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Over seven years ago, I created this management model and have been using it ever since. The model ensures that employers attract and retain peak performers. It's direct, to the point and easy to adopt no matter what the organization size or budget. The employee management model is called - the EDGE. EDGE is an acronym that stands for: Educate, Develop, Guide, Empower.

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.

Leadership is defined as “the action of leading a group of people or an organization.” How boring is that? Although a definition, it does not take into consideration the human impact of leadership and the consequences of that leadership. If the outcome is destructive in nature, is that effective leadership? Here's a slightly better definition of leadership: “The ability to lead a group of individuals to the successful accomplishment of a common purpose.”However, even that definition does not take into consideration how the accomplishment was achieved.

Leaders are a key element of any successful organisation or business, without effective and engaging leaders in place a company built on people will lack direction and be unable to fulfil their objectives. The trouble with leadership is that not every leader knows how to act when they are initially given their leadership position. To combat this many businesses invest in executive coaching and leadership skills training, but the focus of this type of development is on practic

Personal Leadership Definition nPersonal leadership is the ability and desire to crystallize your thinking and to establish a specific direction and destination for your own life. It includes the courage, choice, and commitment to move in that direction by taking committed and determined action to acquire, accomplish, or become whatever you visualize for your future. nn Building Personal Leadership nCritical to your work and personal success is building your own personal lead

All companies experience turnover to some degree. Many companies refresh their pool of employees by restructuring their organization every three to four years, and even though the change is sometimes good, it is always costly. Other companies just can’t seem to hold onto people. Sometimes this is a casualty of the industry, such as in Hospitality or Retail. Those industries do tend to lose people more frequently. Nevertheless, if you own or manage a company where high turnover is an issue, you are needlessly losing a tremendous amount of money.

The newest professional development trend is focused on cultivating women leaders to not only ascend into higher-level positions but also become game changers for their teams, organizations, and industries. I find that many large corporations have established new women’s affinity leadership networks for the sole purpose of providing a workplace community whereby women can help other women learn and grow. But although these groups are essential, they don’t begin to fully address the range of issues women face in the halls of corporate America.

It is common knowledge that the abuse of and addiction to drugs is a major problem in our country. Drug use is occurring at earlier ages, especially in our inner cities, but the problem exists across the country with complete disregard for where children live or how much money their parents make. With the family as the cornerstone of American society, each and every parent must accept the responsibility to teach children about the perils of drugs.

To explain why leading and learning are synonymous, reflect on the words of Eric Hoffer: In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. In other words, learning is the key to remaining adaptable and flexible in times of change; those who are bound by certainty eventually become obsolete. As leaders should be those who remain ahead of the tides of change, they must by definition be learners.

Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps you weren’t made for the rules of the “real world?” You have your own ideas about how things need to be done, and you know that people would just listen to you that you could set the world afire. You sometimes get accused of being rebellious or not being a team player or of being “idealistic.” If any of these sound familiar to you, then you'll be comforted to know that there's nothing wrong with you. You’re just a natural born leader,

Whenever I teach a class or give a presentation on teamwork, I always give the old adage of "There's no 'I' or 'U' in the word TEAM." Just like clockwork, as if drawn by the laws of physics, someone will shout out, "Yah, but there is a 'ME'!" I then enthusiastically reply, "YES!" My astute audience member is right, the word "ME" can be found in the word "TEAM" and that is exactly what leaders should be working to do - finding the "ME" in their own teams. Encouraging the "ME" is recognizing the individual effort and contribution that bring diversity and depth to any team endeavor.

It is the time of the year to put the clock back in the UK. This reminds me there are things in life that we cannot simply put the clock back. In the business context, these include the decisions we made.

What I’m about to say, will shock most organizational leaders….It’s time to retire the mission statement. • They don’t motivate anyone. • They are a waste of time and energy to develop. • They quickly become part of the corporate wallpaper. During a recent leadership workshop a participant proclaimed, “When I hear the word mission, I think of a military mission.” Not exactly the image that is going to get most employees excited about their jobs.

My father, William Finley, and I recently compared views of the world of work. When Dad was the President of SCF of AZ (he retired in 1987) there were certain "rules" that everyone in the workplace lived by. They were the "laws" you followed if you wanted to get ahead. A few of the beliefs that dominated the era were: • The Food Chain -You went to your boss with an idea or a conce and you didn't go any higher up the ladder unless you were given permission to do so. Chain of c

The opposite of work is not play. It's depression. So states psychiatrist Stuart Brown in his new book, Play: How It Shapes The Brain, Opens The Imagination And Invigorates The Soul. Brown has conducted more than 6,000 play studies on what goes wrong when people do not play-studying everything from serial killers to career-drive CEOs. Given the current plethora of economic turmoil, negative news, layoff paranoia and growing unemployment lines, the notion of taking time to play sounds like a childish daydream.

