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. […]
Category: Leadership
Modelling 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 […]
Corporate 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 […]
Raise or Praise?
I was reflecting back on some pre-training interviews with different organizations in the past two weeks. One theme was common – lack of positive feedback. Of all the leadership tools at the manager’s disposal, positive feedback is one of the least expensive and highest payback actions. Instead of focusing so much attention on what […]
Equal Opposite Reaction
One confusing aspect of leadership is that even with the best of intentions, you might end up creating the exact opposite reaction. I have experienced this many times as a husband-in-training. We’ll examine the most common leadership missteps you might not even realize you are committing. Even well intentioned leaders will create exactly […]