Creativity—the ability to look at complicated situations and identify novel solutions that solve problems, advance initiatives, or rewrite old rules—may be the most critical skill of all in our workplaces. As leaders, we need to foster it, stimulate it, and do everything we can to ensure we're not the ones suppressing it. Sadly, creativity is something that many leaders trample all over in their daily activities.
Any event that brings people together and doesn't tap into the knowledge and ideas of the participants is an event that misses the mark. It's time for something different! Introducing the Leadership Caffeine Jam Sessions!
Here's a Fun-Fact from my Career Reinvent Boot Camp programs: 50% of participants would prefer to reinvent their careers (change what they do) without leaving your organization. Unfortunately, most of them end up leaving your firm. Here's why and here are some ideas you can rethink your approach to career development in your organization:
Now is not the time for the dominant logic surrounding managing and leading to prevail. That's how we got here, and "here" isn't so great. It's essential we find better ways to inspire, motivate, and engage great people who want to make a difference in our organizations. Here are twelve places to start:
It turns out; it’s not easy to find programs and providers that deliver growth opportunities. There’s a lot of program offering great content and entertaining experiences, but not real growth opportunities. Here are five key questions to ask potential providers before investing:
While we live and work in interesting times where traditional elongated planning processes no longer fit, leaders still have the responsibility to define a coherent strategy. Choosing the right tools for strategy work in today's environment is critical for a successful process.
There’s pressure for everything to move faster in our organizations at a time when it feels like we’re all trying to run through water or worse. Here are eight questions for you and your team to jump-start moving faster:
It's always bothered me that building a healthy working environment isn't described in most managerial job descriptions. This is the most important work a manager can engage in to strengthen engagement and performance, yet working on the working environment is ignored in the daily rush for results. In this article, I offer ideas and approaches to help managers jump-start this critical work.
While I’ve not attended your business review session, I can tell you with confidence born of experience that most of these events are painful time, productivity, and morale killers. And, in this world where COVID has taught us that quarters are like centuries and the world shifts in hours and days, I increasingly find the ubiquitous quarterly business reviews anachronistic. It's time to change your team's operating approach.
What we want as leaders is deep immersion from our team members. Yet, our systems, numbers, and approaches mainly generate transactional involvement. They lack unity of purpose.
