Articles
Rediscovering Happiness at Work – Lessons From Dickensian Times
Do you know who made the china you are drinking your tea from as you read this column? Your great grandfather would not only have known the artisan who made his cup but also would have gone into his shop, admired his work and thanked him for his fine craftsmanship. The mass production society has taken the meaning out of work, according to workplace analysts. When was the last time you went to the assembly line at Royal Doulton and personally thanked the workers for the fine china you eat off of? Our ancestors had more confidence in their ability [...]
Be Known for Something, but Not for Being a Maverick
Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your minds and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity. Thomas J. Watson Even in his death Steve Jobs, the uber nonconformist, is one of the most sought after people in the business world – just ask Walter Isaacson his biographer who is still packing lecture halls. After all, Jobs wrote the equation: nonconformance = singular success! While the innovators like Jobs get a lot of attention, there are many ways to stand out in the business world. Without [...]
Gamification – Can it Motivate and Engage Your Employees?
The growing yet controversial trend of gamifying the workplace to immediately acknowledge and reward employee behavior is, quite frankly, disturbing. The idea is that the use of gaming strategies in employee engagement can influence behavior and motivation. Let’s say you have just won a new sales account. You have now racked up enough points to be in the 1,000-point sales club. On your computer screen, gold coins are flowing from a slot machine (ka-ching-ka-ching) and your avatar is jumping up and down (whoo-hee)! More and more economists have been coming out of the research closet to say, money is not the [...]
A Road Map for Presidents and CEOs
The most important decision executives make is who they name as manager, at all levels in a company. Randall J. Beck Gallup Organization CFO asks his CEO, "What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave the company?" CEO answers, 'What happens if we don't, and they stay?" Are you feeding and keeping your best people?. Author unknown If you want to grow a prosperous thriving company here are ten steps on the continual improvement journey. Step One: Leadership Awareness. If there is one thing that good leaders do very well and with great consciousness [...]
Does intuition lead to fuzzy decision-making?
In past columns I have asked, “Who does the best thinking in your organization?” The purpose of these questions is to focus on two different and yet important types of thinking: Creative thinking that generates new ideas that can be exploited for the growth and prosperity of the business, and analytic or critical thinking to select the best ideas and to implement them as flawlessly as possible. Without good thinkers an organization’s viable life is not likely to be long. Often, the creative thinkers are not the same people as the analytic people and therefore having a “thought-leader” team that [...]
The Constant Balance for Organizations
The ceo of a large construction company once told me that business is easy to understand: There are only three parts; Get work (sales), Do work (production), and keeping score (do you make money?). I have shared that concept with numerous clients over the years, and while it is easy to grasp, the balance between get work and do work is always challenging. Sometimes, you have too much capacity and not enough sales. Other times, the sales are pouring in and the do work folks can't keep, risking poor quality and customer relations.