Now, let me confess something. What you see in the cartoon is a type of upward delegation which I never managed to eliminate, as a manager. Why? When I needed to send out a letter signed by me, I couldn’t stop myself from reading it one last time. In some (very few) cases, just on principle. […]

I want to add a few comments. Which works better, in your experience? A pat on the back or a kick in the butt? If I’ve tickled your interest, you can learn more in the e-learning course Improving staff performance. Enjoy!

This scene stems from my first presentation as a business manager: the names are irrelevant. Indeed, none of those who participated in that meeting is still with the organisation, as far as I know. The presentation took place one week after I’d been hired, and it was about a strategic decision that was to entail considerable […]

How often have you heard that? The truth is that supervisors tend to refrain from praising, for two reasons. The first is that praising is complicated and can be damaging: better hold back. No action, no mistakes, right? The second reason is that for many managers their staff are invisible: they don’t notice the people or their […]

Changing people’s behaviour is an art. As we already know, the reprimand is used to change undesired behaviour. And as a loyal reader of my blog, you are undoubtedly familiar with both the constructive reprimand and the destructive reprimand. But what do you do when you want to reinforce a behaviour you wholeheartedly approve? I know, of […]

Who doesn’t remember a terrible reprimand for quite questionable reasons, received at some point in life by a ham-fisted boss? Not to mention how embarrassed we’ve felt when, having climbed up into the position of a boss and being fully entitled to reprimand ourselves, we’ve seen our ham-fisted reprimand meet with the astonished glance of […]

My experience tells me that there is a clear correlation between the level of complaint and the level of commitment to work. The greater a person’s tendency to complain, the less they are committed to overcoming difficulties and – above all – the less they manage to develop an effective strategy to achieve objectives. In […]

Some time ago I was thinking about how dangerous praise can be: I’m sure you’ll find the following story quite instructive. Goods duly delivered. Enjoy your holiday. Excellent emergency management! Congratulations. Thank you. I hope you’ll remember that when you’re approving salary raises! These text messages exchanged were in a few minutes by a manager and […]

Want a nice career? Want to be a leader? Then you need to learn to reprimand. How? There are different styles. There’s the shouted reprimand, the whispered one, which ends with a slow exhale from the nose (“remember that I have an infallible memory …”), the one that starts with good intentions (“I have to […]

I’ve been working as a consultant for 10 years now, and I think I have gained quite some experience on how (especially small and medium-sized) organizations and employees deal with business management. To plan or not to plan a budget? And what about objectives? Should we assign them, especially to the sales force, or is […]