Jean's Article Inventory

• 12 Signals of a Workplace Coping Crisis
  "Leading effectively means giving feedback to your team members when they are having trouble coping. To do your job as a coping coach and mentor, you can't afford to ignore the signals they may be sending."
• A Teenager's Lionhearted Leadership
  "Though Andy did not win the election, he won something much more valuable that evening."
• American Samoa, Tuna and Concentration of Risk
  "Your company signs up for similar volatility if you depend too heavily on one customer, one product line or even one distribution channel."
• Apple and Adobe: Not “Working Together Better”
  "If you haven't yet moved into a 21st century understanding of how your customers want to interact with your product, you're risking your business even if you currently lead the market."
• Assumed Agreement: Why Speaking Up Immediately Matters
  "As a leader your belief system can influence others. Consider all sides of the issue and make your choice - then prepare to defend it when necessary."
• Banishing Barney Fife Syndrome
  "He never said in a single sentence what could be stretched to three or more paragraphs."
• Beyond 80/20:Small Ideas Combine to Reduce Business E. coli
  "20% of your causes lead to 80% of your problems; in other words, focus on the big stuff first."
• BP Franchisees: What They Should Have Known About Risk
  "You can't be a great leader if you do not understand the environment in which you operate."
• Career Safety
  "No matter what your job function, industry or years of service, career hazards may hide nearby."
• Compatibility NOT Guaranteed
  "By investigating our organizations' cultures and rediscovering our own personal values and beliefs, we set a course for achieving not just compatibility but synergy."
• Competent to Collaborate: Your 10 Point Inspection
  "Just like your car's systems work together, your work group harnesses individual skills, motivation and effort to a create results that are greater than the sum of its parts."
• Crisis Management: Are You Causing Your People to Freak Out?
  "Fear as a motivation technique is short-lived at best."
• Custodial Care of Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset
  "For years companies have trumpeted that " our employees are our most valuable asset." If that is true, what should you be doing as a manager (or custodian) of that asset?"
• Don’t Let Budgeting Glitches Become “Gotchas”
  "Even if you are not in charge of an entire division, understanding the concept of cross-subsidization will make you more budget-savvy."
• Four Types of People Who Can’t Hear Feedback
  "If there is someone in your work group facing something serious in personal or professional life, they might be having trouble coping. Adding your constructive feedback to the mix could have unfavorable results."
• Healthcare Change Communications: Aim and Summarize
  "Your employees don't have time to waste reading sloppy, undecipherable memos; they've got work to do."
• Healthcare Costs to Be Revealed – on Your W-2
  "The real cost of the healthcare benefits you provide will soon be out in the open for your employees to see."
• In the Eye of the Customer
  "Customer service experiences depend on whether what the service provider gives falls below, meets, or exceeds the expectations the service receiver (you) had for each item."
• Investigative Leadership
  "One measure of excellent leaders is the competence of those they leave behind."
• Leading Employees Who Aren’t Coping Well
  "My friend reached out to me, as he had to others. He was using us for emotion-focused coping."
• Managing Interns
  "While many old-timers accept tired old processes because"we've always done it that way," an intern's habitual questioning can lead to out-of-the-box creative thinking for all."
• Ode to the Boll Weevil
  "Research what other "career crops" might grow in the soil of your skills, talents, and experiences."
• Problem-Focused Coping Helps Dominic Get His Day
  "The very worst thing about experiencing a crisis is the possibility that we may not be able to control the outcome of the situation. Nothing takes away our motivation faster than thinking our actions may not make a difference."
• Rivers Run Through It
  "Your task as a leader is to make sure you are on the right river."
• Should You Work with Friends – Part 1
  "When your once-a-month golfing buddy becomes your everyday-in-the-halls coworker you may find you've got too much of a good thing."
• Should You Work with Friends – Part 2
  "If the relationships "compromises the chain of command, results in the appearance of partiality or otherwise undermines good order, discipline, authority or morale" those involved may be punished."
• Should You Work with Friends – Part 3
  "Commit to one another that, even if things do not work out as well as hoped, both of you will refer to one another respectfully and with gratefulness for having explored the opportunity."
• Steep and Difficult Paths
  "As the rough going continued, the group soon decided that maybe this wasn't such a great path to have taken after all."
• The Great Race and Business Measures
  "While cost and revenue measures are certainly part of what you'll follow, you should also track quality, satisfaction and time and/or resource efficiency."
• Top Ten Mistakes Young People Make at Work – Part 1
  "Ah, young people. A breath of fresh air, exuberance, energy . . . and ten very common workplace mistakes."
• Top Ten Mistakes Young People Make at Work – Part 2
  "Younger workers sometimes engage other workers in a haphazard, unpredictable way."
• Trust Me: Here’s Some Feedback
  "To develop a mutually beneficial working relationship requires “deposits” of actions, services or products the other person values."
• Turbo-charged Communication
  "Something this healthcare educator said to me clicked, causing me to replay her words over and over in my head."
• Unintended Consequence: Federal Earmarks Decrease Private Sector Success
  "Each business decision you make has an impact on your organization."
• United Healthcare/Medical Center of Central Georgia: Threat of Change Could Roil Employees
  "If you don't understand the effect of coping skills on motivation and productivity, how can you possibly manage your people effectively?"
• What Could Go Wrong At Burger King – and At Your Company
  "There is the risk of litigation, negative publicity, strikes and/or boycotts which would consume financial resources and divert attention from operations."
• When Beef Prices Soar, Convince People to Eat Chicken
  "Business owners know that you've got to watch input prices like a hawk. But when the price increases are permanent, watching them isn't enough."
• When Superstars Lose Their Motivation
  "While most of your employees will not have the wherewithal to retire at Brett Favre's age, some certainly may have lost the desire to keep playing on your team."
• Why Maintaining Workgroup Boundaries Matters
  "In business, boundaries are simply borders between areas of responsibility."
• You Get What You Measure
  "With a balanced scorecard approach to business measures, you and your management team will always know whether your cup is half empty or half full!"