Jeff, one of my regular clients, came to me to jump-start his team. “Even when I have time to talk with my team face-to-face, they only give me lip service or blank looks,” he said. “I was hoping you could help me stir the pot so we can finish the year with a bang.”

Jeff was a good manager trapped in a labyrinth of accountability. He wasn’t getting the results from his team because they’d gone down the path of least resistance. I suggested that he should:

*  Initiate meaningful dialogue with his team, setting up areas of responsibility, creating smart criteria for specific performance standards.

*  Remember that all members of his team are individuals with motivations as different as their work styles.

* Respect and respond to those differences so his team performs above and beyond expectations.

*  Understand his employees like he understands his customers.

*  Find out what each member of his team truly values.

*  Create a follow-up system to hold his people accountable.

You’ll lose your best team members if you don’t find ways for them to feel successful and accomplished in their positions. The best way to understand what people value is to engage. Talk with your employees, and really listen to what success means to them. 

Does it seem like time slips through your employees’ fingers? When you pass their desks as quitting time draws near and sneak a peek at their work, does it seem like they’ve made little progress since you passed their desks that morning? Kathleen Alessandro, president of the consulting firm Energized Solutions, in Dearborn, Michigan, knows from experience how workday life’s little interruptions can eat away an employee’s time. She suggests these two tips to help your team members get their projects finished, off their desks, and into your in-box.

Unnecessary work meetings can rob you of time you (and others) can be using to actually accomplish things. Sure, communication is important — you need to keep your colleagues in the loop. However, it’s also easy to overdo it. Before you know it, every little thing turns into an occasion for a meeting or conference (possibly with a side of bagels or danish). If the meeting organizers have valuable information for you and your co-workers, that’s fine. But just as often, the meeting ends up being an exercise in aimless chit-chat (to say nothing of overeating) that only drains away valuable time for all concerned. Author Nicole Blades shares six secrets for pruning away unnecessary meetings in Sidestep Pointless Powwows, Part 2 of her January 2009 Women’s Health Magazine article Work Less, Do More. Try the following list of…

Leadership IQ, a Washington, DC-based research and training company, directs one of the largest leadership studies ever conducted.  Their work has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, CBS News, ABC’s 20/20, Fox Business News and many more.  The results in this eye-opening article were compiled after the Leadership I.Q. team surveyed 3,611 workers from 291 business and healthcare organizations. 

New Study: Managers Are Ignoring Their Employees