In its simplest definition, culture is the way things get done in an organization. It’s about the behaviors and attitudes of employees and management and how that translates into different approaches to performance—both good and bad. If you are a leader looking to improve your organization’s current culture and work environment, here are five steps…
Too many leaders have been conditioned to think of leadership only in terms of power and control. But there is a better way to lead, says best-selling business author Ken Blanchard—one that combines equal parts serving and leading. This kind of leadership requires a special kind of leader: a servant leader. “In this model,” says…
Managers don’t have enough high quality conversations with their direct reports, according to Ann Phillips, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. This deficiency has a negative effect on both productivity and morale. “Part of effective communication between manager and direct report is a mindset and part is a skillset. Both are required,”…
Dear Madeleine, Our company went to “unlimited PTO” about 16 months ago. The idea was to try it out for a year and re-evaluate. The re-evaluation period was moved to the 18-month mark, so it hasn’t happened yet. You would think the problem would be people abusing the policy but I have the opposite…
Dear Madeleine, My long-time boss recently left and I finally got a chance to be a manager. But soon after I stepped into the role, upper management informed me I needed to cut at least three people from my team as part of a massive company restructure. I messaged my old boss and she told…
Learn how to create a servant leadership culture in your organization. The just published June issue of Blanchard’s Ignite newsletter shares tips and strategies for leadership, learning, and talent development professionals. Highlights include Do’s and Don’ts When Creating a Servant Leadership Curriculum You have to resist the temptation to treat a servant leadership initiative as just…
Taking a servant leadership mindset and turning it into a curriculum and a set of skills can be a challenge, explains Bob Freytag, a senior consulting partner with The Ken Blanchard Companies. You have to resist the temptation to treat a servant leadership initiative as just a training intervention and instead see it, ideally, as…
Editor’s Note: This guest post is by Hunter Young. Think about this past week. Did you go to a business where you received below average customer service? Did it make you feel unwanted? Did you feel like leaving right then? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you’re not alone. Thousands if not millions of…
As a part of onboarding, Mike Rognlien, builder of awesome people at Facebook, would always ask new employees if the culture at Facebook was a deciding factor in their decision to join the company. “Every time, in more than six years of asking that question, almost every hand would go up,” says Rognlien. “Then I would…
“Don’t forget managers are key to creating a culture of service,” says Vicki Halsey, coauthor with Ken Blanchard and Kathy Cuff of the book Legendary Service: The Key is to Care. “Managers are directly responsible for translating a customer service vision into the goals and tasks frontline service providers need to focus on and be…