"Without work all life goes rotten- but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies." - Albert Camus Recently there has been discussion among consultants, business owners and CEOs about the search for soul in the workplace. While most agree that religion is not an appropriate topic to approach … [Read more...] about Finding True Meaning at Work
Managing
Employee Engagement: Running on 1/3 People Power
The statistics on workforce engagement are shocking. According to research, only 29 percent of employees are motivated and energized. What, then, is happening to the other two-thirds of people working in organizations? This is an even worse scenario than the old joke in which a manager is asked … [Read more...] about Employee Engagement: Running on 1/3 People Power
Beware of Busyness: Harnessing Willpower for Purposeful Action
“Only a small fraction of managers actually get something done that really matters or moves their organizations forward in a meaningful way.” Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal, in A Bias for Action – How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time, Harvard … [Read more...] about Beware of Busyness: Harnessing Willpower for Purposeful Action
Managing Dynamic Change
Today's fast-paced economy demands that businesses change or die. Few companies manage transformations as well as they would like. It is said that anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of all change initiatives fail. Between 1980 and 1995, researchers at the Harvard Business School tracked the impact of … [Read more...] about Managing Dynamic Change
Facing Conflict: Tough Conversations
“When conflict is ignored– especially at the top– the result will be an enterprise that competes more passionately with itself than with its competitors.” Howard M. Guttman, When Goliaths Clash, 2003 Managers spend an inordinate amount of time putting out fires, particularly interpersonal … [Read more...] about Facing Conflict: Tough Conversations
Changing Minds: How Hard Is It?
“All leadership comes down to this: changing people’s behavior.” – Alan Deutschman in Fast Company, “Change or Die”, May 2005 Changing the behavior of people is the most important challenge for leaders of businesses trying to compete in unpredictable environments. According to John Kotter, … [Read more...] about Changing Minds: How Hard Is It?
Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
The concept of emotional intelligence became popular after the immense success of Daniel Goleman's book in 1995: Emotional Intelligence, Why it can matter more than IQ. It was followed by a second best seller in 1998 by the same author, Working with Emotional Intelligence. The business … [Read more...] about Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
The Business Case for Coaching
Coaching paves the way for decision makers to create higher levels of organizational effectiveness through dialogue, inquiry and positive interactions. Coaching creates awareness, purpose, competence and well-being among participants. Coaching is NOT another feel good exercise based in soft skills … [Read more...] about The Business Case for Coaching
Creating Powerful Teams
Teams are the most common business unit for high performance. Although the word gets used loosely and not always appropriately, there is universal acceptance that teams create opportunities for high performance results. The most significant research on groups of people working together occurred … [Read more...] about Creating Powerful Teams
Feeling Good: Creating Emotionally Intelligent Teams
When Daniel Goleman wrote his landmark books on emotional intelligence in the 90's ( Emotional Intelligence, 1995, Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998), managers in organizations everywhere nodded heads in agreement. Finally, what they knew to be true about dealing with people had a name and … [Read more...] about Feeling Good: Creating Emotionally Intelligent Teams