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 […]
Using Spring Fever to Make Your Team More, Not Less Engaged
A few years ago, I saw a funny post on Facebook that said if you leave the office in the middle of the day to go outside, and someone asks where you are, you can say you are “Out-Standing.” Ha ha – get it? OUT? STANDING? So maybe this isn’t hilarious to you, but to […]
Hosting a “Topsy Turvy” Retreat
For our last quarterly retreat, we decided to have the event on April 1, 2019. April 1 is obviously April Fool’s Day! As Mark Twain once said, “Today is a day that upon which we are reminded of what we are the other three hundred and sixty-four.” But not everyone enjoys being tricked, so we […]
The Four Big Myths of Dance Floor Theory
Dance Floor Theory is an engagement system that can be used by any team or organization to better engage their employees or members. We use dance floors as a visual representation of engagement within an organization. In the middle of the dance are the most engaged dancers. We call them 5s. The least engaged dancers […]
Better than a Raise: Connections are the Key to Employee Happiness
“From now on, we’ll use this white board to track every interaction you have had with a client. If you don’t meet your quota, not only will everyone see, but there will be repercussions.” “The funeral is in the morning, so you’ll be back in office in the afternoon, right?” “I heard you did poorly […]
The Failed Promise of Open Office Spaces
Innocently enough, a co-worker of mine recently asked me about a meal replacement shake I was having for lunch. While I was explaining the finer points of the ingredients, another co-worker overheard our conversation from her desk in our open office space and chimed in. Moments later, another co-worker made a sarcastic comment about my […]
7 Ways To Stay Engaged With A Virtual Team
I pulled over in the middle of nowhere on I-80 next to a herd of cows because it was the only WiFi signal I was able to find for the last 40 miles. I tethered my phone to my laptop and dialed into our team’s daily 10:10am huddle. In looking at myself in the reflection […]
Why Millennials On Your Team Quit Their Jobs and How to Stop It
During a professional development training around employee engagement, a woman came up to me during a break. In a very quiet voice, said that she wanted to share with the group why she loves her job, but felt embarrassed to do so in front of everyone because she thought it was silly. So I asked […]
Using the Consistency Principle to Nudge Someone into Participating
Leading up to the national elections last year, I received a series of text messages on my phone. Most of the texts were informational regarding polling locations and deadlines. One text, that came the day prior to election day, caught my eye because it asked me if I was planning to vote tomorrow and asked […]
Why an Electronics Company Needed to Order 1,200 Mattresses
Hi, yes, Sleepys? I need 1,200 mattresses by next week. No they don’t need to be Sleep Number. The cheapest you got. At least this is how I imagine this story started. (I don’t actually know if they straight up ordered these mattresses or not.) Apparently, the important people at this particular electronics company decided […]