same. Good leadership skills are no different than anything else when it comes to each person having to develop their own style of leadership.
Issuing a written warning letter for tardiness is no different from any other disciplinary letter. The facts are the facts and making sure everyone is treated fairly is as important as always. When it comes to tardiness, however, I continue to hear people ask the question what is consider tardy? I can only tell you how I have always treated tardiness in my over forty years in a leadership role.
Although I am not a doctor or psychiatrist I can attest from personal experience as a father that the effects of schizophrenia within a home are devastating. You see my Son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia bipolar disorder! Now I wished I could tell you that it was as simple as visiting our local mental health facility on a routine office visit when he received this diagnosis, but I can't. The devastating effects of schizophrenia can’t be fully measured since we have a life time to go before we will know for sure what the full effects with be!
The story of Daniel in the lions den is truly one of the most pure Christian inspirational stories of all times. His pure love for God truly put his integrity to the ultimate test! We find the story in chapter six of the book of Daniel. We have all heard the story and there is no need to go ...
Good leadership skills require the ability to communicate effectively! Without that ability it is virtually impossible to lead! President Ronald Reagan was often referred to as the Great Communicator! He was able to present himself in a way that people wanted to follow him! He was also considered a very good, if not great leader. After all he was able to bring down the Berlin Wall and effectively end the Cold War! Other great leaders in history were also considered to be great communicators, such as, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and even William (Bill) Clinton.
Too many times a supervisor will wait until they just can't stand an employee's behavior one more minute before they decide to issue an employee written warning letter, or worse they want to terminate them! This more than anything else will put a business at risk of an employee law suit because if you are challenged and placed under a microscope they will ask you if the employee knew what they were doing was wrong.
Issuing an employee written warning letter should always be taken very seriously. After all, the person on the receiving end could eventually be out of a job! Even when someone deserves to be disciplined we should make sure that we have come to the right conclusion before issuing the warning letter.
ust one of the versus in Psalm's 46, verse 10, inspires many inspirational Christian stories. The KJV states it like this; “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth”. Good leadership skills come from every part of life, including and more most importantly the scriptures. We can analyze this backwards and forwards and it never stops having a new meaning. The night my Son was born I had to no choice but to be still and know that He was God! He was born two months early several years ago in a small out of the way hos
Whether we recognize it or not it takes good leadership skills to be a good parent! Primarily the leadership skill that stands out to me the most is “Say what you mean and mean what you say!" Not applying this basic leadership skill will sink your ship quickly! When I say quickly I mean all the way to the bottom of the deepest part of the sea!
There is a difference between having good leadership skills and good management skills. Both are important to the success of a business, but in my humble opinion one wins out over the other. In order to be a good leader you must have a vision of where you want to take an organization. You must see the end result in your mind! In order to be a good manager you must be able to take that vision and manage all the necessary resources to get the organization there.
Labor management and good leadership skills go hand in hand! There is no question that any company that employs people it will become one of their most volatile expense line items they have. Why? Because people are unpredictable! Everything from dips in productivity to changes in state and federal employment laws can drive costs up and/or rarely down. One employee law suit even for something unfounded can cost a company thousands of dollars. The company that understands this fact also understands how important good leadership skills are to controlling those costs.
I had heard a story regarding integrity several years ago when I was in the Marine Corps. I had spent twelve years as a Marine - and it will never leave me. You know what they say - once a Marine - always a Marine. Now I don’t know if the story that I’m about to tell is true - but it ...
Using good leadership skills to draw the absolute best out a player just makes good sense! Most sports require an element of skill and the better a player is at that skill the better they are at the sport! However, there is no substitute for a very motivated player. A player so motivated that they stand out from all others. They actually play above their own set of skills! That is what good leadership skills can do for a coach!
We have all heard Christian Stories of the Good Samaritan, which is found in Luke 10, versus 25 through 37. We use the term The Good Samaritan often in our everyday lives, but do we really understand the story completely, and what he risked? The story starts off with a lawyer asking Jesus a ...
Preparing a business plan is more about ensuring your idea is solid than trying to obtain financial support! If you place the emphasis on only obtaining the financing you will most likely be setting yourself up for failure! Any half intelligent individual would not start out on a trip across the country without first understanding how much it would cost and the best route to take in order to reach your final destination. A business plan is no different. If prepared correctly it should clearly let you know if you are going to reach your objective or not!
If you enjoy the legal system and don't mind paying out large sums of money to present and past employees then I would suggest that you disregard having an employee hand book! You may think I am kidding, but I am not. I have never been to an unemployment hearing, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission inquiry, or any other legal challenge where they have not asked me for a copy of our Employee Hand Book. If you are unfamiliar with what an employee hand book is, it is quite simply the company's position on all employee issues, from payroll to discipline.
Good leadership skills and integrity go hand in hand; however, don't mistake the true meaning of integrity with just being honest! Integrity goes much deeper than just honesty! Integrity is the way someone lives their life and their core values! Let's take a simple but good example of how true integrity works! Let's say that you are a Christian and strongly believe that a blessing should be said before every meal! At home you always take the time to give a well deserved blessing to God for the meal. However, at a restaurant you are too embarrassed to do so.
Does a coach need good leadership skills? Do they need to know more about the sport than their competitor? Do they need to have more talented players than their competitor? I suppose if a coach had all three they would be more likely to be successful, but if I had my choice of the three listed above it would be to have good leadership skills. I know that the second two have been tried before by multiple teams and without fail they do not win the championship trophies. In fact, most of the time they don't even get into the final running!
What is leadership? Leadership is the skill of motivating individuals to move toward, or accomplish, a common goal! Managing on the other hand is organizing time and resources appropriately to accomplish that goal successfully. Is there a difference? Absolutely! Most companies have leaders in the most senior positions and great managers under them to carry out their goals. In ideal situations a person can be both! That is having the best of both worlds.
You don't have to be in a leadership position to have good leadership skills! Leadership is the skill of motivating individuals to have a common goal! The better you are at motivating them the more likely the goal is achieved! That does not remove the fact that the individuals must have certain skills to perform the tasks necessary to accomplish that goal. But if all things are equal a person with good leadership skills will have a better performing group of individuals than a poor leader.