organization

Five Steps to More Engaged Employees

According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace: 2010-2012 report, employee engagement levels remain stagnant in the U.S, with only 30% of American workers saying they feel “engaged, involved in, enthusiastic about, or committed to their workplace.” Which means that seven out of every 10 employees are just going through the motions. That’s no way…

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It’s Time to Engage with Employee Engagement

Time for me to get up on the soapbox again. I recently came across a survey conducted by SilkRoad, a “leading provider of cloud-based, social talent management solutions.” In other words, they do the human resources thing. Their survey polled nearly 800 HR professionals on a number of issues related to engaging and energizing employees…

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Taking the Mystery Out of Innovation

Many people see innovation as a mystifying process that requires blinding flashes of creative insight to come up with new products that change the world. In reality, there’s nothing mysterious about it. As defined in the dictionary, innovation is simply “making changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.” Those blinding…

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The Third, Fourth and Fifth Most Powerful Words in Business

When was the last time you got stuck, I mean really stuck, on a problem in your organization? The kind where you not only couldn’t find a solution, but weren’t even sure why you were stuck in the first place. For example, you’re way behind your annual sales goal and no one seems to know…

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Time For a 1st Quarter Checkup

A lot can happen in three months. The Vatican can elect a pope from Argentina. We can now carry knives through airport security. And Dennis Rodman can become BFF (best friends forever) with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. Who in the world saw that last one coming? Which begs the question: if all this…

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March Madness: It’s Winning Time!

I’m not a huge basketball fan. But like millions of Americans, I follow the annual event know as March Madness, where 68 college hoops teams come together over the course of three weeks to determine a true national champion. And when March Madness rolls around, it means two things. One, workplace productivity throughout the land…

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Are You a Strategy 10-Percenter?

I recently came across a disheartening statistic (from an IBM white paper on planning and implementation) that says only 10 percent of organizations manage to successfully implement their strategies on a consistent basis. My first reaction was, “That can’t be right; that’s too low!” But the more I thought about it, the more it matches…

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The Decline of Trust (and What We can Do About It)

I recently ran across a very disturbing, but not surprising, statistic. According to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual survey conducted by the global PR consulting firm Edelman, trust in our public institutions, industries, and leaders is taking a severe beating. This year’s survey, which polled more than 30,000 people in 26 markets around…

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Winning: Your Best Time Management Tool

As a consultant and keynote speaker, I get to work with a wide variety of organizations. As you might imagine, I see a lot of different problems and challenges from one company to another, but I also see a lot of similarities. One of the core issues I find almost everyone struggling with these days…

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Top Five Tips for Winning in 2013

Did you blink and 2012 zipped right by? Don’t worry, it happened to me too. Which means it’s time to start getting ready to win in 2013! Here are the top five things you can do to prepare your organization to win in the year ahead. 1. Get clear on winning (your destination). Specifically, get…

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Are You Ready to Win in 2013?

Did you blink and 2012 zipped right by? Don’t worry, it happened to me too. Which means it’s time to start getting ready to win in 2013! Here are the top five things you can do to prepare your organization to win in the year ahead. 1. Get clear on winning (your destination). Specifically, get…

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Take the Innovation Self-Test

Ever wonder why some companies seem to effortlessly come out with one great innovation after another while others struggle to get even one new product or service out the door? There’s a reason for it. Innovation is a complex process that involves a lot more than just throwing money at an R&D department and hoping…

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