You hate your job and are unsure what to do about it. If this sounds like you, know that you’re not alone, as many people spend countless hours at a job they despise. According to research, the average worker spends 35% of their life at work. That’s a lot of time! If you’re unhappy with …
There are many different projects a business can work on, and it doesn’t matter what type of project you are working on; you will probably follow the same project management flow that 95% of the rest of the leaders follow. The five stages of project management are crucial and follow guidelines set forth by the …
Project Management and the Phases of a Project Plan Read More »
Effective communication is important in any relationship, especially in the workplace where customers and employees depend on it to be successful. When there is a breakdown between individuals, we most often assume that communication is at least part of the root cause solution. Style inventories, team-building activity programs and communication workshops are commonly used for …
Five Sources Of Miscommunication In The Workplace And How To Mitigate Them Read More »
If the last time you had a coach was in your childhood Little League baseball team, it might be time to learn about a different type of coaching: Executive coaching. Executive coaching is for high-level professionals or high-potential professionals, and it consists of working with an external individual to develop the skills and competencies necessary …
As your business grows, your workplace team grows too. But building a successful team requires more than choosing people with the right mix of professional skills. Therefore, it is essential to understand how to develop your team and bring them together correctly. High-functioning teams don’t happen without work and a structured process. Today we’ll jump …
The Five Stages of Business Team Development Explained Read More »
Two years into the pandemic, most organizations have pivoted to provide virtual training due to imposed work-from-home orders and the resulting general shift to remote work. While these organizations have done a good job within the constraints, many have fallen into a sub-optimal new normal as their emergency pivot has become ingrained and habitual without …
Are You Optimizing Virtual Training To Shape Your Culture? Read More »
In their ongoing mission, culture and strategy are among the primary tools at top leaders’ disposal to maintain organizational practicality and effectiveness. Strategies use a formal logic for the business’s objectives and align individuals around them. Culture reveals objectives through beliefs to guide activity through shared presumptions and group standards. Related: What Company Culture Is …
Corporate Culture: The Guide for Thought Leaders Read More »
What Is Change Management and Why Is It Important? Change management is an overhaul of company systems to create a more updated and efficient, and accountable work environment. Change Management is a hot topic among organizations in today’s quickly changing world where we have to keep up with consumer and stakeholder demands, public safety policies, ever-increasing …
A New World Needs A New Approach To Change Management Read More »
For decades, corporate team building has consisted of style inventories, communication skill building and teamwork games like ropes courses, trust falls and escape rooms. While these activities might bring a team closer together as friends and are certainly fun activities, they have little if anything to do with actually building job-related teamwork. Building effective teams …
Employee inclusion at all levels is a critical factor for organizational success. Because of the increased speed and urgency with which organizations are forced to adapt to a continually changing business environment, respond to new customer demands and effectively compete with the competition, employee inclusion is more important now than it’s ever been. Old ways …
Why Representation Is More Powerful Than Inclusion Alone Read More »
In my 35 years of consulting with business teams to lead breakthrough change efforts, I’ve learned one surprising thing: Professional business teams act like amateurs! If you want to learn about high-performing teams, pay attention to teams that have to perform well together. The success of sports teams, dance companies and music groups depends on their teamwork, …
Why Most Business Teams Are Amateurs, And How To Become Professional Read More »
No one really likes micromanaging, yet it is a popular management strategy at almost every level. Most managers who micromanage express that the best way to ensure success is to take control. While that may sound reasonable, it ultimately doesn’t work. The Problem With Micromanagement Micromanagement is an organizational disease similar to silos in that …
Three Steps To Drive Results Without Micromanagement Read More »
Internal recruitment is when a business sources talent from their current team members for a job opening. It’s no secret that business evolves. In the last two years, we have seen drastic changes in how organizations finalize transactions, communicate with customers, and even hire for open positions. Hiring for a new position takes time and …
Internal Recruitment: The Benefits, Costs, and Best Practices Read More »
