The High Cost of Conflict
If the total cost of conflict in the workplace appeared as a line item on a balance sheet, the size of the expense might surprise you. While it’s relatively easy to quantify costs associated with employee turnover, mistakes, missed deadlines, delivery problems, etc., what about costs associated with increased demands on managers’ time and energy, loss of market share due to distraction or missed opportunities, a tarnished image in the marketplace caused by inattentiveness to the needs of customers?
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Why Networking is Not Working
A fundamentally new way of thinking about building professional relationships is urgently needed. For both practical and spiritual reasons, we need to replace networking with community-building and transform this short-term, narrowly-targeted—and at best modestly successful—business activity into a way of life that will result in a solid infrastructure which will provide safety and support throughout our professional lives.
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The Black Hole of Employee Retention Policy
Today’s businesses find themselves having to do more with less while depending on a workforce that is highly mobile. When a “star performer,” the sort of talented, dedicated employee no company can afford to be without, decides to move on, the reason may not always be what you think. Often it is not ambition but unspoken issues that result in the loss of the brightest and best. But one company has been able to hold on to a key employee by utilizing a new retention tool.
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Is It Business or Personal?
Problems arise when business owners allow the line between personal and professional issues to become blurred. When entrepreneurs reserve special treatment for “difficult” customers, or act contrary to stated business policy, or delay communication with clients out of fear of their response, it’s a good sign that they are in personal, not business, territory.
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