Strategic Direction Blog

Read this today and thought it was helpful. I agree with the author - these are all over used terms so do your best to stay away!

Here are the worst 10 boilerplate phrases –

* Results-oriented professional
* Cross-functional teams
* More than [x] years of progressively responsible experience
* Superior (or excellent) communication skills
* Strong work ethic
* Met or exceeded expectations
* Proven track record of success
* Works well with all levels of staff
* Team player
* Bottom-line orientation

If you are faced with having to downsize, help your team land on their feet. Here are a few things you can do to show your employees you care and have a personal interest in their future:

1. Invest in material to assist with resume/CV writing. This can be in the form of workshops, software or even books.

2. Use internal or external talent to assist with creating formats for resumes and cover letters.

3. If your company has a strict policy against providing references rethink this at least temporarily in order to give the employee the added edge duing the interview process.

Remember employees are people first and they will appreciate your added effort.

I encourage all of my clients to develop and promote from within whenever possible. By promoting from within you get a known entity with a proven track record. In addition, you also indirectly help minimize turn over.

How you ask? By promoting from within you show the team they can realize their career growth by remaining with the company. No need to look elsewhere if you have management ambitions, they can be achieved right where they are at. If however you don’t take the time to develop your team or offer growth opportunities, you run the risk members of your team will leave for another opportunity or worse yet, a competitor.

A word of caution however - do not always assume your top sales representative(s) will make the best manager(s). In many cases top sales people find it difficult to get away from the “me, me, me” mentality and can’t always make decisions that are best for others or the organization.

The good news is this issue can typically be flushed out through cautious interviewing - Yes, you should make even your internal candidates interview. This is a good practice for any organization regardless of size or industry.