Sometimes a little work stress is good. It’s a signal in our brains that tells us we need to make adjustments. No stress at all, and we don’t feel the ambitious nudge to achieve a goal. Likewise, stress can take over our lives if we’re not careful. Worst case scenario, work stress overwhelms us to …
One of the biggest questions leaders have today is how to best handle the opportunity to return to the office after a year and a half of enforced work-from-home conditions. Do we go back to the office? Stay remote? Do some mix of both? Uncertainty still abounds, safety concerns are still high and we all …
Six Things To Consider When Making Plans To Return To Office Read More »
Just like individuals, companies need core values. Any amazing company you have ever heard of has a set of core values, born out of its purpose, that dictates their cultures, policies, and overall behavior. These values matter. They help your company make hard decisions, take clear action, and avoid ambiguity. They’re more than great-sounding words …
Company culture is a popular buzzword that is used to cover a multitude of things. It isn’t easy to define, but broadly speaking, it is a company’s values, beliefs, and behaviors. It’s also the vibe. Company values may say one thing, but the truth of the matter is shown in their culture. It’s how the …
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a stated value for many companies, but making meaningful changes to support DEI often proves more difficult than simply claiming it as important. Below are five meaningful ways to support DEI in any organization. 1. Educate yourself and take personal inventory. Power dynamics in organizations most often mimic power …
Five Meaningful Ways To Support Diversity, Equity And Inclusion In Business Read More »
Every company wants to have engaged employees. These workers are vital to your business, and they often adopt your company’s values, purpose, and vision. As a result, they make stunning colleagues, innovating problem solvers, and passionate contributors. Unfortunately, disengaged employees have the opposite attitude. If you have these disengaged employees, you want to know the …
Disengaged Employees? The Real Problem Will Surprise You Read More »
Your emotions are important – everywhere. Although you don’t usually associate emotion with the workplace, the two are inextricably connected. So much of your life is invested in your job that it makes sense that it’s also where you experience a broad spectrum of feelings – joy, satisfaction, anger, resentment, and stress, to name just …
Emotions At Work: Secret Uses for Positive Culture Read More »
A goal is a milestone that pushes us to perform better and try new things. It is the desired result that gets us from point A to point B. The 2022 new year is right around the corner, which means goal setting is what everyone is considering as they bustle around the office. Most people …
Have you ever wondered how large companies like Amazon and Apple continue to stay successful? People continue to buy their products and use their services, and it seems like there’s no dropoff coming soon. You could say the increase in sales has been a big part of why they’re successful. But that’s not what business …
Service-Profit Chain: Build Business Profitability Read More »
The best organizations operate through teamwork, but getting each member to work seamlessly with each other can be a challenge, especially without a plan. Drexler-Sibbet’s Team Performance Model provides organizations with a framework designed to understand team development. It’s known to be one of the most effective, efficient models for enhancing team performance. Let’s take …
Drexler Sibbet Team Performance Model: Does It Work? Read More »
By Mark Samuel – The standard wisdom for planning the future has been to look at past results. Studying metrics that included past revenue, sales, customer purchases, market reactions and recent technological advancements have been great indicators for future planning and strategies. For the larger, more advanced companies, looking into the past could help project …
By Mark Samuel – During a time when the line between our home and work life is blurring, it’s important to talk about the role of personal development. The work that I do is largely focused on teams — how teams interact, how they execute and how they hold each other accountable. But teamwork is …
At work, offense is being proactive. It’s what we call “playing big.” Defense is “playing small” or being reactive. Offensive vs. Defensive are terms that we’re familiar with when talking about football, video games, or other sports. However, these strategies are also applicable to the workplace–but not in the ways you might think. Continue reading, and …
Offense vs. Defense: One Has Significant Benefits in the Workplace Read More »
By Mark Samuel – Creating virtual trainings, and especially translating in-person trainings to virtual trainings takes skill and an understanding of the inherent differences between sitting in a room with people and sitting in front of a screen, but it isn’t hard when you know what to do. Being an in-person experienced trainer and facilitator, …
Create Effective Virtual Trainings W/O The Trial & Error Read More »
