At first, the management team was understanding. While Wilfred Brown, president of Glacier Metals, expressed an interest in teamwork, perhaps it would take some time for the evidence of...

From the Ask Tom mailbag: Question: I am the manager of a team of project managers and several administrative-type "bargained" folks. I have been working with this team for 4 years, and we added another administrative person one year ago. There is...

Victoria was stumped. She had always thought the only way to motivate people was to create a bonus or incentive program. "So, if a bonus is off the table," I started, "what could you create as a positive consequence?" "I suppose, if I am around and...

Anniversaries. Don't you love 'em? Management Skills Blog just celebrated five years of publishing. Captured an ice-cold Guinness with a clover leaf in the foam. Our Next Project For five years, we have been working with business owners and...

"Maybe, I will have to give them some more training. That might perk them up," Victoria replied. "The J-curve says that productivity on anything new will decline before it gets better, but more training might be the ticket." "And what else?" I...

Victoria looked a little down. "Why the long face?" I asked. "Ugh," she replied. "I think I just entered the J-curve. We had to let two more people go last week, I had to reassign some of their work to other people. Empowerment, you know the...