Employees now expect more. Employee engagement is key to success for most organizations. If we understand the typical and recurring mistakes made in this field, we can predict and prevent them happening to us. Today’s guest post is by Frank Devine, author of RAPID MASS ENGAGEMENT: Driving Continuous Improvement Through Employee Culture Creation (CLICK HERE to get your copy). The Roll-out Assumption During a visit to one of the sites where my Rapid Mass Engagement (RME) process had been implemented, a group of senior visitors toured the site guided by a shop-floor employee who outl ..read more

Our reader poll today asks: What would your team members say is your greatest strength? Your inspirational leadership 9.73% Your ability to develop their skills 9.73% Your strategic vision and ability to innovate 12.98% Your decisiveness 9.19% Your caring, empathy and compassion 43.25% Your ability to influence others 9.72% Something else 5.40% Caring counts. Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

Once you’ve built some great goals, you need to communicate them to the organization. Operating in silos leads to missed opportunities. Once you’ve built some great goals, you need to communicate them to the organization. People in your department need to understand how their own goals, as well as the goals of their colleagues, tie to the broader organization goals. Operating in silos leads to missed opportunities. Sometimes you’ll find people are working at cross purposes.  Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the ..read more

Our reader poll today asks: How effective is your manager at creating a meeting environment where everyone is comfortable participating? They’re great at it. They create space for everyone to participate comfortably 27.52% They’re good at it. They create some space but tend to drive the discussion 24.84% They’re OK at it. They drive most of the discussion and get some input 18.12% They’re not good at it. Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

  Goals can make sense in isolation, but when you add them all up, you may be asking for unrealistic results from your team. Watch out for conflicting goals. It’s important to reality check your goals. Goals can make sense in isolation, but when you add them all up, you may be asking for unrealistic results from your team. You’ll need to evaluate how department goals impact one another.  Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

Why are memorial services celebrating the life of a loved one who has passed always convened around candlelight, music, and poetry and not around bright lights, PowerPoint presentations and spreadsheets? Today’s guest post is by Dr. Robert H. Lengel, author of A Place For T: Giving Voice To The Tortoise In Our Hare-Brained World (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Why are memorial services celebrating the life of a loved one who has passed or that bring communities of diverse people together after a tragedy like a human-caused tragedy or natural disaster always convened around candlelight, mu ..read more

A commit goal gives your team a clear target to aim for, while a stretch goal gives your team an incentive to go above and beyond.  A goal setting technique designed to provide predictability and generate excitement and upside potential is setting commit and stretch goals. The commit goal is a promise of what will be delivered. It’s non-negotiable. Missing it has big consequences. The stretch goal is something for the team to aspire to.  Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

These four mindset shifts can help you create winning strategies in both your business life and your personal life. Today’s guest post is by Alex Brueckmann, author of Secrets of Next-Level Entrepreneurs (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Sitting on the balcony of our apartment in New Westminster, Canada, I hold my baby boy and reflect on the past few months. After everything that happened, I’m amazed that I made it through without breaking down mentally. Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

Our reader poll today asks: When you have to deliver a tough message, what best describes your approach? I deliver it directly and without apology or cushioning: 32.15% I strike a balance between tough news and positive news: 62.15% I soft-pedal the message and risk it not being received: 4.28% I avoid delivering the message and hope they’ll figure it out on their own: 1.42% Beware the “But” Sandwich. Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more

Setting goals for supporting functions helps link people’s roles and the work they do every day to your department’s larger goals. It’s easy to focus on big departmental goals, but not everyone on the team can directly affect those numbers. Setting goals for supporting functions helps link people’s roles and the work they do every day to that broader departmental goal. To do this, it requires you to break those big goals down into component parts.  Read the rest of this post at thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World ..read more