Workplace Dynamics

7 Things Employees Want to Know In a Department Reshuffle

February 28, 2012

Overheard at a lunchtime conversation in the company cafeteria: Employee: “That sure was a big announcement by the CEO this morning. They’re really moving the boxes on the org chart this time. What’s your reaction? Mid-level manager: (shrugging shoulders, sounding nonchalant) “Meh. I’ve been around this place for a long time. It’s just same monkeys, [...]

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15 Ways to Be Nice at Work

February 24, 2012

This week is Be Nice Week at my kids’ school. It’s part of an anti-bullying program designed to “promote the old-fashioned value of being nice”. Today the students and teachers will wear “Be Nice” t-shirts offered by the The Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan. I bought a t-shirt too and will be wearing it today [...]

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Leadership and Positive Social Contagion

February 8, 2012

Are there any positive leadership stories out there anymore? Anyone? Anyone? Sometimes, I feel like Ben Stein’s economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, casting about for any story that sheds a positive light on the ability to lead with character. In the last week alone, I’ve personally heard three stories of leadership failure: [...]

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Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries

January 11, 2012

Earlier this week I presented a session on Influencing Across Organizational Boundaries to the Western Michigan chapter of the Project Management Institute. The session was so well-received that many people asked for copies of the Power Point presentation. Well, you know how that goes—a Power Point without the corresponding speaker commentary is a bit flat. [...]

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Tag-Team Workplace Coaching

November 3, 2011

Sometimes, a person’s boss just isn’t the right person to do the coaching. Consider this story, as told to me by my client Pete: Pete was part of a new product ideation team tasked with creating a proposal for the company president. On the day of Big Presentation to the president Liz, the team gathered [...]

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Creativity is a Vital Skill for Leaders

October 20, 2011

The following post is written by Erin Palmer, a recent college graduate. When she contacted me to ask if she could write a guest post on creativity and leadership, I was thrilled because of her point of view: that of the follower, not the formal leader. Please read on to find out what this young, [...]

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What Type of Angry Boss Are You?

September 24, 2011

My kid came home the other day and showed me some artwork that he drew while waiting for his classmates to finish their math tests. He drew a series of random dots, connected them and then created a cartoon out the resulting shape. His first shape resembled an angry person screaming so he labeled it [...]

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Employee Recognition: Why the Lighter Side of Business has Serious Results

September 14, 2011

I believe that employee recognition is a vastly underused tool in a leader’s toolkit. Recognition need not be expensive, elaborate or time-consuming—but that’s how many leaders see it. Therefore, I’ve teamed up with the recognition specialists at Baudville. They’ve agreed to pass along some great advice to the readers of The People Equation on how to [...]

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Old Men Don’t Ride Kick Scooters

September 13, 2011

Last night after dinner my ten-year-old wiped out on his kick scooter after trying to do some new tricks. He has a nasty scrape and some serious bruises to show for his efforts, but is otherwise all in one piece. After inspecting our son’s injuries, Mr. People Equation informed me “That boy actually left some [...]

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