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Every smart employer knows that results matter more than face time. Judging employees chiefly on the number of hours they log in at work is not only demoralizing but does little for company performance. In fact, sixty-nine percent of employers report that supervisors at their organizations are encouraged to assess employees' performance by what they accomplish and not just by the hours they work. This statistic — from the 2012 National Study of Employers conducted by Families and Work Institute (FWI) — indicates there is movement in the right direction. After all, it's obvious why employers encourage supervisors to focus on results. In this competitive, 24-7 economy stretches across the world's time zones, adhering to the notion that presence equals productivity is simply out of date. But there are two problems: One, employees don't fully buy it. And two, many managers don't really know how to do it. About two in five workers think that if they focus on achie...

While people expect fair pay for their services, we all know that money isn't king. Nevertheless, when it comes to business we all too often act as if it were. We think purely in terms of salaries, bonuses, and people's positions on the org chart. While we pay lip-service to the idea that people may have non-financial motivation for their work — acknowledgement, appreciation, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment and so forth — we spend all our time working out how to incentivize our workforce with financial rewards. What an awful way to think about people! Yes, money and status matter, but it can be inhibiting soul-destroying and morally corrupting for managers when companies place too much emphasis on them At some point, after all, doesn't exaggerated pay feel like a bribe ?  In my experience by far the best way to motivate your employees is to find ways that they can take pride in their skills and their knowledge . When you do this, you very quickly discover tha...

Helping people deal with emotions is a key leadership skill, especially in times of crisis. Your tone may effectively quell negative emotions or promote beneficial emotions, and improve camaraderie, trust, and team performance. But recent research into the field of social regulation shows us that how you support your people can make a real difference. It turns out that caring delivered in an indirect, implicit manner tends to have a greater positive impact than support delivered in a direct, explicit manner. In other words, people get more out of compassion when they don't know they're getting it. (I presented these findings at the recent Neuroleadership Summit held in New York in October; you can view it for free on the Summit website .) Whereas implicit forms of caring unfold relatively automatically, explicit caring involves conscious goals to regulate emotional responses and monitor their effect. So, implicit emotional regulation may include the "chameleon...

What do you see in this picture? Depending on how you look at it, you'll see the silhouette of two faces or a vase. It's a classic illusion that psychologists use to demonstrate that all of us have biases that influence how we interpret events. To some extent we see what we unconsciously want to see. Understanding this kind of perceptual distortion is crucial for getting things done in organizations. Most projects or processes require collaborative work with people who come from other parts of the organization — different functions, levels, locations, or business units — and who see the world differently. If you assume that these people perceive the assignment or challenge in the same way that you do, you'll be severely frustrated or disappointed. In fact, you'll be on much firmer ground if you start with the assumption that each person comes to the table with a different spin on the situation. The first thing to do in any cross-organizational assignment i...

Investing in yourself may be the most profitable investment you ever make. It yields not only future returns, but often a current pay-off as well. The surest way to achieve a better quality life, to be successful, productive, and satisfied is to place a priority on investing in both personal and professional growth. The effort you put into consistently investing in yourself plays a large role in determining the quality of your life now and in the future. Investment options 1. Develop your skills Improving your skills doesn’t always mean investing in higher education, though that’s surely an option, and perhaps a necessary one depending upon your career field. Investing in your knowledge and skills can take many forms. In addition, expanding your level of knowledge and skill isn’t limited to the business arena and doesn’t necessarily need to be formal. There are many “skill investment” avenues. Advance your education -  extra classes, advanced degrees, relevant certificati...

Big data isn't new. A wealth of database information has been lying dormant in companies for years — only now we have the technology to understand it. Using new tools and methods, you can use that information to make better predictions (and decisions) about your business. Here's one way to get started: Imagine a matrix — a spreadsheet, if you will. The rows capture something you know about one interaction. That interaction might be a sale, or some other single activity (often referred to as a "case"). The columns are aspects of that interaction; sticking with the shopping analogy, columns might be how you paid, or at what time of day the sale occurred. These are known as "signals," because they may help predict some future target variable. It might be, for example, what else you might want to purchase, given a current purchase. Depending on what you're measuring, it might look something like this: Your goal is to build this matrix, and hav...

You've gotten feedback from your manager as well as word of rumblings within your team: You're seen as a micromanager who tends to get into the weeds — and stay there. You produce great results but senior management sees you as an operational manager and questions your ability to let go and operate at a strategic level. Wait a minute, you think. Who are they trying to kid? Delegation sounds great on paper, but you're responsible for some major projects, and management expects flawless execution. How can they have it both ways? Managers prone to micromanagement fall prey to several misconceptions about delegating to staff. The first is the assumption that delegation has an on and off switch. That is, that they either delegate totally to all direct reports in all situations or not at all. They fail to assess each subordinate's ability to operate independently and don't put in place the "eyehooks" of implementation — the check-ins, milestones, and metri...