The state of the American workplace is so bad, the US Surgeon General has now stepped in. The same guy who warns us of the deadly consequences of smoking is now saying Americans suffer from mental and physical health problems because of stressful, sometimes hostile, often toxic workplaces.
He cites specific workplace conditions that contribute to […]
In all areas of life, incentives work really well. They’re easy to understand—if I do this, I will get that—and they focus people on a specific outcome. We start young—eat your vegetables and you’ll get dessert—and we continue to respond to incentives all our lives.
In business, incentives are incredibly successful. Do you want your employee […]
Do you feel pressure to come up with new ideas?
Things change so quickly these days, it seems we need new ideas and fresh thinking just to survive. We need to understand how our customers are changing. Will they still need us a year from now? What should we do to our products, distribution, or marketing […]
Theft by employees is roughly a $16 billion problem in US companies. Employees steal through fraud, cheating the accounting department, or stuffing cash or product into their pockets. In response, businesses buy security cameras and motion detectors and hire security guards. They develop tracking procedures and reporting systems, and have their attorneys compose theft policies. They […]
We all know managers have a tremendous impact on the productivity and engagement of their teams. And we know that not everyone can manage people: Gallup says only 10% of people are natural managers and another 20% are coachable.
Upgrading the quality of your existing managers can seem like an arduous task, but one thing you can […]
A lot of managers, particularly new ones, make a fundamental mistake. They do the work their teams should do rather than their own job.
Maybe your staff is down a person, and you figure it’s better to pitch in than to stress everyone out. Or maybe the workload is unexpectedly heavy, so you lend a hand […]
We love our rules, don’t we? They’re important to us because we feel that by regulating the behavior of others, we are safer, healthier and richer. After all, isn’t civilization simply a system of rules and consequences?
So, we apply the same thinking to the workplace. There are rules about what time to show up, how […]
People often think they’re saying one thing when they’re actually saying something very different.
Sometimes the word “but” is the tipoff.
“I’m a very open-minded person, but…” is a sure sign you’re about to hear something very closed-minded.
Sometimes the tipoff isn’t a word, it’s the fact that the person is saying it all, and that’s where poor […]
For several years I worked for a giant, multi-national company. During that time, I was fortunate to see firsthand how the company worked to instill its values in employees all over the world across a number of industries. They wanted everyone to share a fundamental understanding of good governance and personal integrity. So, the company […]
Who wants a weak manager for a boss? Who believes a weak manager will step up and do the right thing when the going gets tough? Who thinks a weak manager is capable of looking out for the team and really having employees’ backs?
The answer, of course, is nobody. Nobody wants to work for a […]
