Guest Post by Lisa Kosak

Note from Jennifer: I met Lisa at a GRAPE networking event and have enjoyed getting to know her. Lisa has years of “in the trenches” management experience and a true passion for employee engagement, so I invited her to share her leadership thoughts with you. Here, she shares the challenges and benefits of joining a new team as a sales leader.

Starting a new job in a leadership role is always challenging and let’s face it – it can be downright intimidating!  You are the new kid on the block and you need to learn the culture, people, and inner workings of the company – quick!

It’s even more daunting when you’re facing a team of unmotivated or “skill challenged” team members. As a sales and marketing manager transitioning into a new team leadership role, I have found myself in this situation countless times. I needed to connect with the team, earn their trust and respect, and motivate them to produce results. My best strategy for acclimating quickly? Hands down, I have found that empowering employees effectively accomplishes all of these goals and the best part? It’s a win – win ...

We leadership bloggers love to talk about trust and transparency. Karin Hurt of the Let’s Grow Leaders blog has selected these intertwining topics to feature for her May Frontline Festival. It’s a fantastic compilation from over twenty active leadership bloggers. Topics include trusting your team, trusting yourself (HUGELY important, and often overlooked), how to building [...]

Leaders Open Doors is a quick read, but one that will definitely stir your thinking. See the three reasons why I think you’ll want to put this book into your business library: Drat You Tube! No, I don’t sing the book review, this is just the dorky screen shot that uploaded.     Other business [...]

Guest Post by Kathryn Weber

In today’s right sized, merged and acquired workplaces, not to mention dismal job outlook reports in the news, it’s hard to find much to be excited or positive about in the office. It’s put a lot of people on edge – and that edge shows up in our work relationships. From snippy coworkers to overbearing bosses, to the downers that pull everyone into a depressing funk or the side-winders who slink in to hiss out some unverified piece of gossip, it’s all we can do to remain calm and carry on.

But there’s something you can do to create better workplace relationships and harmony in the office, and that something is feng shui. It might not be the first thing that comes to your mind for improving your workplace relationships, but it’s an indirect way to create a subtle goodwill without the fat and calories of bringing in doughnuts every day.

Create the feeling

One of the most potent ways to affect your workplace colleagues is to create the kind of environment you most want to work in. That means your office or cubicle should be relaxing, ...

Food for Thought: Optimism is a choice – you can choose to see donuts or holes. Look around you – work to see if you can find a baker’s dozen of donuts today.