Dear Madeleine, I am a staff manager at an academic institution. Of my eleven direct reports, seven have been with the University for more than thirty years and the rest have also been here for a long time. They are smart and capable and very good at what they do, as they should be—they have…
We are in desperate need for a new model of leadership in organizations. The type of leadership we’ve seen the last several decades has produced record low levels of trust and engagement in the workforce, so clearly what we’ve been doing isn’t working. Every day the spirits of millions of people die at the front…
Can you fill-in-the-blanks on these common workplace belief statements? It’s not personal, it is just ________. The purpose of business is to _____ _______. We need to hold people ___________. The only thing that really matters is _______. If you cannot measure it, it _________ ________. We have embedded these beliefs so deep in our…
The more that virtual teams become our normal way of working, the more we realize how difficult it is to build the positive relationships so critical for team success. A face-to-face meeting for team building is best, yet most teams can’t afford that luxury. So how do you build team spirit when you can’t have…
I travel a lot, and in my travels, whether for business or pleasure, I try my best to stay in the same hotel chain. Why? Because I know what I’m going to get. Similarly, when I’m traveling overseas, I actually look for a very recognizable quick service restaurant chain. Why? Because I know what I’m…
Have you ever played the game where you sit in a circle and one person whispers a story to the person on their left, who shares the story with the next person, and so on, until the story is retold to the one who started it—but it no longer resembles the original story? That is…
A client asked me yesterday, “Why are you so interested in writing about optimal and suboptimal motivation? All managers care about is productivity, accountability, and results—isn’t it like pushing water uphill with a toothpick,” he asked. Beyond absolutely loving that visual, the question really caught me. How often to do you hear someone ask you why…
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” ~ Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz Judy Garland’s line from The Wizard Oz could appropriately capture the feeling of many leaders when it comes to managing Millennials in the workplace – it’s a whole new world! Millennials, or Gen Y (born 1982-1995), are rapidly becoming a…
I just arrived back from beautiful Fujairah—one of the northernmost emirates in the UAE—where we held the final module of six in a 15-month leadership development curriculum for a global technology company. The total program included modules around personality, values, organization vision and alignment, leadership style, high performing teams, change management, and motivation—the gamut. This…
Are you working to create lasting memories this holiday season? Stop and think for a minute, how are YOU feeling right now? Stressed? Anxious? Happy? Sad? How are other people around you feeling? What does the average customer feel like now? Typically this time of year people are feeling more emotional than usual. This is…