Have you heard? Last week, three Boston area Hyatt hotels fired 98 housekeepers and replaced them with out-of-state (read: less expensive) workers. The worst part? They tricked them into training their own replacements.
Wow!
The public backlash against this has come from a number of unlikely sources:

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has talked to the Hyatt CEO.
Taxi drivers have threatened to boycott the hotels.
Massachusetts Teachers Association President Anne Wass has even written a letter to corporate, imploring Hyatt to re-think their position. Wass’ letter makes a great point about the ridiculous “random acts of generosity,” that gives a random guest something nice when …read more

What makes you happy?
What makes you REALLY happy?
So happy, that you’ll jump for joy?

Your company?
Your job?
Your team?
Your friends?
Your family?
Today, focus on what’s making YOU jump for joy!
If it’s a person…let them know.
Write a thank you note, make a phone call, or bake them some cookies.
If it’s a place…spend some time there.
Go to where you can jump for joy.
You don’t have to spend all day jumping for joy.
But life is too short not to jump for joy every once in a while.
Make TODAY the day you jump for joy.
Jump for Joy photo credit to bingbing

An anonymous commenter named “two” posted an interesting comment on the article Motivating the Unmotivated:
“Oh, and contrary to popular belief, not everyone wants to be a manager. Many of the top technical people I know never, ever want to have to handle time sheets, biannual reviews, approve expense reports, or hire and fire the staff. The smart ones realize that that is not their core competency and having that burden will reduce their effectiveness. Good managers will realize that too and have a strategy to retain them for a long time.”

I’m not sure who’s “popular belief” two is referring …read more

I read a recent post that explained how to take your career from good to great by Rick Smith, author of a book I’m reading called The Leap! This book was originally shared with me a few months ago by Jodee Bock who got the book in early form, and said “Phil, you have to read this book!”
So what did I do?
I forgot about the book. Until I got a copy in the mail. :)
And then I remembered the conversation with Jodee from a few months back…and I decided to check out the author’s site before I dove …read more

Let me begin by saying I don’t believe you can motivate people, at least not for lasting results. You may be able to motivate them to do something in their best interests for a short period of time, but as soon as the incentive you offered goes away, so does the motivation.
That being said, we had some great suggestions offered on what to do with the unmotivated that I thought I should weigh in with some of my opinion. My opinions are based on my years of management and may or may not work with your employees (see previous paragraph …read more

One of the most effective ways to look at your team and yourself is by doing a SWOT analysis.
It’s important to understand all 4 quadrants or you run the risk of missing a key to unlocking your team’s success. What follows are some helpful definitions when you’re looking to do a SWOT analysis.

Strengths: attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Weaknesses: attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieving the objective.
Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the business’s …read more

One of the best things managers and leaders can have is contagious enthusiasm! To me, contagious enthusiasm is defined as optimistic energy that can carry a team or an organization to new heights. If you have contagious enthusiasm, you and your team can achieve great things!
How can you get and share contagious enthusiasm?
 
Smile first. It’s a little thing, and it works. If you smile first, you can release some positive endorphins that can help your brain find better solutions to those challenging problems. 
Believe in the power of you. You can achieve more than you think, more than you know, and more than you’ve …read more

Authenticity.
It’s the word I hear most often used when folks ask how to be a better <insert position here>. But what does that mean?
According to http://dictionary.com, Authenticity is defined as the quality of being authentic; genuineness.
That’s not very helpful.

Didn’t anyone every tell you that definitions don’t work if you use the root of the word in the definition.
So let’s break it down a little more.
Authentic is defined as not false or copied; genuine; real: an authentic antique.
That’s a little better, though I think the synonyms help us understand the word even more:

Credible
Faithful
True
Trustworthy

But I find myself asking …read more

It’s been almost 2 years since I started writing at Slacker Manager and nearly 6 years as a manager in my current role at a financial services company. I thought it about time I share with you why I do what I do.
Why I write Slacker Manager
I write Slacker Manager because I want to share my struggles, my joys, my pains, my successes, and my passion with you, in hopes it will help you be a better manager, realize management is your calling, or realize management is definitely NOT your calling.
I keep writing Slacker Manager because I have more to …read more

As a manager, it’s critical that you look back at your month and see what went well, what needs improvement, and what needs more of your attention. As a writer, it’s important that I look back and see the same things.
So here is my month in review for this site.
What went well:

Interviewed Raj Setty (part 1 and part 2)
Interviewed Gerry Sindell (part 1 and part 2)
Interviewed Erika Andersen

What needs work:

Need to find a better way to moderate comments and trackbacks so I can
Re-engage with my commenters and folks who continue the conversation (thank you for hanging with me)
Need to …read more