Most managers want their people to achieve excellence at work. We really can’t ask for more. In fact, peak performance can be defined as a combination of: Excellence Consistency Ongoing improvement How can managers bring out the best in their people? To achieve peak performance, each … [Read more...] about Managing for Peak Performance: 5 Key Steps
Teams
Humor at Work: How Not to Be a Jerk
In the national bestseller Flow, University of Chicago psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests two key factors determine our overall happiness: Our relations with other people How we experience our work You can improve both areas by bringing humor to work each day. Harvard Business … [Read more...] about Humor at Work: How Not to Be a Jerk
He Thinks, She Thinks: Different Brains
Anyone with workplace experience knows men and women process information and communicate differently. Dealing with gender differences can prove challenging, especially for managers and leaders. Regardless of which industry you’re in or the position you fill, male and female coworkers can … [Read more...] about He Thinks, She Thinks: Different Brains
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
Office Politics: Survival of the Savvy
Political savvy is a vital competence for any executive, but it’s not taught in leadership or grad school courses. In fact, the term “office politics” has received a bad rap. (Words like “Machiavellian,” “manipulative” and “conspiratorial” come to mind.) Tales of political sabotage, power plays … [Read more...] about Office Politics: Survival of the Savvy
Making Strategy Everyone’s Job
After years of reengineering, downsizing and optimizing operational efficiencies, companies are now focusing on new ways to generate distinctive competitive advantages. Strategic planning is back, but with a difference: it is no longer the domain of the CEO and senior executives. Smart … [Read more...] about Making Strategy Everyone’s Job
Survival of the Fittest: Feedback is not for Sissies
"It is not the most intelligent of the species that survive the longest, it is the most adaptable." -- Charles Darwin In order to be persistently successful, people and organizations need to adapt continually to their environment. This requires information from the environment. The more open … [Read more...] about Survival of the Fittest: Feedback is not for Sissies
Personality Types in Executives: What Works
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is one of the most frequently used self-report assessment tools in management and leadership development programs around the world. It is used in leadership development, team-building, communications training and executive coaching. Yet many who take it put it … [Read more...] about Personality Types in Executives: What Works
Understanding Basic Human Behaviors at Work: What Drives You?
One of the earliest studies of human behavior at work was done at AT&T's Western Electric Hawthorne Plant from 1927 to 1932 by Harvard's Elton Mayo. Their principle findings are still relevant today: when workers have an opportunity to contribute their thinking and learning to workplace … [Read more...] about Understanding Basic Human Behaviors at Work: What Drives You?