The pace is frenzied – even desperate – in most organizations today. Restructuring, revamping IT systems, and reengineering processes are just a few of the major initiatives driving big changes across organizations. At departmental levels projects, goals and objectives, and operational bottlenecks expand exponentially. Add with today’s 24/7, always on and always connected technology, all […]
Read post »Last month Return on Performance magazine asked me to respond to a series of questions on motivating employees to attract new customers in a recovering economy for their “Winning Tips” section. My responses below reflect many of the internal service and servant leadership themes found throughout my work – and this month’s issue. Ask yourself… […]
Read post »I am glad to see that last month’s newsletter (The Leader Letter) theme of spring clean up, To-Stop lists, busyness, and The Acceleration Trap touched a nerve with many readers. It’s a complex, multi-layered, and very serious problem at personal, team, and organizational levels. Following are some thoughtful reflections and observations on the topic: “I […]
Read post »My last post looked at a common cause of poor internal or external customer service rooted in not seeing – or hearing – customers in 3D. A major contributor to this problem, and the resulting “functional chimneys,” is management’s failure to listen to the needs of service teams and their individual contributors. “If you don’t […]
Read post »3D is all the rage today. Movies like Avatar take us to a new level of realism. TV manufacturers are furiously announcing new 3D systems. Apple has reportedly filed patents for special 3D glasses technology. Adding the third dimension of depth to a movie brings us up close and puts us into the action. Are […]
Read post »Recently, I was approached by a misguided manager looking for training and motivation programs to “fix” their frontline service staff. This is a fairly wide spread and common problem showing a lack of understanding about basic customer service cause and effect. And it’s focused on treating symptoms rather than the underlying disease. How reasonable would […]
Read post »There’s an epidemic of frantic busyness, multi-tasking, project overload, way too many goals, and tyranny of the urgent. An old folk saying reminds us “the hurrier I go the behinder I get.” A theme running through many recent blog postings has been the critical need to be more focused, disciplined, and strategic with our personal, […]
Read post »As I was preparing to facilitate a senior management team retreat and planning session I came across an excellent Harvard Business Review article on the huge problem of frantic busyness and priority overload. This was especially timely since the executive team was debating how they’ll deal with a long list of urgent projects, goals, and […]
Read post »Now that we’re a few months into a new decade, has the pace of change slowed down for you or your organization? Not very likely! Constant change is constantly with us for some time to come. Like the earth’s tectonic plates continuously grinding against each other, change is often produced with a massive earthquake-like shift. […]
Read post »Big bonuses and skewed incentives paid to a tiny minority of elite money managers created huge pain and suffering for millions around the world in the past few years. Finally we’re seeing one of the main players, Goldman Sachs, being charged by the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission for their part in the fraud, deception, […]
Read post »Last weekend was perfect weather to clean up our perennial garden. After a few days of much needed heavy rains, the sun was shining again. The garden was springing back to life with plenty of green shoots (sadly, the deer and rabbits did chew off a few) and vigorous growth. So it was time to […]
Read post »Last week a reader asked for advice on the best way to craft a vision and mission statement for their organization. Beware! This could be a big trap. I often poll my speaking or workshop audiences and ask for a show of hands on how many participants’ organizations have a vision, values, or mission statement. […]
Read post »Spring is arriving in the Northern Hemisphere with renewal, rebirth, and new growth. Thankfully, we’re also seeing strong signs of economic growth after the most severe “economic winter” in many decades. Forward thinking organizations are now looking toward renewing or rebuilding leadership skills. That generally starts with learning and development initiatives for supervisors, managers, and […]
Read post »A big challenge for many organizations today is providing learning and development opportunities when many managers, supervisors, and staff are extremely pressed for time. It gets even more challenging when many people are spread out among a number of locations. Gerry Parker, Lead HR Advisor for Rural Areas at Vancouver Coastal Health, has a major […]
Read post »A member of a group I belong to on LinkedIn sent me this request: “I have a presentation to an executive team for a company that provides medical garments to outpatient facilities throughout the US. I will be helping the Organization Development manager make a business case for leadership and culture development. I’m going to […]
Read post »Many managers, HR/Training/Safety and other support professionals, as well as team leaders are struggling with how to help people deal with constant change. More and more people are complaining of “change fatigue” as organizations deal with: • Continuous changes in leadership, direction, processes, and organization structure; • Relentless pressure to do more with less in […]
Read post »Today is Heather and my wedding anniversary. We’ve been happily married for about 15 years now. Since we were married in 1977, 15 out of 32 years isn’t bad! Actually, that’s an old joke we both use when we’re asked how long we have been married. We’ve been quite happily married for most of those […]
Read post »Whether it’s across an entire organization or with a local team, culture change is a hot issue these days. For good reason; culture trumps strategy, structure, processes, or technology. We have long defined culture as “the way we do things around here.” A team or organizational culture heavily influences what’s acceptable and unacceptable behavior. And […]
Read post »Unpredictable, unexpected, rapid, and even unfair change is rocking governments, businesses, and people worldwide. And the history buff in me finds lots of evidence to show this really isn’t a new trend – and will never stop. There’s no “getting through this crazy period” to some mythical place of stability, or predictable sameness. Whether these […]
Read post »The June issue of my monthly e-newsletter, The Leader Letter, went out last week. In it I included an item from my April 30 blog posting responding to a workshop attendee who read one of my articles with a chart on moving from casual or moderate to intense levels of customer service. She also asked […]
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