Leadership Tips

Hiring

	Hiring mistakes you may not realize you're making HR managers have to be fair and objective, and put aside any assumptions, stereotypes, and prejudices when going through the hiring process. But alas, we are human. We can be charmed by a charismatic job candidate, or completely dismiss someone whose interviewing skills are unpolished. Here is an informative "cheat-sheet" on how to sidestep the most common interview errors.
	Types of pre-employment tests When you are able to ask people the right questions, you can receive amazing insight into their thoughts, feelings, attitude, and behavior - insight that standard hiring procedures, like interview questions and reference-checking, are not able to access easily. Here is a quick, easy-to-understand guide on the type of assessments that are out there.
	What pre-employment tests can do for you... and what they can't do Using personality and job fit assessments can be really useful when trying to find the right employee for your company. They're easy to administer, objective, and insightful. Like all hiring tools though, they have their advantages and disadvantages. This is why the recruitment process needs to incorporate a multi-faceted approach.

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Employee Development

	Bridging the gap analysis Whether you're assessing a job candidate's potential or want to optimize the performance of your existing staff, the next step (after assigning psychometric tests and reviewing test results) is to conduct a Gap Analysis. Here are a few tips on how to optimize a new hire's performance by bridging the gap between their skills and your company's needs.
	When You Don't Have a Picasso or da Vinci on Staff - Developing Creativity in Employees Creativity is one of the least understood areas of human ability. Our ideas about our creative selves are too frequently discouraged in our early years by others whose ability to judge this matter should be questionable at best. To nurture creativity in employees, it's important to uncover if there are any psychological obstacles that can be snuffing their creative fire.
	The Emotionally Intelligent Employee - Why Emotional Smarts Can Matter More Than IQ Most of us are familiar with the concept of IQ, but what about EIQ? Emotional Intelligence isn't just a matter of how well someone controls his or her emotions. It's the capacity to be self-aware, to resolve conflict effectively, to be resilient in the face of difficulty, and to deal with people in a socially-insightful way.

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Leadership Development

The Managerial Jigsaw - Finding the Right Piece to Fit Your Company's Puzzle One of the most difficult positions to fill in a company is, arguably, a managerial one. It has to be filled by someone who can wear a lot of different hats - coach, cheerleader, leader, innovator, visionary, etc. Finding a manager who possesses the right set of competencies is important, but so is the type of organizational atmosphere and circumstances you're hiring for.

The Ultimate Leaders: PsychTests Releases Study on Leadership Qualities That Differentiate the Best from the Rest It's important for companies to recognize that management and leadership are distinct, and that in order to bring out the best in employees, a person must have the business know-how of a manager but the finesse of a leader. Good leaders are in a class of their own with a very distinct personality profile.

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Motivation

	Do Your Employees Spell Team with M-E? Reasons Why Teamwork Isn't Always a Pleasant Experience Teamwork is the foundation of success for many companies. Creative ideas are more easily generated, large workloads can be shared, and it's always great to have others to turn to for help. For many people though, teamwork rarely works like a well-oiled machine - more likely, they see it as a rusty set of gears that creak and squeak at each other.
	Work Motivators - When Money and Coffee are not Enough Everyone holds different values in regards to work and needs different things in their job to feel satisfied and fulfilled. Motivation is at the heart of every productive employee, and the missing link in those who are not living up to their full potential. If managers truly want to get the best out of their workers, they need to start viewing motivation as a case-by-case issue.
	Performance Evaluations Don't Need to Taste Like Brussels Sprouts - Making Reviews an Appealing Experience Giving evaluations, especially where there's some negative feedback involved, is like a ripping a band-aid - you just want to get it over with, and suffer as little pain as possible. Here are some tips on how to ensure that the performance appraisal process of your company is a productive one.

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Employee Well-being

	The Stress Response: Fight, flight, freeze, or have gas Much like activating a complex computer program, your body's response to stress sets multiple functions into motion. All of these sensations are a result of not one, not two, but three over-arching stress responses in your body. These include your physiological response, emotional response, and cognitive response. So if you feel like a mess when under stress, there are three highly complex reasons why!
	Quick tension-busters: Your stress first aid kit We may not see the lesson when we're in the midst of experiencing something stressful, but when we look back, we can see the benefits of going through the hardship - if only just to learn how to avoid going through it again. Check out our stress relief go-to guide, with useful tips and exercises.
	Misconceptions that result in unnecessary stress As a manager, you probably have an image in mind of your ideal employee. Someone who is hard-working, dedicated, not opposed to putting in extra hours, and who follows orders. The problem is that there are some traits and skills that can appear to be a strength, but are actually a liability, resulting in a lot of stress for the employee.

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