Category: Organizational Health

Creating An Organizational Ecosystem Of Learning

Creating An Organizational Ecosystem Of Learning One of the things that became exceedingly apparent during several of my conversations and visits with various companies last year is that most organizational learning and performance strategies fave fallen behind what is now expected in the evolving workplace and what is needed to give the employees a competitive edge both in their current role and for their future conveyable marketability. A few organizations have expressed to me concern about the declining value and impact of their traditional training strategies and were pursuing and developing strategies to be proactive about making it a valuable and viable tool and on-going resource for their people – which I love and admire. However, there are still too many organizations thatRead More

Powerfully Communicating Strategic Vision To Your Team

Powerfully Communicating Strategic Vision To Your Team As a leader we dream of of building a team filled with people who are naturally innovative, conscientious, creative, self-motivated, who go above and beyond their job description because they are hardwired to do so and they enthusiastically and seriously own their career path and professional growth. If you are lucky enough in your career to build a team of effective and productive people, count your lucky stars, reward yourself, and appreciate and recognize the heck out of them! “Engagement is a renewable daily decision that is voluntarily given when the company has proven worthy of it.” –Jason Lauritsen, Talent Anarchy As leaders our organization’s vision is ours to own, communicate, and keep top of mindRead More

Great Leaders Know How To Rally Their Team

Great Leaders Know How To Rally Their Team Pretty soon it will be a new year and a new quarter for businesses…change will happen. It’s inevitable.  Especially following these critical times of year – leaders face enormous employee & customer scrutiny when their companies are struggling, distressed, or missing targets. Most leaders measure their success in bottom line contribution, team attrition, time to fill, productivity metrics…and when those slip, everyone sees it happening, the yentas talk about it [endlessly], the information is accessible on social media and through company reporting. The best leaders confront those challenges proactively, with a plan, and an energizing communication style that can inspire action. When the heat is on, and pressure intense, they rally their troops through honestRead More

Elevating Employee Experience [Psst…It Benefits The Company, Too]

Elevating Employee Experience [Psst…It Benefits The Company, Too] In the first 10-14 days of working with a new organization I put together a comprehensive framework assessment of the key areas that need to be addressed for maximizing effectiveness  and productivity around the vital areas of leadership development and culture improvements inside an organization. I have been consulting, primarily,  for slightly longer than two years and though I go into each new role hoping to find something wildly different and unusual to work on…the fact is, that the issues across most organizations are the similar in the areas of leadership development & culture. When I enter a new business and I start to authentically build relationships with the team members in the company –Read More

Keeping Your Cool Under Pressure

Keeping Your Cool Under Pressure Let’s face it – as a leader…losing your cool in the midst of confusion and chaos at work can make you lose credibility – fast – with your colleagues, your team, your customers, and  even the executive team. Unfortunately, there are a lot of workplace challenges that create pressure for individuals. Especially as this is the time of year for annual meetings to take place in many organizations and the start of Q4 in other industries that really rely on elevated business to keep them healthy or get them into a healthy position. These events can create havoc for a team if they lack a strong team mentality and/or lack critical competencies such as time management, focus, communication,Read More

Dealing With The Victim Mentality In The Workplace

Dealing With The Victim Mentality In The Workplace Sometimes it takes me a while to work up to writing about a certain topic – this is definitely one of those as I understand it can be provocative. However, it is a topic that is a real and pervasive issue in far too many workplaces. I have always had challenges dealing with people who choose to be victims of their lives. It’s constantly something I am working on – as a leader – because dealing with ambitious, driven, accountable people is energizing and engaging for me.  I find it incredibly frustrating dealing with people who perceive themselves as victims of the universe. These are people that frequently believe that exceptions should be made forRead More

Instilling and Inspiring Confidence In Your Team Members

Instilling and Inspiring Confidence In Your Team Members For the past few months I have had the absolute pleasure of working with an organization that is incredibly open, forward-thinking, and amenable to culture improvements, career path planning, job leveling, and leadership development – it has been a super fun project AND because the entire company from the C-level to the most junior level team members are behind – and eager for – change initiatives and programs to elevate culture, customer experience, employee experience, productivity – it has been an exceedingly poignant and rewarding working experience. One of the greatest opportunities I identified within the first 10-14 days [framework assessment period] was the opportunity to inspire confidence in the junior and mid-level leadership ofRead More

