Culture
Great leaders know their opinion doesn’t matter
One of the things I consistently see leaders do that undermines their team’s effectiveness is freely expressing their opinion. The best leaders know that their opinion doesn’t matter. What matters is the mission. In most organizations as soon as the leader speaks, everyone is focused on pleasing the leader. At that point, the focus is on…
Read MoreGreat Cultures Are Built On Purpose
In order to lay the foundation for great workplace culture, two essential questions must be answered. The first, is your organization making the world a better place? And the second, is your team aware of and focused on that purpose? When you think about what attracts you to a brand or a company, is making…
Read MoreIs Your Team Dysfunctional?
In his now classic book, “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team,” Patrick Lencioni lays out the 5 key ways in which teams undermine their effectiveness: 1. Absence of Trust 2. Fear of Conflict 3. Lack of Commitment 4. Avoidance of Accountability 5. Inattention to Results My friend Nathan Lozeron does a great job explaining the…
Read More3 Traits of Every Healthy, High-Performance Organization
Do You Have an (H2O)?: Healthy, High-Performance Organization “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This often-quoted line rings with truth. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how good your strategy is. If you don’t have a healthy culture reinforcing your strategy, you’re destined to fail. The most sustainably successful companies have three healthy, high-performance…
Read MoreSimply Brilliant
Those two words fit together like a hand in a glove. In a world that is overwhelming complex people are looking for simple, clear, and compelling solutions that work. Modern life is complex. Even a decision about what tooth paste you are going to buy is complex. A typical store carries almost of 200 distinct…
Read MoreHow new phrasing can lead to new possibilities
Generative language is a powerful thing. Our words can be used to tear down or build up. Think about the possibilities around a simple statement like ”let’s explore some possibilities” or ”what do you need to make that happen?” Compare that to ”that won’t work” or ”you can’t do that.” When it comes unleashing human…
Read MoreAre You Safe? | Why Trust Is So Important
People do what they do for a good reason, but remember–it is for their reasons and not yours. Are You Safe? There is an overwhelming body of scientific evidence pointing to the importance of trust and psychological safety. Interestingly, Google conducted an extensive study on what makes for effective teams. The study was named after…
Read MoreYou Can’t Motivate People
Carrots and sticks don’t work. Organizational Psychologists refer to this as extrinsic motivation – motivation that comes from outside of yourself. The approach is seductive in that it often works in the short run, but is rarely sustainable. As soon as the reward or punishment is removed, the desired behavior disappears. People are hardwired to…
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