Amazing Mondays

The holiday season is a time of belief. During it, we are invited to believe in a lot of different things. I’d like to add one to the list. As a leader, I’d like to invite you to believe in your team. 2020 has been a challenging year.  Many have lost jobs, health, businesses, confidence, wealth, loved ones, security, and even hope. As a leader, you are in a unique position to lift the spirits of those you lead. And you can do that by believing in your people more than they believe in themselves. I’ve found that when I [...]

If you’re deciding whether to join an organization or not, it’s important to remember that your happiness at work will be influenced heavily by the workplace culture. Though it might be difficult to detect before you begin work, there are several clues you can look for that indicate the strength of a company’s culture. #1 Long-Tenured Employees One strong indicator of company culture is the employee turnover rate. Simply put, happy and engaged employees stay with their employer for a long time. So ask, ‘how long have you been at the company?’, to as many people as you possibly can.  [...]

Grateful leaders are often successful leaders. Here are two thoughts on gratitude for leaders this Thanksgiving week:  1. “Not what we say about our blessing, but how we use them is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”  W.T. Purkiser Many times we claim to be thankful but often our actions demonstrate otherwise. For example, if I’m thankful for my job, I will work hard at it and not spend my time complaining or just doing the minimum to get by.  If I’m truly thankful for my team, I will spend time with them, listen to them, and strive to always [...]

Few things are more discouraging than a high-quality employee leaving your company. And too often leaders shrug their shoulders and say it must be because they were offered more money or better benefits elsewhere.  Here are five big reasons why people are likely leaving your organization. #1 A Purpose Wasn’t Clear Too often people aren’t sure what the purpose is behind all of the work. Sure, they get a paycheck and they like a few of their co-workers; but this isn’t enough to convince them to stay.  We all want to contribute to something bigger than ourselves and leave our [...]

Frequently gauging how your employees are feeling about working for your organization through employee surveys is important to cultivating a strong company culture. Once you gather the information though, what do you do to improve results?  Here are three tips to help:   #1 Share the Results This seems obvious, but it doesn’t always happen. Leaders should share the results of the survey in a timely manner with their team. Everyone will know you’ve done a survey and many will want to see the results. Be completely transparent. Don’t shy away from disclosing the good, the bad, and even the ugly. [...]

Creating organizational clarity around the things that matter most is one of the best ways to improve a company’s culture. Clarity eliminates confusion and aligns a team. But how do good leaders go about establishing clarity? The most important practice to create clarity is repetition. Leaders and organizations must be persistent in repeating their most important messages over and over again. They should find different ways and means to communicate these messages without worry of sounding too redundant. For many leaders, the idea of repeating themselves often can sound boring. Most leaders never aspire to be known as [...]

Teamwork is critical for success in most organizations. However, knowing whether your team is really cohesive or not can be tricky. There are sophisticated ways to gauge team cohesiveness, however there is a simple method that has proven effective for most leaders. This uncomplicated practice is so easy that many of you may laugh out loud. Surprisingly, too many leaders fail to do it. The best place to start in understanding the cohesiveness of your team is to simply ask them, “how cohesive do you think we are as a team?” That’s it. As leaders, we sometimes forget [...]