Close

Found 26 results for 'All'

Tagged with 'employee recognition'

Leaders Beware: Avoid These Recognition Hazards

Early in my career, I reported to Harold, a leader who proudly described his MBE approach – “management by exception.” “If you haven’t heard from me, that’s a good sign,” he explained. “That means I think you’re doing just fine. I only deal with the exceptions. I look for problems and people that need correcting. […]

Read post »

Do You Focus on the Field of Wheat or Stone on the Hill?

A favorite ritual this time of year is decorating our Christmas tree while the movie Christmas Vacation is playing in the background. I’ve watched it often enough to recite most of the dialogue. But after repeated viewings, it still lives up to its tagline – “Yule crack up!” Yes, I do realize how pathetic my […]

Read post »

Every Little Thing: Step Small for the Long Haul

This month is the fortieth anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope run through our community — Waterloo Region. Having lost a leg to cancer, Terry Fox embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research. Terry’s shuffle-and-hop running style took him about 42 kilometers or 26 miles per day! I think jogging […]

Read post »

Manipulating Isn’t Motivating: Use These Powerful Approaches to Engage and Energize

Jake, a busker, walked into a bar and saw a crowd gathered around a table. On the table was an overturned pot with a duck doing a lively dance on top. Jake immediately saw the huge potential of this act. He negotiated with the bar owner and, agreed to buy the duck and pot for […]

Read post »

Giving Thanks Through Recognition, Appreciation, and Celebration

In Canada, the US, and some other countries, fall is a time for thanksgiving. Celebrating and appreciating a bountiful harvest is a powerful tradition from our past. Present research reinforces the power of gratitude in evaluating and extending happiness and satisfaction. Cicero proclaimed, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of […]

Read post »

High Performing Organizations Provide Spirit and Meaning

I once had a speaking engagement with a cleaning and custodial company at their annual management conference. Arriving early and sitting in on the meeting to get a feel for the group and the conference, I was inspired by what a remarkable job those leaders did of bringing “pride of craft” to clean toilets and […]

Read post »

Great Places to Work Reflect Great Cultures = Great Results

Fortune magazine has just published this year’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Since 1998 the research and consulting firm, Great Place to Work, has been conducting the most extensive employee survey in corporate America. Drawing feedback from more than 232,000 employees at companies with more than 1,000 employees, measurements are ranked and […]

Read post »

Resilience, Positivity, and the Power of Leadership

I grew up in the small farming community of Milverton, Ontario, in Perth County just north of Stratford. Arden Barker was a farmer, local politician, and well-known community builder. His wife Helen was also very active in the community and wrote a weekly newspaper column filled with her wit, experiences, observations, and philosophies. Helen was […]

Read post »

The Performance Evaluation Meeting

Focusing on Strengths and Not Weaknesses Tricia is preparing for a performance review meeting with Tom. She’s very happy with his work and sees lots of potential for him to grow further in his role and move up to higher leadership roles. Tom is a strong communicator, good at building relationships, and inspires his direct […]

Read post »

Great Coaches Inspire Dramatically Higher Extra Effort

Many organizations have increased their efforts to strengthen the coaching skills of their supervisors, managers, and executives. That’s because of mounting evidence showing that coaching effectiveness dramatically improves employee engagement, levels of customer satisfaction, productivity, safety, and profitability while reducing turnover, absenteeism, and costs. Coaching skills have an especially vital impact on “volunteerism.” This is […]

Read post »

Give the Gift of Recognition and Celebration

American president, Thomas Jefferson, once said “the glow of one warm thought is worth more to me than money.” Reinforcing feedback produces a powerful afterglow that raises the positivity ratio, energizes and inspires, and provides the pause that refreshes. This is the perfect time of year for you and your team to reflect back looking […]

Read post »

Strong Leaders Serve and Support

After reading my post “Recognition Pitfalls and Traps” a reader sent me an e-mail highlighting two points that resonated most with her: “Employees are like partners, to be listened to and involved in running the organization”; and “Sincere and honest recognition is one of the lowest cost and highly effective ways a leader can inspire […]

Read post »

Is Your Organization Facing a Talent Gap?

As summer fades like the flowers in our garden and we move into a busy fall season we’re planning a series of webinars, executive briefings, and workshops focused on Talent Management. Here’s why: • 70% of executives think their organization lacks adequate bench strength • 97% of organizations report serious leadership gaps, 40% say these […]

Read post »

Recognition Pitfalls and Traps

A friend with a past drinking problem has been a devoted member of Alcoholics Anonymous and not touched a drop of alcohol for many years. Recently he gave up most of his weekend to deal with a Client emergency. The next week his manager “thanked him” with an expensive bottle of wine. This breaks one […]

Read post »

Building on Strengths Key to Improving Organizational Health

In our culture development keynotes, workshops, and retreats we’ve been citing research from the largest study of organizational effectiveness ever undertaken. A few years ago McKinsey & Company published their extensive research in Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage (click here for my book summary and review). The research study identified nine […]

Read post »

Use This Checklist for a Ten Point Management Team Check Up

Last month I posted a blog on Use This 10 Point Checklist for a Leadership Check Up. This was developed as I prepared for this year’s only open/public Leading @ the Speed of Change  workshop here in the center of the universe – my hometown of Kitchener, Ontario (just 45 minutes west of Toronto airport). […]

Read post »

A New Year: A New Book of Blank Pages

I used to love the sharp, fresh smell of ink and paper as I opened a new book and heard the creak of the spine cracking. Old, musty, and worn school readers gave off a sweet, warm odor that promised hours of entertainment and adventure. Books don’t seem to smell that way anymore. That’s probably […]

Read post »

Thoughts That Make You Go Hmmm on… Recognition, Appreciation, and Celebration

“The most neglected form of compensation is the six-letter word thanks.” – Robert Townsend, former Amex and Avis executive and author of Up the Organization “What we’ve found is that exceptional leaders lead with gratitude, they pause to feel and express it first, because they have discovered that this is an essential way to improve […]

Read post »

Is Your Culture by Default or by Design?

We’re continuing to get feedback, questions, and comments about culture development following my 60 minute webcast on November 4. If you missed the whirlwind “city bus tour,” you can view the archived presentation (my animated slides synchronized with the audio track) at Leading a Peak Performance Culture. One viewer sent me a good question after […]

Read post »

Growing and Developing People is Urgent

I recently had a career discussion with a sharp and ambitious young family friend who has been working for five years for a large multinational company. In his late twenties, he’s now finishing up his MBA and looking for more growth and development than his company is currently providing. High potential young professionals like him […]

Read post »