Posts 26–30 of 58

Boost your 1-on-1s with this one simple trick

The number one rule of being a manager is to have 1-on-1s with your direct reports (Don’t believe me? Read this and this and this). But the best 1-on-1s are those where your direct report has spent time thinking about what they want to discuss with you. How can you ensure this happens?

In my experience, some of your employees will jump at the opportunity to have uninterrupted time with their manager, and they will have a million things they want to talk about. But what about the other type of employee? At least half, if not more, of your employees need to spend time reflecting and thinking about what they want to get out of the meeting beforehand. How do you encourage these people to prepare for their 1-on-1 with you?

I’ve found that sending a specific, helpful, and timely reminder email can have a huge impact on the quality of your 1-on-1s. Sounds easy, right? Let me show you how you can set this up automatically.

Some Things Never Change

My mom just sent me this old picture from when I was a kid. That’s me and our family cat Fuzzy.

Gravity is cool

Checkout this awesome graphic of our solar system. I stumbled upon this while browsing Google+ (yes, I use Google+).

Read on below for the explanation and the source post.

$30 buys parents a good night's sleep

I’ve been remiss in not blogging about this sooner. Looking back, I can say that the Kid’Sleep Classic “bunny clock” must be the best $30 we’ve spent on our kids, at least in terms of getting them to sleep through the night.

Celebrating the 4th at Westmoreland State Park

I was amazed at what Westmoreland State Park offers. Aside being a beautiful park, they have both cabins and campgrounds. They have tons of trails, a playground, a nature center and beautiful views of the Potomac. But the crown jewel is the beach and Olympic sized swimming pool on the northernmost part of the park.