I recently met with a client responsible for organizational development in the financial services sector who was seeking ideas, information, and input from ImagineNation towards cultivating a “fail fast” organizational culture. It caused me to explore what might be some…
Culture
Sometimes You Need to Eat the Frog Later
We’ve all heard or read that it’s best to jump on your toughest tasks early in your work shift, using as a guide this famous aphorism: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen…
What Gen Z Wants From Work Is Different Than You Might Think
Technology and recent economic factors have disrupted many things. And one of those things is the labor force climate. Here are just a few disruptions that HR managers and departments have encountered in recent years: A millennial labor force that…
HR’s Job Should Be to Encourage Conflict
For years we’ve been hearing the drumbeat about making the workplace fun. So, as Amanda Ono tells it, we drank the Kool-Aid, installing ping-pong tables, organizing parties and offering a host of perks. “But what happens when we wake up…
How to Take Corporate Values and Make Them Local
Note: This article was written and originally published in advance of Starbucks’ half-day closure last week for anti-bias training. Wasn’t there a movie called Training Day? Well, we could make another one today as Starbucks closes 8,000 stores to “train”…
Let HOPE Build Your Culture
When it comes to the complex topic of culture, all you can do is hope. In my experience with some of the largest companies in their respective industries, hope is the flawed strategy most commonly deployed. Sometimes the strategy of “hope for…
Six Ways Executives Shaped the Culture of Their Organization
This article is excerpted from Tom’s recent book, The Stress-Reduction Pyramid: A Guide to Managing the Greatest Threat to Employee Health and Productivity. Part 1, Entitled Do You Have a Culture of Stress? Here’s How to Find Out published Thursday.)…
Do You Have a Culture of Stress? Here’s How to Tell
This article is excerpted from Tom’s recent book, The Stress-Reduction Pyramid: A Guide to Managing the Greatest Threat to Employee Health and Productivity. ∼∼∼∼∼ It’s Monday morning, and you’re standing at the edge of a swamp. Looking out, you see…
Corporate Culture Today Extends Beyond the Office and Factory
Edward Stack, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods one of the largest United States sporting retailers took a bold stand a couple months ago when he decided the chain would no longer sell assault rifles. In addition, he also announced Dick’s would only…
If Your Office Is Dim, So Are You
“Dim lights are producing dimwits” – Joel Soler, American psychologist Do you find a dimly-lit workspace preferable to a brightly-lit office? Some people do. Perhaps you find it calming and relaxing; or maybe the setting makes you feel comfortable at a…
Why Not Let People Form Their Own Teams?
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” — Michael Jordan Hiring the right talent is not enough to build a high-performing team. Team dynamics affect overall performance; they are like undercurrents that can carry a boat in a different direction than…
Don’t Fight the Robots, Embrace Them
We’ve all heard doom and gloom reports of the coming AI revolution. Some forecasters predict a very grim future indeed: Robots take over and humans find themselves unceremoniously kicked to the curb, suddenly unable to provide for themselves and their…
Workplace Compassion: A Trend Driven by the Changing Workforce
When I first started working in HR in the ‘90s, care and compassion in the workplace were almost foreign concepts to business strategy. Now, for those that practice them, they’re a chief competitive advantage. I’ve seen this in the way…
It’s Not Failure. It’s a Way of Discovering What Doesn’t Work
Thomas Edison once said, “I have never failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” While I hope none of us has such an enormous ego we claim to have never failed, I would also hope over a long…
Toxic Workers Are More Productive, But the Price Is High
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…
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…