Dealing With Selfish People In The Workplace

Dealing With Selfish People In The Workplace It is a part of our hard-wired human instinct to be selfish – to some extent. To want to satisfy your need for things and circumstances to be in your favor is pretty normal…until it’s taken to the extreme. Selfishness in the workplace  – when kept in check and displayed responsibly and intelligently – can absolutely mean you are hungry, ambitious, and you have the drive to achieve excellence  and you simply want the credit for it and you want to earn the rewards and opportunity that come with accomplishment. Then there are the greedy, miserable, and horrible “me monsters” – as my friend, Steven, calls them. They believe that they are all about survival ofRead More

Leadership Lessons From My Personal Trainer

Leadership Lessons From My Personal Trainer Before returning home to the NYC area in mid-August this year, from a 12 month project in Southern California, I worked with a fabulous personal trainer in Carlsbad [Shout out to Denise at FitMonkeys]. To be completely honest, I was not really excited about the training process but I knew that to be the best I could be – and how beneficial it is for mental clarity – I needed to make the financial investment and the time investment and commit to focusing on me three times a week for 55 minutes. Great leaders are frequently pretty easy to spot. You encounter them in the office, they seem to stand out even in large groups. Sometimes –Read More

The Dangers Of Ignoring Performance Issues

The Dangers Of Ignoring Performance Issues There are A LOT of theories out there about how much a bad hire costs an organization. They range anywhere from $240,000 according to well-known recruiter Jörgen Sundberg to , at least 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Either way, that is incredibly damaging to an organization. While the financial impact is definitely quantifiable, CFOs actually rank a bad hire’s morale and productivity impacts ahead of monetary losses and permitting poor performance not only adds to the financial implications of poor performance and a poor fit but it inflames the morale and productivity issues of the organization. Disruptive employees lower the bar for other employees, and their bad habits areRead More

7 Ways To Encourage A Culture Of Innovation

7 Ways To Encourage A Culture Of Innovation Effective and smart leaders know they have to maintain a competitive edge within their industries in order to capture their piece of the proverbial pie. Therefore, it is essential that a business continually improves upon what it offers – in product, service, and|or experience – and how it operates to ensure that they are maximizing all opportunities that exist and building a sustainable and agile business. One of the qualities that separates bland and forgettable businesses [even if at one point they were novelty and popular] from outstanding ones is innovation. Organizations that construct a culture that encourages innovation – at every level of the business – allows them to remain adaptable and forward-thinking. ThoseRead More

8 Skills That Are Difficult To Learn [But SO Important To]

8 Skills That Are Difficult To Learn [But So Important To] Some of the most important things to  possess in life aren’t tangible but they do take a tremendous amount of patience, perseverance, and perspiration to acquire, let alone – master. Understanding the benefits of these qualities makes a difference in every aspect of life and – especially – in the workplace. TIME MANAGEMENT: Effective time management is one of the most highly valued skills by employers. While there is no singularly correct way, it’s important to find a system that works for you and be consistent with it. Why is time management important? Time Is Limited: No matter how you slice it, there are only 24 hours in a day. You CanRead More

Saccharin Leadership: Enough Already With The Sugar-Coating

Saccharin Leadership: Enough Already With The Sugar-Coating One of the principles of great leadership and a way the most successful leaders distinguish themselves – in any industry – is by building great relationships with their colleagues. They have unwavering reputations for being authentic, empathetic, and reliably honest. Global research from Edelman’s Trust Barometer reveals that despite integrity being the most desired leadership quality, only about 25% of people think their bosses actually have it. According to Merriam-Webster the definition of integrity is: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values and the quality and state of being complete or undivided. If integrity is the most desired leadership quality and if we commit to being authentic, truth-telling business partners and true leadersRead More

The “Why” Behind Being A Committed Leader

The “Why” Behind Being A Committed Leader Every so often – when my job or work “in general” becomes frustrating I have to stop and really think about how and why I chose to become a leader. I know when I started my retail career I moved up fairly quickly because I was REALLY good a few things. Visual Merchandising, organization, representing my brand, communication, and customer experience delivery. These were things that were recognized and rewarded by my Directors and CEO and for that, I am so appreciative – as without their encouragement I would be hard-pressed to find what industry my European History major translated into as a career. What I wasn’t very good at was “leadership”. I hadn’t coached orRead More

9 Telltale Signs You Have Built A Great Team

9 Telltale Signs You Have Built A Great Team As leaders we spend a significant amount of time and energy focusing on what we can do better; what we can adapt and evolve to be more effective; what do we have to do next to upskill our team members. We rarely stop and reflect on where we started and how far we’ve come because we are always looking to the future and what we need to do next; to have, and/or to be to be ready for the newest incarnation of business. However, it behooves us to take a moment and assess the team environment we’ve created. Great teams don’t just happen. To build a cohesive, collaborative, and unstoppable team requires a tremendousRead More