Character or Caricature?
My daughter and I had our portraits drawn as caricatures. It is a cartoon-like mocking, exaggerated portrait. Sometimes when you meet someone, you get the gut feeling that they are trying to be someone they aren’t. An overcompensation for a deep seated fear or anxiety. As leaders, our employees and team members will […]
MoreIndependence Day at Work?
With the July 4th Independence Day in the USA and July 1st Canada Day holidays happening in the next week, let’s see what role independence has on employee motivation. This week we celebrate independence in North America. How much independence is there to celebrate in your workplace? A friend sent me the link […]
MoreKnowledge Hostage: Should organizations be held hostage by experienced staff?
Is it really worth it to bend over backwards to accommodate an employee who has a ton of knowledge and experience but brings little else to the organization? Over the years I have seen companies label individuals as “untouchable” because of their organizational history. This is despite clear evidence that the person can be destructive […]
MoreMassacre of Morale: How to Diagnose and Repair a Rapid Decline in Morale and Attitude
It caught me by surprise to see a dramatic change in morale and attitude with a client I have worked with on a number of occasions. When I last met with them in early 2008, everything was very positive and productive. Then, just recently I came back in to do a refresher session and was […]
MoreDisconnected Leadership: How to align senior management and front line leaders
“My boss needs to take this course.” This is what we hear from supervisors and team leaders who take our front line leadership course. On the other side of the equation I hear the frustrations of senior executives as they question why the rest of the organization doesn’t “get with the program” in terms of […]
MoreLeadership – The Missing Ingredient Needed in Process Improvement
Why is it that most process improvement initiatives never quite pan out as advertised? Whether it is Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, ISO/TS 9000 – the end results often fall far short of the promise and potential. There is a crucial ingredient missing – Leadership. We’ll explore that more below. — Last week we ran […]
MoreEmployee Retention: Give them a reason to stay
It was an exciting week last week – our book Employees Not Doing What You Expect rose to number two on the Globe and Mail Business Bestseller List. Irwin Schinkel and I are putting the finishing touches on our next book Fusion or Fizzle: How Leaders Leverage Training to Ignite Results. — Now that we […]
MoreHow Ego Blocks Engagement
Having just wrapped up two more Front Line Leadership programs, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of potential in the leaders taking the course. One of the requirements of graduation is for each participant to document how they have applied elements of the course and the impact it has on their department. […]
MoreModelling the McJob: Why Managing Like McDonalds Might Be Good For Employees
Last Wednesday (May 5th) was McHappy Day at McDonalds Canadian operations. It is a big fundraiser for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada. I had the priviledge of working as a volunteer that day for the fifth time. I’m guessing they took a look at my performance reviews from 1983 when I worked at McDonalds […]
MoreCorporate Quicksand – How to Engage Passive Employees
As a leader, you are measured on results and those results depend on people taking action. A common frustration is how to get the rest of the organization to buy into ideas more quickly and move forward. It turns out that the primary reason why parts of the organization move as fast as sludge […]
More