Saying thank you shouldn’t be difficult, but apparently it is. Research from O.C. Tanner suggests that 65 percent of American workers didn’t receive a single piece of recognition in the past year. I’ve studied and [...]
My SHRM “Viewpoints” post about discipline in today's workplace opened with this: Progressive discipline, as practiced in most organizations, is legally defensible … and flawed in its logic. It is rooted in the decades-old mindset that treating people progressively [...]
Your best employees are contemplating quitting. Survey results from Job Seeker Nation and others suggest that as many as 82 percent of workers are looking for new job opportunities. This is more than people using [...]
Take a moment to answer this question: How do you build and sustain a culture of commitment, accountability, engagement, and results? Did your list contain hiring for fit, coaching and developing people, providing an engaging [...]
Are you thinking of throwing out your company’s performance appraisal? A lot of companies are including GE, Accenture, Netflix, and Adobe. It is easy to understand why. Annual appraisals feel antiquated in a world where [...]
You will never inspire the hearts and minds of others without a deep, genuine appreciation for the talent, commitment, and value that others can bring to your team. When you get that, your ability to [...]
Leaders are known by their results. Your organization’s results improve when the performance of you and your people improves. It sounds obvious, and yet performance development remains, at best, an oxymoron along with jumbo shrimp, responsible [...]
Years ago I visited the transportation museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia. There was a wall as you entered that contained campaign battle ribbons dating back to the earliest wars and military conflicts for the United [...]
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent political commentators into high gear with her statement that businesses and corporations don’t create jobs. She went on to say that trickle-down economics has proven to be a [...]
From Randy Pennington: It depends on your definition of “teamwork.” It is absolutely critical if you define teamwork as everyone having a shared vision; clear roles and responsibilities; delivering their best to help the entire [...]
From Mark Sanborn: The worst enemy of business? Indifference. Indifference is a lack of concern, interest or sympathy and it hurts business in two areas: people & process. A lack of concern for your employees/colleagues [...]
From Scott McKain: Customer service is bad at most places, because evidently that is what CEO’s and managers want. What other reason could there be for them to accept such miserable performance? Most care more [...]
This would have been the message if the speaker at your last business meeting presented in nursery rhymes: Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jump over The candle stick. You feel better, right? You now know what is expected of you and the definition of success. And, you have no real context for why it is important or idea about how to move forward.
The government we want is nimble, flexible, and responsive. The government we experience, in many cases, is slow, cumbersome, and totally unresponsive. Let’s put this another way: We want our government to operate like our favorite business. We believe, in contrast, that our government is the poster child for lumbering bureaucratic inefficiency and employees who are out of touch with the realities of the marketplace. Twenty plus years of working with private and public sector organizations has taught me that the truth is actually somewhere between the two extremes.
Leaders distinguish themselves in times of great risk and great reward. Whether it is the political leader who bolsters our confidence in times of crisis or the business leader who follows her instincts to seize an opportunity, we respect and admire the leader who is out front when the stakes are high.