How many times have you felt subtle disappointment or even anger when someone said, “I told you so”? Yes, because the person who says “I told you so…” gives you the feeling to be sure to have correctly interpreted a particular situation, predicting its development; as you obviously did not. You, of what was happening, […]

It happens fairly often that the boss asks the staff member to execute his instructions without much discussion. But it can also happen that the boss might reprimand the staff member for not stopping him/her from doing something stupid, as it happens in the cartoon strip. Have you ever experienced anything like this? How did […]

As a manager, I can’t say that I was effective in giving feedback; and I discovered I made more than one mistake when designing my training courses focused on the topic. Now I am going to tell you about some mistakes I made; I will talk about the feedback the boss gives to the staff […]

A medium-sized company was facing strong order growth, which needed to be supported by properly skilled staff. The HR director had built up a network of head-hunters with expertise in many different sectors. As far as engineers and project managers were concerned, he used a company he had known for years, the Italian branch of […]

What can we learn from this cartoon? If you decide to reprimand someone you must be aware that the main point is not his/her mistake, but the performance he/she will express on the first occasion. And if, when he has made an error, you turn him into a rag, what can you expect?   If […]

Captain, we’ve been waiting for a landing for over an hour and I have a feeling we’re running out of fuel. Beg your pardon? The fuel, Captain, according to the fuel gauge we have only a few minutes left. Shall I request an emergency landing? A few minutes? Maybe… We’re fallinggggggg! What I have reported […]

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 […]