It won’t be long before many of us will be super experts at managing a remote team.  I have had the pleasure and flexibility of working remotely for several years now, and that includes managing a team of marketing professionals for one client along with interacting with my consulting firm team members who are primarily virtual workers. Some advice for effective remote teams can be broken down into two big chunks:  1) what is essential to do with your team no matter where eve

At CSR, we pride ourselves on the work we do for our clients and what we share with them – accountability, best practices, creative ideas, and solutions that drive growth.  And we recognize how much our clients teach us as we work together.  One client in particular has some great approaches to vacation, and we want to let you know about them to help you enjoy your next vacation – REALLY enjoy it. We’ve all probably experienced this scenario:  a vacation is scheduled well in

Team members at CSR are big fans of author Patrick Lencioni.  Last year I read about his Team Effectiveness Exercise at “The Hub.”  You’ve probably been asked to give or receive an evaluation for a 360 evaluation at some point in your career.  It was a popular feedback tool for many years, but it’s not without problems.  Perhaps a consultant was involved, one with little sense of the context in which your comments were made.  The process was long – weeks or even months.  You

MBOs? Should I pull out my scrunchies and legwarmers, too? Okay, MBOs (Management By Objectives) may be a little old school, but they are in the “oldie, but goodie” category. Here’s why: Clarity Creators: I like to use these with W-2s employees – people that are full-time and have a lot of stuff swirling around them.  They really enable the person (and me, as their supervisor) to understand that they have to keep their eyes on a loftier goal beyond just the day to day. Career

At CSR, we’re always looking for cool tools that make teams work more effectively.  One of my colleagues recently led a team effectiveness exercise for a client that was SO much better than the 360 surveys of yesteryear.  And another tool to ensure that business leaders or new managers are highly attuned to their team is the New Manager Assimilation. The New Manager Assimilation takes a page from Fortune 500 companies’ playbooks but is highly available to any size business th

The infamous yearly evaluation…you hear facetious jokes about it, but there seems to be a consensus that the individual reviews with managers are a scary thing to be dreaded. However, I happen to like them! At CSR, we don’t just have yearly or quarterly evaluations–we meet with our manager at least once a week. It sounds like a lot, but it’s well worth it. Here’s why you should love frequent performance reviews too: Clarity. When you meet every week, you can’t help but be on

Try telling your attorney that they aren’t great at something. I promise it won’t go over well, so I’ll do it for you. Lawyers as a rule are not fantastic at running a business, including the business of law. If you are a lawyer, you’re not either. Don’t take it personally. The issue comes from having to be great at the actual practice of law, then having enough time to focus on running every aspect of the firm. Lawyers too have limitations. We cannot be good at all things. T

I am a high data need person – it has been one of the struggles which throughout my professional life I have had to deal with but has also been a strength. Over the years, this focus on getting my hands “dirty” with data and the details has enabled me to provide amazing service and delight my clients in diverse industries that never thought that “a newbie” to their business could add value. Fast forward to me as a business owner – it’s a fine line to walk between taking the d