Kent Blumberg

Why you should insist your employees take vacation

Studies show that 1/3 of Americans fail to take their full allotment of vacation days.  That's not a good thing.  Here's why it's bad, along with some thoughts on what you can do about it.

[Caveat:  One of my good friends and favorite internet authors - Karin H. - is the co-owner of a wood flooring business with just two employees.  This post probably won't be helpful to the small business owner.  Karin, would you give us your perspective on vacations - either here or on your blog?]

Two studies suggest Americans sometimes leave vacation days on the table

A Families and Work Institute study in 2005 found more than 1/3 of employees were taking fewer than seven days of vacation each year.  CNNMoney.com reported on a more recent study by Harris Interactive that reached the same conclusion.

How to Focus Your Work

One of your jobs as a leader is to focus the energies of your organization on a handful of priorities.  You have limited resources:  limited money, limited equipment, only so many people and just so much time.  You can't do everything.  You must cull your list down to the three to five most important things you need to get done.

But how do you do that?  Here's a four step process I find helpful.

A leader must often say "no" - here's how to do it

A leader must know when and how to say "no."

As a leader, it's your job to protect the focus of your organization.  You have to ensure that your limited resources are put to bear in the most effective way.  As Fred Wilson (a venture capitalist) says:

"Knowing what you are going to do and focusing on it is so critical."

That often means refusing requests from customers, suppliers, employees and even from your boss.

Regardless of the reason, here's how to say "no."

Columbia Gorge Falls

Shot in the Columbia Gorge (Oregon, USA) with a medium format camera on Fuji's Velvia film.  No other technical data retained for this one.

Trust - Nine things a leader needs to do to build and maintain trust

How do you, as a leader, gain the trust of your employees?

The question came up the other day, after a friend of mine conducted an employee survey and found only one-third of respondents strongly agreed with the statement, "I trust my manager."  We got to talking about how leaders can rebuild trust in such a situation and came up with the following list.

New Leaders Panel Discussion

I've covered the theory behind new leader transitions here before.  At a recent meeting in Houston, we had the opportunity to hear from a panel of five newly placed executives about the reality of transition for them. 

Every one of them has been an initial success, based on the fact that all will have delivered significant, visible early wins within their first six months.  None of them followed a rigorous "new leader plan" of the type I've covered in the past.  However, as the discussion below shows, they all paid attention to two key aspects of new leader transition (more on that after the discussion).

JibberJobber special offer

If you will ever need to search for a job - and all of you will - you will want a tool to manage your search.  That tool, called JibberJobber, already exists.  Jason Alba, company founder and my friend, is offering a special deal this week; one that you really shouldn't pass up.  For just $99 you can get a lifetime membership to JibberJobber.  I've been using JibberJobber actively since late last year and can tell you it is a great contacts management tool.  Go have a look.  Tell 'em Kent sent you!

[Photo is of Jason Alba, borrowed from his site]

Free e-book - My posts about "12-The Elements of Great Managing"

I have compiled my series of posts about 12: The Elements of Great Managing into a free e-book .  It will get you started on the concepts, but you will want more after you finish with my summary, so be sure to buy the book too.

Seth Godin provided the method for turning my MSWord files into an e-book.