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Independent business blogs are blogs that aren't supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don't need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don't get as much publicity.

This week, I'm pointing you to posts on making better decisions, rewards and integrity, learning to develop others, enthusiasm, and one challenge every leader faces.

From Scott Eblin: Four Steps for Making Better Decisions
"Especially for leaders with a lot on their plate, it can feel like there is a premium on making decisions quickly and moving on.  What gets lost is a thoughtful consideration of the opportunity cost of pursuing one decision over another. This is especially true for smart leaders who seem to get to “the answer” faster than everyone else."

Wally's Comment: Not every decision needs to be made quickly. With that in mind, read this post about what to do when you can take a little time.

From Dan McCarthy: Without Integrity and Trust, Rewards and Recognition are Meaningless
"Picture yourself at a company awards banquet. It could be for the top sales people, top district office performance, inventor of the year, leader of the year, teacher of the year, etc. Or, it could be an industry sponsored awards dinner, like Training Top 125, Fortune Great Place to Work, CLO of the Year, Best Leadership Development Program, Best Leadership Development Blog, etc…. (my industry). You’ve just finished up your overcooked chicken cordon bleu, and are wrestling with your conscience about whether or not to dig into that slice of cheesecake. It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for, the main event. The annual winners are about to be announced."

Wally's Comment: Short version: before you go designing and promoting a rewards program, fix the culture.

From Steve Roesler: Learning How To Develop Others
"'Developing Others' ranks dead last on just about every organizational skill level survey with which I've been involved or have read. It's not because people lack awareness of its importance; quite the contrary. It's because development takes time. It involves getting to know people and their capabilities at more than a surface level. To develop people, you have to follow a few fundamental steps."

Wally's Comment: Caring for your people is part of your job as a boss and part of that job is helping your people grow and develop. Here's how to get started.

From Shawn Murphy: Why You Should Create Enthusiasts in Your Organization
"It is up to us to create and encourage enthusiasts within our organizations.  Let’s transform the term employees and reinvent a new one.  The term employee is associated with a paradigm no longer useful in business today.  It’s the paradigm where employees give their time dutifully in exchange for a paycheck, benefits, and possibly work that inspires."

Wally's Comment: The word "enthusiasm" comes from Greek roots meaning, "God inside" and therefore full of power and extraordinary capabilities. Think that might be a good thing to have in your organization?

From Tanveer Naseer: The One Challenge All Leaders Secretly Face
"Through the course of our coaching sessions, we came up with a number of strategies Tom could use to help him overcome these feelings of self-doubt so he can continue to support his team as they push ahead.'

Wally's Comment: Tanveer's right, this is one that we face "secretly." We all have moments (sometimes more) of self-doubt and we've all developed a way of coping with them. In this post, Tanveer shares some practical, easy things that work. I especially like number 3.

Carnivals and Such

Carnival of HR  hosted by Mike Haberman.

That's it for this week's selections from independent business blogs. If you liked this piece you may enjoy my regular post on "Leadership Reading to Start Your Week" which features five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. The last issue had pointers to articles about improving education, FedEx Canada's boss, the travails of Johnson and Johnson, leadership models, and a little self-evaluation.

Here, on Three Star Leadership, I post things that will help a boss at any level do better and live a better life. At Results vs Activities, I join other bloggers with posts on talent development. My blog at the Toolbox for HR is People and the Changing Workplace .

If you're a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.

And be sure to stop by at Weekly Leader where I'll offer you my Challenge of the Week.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.