More and more leaders are getting the message: in order to be effective, you must have regular 1:1 meetings with each of your direct reports. Managers and employees rely on those 1:1 meetings to stay on…
Attracting, recruiting, and retaining the best talent is one of the biggest challenges facing organizations today. For employers of all sizes, in every industry, it is getting harder to get the great candidates they need to…
Nobody likes confrontations, especially when it’s a confrontation with an employee you manage. Difficult conversations only seem to make things worse, resulting in hurt feelings or maybe even broken trust. Sometimes, if a resolution can’t be…
If an employee doesn’t get “enough” work done—they need to increase productivity—then there are only three logical possibilities: that employee needs to work either more, faster, or both. Simple, right? Just keep that employee in their…
Leaders in organizations of every shape and size can probably list a number of ways their businesses could improve. Employees do their jobs the wrong way. There is too much firefighting and not enough work getting…
It’s difficult enough being the new manager. But it’s twice as hard when everybody is new to you and to each other. You haven’t met each other yet. You may not have had any say in…
by Alexandra Levit Millennials have captured the global workforce’s imagination. And Millennials are important, of course, as they are our current and rising leaders. But what about Generation Z, born 1996-2012? This year, the oldest Gen…
When we brought in four young interns this summer at RainmakerThinking we realized we had a great opportunity to have Gen Zers interview their peers. We’ve been studying young employees since our founding in 1993, when…
When it comes to being an employer with a strong reputation for training and development, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you can successfully build a culture of learning on…
Many managers tell me, “I’m not a natural leader. I’m a _____.” You fill in the blank: accountant, engineer, doctor. They say, “I don’t really enjoy managing. It involves a lot of difficult conversations.” What these…
