A Magic Trick for Remembering Names – And Why It Matters
After five hours of working with a group of 40 people, I ended my training with a little magic trick. One-by-one, I walked up to each person and said “Thank you for being here…Sandy. Thank you for being here… Seth. Thank you for being here… Randi.” I kept going around the room until I thanked […]
Is Your Power Making You Lose Your Heart?
Jonas recently was promoted to a manager position at a nationwide furniture store. One of his responsibilities was to oversee the internship program for the company. In his first performance review as manager, his biggest complaint was how taxing overseeing the internship program was for him. He ranted about how long it took for the […]
Creating an Engagement Dashboard for Your Organization
For two years, I sat on the board of the NY Entrepreneurs’ Organization as the Head of Member Engagement. At my first board meeting, I asked the group for some prior data on member engagement. My aim was to find a baseline level of engagement which I could use to build goals for the future. […]
What’s Going On? -The Question Every “Neutral” Asks
In the previous blog post, I talked about a game my friend Kevin made up called “Scream and Run.” In case you need a recap: “Your challenge is to run as fast as you can towards the rest of the group while screaming. Then run back doing the same.” The group laughed again. “Oh, but […]
What is All this Work For? Finding Meaning at Work
Recently, I presented at a conference, discussing burnout with professionals. Several people in the room were very close to quitting their jobs for various reasons, i.e., being charged to do more with less, constantly shifting workplace environment, a major change in responsibility. For some, those may be welcome challenges. For others, they were just one […]
Even Top Talent Needs Their Manager – 3 Things You Need to Do as a Team Leader
“First, I stopped canceling meetings 10 minutes before the start time because I felt too “busy.” I previously had thought my employees would understand because I am the CEO and had a lot on my plate. Now, instead of hiding behind that excuse, they are my priority.” Excerpt from The Fast Forward Mindset* by David […]
Houston We Have A Problem…with Employee Engagement
In 2013, Gallup undertook a massive effort to study the current state of employee engagement around the world. After surveying 73,752 employees in 141 countries, Gallup found that 24% of employees are actively disengaged, 63% are not engaged, and 13% are engaged. You will find that when an employee is disengaged with their work environment, […]
Giving Feedback That Works
My supervisor and I were walking across campus after a meeting discussing an issue I was managing in the office. He didn’t agree with the manner in which I was handling the situation. He stopped walking and turned to me right in the middle of the campus quad. In a loud voice, he began to […]
Stop Talking About It: 4 Clear Ways to Actually Create a Motivating Workplace Culture
Marie was in her first professional job. One of her first projects was to create a new program offering from the ground up that she was to oversee and maintain. Excited about the project, she jumped right into the research and planning. She expected to be reporting back to her boss with results and progress […]
The Danger of Keeping Negative Nellies on Your Team
Devin ran a real-estate management firm and his team was very close. They celebrated everything from birthdays to anniversaries together. From the outside, you’d assume they were the perfect team, but danger was just under the surface. Devin was actually running a team that was about to rot from the inside out, all because of […]