In his June blog article Kelly Nichols discussed the importance of staff retention to avoid the high cost of replacing key talent. Today, let’s focus on a couple of aspects that every employee seeks from management, whether they know it or not. Do these two things well, and you’ll have a head start on avoiding the catch
“I have some bad news to share”.
In the consulting business I have worked for only two organizations and yet a number of different supervisors. Most were fine managers, but a few were terrific leaders. In your mind you are probably already mentally categorizing the people you have worked for into camps of those who were managers versus those who were leaders.
Today I’d like to share a couple of gems two leaders I have had the privilege to work for shared with me. One is new, and the other is familiar but with a twist.
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Pendulums make for pretty good employment cycle analogies because they both have a recognizable arc, apex, and return path. Regardless the size, pendulums typically aren’t dangerous unless you turn your back on them. That’s when you don’t see “it” coming until…..Wwhhhaaack!
Getting caught flat-footed because your top candidate accepts a role elsewhere (or worse, a better offer from one of your competitors) can be sobering, leaving you with quite a headache.
If you are a gadget geek like me, this article will be right up your alley.
This weekend I picked up a gadget called the “Nest”. Little did I know at the time that it would find its way into my article this week.
Nest is a learning thermostat for your home HVAC that identifies your heating and cooling patterns and habits and “learns” to program itself. I thought this would be a neat gadget to have since it would save me money on my heating and cooling bills. But then I discovered all of the OTHER gadgets that Nest interfaces with.
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Two Quick Thoughts
The Issue
A popular air freshener company is moving lots of product these days by asking if we have become “Noseblind”. Noseblindness is the phenomenon where humans become accustomed to the odors around us until we no longer recognize them, while our guests are overwhelmed by the cat’s litter box or the fish we cooked for dinner last night.
Since none of us want to offend the sensibilities of those who visit our homes and offices, we purchase the latest plug in fragrance or aerosol freshener out of fear that others will detect the offensive odors to which we have become immune. After all, who has the time to constantly search for things we no longer realize exist?
The Application
Today, we live in a world where data has become nearly as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. And, while it is easy to become overloaded and succumb to paralysis by analysis from every possible data point available, have we become equally “Data Blind” to the needs of our data integration users and stakeholders?
