Here are this week’s links to a few good stories we found and selected. We feel they might add valuable insights and perspectives for small to midsize businesses.
I remember a business owner telling me years ago about her hiring theory for customer service positions.
She told me that rather than look for people who knew their product, she looked for nice people who were willing to learn. “You can’t teach nice,” she reasoned. Michelle M. Smith, in her article 6 Critical Factors for Effective Strategic Leadership, speaks to similar logic for leaders. It is more about being a leader first. Makes sense to me.
Where does employee motivation come from?
In an American Express Open Forum post titled How Busy Executives Inspire and Motivate Employees, Rodika Tollefson writes “No matter how personally productive you are on a daily basis, you can’t advance your company’s goals if your employees aren’t inspired to do the same. As a business leader, your job is to motivate them.” To me, it all comes down to connecting with your employees and creating a culture of trust.
What does a reversal of judicial decision mean for employees?
Lastly, in an August 1, 2017, blog post, I reported that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) found that an employee could bring a claim for disability discrimination and failure to accommodate. Since then, the SJC reversed their decision and sent it back to a lower court. What does this mean for Bay State employers? Perhaps a marijuana use policy might be a good idea—so says Mark Tarallo in his article High Time for Massachusetts Employers to Consider a Marijuana Use Policy.
