Posts tagged as:

Team Effectiveness

Employees Can’t Get No Satisfaction

January 14, 2010

With a clumsy nod to the Rolling Stones’ classic tune, it appears to be true: since 1987, workers have become steadily less satisfied with their work.  This is according to research results released last week by The Conference Board.  What’s more, it’s not a generational thing: satisfaction is decreasing amongst all ages groups.  While the [...]

Read the full article →

What’s It Hurt To Ask?

October 16, 2009

I just returned from conducting on-site meetings for a new client.  The CEO of this company hired me to help his employees make the transition to a new organizational structure. We’re doing a series of input meetings, SWOT analyses and informational interviews.  Something that one of the employees said this morning is really sticking with [...]

Read the full article →

The TMI of Leadership

September 29, 2009

The other day, I was having a discussion with a training manager named Sally.  Her staff designs training for her company’s field sales force. Sally works for a large organization that has a reputation for promoting from within. Here’s what we were discussing: Leaders higher up in her organization have noticed that when the sales people [...]

Read the full article →

Boo or Yay Manager?

September 20, 2009

One of my favorite experiential activities for management training is an oldie but goodie called the “Boo/Yay” exercise.  In it, two volunteers separately try to guess a per-determined task such as walking to the front of the room and picking up a marker. The audience is instructed to give the volunteers feedback to help them [...]

Read the full article →

Book Review: The Sharp Employee

September 18, 2009

In preparation for reviewing the Marcus Buckingham’s soon-to-be released book Find Your Strongest Life, I decided to pull some of Buckingham’s earlier books off the shelf and give them a second look.  This review is the first of a three-part series. Now, Discover Your Strengths Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton The highlights: In the [...]

Read the full article →

No-Cost Ideas for Energizing Your Team

September 15, 2009

In my post Not Everyone Loves Putt Putt, I advised leaders to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of hosting an offsite gathering that’s “fun day” or social in nature.  In a well-intended effort to promote team cohesiveness, these outings sometimes fall short. So what’s a leader to do if the team isn’t interested in an [...]

Read the full article →

Not Everyone Loves Putt-Putt

September 15, 2009

For many of us in the United States, September means “back to school”.  In the business world, that sense of starting anew often prompts team leaders to consider some sort of social off-site activity (lunch, golf, attending a cultural event) as a means to energize their team.  Off-site activities, when properly conceived and aligned to [...]

Read the full article →