By Mark Samuel – The viral pandemic of 2020 has become the Great Game Changer, not only for the decade, but most likely for the century. There has been so much tragedy—lives lost and people getting sick, huge job loss, financial insecurity, and business closures with entire industries being devastated by the result of shelter-at-home …
Pivoting In-Person Trainings & Workshops to be Effective Virtual Programs Read More »
By Mark Samuel – Many people, including myself, thought we would only be working remotely for 3 to 5 months as a result of the pandemic. So much for our opinions, plans, and predictions! It’s now been 10 months or longer and we are still experiencing some of the highest infection rates as we move …
By Mark Samuel – So far we’ve explored two of the most common traps that even seasoned content designers and facilitators can make when they turn to offering virtual events: #1 Underestimating the difference between environment and facilitator skills are the same #2 Assuming activities that work well in the in-person environment will work the …
[PART THREE] Overcoming Three Common TRAPS to Creating Online Workshops Read More »
By Mark Samuel – In Part 1, we shared one of the most common mistakes made by seasoned content creators and trainers—to underestimate the differences between live and virtual events. We all know they are different mediums to deliver content, but often aren’t clear on what those differences are…and more importantly, now to play to …
[PART TWO] Overcoming Three Common TRAPS to Creating Online Workshops Read More »
By Mark Samuel & Licia Rester – Those of us who are experienced in delivering in-person training workshops with a high degree of success are finding the move to a virtual learning environment much more difficult than imagined. The assumption for many is that you just need to transform the “same” training program into a …
Overcoming 3 Common TRAPS to Creating Online Workshops Read More »
By Mark Samuel – This is part 4 in a 4-part series to help organizations navigate re-entry after the initial impact of COVID-19. If you’re just joining the conversation, don’t miss the valuable information shared in Part 1: Learning from the Virtual Environment and the Effects of COVID-19, Part 2: Creating an Outcome-Driven Plan for …
Solidifying Your Culture During and After Re-Entry Read More »
By Mark Samuel – This is part 3 in a 4-part series to help organizations navigate re-entry after the initial impact of COVID-19. If you’re just joining the conversation, don’t miss the valuable information shared in Part 1: Learning from the Virtual Environment and the Effects of COVID-19 & Part 2: Creating an Outcome-Driven Plan …
By Mark Samuel – This is part 2 in a 4-part series to help organizations navigate re-entry after the initial impact of COVID-19. If you’re just joining the conversation, don’t miss the valuable information shared in Part 1: Learning From The Virtual Environment And The Effects COVID-19. Part 2: Creating an Outcome-Driven Plan for Initial …
Creating an Outcome-Driven Plan for Initial Re-Entry Read More »
By Mark Samuel – This is part 1 in a 4-part series to help organizations navigate the virtual workplace and re-entry after the initial impact of COVID-19. A Roadmap for Re-Entry After almost a year and a half of working virtually, organizations everywhere are eagerly awaiting and planning for re-entry as the spread of coronavirus …
Learn from the Virtual Workplace of the Pandemic Read More »
By Mark Samuel – Louis Carter, Founder and CEO of the Best Practice Institute published a business book roundup of 33 of the best leadership books. And as the article states, “We all succeed on the backs of others. They teach, model, and lead. Their words and work help us navigate what we didn’t expect, …
Best Practice Institute’s Best Business Book Roundup Read More »
By Mark Samuel – The recent pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty in every area of our lives as our finances, personal health, and immediate futures are subject to so much that is out of our control. Many have been forced to make big changes that impact their day-to-day lives, their businesses, and their …
6 Steps for Taking Back Your Power During a Crisis Read More »
By Mark Samuel – Business in the coronavirus environment continues with people working from home, being laid-off or furloughed, or finding creative ways of collaborating with others while keeping social distance and clean surfaces – especially our hands! While we are receiving several emails per day with advice on how to deal with the Pandemic, …
By Mark Samuel and Nate Johnson What do Blockbuster, the San Francisco 49ers, and me in the 9th grade have in common? We all played not to lose; we played safe. And consequently, we all lost. Blockbuster steamed on when a titanic iceberg was in its path. The 49ers had Super Bowl LIV in the …
By Mark Samuel and David Rodgers The first month of the new year is in the bag. It’s an exciting time with new goals, new challenges, and a fresh start. The question is, are you coming to the game with a new you? It’s more than just setting new goals, agreeing on your priorities and …
By Mark Samuel There is a major misunderstanding about burnout that suggests it stems from over-work, change, and driving toward higher levels of business results year after year. However, we have measurable data from clients that proves you can increase business results, take on more projects from previous years and introduce major change — while …
