Performance reviews: to ditch or to keep?
Over the past several months, I’ve seen tons of articles come across my desk about companies ditching the annual performance review. GE is the big one. Instead of a formal review process where they used to simply hack off the bottom 10% of performers (talk about archaic and heartless!), they …
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Leading around the world
Several years ago, I had direct reports in Nepal, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, Haiti and Nicaragua. While I was excited at the prospect of visiting each of them throughout the year and experiencing their countries, I was at first nervous about building a relationship. I would spend maybe three weeks, tops, …
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Sunshine in February
So is February the month of love for you, filled with pink and red hearts, romantic dinners and red roses? Or is February the month that winter sets into your bones and you are desperately craving a dose of sunshine? For me it’s the latter. Not that I don’t adore …
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Livin’ the dream as a nonprofit CFO
When I was a child I played Office. I had an old monitor, a keyboard, a rotary desk phone and reams upon reams of paper. I could hole myself up in my room for hours, typing away, jotting notes on paper and creating complex alphabetized filing systems. I didn’t know …
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Meetings: From Ineffective to Efficient
Ah meetings. Aside from emails, they are probably the bane of any 9-to-5’ers existence. At the beginning of a new job, meetings are a great way to get to know your colleagues and take copious pages of notes to help you learn the ropes, not to mention they fill that …
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Developing a high-functioning team
We all know too well the frustration and despair that comes with trying to lead a team that just doesn’t jive well together. People’s motivation, dedication and skill-sets vary, they’re not on board with your strategic vision for the department, or they just flat-out don’t like each other. As the …
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