Business Book Giveaway for You

Over on The Engaging Brand there is a chance to win a leadership book from Anna's extensive library!

All she wants you to do is to leave a comment suggesting a party game for the holiday season for leaders to play with their teams. This follows on from the post "What bad leaders might play at the office party..." Here are some of her suggestions

Pass the Message (Parcel) - Don't communicate directly, just pass on a message and let people pass on what they think they have heard!
Hide and Seek - Say you are a people person but hide in your office.
Pin the Tail on your Objectives - Give a general idea and then let people fumble about in the dark trying to work out what is expected of them.
Musical Chairs - Set a goal then keep taking resources away until there are none left
Charades - Say one thing and do another!

Have you got some ideas, have you some positive ideas as well as tongue in cheek ones if so pop over and see if you can win a book too!

Podcasts to Inspire the Mind

Podcasting is a fantastic tool and one which I had known about earlier. I have learned so much from listening to some of the great shows out there. Here is my pick of podcasts but feel free to add more

The Engaging Brand (affiliate to me, but still think it is a great listen)

Manager Tools

Harvard Business Review

Daily Thoughts on Business

Motivation on the Run

The great thing is that these are "free resources". Why not look through these as part of your development ideas for your talented team?

Great post on how to change the world

Here is a great post on the top ten phrases to repeat each morning as a manager - at The Engaging Brand. After smiling, sit down and tick HONESTLY which ones you need to repeat each morning.

Learning from the New Generation

On The Engaging Brand, yesterday I published an interview with Billy Smith (Show 39) about how the new generation feel about work and life.

I think we can learn from our children, the younger people at work. Yes, we have the experience but they also have fresh ideas, see things that we don't see. It reminded me of a quote

"Always listen to the young monks: they know all the things that you have forgotten" St Benedict

We can learn about the new technologies but also creativity. When we were younger we were more creative, somehow along the way it gets drained from us. So don't ignore the new starters - listen to what they have to say. Don't ignore because you tried it 5 years ago and it failed. It might be that it will work now.

How to be brilliant

Tom Watson, the IBM boss was asked "How long does it take to become excellent?" The answer came "A minute, think"

Speed will be our huge legacy of our age, and we have to be careful that speed does not detract from our thinking ability. If you don't put some time aside for thinking, you will never find time for it.

Two things to do

1. Subscribe to

Don't forget those loyal employees

A study done by Sirota Consulting showed that employee engagement declines after only 6 months of being employed. Although after 10 years service it recovers it never returns to the level it was....

Lesson for me is that we all rush to "engage" people when they join, but remember it is as important if not more important to "re-engage" your existing employees. Once you start taking them for granted you risk their loss, the loss of talent and also the loss of that invaluable experience.

So what are you doing to re-engage people on a regular basis? If you need help then visit our site

Loyalty vs Contribution

When you are reviewing your team - remember one thing. Loyalty is fantastic and should be treasured but and it is a big but - contribution is key.
Don't let loyalty mask your view of the contribution that the person is making. Your role is to ensure that the loyalty is turned into performance - for me that is engagement.
Check out The Engaging Brand podcast and their blog for help if you feel you need ideas of how to achieve Engagement - well worth checking out.