Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

Praise Matters

In late December 2006, and early January 2007, I did a series of “great leader” posts.  Two of the 10 suggestions I had for becoming a great leader are:

• Lead by providing the people they lead with regular and timely feedback.
• Lead by rewarding, not punishing, good performance.

Yesterday, I was reading Kevin Eikenberry’s newsletter.  Kevin had an article entitled “Praise Matters”.  Kevin suggests that “there are typically two types of feedback that you could provide on performance at anytime. Constructive feedback (sometimes called criticism) and positive feedback (which I will call praise).”

He goes on to discuss the importance of praise in providing positive feedback.  You can find the article here.  Check it out.  Kevin makes some great, common sense points about praise – an often overlooked tool in a leader’s toolkit.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Creating an Engaged and Committed Workforce

Effective leaders do a good job of engaging the people they lead.  In my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I argue that committed, engaged employees are a critical success component.  Leaders are in the best position to build a committed and engaged workforce.

Rich Illingworth is a friend, client and leader who I admire.  Mr. Illingworth is the Vice President Human Resources for the Global Manufacturing Division of Pfizer Inc.  Recently, he published a letter to the leaders of the thousands of people in his organization on the importance of engagement...

Performance Appraisal Sucess: An Up Close and Personal Job

Leadership success is an up front and personal, face to face process.  I came across an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that seems to take an opposing view on leadership success.

The opposite success view was in an article by Michael Totty in the Business Solutions Column, and entitled The Dreaded Performance Review.  The article began, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a computer program that could remove some of the hassle of the annual employee performance review?...This kind of help is a lot closer than many managers realize.”

In my opinion, this type of software will not result in performance evaluation success; just the opposite in fact...

Motivating Mediocre Performers

I subscribe to Kevin Eikenberry’s Power Quotes Plus.  I love the quotes and the provocative questions that accompany them that Kevin asks.  I also get Kevin’s newsletter.  The other day, I found a great article written by Kevin entitled I Just Wish they'd . . . Seven Keys to Helping Mediocre Performers. 

I’d like to share it here…

Leadership Tips for Building Commitment

The November 2006 issue of The Motivational Manager has an interesting article entitled Do You Have What It Takes to be a Great Leader?  It was adapted from an article on high performance leadership by Brian Ward on the Affinity Consulting web site.

According to Mr. Ward, great leaders possess the following four characteristics.

• Courage:  Business leaders will be challenged by competitors from without and within, by the changing fortunes of business and government and by unexpected adversity.  Great leaders stand by their convictions when they are challenged.  Leadership Tip: Have the courage to admit your mistakes, but hold on to your values.
• Focus: Great leaders have vision.  They are capable of being flexible, but remain focused on their goals.  Leadership Tip: Help people deal with short term distractions, while staying true to the long term mission.
• Authenticity: With great leaders, what you see is what you get.  People can depend on them to remain true to who they are.  They’re not manipulative, and they don’t hide their agendas behind a carefully created public mask.  Leadership Tip: Let people see the real you.
• Empathy: Great leaders treat others with dignity.  They put themselves in others’ shoes in order to gain consensus and support.  Leadership Tip: Create a feeling of inclusiveness among the people you lead.

This is some great, common sense advice.  But, like most common sense advice, it takes energy and effort to put it to work.  However, if you put in the time and expend the energy and effort, you’ll see great results.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more leadership common sense.  Check out my other blog www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Creating a Loyal Workforce

Committed and engaged employees is one of the secrets in my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  The other day, I read an excellent book on commitment entitled Lessons in Loyalty: How Southwest Airlines Does It – An Insider’s View.  The author is Lorraine Grubbs-West, a former senior executive with Southwest Airlines, and CEO of a consulting company called Lessons in Loyalty.

Ms. Grubbs-West identifies nine lessons in loyalty that can help build commitment in any organization…

Serious Sign of Commitment

I was speaking with my friend, Charles Dugan, the other day.  Charlie is VP International Trade Finance for a large rapidly growing bank with a great retail banking franchise.  One of their mantras is “no stupid bank rules”.  This bank is so committed to retail banking, and breaking the rules of traditional retail banking that they call their bank branches “stores”.  They call themselves “America’s Most Convenient Bank”.  Their e mail addresses are “@yesbank.com”.  They are open seven days a week.  They even have a “fan mail” tab on their web site – how many banks do you know who can do that?

But that’s not what I want to discuss here.

Charlie told me the story of the experience one of his friends had when she went to open an account at one of the branches – no, I mean stores.  As she was speaking to the woman who was assisting her, she mentioned that she has a friend (Charlie) who also works for the bank.  She mentioned that Charlie has been working there about a year.  When she said this, the woman helping her said “I just had my one year anniversary too.  I love working here.  I celebrated my anniversary by getting a tattoo of the bank’s logo”.

I’m not a tattoo guy, but I thought “this bank is on to something here”.  Committed and engaged employees is one of the secrets in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations. I don’t know about you, but getting a tattoo of your company’s logo takes commitment to a whole new level.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blogs: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be; and www.CommonSenseDay.com to learn more about Use Your Common Sense Day -- November 4, and to read stories of common sense in action.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Panda Express Builds a Chinese Fast Food Dynasty With Committed and Engaged Employees

It seems that I’ve preoccupied with fast food lately.  I’ve done two posts on Chipotle Mexican Grills.  This one is about Panda Express, Chinese fast food.

I read a USA Today article about Panda Express on Monday.  It caught my eye, because I see Panda Express stores in airports and often patronize them when I’m traveling.  I find the food to be consistently good…

How to Build a Committed, Engaged Workforce

Committed, engaged employees are one of the secrets I discuss in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations. 

The September, 2006 issue of Executive Leadership has a front page article entitled Why Do They Stay?  The article highlights the top 18 reasons employees stay loyal to their employers…

Match Your Medium to Your Message

I came across some great advice in the One Minute Ideas sections of the August 2006 issue of The Motivational Manager.  The article was entitled Choose the best medium for you message.

Choose the Best Medium for Your Message

Use e mail when:

• You need to share information that requires no response.
• You’re exchanging simple information that requires little explanation.
• You need to forward information to a large group of people.
• You need to maintain a written record of the communication.

Use the telephone when:

• You need to explain something in some detail.
• You need to have a discussion with several people who are in several different locations.
• You need to get feedback on the topic of discussion.

Meet face to face when:

• You need to discuss sensitive or confidential information.
• You need to explain controversial issues.
• You are concerned about miscommunication.

These are all common sense ideas – and they are often overlooked.  I’ve seen people sit in an office and have a discussion via e mail with the person in the next office – not good. 

Use these ideas as guidelines and you’ll do a better job of communicating with the people who work with and for you.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more leadership common sense.  Check out my other blog www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.