“How’s it going?” The query sounds warm and innocuous enough coming from a friend or sibling. But to an early-career employee the boss just-two-minutes-ago assigned a task, it can be a stark signal that you’re probably working for a micromanager. The greeting often conveys that you’re answering to an OCD-ish, down-to-the-minute-details kind of boss, one […]
More Manager, Less Micro
A Culture of Rising to the Challenge
Never Settle for "Good" if You Want to Grow
Building an internal culture that loves a challenge is not just a good thing for businesses to do. It is actually essential if that company is going to grow. Employees that are never pushed or challenged grow bored, and surveys have reported that a stagnant work environment is the number one reason that workers look […]
Some People Are Your Greatest Assets
Build Your Business Around the Exceptions
Most employees are interchangeable parts in your corporate machine. Your employees may be great people. They may be smart, talented, and attractive. They may be volunteer firefighters, soccer coaches, and great parents. They may never be sick, never be late, and never fail to deliver on time. It doesn’t matter. There are thousands, if not […]
4 Steps to Foster Creativity
How to Bring Out the Best in Your Team
Creativity is not some remote and solitary island. Each day, from the studios of legendary visual effects outfit Industrial Light & Magic to the conference rooms of ad agencies to the mission control rooms of NASA, teams of people come together to conceptualize, develop, and realize innovations in everything from movies to public policy. Yet […]
Elements of a Great Team Culture
All of us want to motivate our team to achieve at a higher level, but sometimes the atmosphere around us works against us. In this episode, you’ll learn how some leaders unwittingly allow a toxic culture to derail their team’s success. And you’ll discover how to create a healthy, functional work environment by incorporating three […]
How Do You Change Organizational Culture?
6 Steps to Turn Things Around
Most leaders would like to change their corporate culture, but they don’t know how. In this post, I outline six steps.