The Myth of Re-Inventing Yourself? Posted by Tom in Empowering, Goals, Inspirational, Leadership, Vision, Winning Strategies on May 17th, 2010 | 3 responses Have you ever thought about who you would be if you picked up and moved to another city, state or country, and were guaranteed never to run into anyone you previously knew? You could literally re-invent yourself and start from scratch. The new you! Who would you be and how would you be? “What’s the value in that?” you m

To be frank, most leaders waste way too much time drilling down, involving themselves in the details of their team members’ responsibilities—rather than creating an environment that has team members accepting full accountability for meeting their objectives. How much drilling down, micro managing are you doing—rather than investing your time focusing on the master plan, new initiatives and the strategic picture? What Delegation Style Do You Habitually Use?

I heard long time ago that life is like a mirror, except that a typical mirror displays your actions instantly and life has a lag effect. Life has a way of showing what you do today later on in the form of fruits of your labor. In the context of career, this lag time is approximately 3 months. What you do today will reflect back to you in about 90 days. I call this the 90-Day Rule, and you'll need to create a 90-Day Plan to keep you focused and moving in the right direction.

When life is complete, what is the legacy you want to leave behind? One of policy, plans, procedures and rules? Or, do you want a to leave a legacy that represents your true self? If your answer is the latter, then read on. At home, work, or play - if you want to leave a legacy that is of true value and that continues to be shared, then the answer is to tithe with others. I am not talking about giving 10% more than what you are giving right now. I am referring to sharing the 10% of yourself that makes you special.

As human beings, we’re creatures of habit. No wonder making a major life change is so hard! But it can be done. Follow these steps to get your change in motion, one easy step at a time: 1. Identify the price of maintaining the status quo. Not making the change you know you need to make is ...As human beings, we’re creatures of habit. No wonder making a major life change is so hard! But it can be done. Follow these steps to get your change in motion, one easy step at a time:

Personally and professionally many of us have been content with the status quo. And it's worked for us. I know you are saying, "Hey wait! I'm innovative!" and you probably are in many ways. Still, we are now presented with opportunities to reinvent our world like never before. Let's take a look at the commonly held beliefs that we've always assumed were the pathway to success. For example, we've been told that: • Our home is our biggest investment • Leaders should be trusted

Leadership maintains its effectiveness sometimes by natural succession according to established rules, and sometimes by the imposition of brute force. n The simplest way to measure the effectiveness of leadership involves evaluating the size of the following that the leader can muster. By this standard, Adolf Hitler became a very effective leader for a period — even if through delusional promises and coercive techniques. However, this approach may measure power rather t

As a leader in your organization, you’re probably aware of how important recognizing achievement is when it comes to employee motivation and encouraging creative cooperation. So how can you create a specific strategy which will help you to recognize achievement on a consistent basis? How do you cultivate the skill of recognizing achievement in a language which each of your employees can relate with? This article will give you a simple approach for recognizing achievement and

The only thing standing between you and the leadership greatness you want to achieve is friction. Friction is any obstacle or block standing between where you now are and where you've always wanted to be. Outer friction could be relationships at work that are not impeccable, projects that remain incomplete and bad habits that destroy your productivity. Inner friction might involve self-confidence issues, negative thinking patterns and outright fears that need to be worked thr

I absolutely enjoy watching movies that are filled with hidden hints about making your dreams come true. Such phrases like… “The impossible is possible if you believe”, “You can achieve anything that you set your mind to”, “If you truly believe, it will happen” or “You always have a choice”. These are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Walt Disney was a huge dreamer and believer. If you really think about it, all of his movies are about m

King Solomon, universally acknowledged as one of the world's wisest leaders, applied leadership principles that are as relevant and powerful today as they were in biblical times. This article examines the importance of leading with wisdom so team members have a clear and consistent example to emulate. Lead With Wisdom

King Solomon, universally acknowledged as one of the world's wisest leaders, applied leadership principles that are as relevant and powerful today as they were in biblical times. This article examines the importance of leading through building relationships. Lead Through Building Relationships Wise leaders know that leadership involves growing together with those they are leading. Leadership is an ongoing relationship based on common values. In practice it generally takes the form of a series of meetings and interaction with individuals and groups.

The bizarre exchange I had last night with my new hair wrangler highlighted how poorly American's listen to one another. Kelly and I chatted as she flat ironed my rebellious curly hair into the sleek submission that matches my book cover. (Audiences seem think I am the cousin of the author if I don't have straight hair...go figure.) "So, your daughter is in high school? What's she interested in?" I asked. "He married his assistant. The one he was having an affair with, now th

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.

We often reserve the title “leader” for bosses, teachers, and presidents, who are leaders in the “official” sense of the word. However, if we think about it everyone is a leader or has the potential to be one. Whether we are aware of it or not, even seemingly insignificant actions impact the people around us, and we often base our own actions on what we see those around us doing. So how can you become an effective, influential, and positive leader? Doug Gehrman recent

One of the great things about life is that we get to make choices about many things, including our professional growth and development. We can choose to ignore it. Choose to postpone it. Or choose to consciously proactively create a personal professional growth and development plan. Think how we enter a new year. We sit down and reflect on the past year and ascertain a few minor changes or improvements are in order. We conclude it’s a perfect time to set some new goals. So

However you look at it -- there is no substitute for life-experience. It goes without saying: we can't become great runners without doing a lot of running... Neither can we acquire strong character or matchless wisdom by simply attending college -- no matter how good our grades may be. We can't become great lovers without experiencing deep pain and loss... And, speaking from personal experience, we may not completely understand what it takes to be a true leader until we become sick-to-death of being leaderless.

