Training Day Blog

The trick is teaching employees to be resilient and resourceful enough to find the one or two things they can learn from the “jerks” in their work lives—whether colleagues, managers, or customers—and then use those things to get the jerk to become less of a jerk.

A day devoted to bringing a friend to the office could be beneficial for your organization; your organization’s community; and an individual in need of a new, or more fulfilling, job.

In sales training, it’s just as important to train those managing the salespeople as it is to train the salespeople themselves. It’s the manager who is responsible for setting goals, providing training and job-support resources, and then holding the salespeople accountable for their performance.

Instead of racking your brain for ways to create challenges for employees, leadership development and manager training should focus on just the opposite—“work smarter, not harder” strategies.

Organizations should consider encouraging emotional accessibility, and teaching employees how to channel those emotions into creating better work.

An under-qualified new hire means one lucky person has been given a huge break. Be sure that break doesn’t break your other employees.

I don’t know if it’s being organized, or being a neurotic pessimist, but I subscribe to the philosophy, “Plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

A culture that values question asking from the top down and the bottom up is a culture that values listening.

A few years ago, Virgin Group instituted a Digital Detox: For two hours every Wednesday morning, all e-mails were shut down. The move was designed to encourage employees to step away from the desk and spend more time communicating with colleagues in person.

When there is nothing substantial to be critical of, bosses prone to toxicity become confused about how to assert their authority.