Articles on 360 Degree Assesssment, Culture/Team Alignment, Featured Articles
Go to All ArticlesEscaping the World of the Chronically Unemployed
Few people navigate the world of employment today without at some point finding themselves jobless. Companies fold, they’re acquired, reorged, and downsized. Sometimes you find yourself over your head in a project or on the wrong side of politics–bottom line is you’re out. People get fired—it’s what happens.
Do Your Meetings Drive You Forward – or Dog-gone Crazy?
I really don’t even hate to admit it–most meetings I attend, I wish I were somewhere else. I’m the guy you’ll find looking at my phone, staring at the clock, emailing people about a pending project. Meetings can be invaluable in driving the progress of an organization, but mostly they just drive you crazy. People are fond of saying that meetings are pointless, and that’s just not true–there’s a point to the meeting or nobody would be there. The point of the meeting is often[…]
Decision Making – Sound or Scary?
Decision Making Skills–Your Most Important Tool One of the most important skills you’ll ever possess is your ability to make good decisions. Decision making is something we all struggle with– yet it makes us or breaks us. How do you feel about your decision making process? Can you make a decision–business or personal–and be happy with it? Can you move on quickly and not look back? Decisions Then and Now–How Decision-making has Changed As a child decisions were easier–they were based on a few fundamentals: […]
Getting on the Same Page – The Power of Team Alignment
I think all of us have felt like the Aflac Duck, quacking our bills off about something really important–if only we could get someone to listen. A great example of a voice that people didn’t listen to was W. Edwards Deming, inventor of process improvement, rejected in the U.S. that catapulted Japan to dominance in the auto industry. Several years ago Carol Kallendorf, PhD and I created a system of alignment that is the key component in organizational success. In those years executives often told us they[…]
Wile E Coyote and the Battle for the Brain
Do you remember the Roadrunner cartoons? They’re a huge chunk of Americana that you can check out on YouTube. In the cartoons, the Roadrunner never speaks–his only words are a cheery “Beep! Beep!” He’s a cocky bird, zooming over tricky terrains–mountains above, cliffs below. The Road Runner is constantly pursued by his nemesis, Wile E Coyote, whose life goal is to make the Roadrunner his lunch. He contrives elegant inventions worthy of Thomas Edison in order to trap the Roadrunner–it’s only that they always fail. […]
Organizational Values: From Platitudes to Attitudes
Organizational Values: From Platitudes to Attitudes By Jack Speer and Carol Kallendorf, PhD | September 24, 2019 Are stated values in organizations really valuable? Any entrepreneur will tell you that values are critical. They give an organization direction, define its “DNA” and pull it together. Organizations often do live their values, and we have clients that live them every day. Having said that, when you look at the format in which corporate values are written and presented, they often seem abstract, disconnected–and yes, here I said it–mostly[…]
The Battle for the Brain
The Battle for the Brain If you want to improve life and profitability in the workplace, take a look at the mental health of your organization. The battle for the brain in the workplace today may by more important than production, sales, and marketing. According to the World Health Organization, the impact of mental health is way underestimated in the workplace. You can prove this today in your workplace by looking around you to see how many projects are either moving along at a snail’s place[…]
Who Are You Going to Believe—Really?
Who Are You Going to Believe—Really? Spin, deception, diversion, and outright lies can take a person far on the national level. At the level of your organization, team, and job, if someone asks the question, “How are we doing?” it often depends on who’s doing the asking. After hearing several versions of what’s being said we often want to say, “Who does a person believe? Truth and Transparency on Teams – Not Ever Easy Truth and transparency are the oxygen and water of a successful[…]
Can You Both Compete AND Collaborate? Really?
Do you see yourself as a competitor at work? When you go to work every day, do you think of yourself as going to a win/lose event–like you’re playing power forward in a hockey game?
Who Are You Going to Believe—Really?
The need for teams to have the facts first and fully available is the key to success, but there are so many reasons team members can keep what’s happening under wraps.