Powerful leadership is exactly what most of us look for, in ourselves as well as outside ourselves. We look for people who provide that extraordinary quality that pulls people toward them, makes great endeavors appear effortless, and, in short, make us envious! So we went to look for what constitutes effective leadership – what is this quality that creates powerful leaders? The first component we identified is that every one of the powerful leaders is CLEAR ON WHAT THEY ARE

The reaso I am running for Congress is that short sighted decisions being made in Washington are borrowing; some may say stealing, from the future of all of our children. Rampant spending and pork barrel politics is pushing this country down a road that will impoverish our children and the generations that follow if we don`t make a stand now.

Change is occurring all around us everyday. Most changes are small and go unnoticed by us. Think about your daily ride to work and notice what changes are taking place over the course of a week: possible changes in traffic patterns, new stores opening, weather patterns, etc. Each day we adapt to the changing situations without even thinking about it, and we achieve our goals. The organizations we work for are going through change to adapt to a very competitive marketplace. Mo

rnRemember when you were a kid, and you played superhero? You flung your red cape around your shoulders, and – wham-o! – you could use your powers to change the world. (Or maybe just the backyard.) And then you grew up, and tossed the cape in the closet. You zipped up your school clothes, buttoned up your work suit, and started walking the path everyone thought you should. And in most cases, that path was, well, just fine, Not superb. Not sucky. Just fine. Suddenly, the w

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.” – Richard Hooker I couldn’t have said it better myself! As you know, I’m all for making changes to better our lives and businesses, but I have to admit that in the past 2 weeks my tolerance levels have been sorely tested. I’ve had to relearn patience skills and there were times that I’m sure my perseverance quotient on a scale of 1 to 10 was at -20. I’ve been restructuring my business to be

Have you ever stopped to consider the economic value of trust when it comes to building your team or organization? If not, you probably have blind spots within your organization and pockets of hidden potential that are costing you a lot of time and money. How much time and money? Well, that’ the tricky thing about the cost of low trust verses the value of high trust…it’s not something you can print on your earnings report or your expense accounts. It’s not immediately quantif

Here are seven principles for Living and Leadership that I find are extremely useful in serving you as a leader in your organization, in your life and with the people who mean so much to you. 1. The quality of our relationships, partnered with our willingness to be real, take risks and be vulnerable, dictates the quality and results of our leadership. Our willingness to be real, take risks and be vulnerable makes us human and relatable. Our care, attention and nurturing of pe

I wish I would have received mind-reading abilities as a holiday gift. If only I could have an expectation and everyone around me would know what I was thinking and they'd just respond the way I want them to. That would come in handy as a supervisor. Imagine that all you had to do was vividly imagine a job well done and your employees would carry out the work just as you have imagined. Unfortunately, supervisors can't rely on mind-reading. We have to be clear about what we ex

In organizational development, leadership development is the strategic investment in, and utilization of, the human capital within the organization.nnDavid Day (2000) distinguished between leader versus leadership development.nnLeader development focuses on the development of the leader, such as the personal attributes desired in a leader, desired ways of behaving, ways of thinking or feeling.nnIn contrast, leadership development focuses on the development of leadership as a

The value of conflict is a controversial topic in many circles. Some organizations thrive on conflict for its own sake while others avoid conflict at any cost. Either extreme is dysfunctional as conflict can play a vital role in a healthy organization. The challenge is to focus, use and defuse conflict. Focus Focus requires commitment by the team to the larger purpose or goal. The first question a leader must ask in this situation is, “Can the purpose or goal be easily stated and understood?” If not, work until it is so.

Spiderman, Wonder Woman and Superman all had super powers; they had special skills that allowed them to be super heroes. They had great powers given to them at birth that made them special. Generally speaking, they didn`t have to develop those powers, they just had them. We too were born with tremendous skills, but unlike like our comic book and big screen heroes, we have to work to understand and develop those powers. Because they are fictional characters, it might seem easi

What would your life look like if you had absolutely no fear? What kinds of things would you do if you lived from a frame of reference that your thoughts literally could form your world? How brightly would your light shine if you stepped out of the limitations that are keeping you small and stretched yourself well past your comfort zone into the place that you know, deep within, you are meant to be? Authentic leadership is all about being the person you know in your heart you have always been destined to be. Authentic leadership does not come from your title or from the size of your paycheck.

Leaders are like precious stones, they are both created by means of the same process: pressure. It’s been said that pressure reveals character. You can tell more about someone by the way that they respond to pressure than almost anything else. Some people focus and maintain their integrity while under pressure…others collapse. This is what makes the difference between leaders and followers. However, pressure does a bit more than just reveal a person’s true character, it also

King Solomon, universally acknowledged as one of the world's wisest leaders, applied leadership principles that are as relevant and powerful today as they were in biblical times. This article examines the importance of developing guiding values and living by them so team members have a clear and consistent example to emulate. Lead with Guiding Values