Memos to Managers

Help employees connect with their work & workplace

10/26/2017

Gallup has found that just a third of U.S. employees are fully engaged in their jobs. At the other end, 16% of workers are “actively disengaged” in their work.

Meet the new boss: How to approach an existing team

09/09/2017

Whether you’re managing a new team as a result of a promotion, job change or an organizational restructure, stepping in to lead a pre-existing team—and the established dynamics, group norms and expectations they tend to possess—demands a thoughtful management strategy. Here are some tips on how to manage a new staff.

The 4 essential skills of a master manager

09/07/2017

Studies of top managers have found it’s hard to be an effective team leader without having some mastery of these skill sets.

Accommodating religion: What managers need to know

08/12/2017

Say an applicant tells you she wouldn’t be able to work Friday nights due to her religion. Or an employee begins wearing a headscarf to the office. How would you respond? The increasing religious diversity in the workforce is causing more managers to make legal mistakes.

How to confront mistake-prone employees

06/29/2017

It’s never easy for managers to confront an employee whose performance is slipping or who has begun making more mistakes. Here are some key rules of engagement.

Just do it … or just delegate it?

06/22/2017

“If you want something done right, you’d better do it yourself.” Managers who successfully used this philosophy to work their way up the career ladder may find it counterintuitive to let go of the reins and start delegating tasks to subordinates.

Quiz: How to track employee performance and behavior

03/23/2017

Not only will good documentation help you provide more direct feedback to employees, your copious records could help save the organization in case of an employee’s lawsuit.

8 ways to say ‘No’ to employees without damaging morale

01/29/2017

As a supervisor, you have many opportunities to affirm the ideas and actions of your employees. But sometimes, you need to say “no.” The challenge is to learn to say “no” without losing the goodwill and enthusiasm of your employees.

A 7-step survival guide for first-time managers

12/22/2016

Here is a seven-point guide to help rookie bosses quickly get control of the job, demonstrate competence and establish authority with a minimum of frustration.

Tears, fears & cheers: How did your workplace handle the post-election fallout?

11/18/2016

The American workplace has had 10 days to absorb the most surprising presidential election in our lifetimes. Since then, the full range of human emotion, from grief to glee, has played out in offices, shops and warehouses—a volatile mix that caused arguments and some violence among co-workers. Here are four things that any supervisor or HR professional should remember when facing a highly charged emotional issue in the workplace …