Traci Cumbay

Boost the flavor of your barbecued meats by knowing how to use sauces, rubs, and marinades. But before you barbecue (or BBQ), familiarize yourself with safety tips to avoid accidents and know how to buy the most flavorful meat for your meal. And if you're new to barbecuing, smoking, or grilling, avoid some common rookie mistakes that can ruin your best efforts.

As a business manager, you must be prepared to make tough decisions and set positive examples for your employees every day. No matter what size team you manage, you must keep calm; be methodical when resolving problems and managing employee issues; connect proactively with other leaders in your organization; and rely on your employees to help you get the job done.

When establishing your credibility as a team leader, what you do, more than what you say, plays a big part. Find out what your actions say about you. For each of the following ten leadership qualities, give yourself a frequency score: 4 = quite often3 = some of the time2 = occasionally1 = seldom I am on time for meetings, my own and those called by others.

Safety is paramount whenever you barbecue. Every year a surprising number of good times around the barbecue grill end up as scary times because of accidental burns or fires. Follow these tips for keeping your cooking on track. Keep your grill, smoker, or chimney starter at least 10 feet away from your house, trees, and anything else that may catch fire.

Mistakes are bound to happen as you explore barbecue cooking, but they are a part of the BBQ adventure. Here are five rookie mistakes to avoid: Being in a hurry. If you want fast, cook a grilled cheese. If you want barbecue, chill out. Slow is the essence of barbecue. Cooking at low temperatures for a goodly amount of time is what makes barbecue barbecue and makes the meat melt in your mouth.

Whether you call it barbecue, BBQ, or just 'cue, enhance the flavor of your oh-so-tender meats by mixing up a flavor-packed marinade, rub, or sauce. Although each seasoning method is used differently, they all give zing to any meat you grill or barbecue. Seasoning with dry rubs A rub is a dry marinade that you sprinkle or pat onto meat before you cook it.

When you're buying meat for the barbecue, remember that if you start with good raw material then you're more likely to get a great finished product. Here are some tips for choosing wisely at the butcher counter: More fat means more flavor. A well-marbled piece of meat is going to fare better on your grill or smoker than a leaner cut.

Disagreements and differences are inevitable within a work team or organization. As a manager, your challenge is to lead team members by modeling and helping them learn new behaviors that resolve conflicts and maintain respectful working relationships in the process. Some great benefits can emerge from conflicts: creativity, richer solutions, and stronger teamwork, for example.

As a manager dealing with employee discipline, your primary concern is correcting unacceptable performance. You always want to help your good workers become even better, but your first concern has to be to identify employees who aren't working up to standard and to correct their shortcomings on the job. The following disciplinary steps are listed in order of least to most severe.