Rock Star employees make a huge positive impact and help to increase the valuation of the business. That’s why finding a Rock Star is the goal of every hiring manager. But is that really a good strategy? Should organizations be focused on the…
Culture
Why Teams Need to Be More Like a Jazz Band Than a Symphony
The ability to deal with uncertainty can make or break a team. Famous jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald made her biggest career mistake on a German stage back in the 60’s. That performance earned her two Grammy Awards though. Ella started singing…
Can Culture Be as Simple as Just 19 Words?
It’s well understood that culture can make or break a workplace. Understanding what “culture” means, however, is a whole other matter. As a working concept, culture can’t be easily defined or measured. Merriam-Webster offers six different definitions (and even named…
10 Questions to Help You Know If the Candidate Will Fit In
Are you hiring based on culture fit in addition to skills, experience, and background? If you’re not, you should be. Culture fit is one of the most significant factors in the success of new hires. According to the Harvard Business Review,…
Don’t Let ‘Meaning’ Be Missing From Your Engagement Strategy
Meaning is one of the five keys in building employee engagement and it may be the most powerful of the keys. The power in meaning comes because it is self-determined. Meaning is found when your work has purpose beyond the work itself. How…
Your Teams Need ‘Boxing Rings’ and ‘Campfires’
Senior leaders were asked to estimate how much “wasted time” had cost their companies. Their average answer was nearly $15.5 million! It seems that our abundance of unproductive meetings, dysfunctional workplace dynamics, bungled opportunities and mishandled people problems are cumulatively…
For More Productive Meetings, Do a Mindset Check-In First
“Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. “ — Bruce Lee We live in a distracted society. Having focus is a scarce currency. No surprise distractions are taking a toll…
Harness These 3 Drivers to Change Your Culture
There are several approaches to changing cultural norms in an organization, however, the actual transformation comes from its people doing something unique, adopting new behaviors, changing the way they solve problems, and the way they communicate and interact with each other. To change something, we must understand the way it’s created, formed and influenced….
4 Steps to Recruiting With Purpose
Every business enters the battle for top talent, whether you are fighting to recruit recent grads or top senior management. It’s not easy for anyone when trends are showing widespread talent and skill shortages across generations and around the globe….
Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect. Deliberate Practice Does
“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” – Malcolm Gladwell, Canadian writer and journalist. Per the classic joke, we all know how to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice. More recently, Malcolm Gladwell has distilled the concept of…
Beware the Myth of the Super Leader
“We will all learn together. I want to learn from you as well as you learn from me.” This, from a new CHRO who sits on the executive committee for a global organization. She is at the table with a…
How Small Businesses Can Win In the War for Talent
Small businesses face a common challenge. According to the 2018 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit report, 70% of small businesses struggle to find and retain skilled talent. At 70%, this issue is nearly a pandemic among small businesses. In fact, according to…
3 Conversations to Help Your Team Get Through a Reorg
A while ago, I was counseling a senior executive of a government bureau who was two years into shaping his agency to be more customer and results-centered. He rebuilt his 200-person group, propelled key actions, coached his staff on changing…
Will Anyone Contribute Toward Your Gift?
“No one wanted to contribute to her holiday gift.” The assistant manager told me that during the holidays, it is customary of all employees of the retail store to chip in to buy gifts for the store manager and the…
What HR Can Do About a Fear-Based Culture
Fear and company culture go together as well as drinking orange juice right after you’ve brushed your teeth: terribly. There are several styles of fear-based leadership, and several reasons why fear in the workplace spreads so easily – none of…
4 Ways Companies Can Combat Tech Addiction
Technology addiction is damaging our personal and work lives. Studies suggest people are increasingly unhappy with their use of screen time and social media. The endless refresh cycle of major apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, etc. are highly addictive…
6 Ways Real Leaders Turn Insincerity Into Inspiration
The biggest barrier between leaders and followers is distrust. And the window dressing for distrust is insincerity. People put up with a lot of quirks in their leaders and coworkers just to keep the peace, but insincerity particularly grates on…
Are You Living the Culture Your People Expect?
In order for members of an organizational culture to feel like they can fully contribute to the success of that organization, they must feel a sense of safety to protect, innovate and renovate. Cultures that create an environment of “Cultural…
Get Better Ideas, Higher Engagement and Even Improve Your Managers By Encouraging 2-Way Feedback
Every successful relationship works via a careful process of give and take. We need to learn how to express ourselves, our ideas, and our interests. Equally, though, we need to really listen. Proactive listening can prevent a lot of issues…
Best Companies’ List Now Weighs Diversity, Work-Life Into Selection
Every year, Fortune and Great Place to Work compile a list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. And every year, that list is devoured by job seekers and business leaders, driven by a potent mix of curiosity and competitiveness….