People with Passion Drive Performance!
People with passion improve performance Joel was a senior executive with a major retailer when I began working with him. He knows the importance…
Proof That Culture And Values Matter
Culture and values matter I’m a culture fanatic. I’m assertive with leaders, telling them they’re leaving money on the table if their team or…
The Right Thing to Do After a Mistake
What to do after making a mistake I’ve made some really big mistakes in my career. One, in particular, was an expensive lesson. I’ve…
Indicators of Organizational Culture Health
How is your organization culture health? Are there gaps between your organization’s existing culture, and the best practices of purposeful, positive, productive work cultures?…
Is Your Work Culture Broken? Time for Culture Change
Is your work culture broken? Organizations that have successfully changed their work culture from broken (or bent) to purposeful, positive, productive cultures share five…
Team Charters Align Goals
Team charters Most teams get a goal or project and madly start working on goal accomplishment. Without clear team charter agreements, though, teams experience…
Eliminating Tolerations Invites Positive Results
Tolerations are “things that bug us, sap our energy, and could be eliminated! Tolerations are holes in your personal success cup; they drain away…
Embracing Your Team’s Servant Purpose Personally
One thing that makes great bosses effective is the fact that they are constantly engaging in dialog with team members. They reinforce their team’s…
Creating and Enforcing Civility
How nice are leaders and team members in your organization to each other? How nice are leaders and team members to your organization’s internal…
Bad Bosses Erode Performance and Engagement
Success in business may have an obvious link to quality products and services. But what about the link between quality bosses and employees’ engagement…
Digging Deeper to Find Solid Gold
For more than a century, a rare treasure lay in a California couple’s backyard in Sierra, Nevada. One beautiful February day in 2013, as…
Prevent Your Organization From Succumbing to Red Tape
During college, or right after college, many students struggle to find “work in their field,” and may hold a job that they consider to…
Boost Productivity and Service with Trust and Respect
Leaders must be attuned to more than just team performance. Effective leaders are attuned to how customers are treated and to how employees are…
What Leaders Learn When They Shadow Their Employees
Senior leaders learn about real work lives of employees The concept behind the recent CBS television show, Undercover Boss – though the approach is…
Boosting Performance by Building Followership
Boosting performance with followership The first phase of any of my culture initiatives is one of discovery. I interview senior leaders, their direct reports,…
Help Them Run Back to the Barn
If you want workplace inspiration you must intentionally model it and demand it for everyone by intentionally creating an environment where employees are valued,…
Go Off Script with Liberating Rules
Do you remember the Audi commercial where everyone has a written script they carry around and refer to? The people don’t think or act…
Live Well to Lead Well
How do you feel right now? Are you rested? Energized? Fully present and maybe even optimistic about your day & work? Or do you…
Showing Up is Half the Battle – Being Present
Years ago, I was a school bus driver. The safety of the students was my primary concern, and I was well trained to conduct…
Four Ways to Learn Your Organization’s Truth
As part of my journey to better health and fitness, I followed Tim Ferriss’ slow-carb diet for 30 months. It helped me lose weight,…
Don’t Dismiss People, Reinforce Them
Humans have a deeply felt need to be appreciated and respected. In a Gallup Business Journal article, senior editor Jennifer Robison explains how brain…
Three Ways Leaders Open Doors
Think about your current job. Are you working for the best boss you have had in your career? If so, you are blessed. A…
Get Your Reality Checked
One of my joys is the privilege to speak at leadership roundtables with business people who share a common goal–to become more effective leaders…
Get Traction on Your Desired Culture
I live in the Front Range of Colorado and experience some unusual weather patterns. While flowers are blooming and the temperature is stabilizing in…
Make It Easy to Do the Right Thing
It was after midnight, and my friend discovered that he had left his cell phone in his car. He went out to the hotel…
Don’t Tolerate Dysfunctional Teams
Two key indicators of a healthy team are that they are productive (getting tasks done to standards, on budget and on time) and effective…
Put the Skunk to Work
Have you ever had something not turned out the way you expected or planned? Maybe some new clothes do not look right on you….
How to Handle Mean Bosses
How we handle mean bosses Mean people suck. However, in most cases, you can face them either by tolerating them, limiting your time with…
Four Steps to Better Performance Reviews
Does anyone out there enjoy having a performance review? A performance review typically occurs once a year and feel like a post-mortem. That’s because the…
Through Thick and Thin
Through thick and thin If I asked you to name a friend or colleague who stuck with you through the tough times…could you? If…