Emotions operate like a virus, traveling from person to person, creating a collage of feelings. When emotions are allowed to flow unabated, they can cause a virus that connects with the team that can be productive or unconstructive. Your tone of voice amounts to how you say what you have to say. When you are [...]
In the modern workplace, leaders are expected to do more and more with less resources. In some organizations this means the employee complement gets reduced and the workload remains the same or increases. In other organizations there are insufficient tools available, or there are untrained employees. As the evolving external environment drives deeper and deeper [...]
The Wells Fargo scandal is an interesting case study that presents the question, did the employees cause it, or was it the culture? On one hand, the CEO indicated the scandal happened because of employees. On the other hand, it appears that employees responsible for sales were under duress because of extreme demands. CNN interviewed [...]
Michaelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved it to set him free.” Leaders who can visualize the potential of their team members and choose to help their coworkers access their internal resources, recognize at least three important factors: Solutions that take multiple perspectives into consideration can yield even better results [...]
I have witnessed multiple change initiatives where, once an opportunity for change is identified by decision-makers they move forward with making change happen. In the initial stages, there can be commitment to transformation by one or a few executives, even though their understanding of what that change may mean may not yet be fully envisioned. [...]
Many years ago, one of my mentors told me it is important to hold employees in a higher vision than they can hold of themselves. She advocated placing emphasis on their strengths, because this is where their potential exists. She said that being critical and nit-picky causes employees to focus more on their limitations and the [...]
I was sitting in a restaurant and while enjoying my meal I noticed there was a change in shifts. As a result of the shift change, a new waitress approached the table and started clearing the used dishes and utensils without saying a word, making no eye contact with me or any of my guests. [...]
So why does change matter? Change is all around us. If leaders wait too long to address changes within their internal and external environments, organizations can miss the windows of opportunity to change without doing damage to their brand and ultimately their businesses. For example, in some circumstances, decision makers choose not to follow the [...]
As a leader, it is important for you to keep your fingers on the pulse of the organization. It helps to know what is happening, what is about to happen and why, because your ability to answer these questions equips you with information you need to take proactive steps to address situations that can create [...]
