Archives For Engage Your Team

Engaging your team isn’t easy. If you are willing to tackle it, we are here to help!

Five Reasons Your Boss Doesn’t Trust You – How To Break Through

May 31, 2016
Trust Patience Persistance

Have you ever had a boss that didn’t trust you?  What about a co-worker that just can’t seem to cut you some slack?  I know I sure have.  I guess it’s pretty normal when you start a new job.  But what about after you’ve been in a position for 6 months or a year or more?  By that time, you’re probably hoping that the ‘cuffs will come off, right?

Well, they don’t always come off.  And that’s a real bummer!  Even if they do, you may still feel like there’s a lack of transparency holding you back.  You know, like the boss closes his door to talk to other people in the department, but you’re left in the dark.  Or what about the dinner meeting that you didn’t get invited to?  Maybe you just feel like you are always the last to know what’s going on.

So, what’s the deal?  How do you overcome this situation?  First, let’s identify the root of the problem…

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In Culture, Engage Your Boss, Engage Your Team, Motivation ,
May 31, 2016
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You Think Your Culture Sucks? Try Working For Oliver Queen

December 17, 2013

LEADERSHIP SETTING THE CULTURE TONE

Culture is tough.  It’s not easy to explain.  It can be elusive and subjective.  It can always be better and it can always be worse.  Just in case you think yours can’t get any worse, try working for CEO Oliver Queen at Queen Industries.  I’m pretty sure that his leadership style is the poster child for absentee landlord.

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In Culture, Engage Your Team, Leading , ,
December 17, 2013
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Making A Decision For Culture Change – Video

December 12, 2013

Organizational culture is something that just exists.  It’s not something that many of us want to try and change.  It does change, but it’s not usually in our control.  Over time…rules change, people change, and boom, culture changes.  However, there is a magic that can happen when groups of people are determined to make something happen.  In the case of automaker Ford’s turn around, that’s exactly how they did it.

Check out the short video below of an interview with VP of Marketing James Farley, where he talks about this decision:

Question:  Does an organization have to be desperate in order to change?
In Culture, Engage Your Boss, Engage Your Team, Leading ,
December 12, 2013
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Slicing Through Resistance To Change – Like Butta’

December 10, 2013

Resistance to change image

“People are set in their ways, closed minded, and are mostly unwilling to listen new ideas.  You just have to accept that and prove them wrong.”

These are the words that a consultant recently spoke to me.  Personally, I struggle with believing this.  I don’t like to pigeon hole people and make those kind of dangerous judgments.  I’d rather believe that people are smart, innovative, and unlimited in their approach, and mostly determined to be successful.

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In Culture, Engage Your Team, Motivation, People
December 10, 2013
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The Most Boring Activity In The World – Made Into Art

December 5, 2013

Let’s face it, no matter what you do for a living, there are probably aspects of your job that are just plain monotonous and all out boring!  As a matter of fact, your entire job may be boring (hopefully not)…

Either way, the video I’m sharing below showcases something and someone that is very unique.  This person is turning his job (and a very boring part of it) into something special – art.  Watching this makes me ask myself how I could turn my less exciting activities into art.  Why settle for boring??  Check it out:

Question:  What about you; how can you turn your job into art?
In Culture, Engage Your Boss, Engage Your Team, Motivation
December 5, 2013
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How To Instill Self-Confidence In The People You Interact With

November 19, 2013

HOW TO GIVE SELF CONFIDENCE

Lately, I’ve noticed a trend.  I often interact with very smart people that have completely underestimated their capabilities.  I typically resort to the tactic of telling them how great they are and how much more they could do if they didn’t have this self-limiting belief.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t typically do more than give them a short-term ego boost.

What Can I Do Differently?

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In Engage Your Team, Motivation , , ,
November 19, 2013
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What The Heck Is “Arbejdsglaede”? – Video

November 14, 2013

Here’s a really cool concept that I came across recently.  If you’ve ever learned anything about different languages, you know that there are sometimes words and concepts, in those languages, that don’t exist in English.  These ideas can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around, but are often very insightful.

In this case Sweden, Denmark, and Norway may be able to teach us a thing or two about “happiness” at “work”.

Watch this video to find out about arbejdsglaede…yep, that really is a word:

In Engage Your Team, Motivation, Videos ,
November 14, 2013
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Lead Like A Submarine Captain – Video

November 7, 2013

Many Hollywood movies have inspired us with their version of “leadership” over the years.  Maybe none more than those focusing on ship captains or submarine captains at the helm.  That’s why when I saw this video posted over at http://greenmango.cc/blog/ I was truly intrigued.

This video is based on a real story of a submarine captain that was faced with the challenge of flipping decades of leadership dogma on it’s head so that he could literally turn the worst performing ship in the navy around to be the best.

In currently reading his book (“Turn This Ship Around”) and hope to share more with you soon.  In the meantime, please enjoy:

In Culture, Engage Your Boss, Engage Your Team, Leading , , ,
November 7, 2013
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How Does Your Company’s Story Affect Your Culture?

October 22, 2013

COMPANY STORY AFFECTS CULTUREI read articles quite often that talk about the importance of telling a story in order to brand an organization.  More often than not, those articles tend to link branding and customer loyalty.  Lately though, I’ve been looking into another important aspect of a company’s story…employee engagement.

From my research, it seems there IS a direct correlation to engaged teams and a powerful story.  Here’s what I found out:

Your Mission Is Just One Piece of The Puzzle

I first learned about this from Dave Ramsey in Entreleadership.  The Lampo Group is a company that wears its mission on its sleeve:

The Lampo Group provides biblically based, common-sense education and empowerment that gives HOPE to everyone in every walk of life.”

Of course, this is a rare case where you can bring faith into work.  Most people would say that this just isn’t normal.  Hmm.  Not normal?  I think that is what we are going for here, right?  The title of this site is not Corporate Culture Normalcy.

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In Culture, Engage Your Team
October 22, 2013
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