Communicating with Authenticity

The Problem: 
Corporate jargon separates us from those we are trying to lead.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone at work and when it was over you realized you had no idea what the person just said?  They used so much jargon and "business speak", they were able to keep you mesmerized for 15 minutes while they said absolutely nothing.  Or perhaps you have run across my personal favorite:  You ask a simple yes or no question (Like: Did you install the software on the customers computer?) and you get a five minute monologue that never quite answers it. It usually starts with: "You see, what happened was... "  I hate that so much.  :-)

How to Change, Overcome and Adapt in the Workplace

"If you don't like change you'll like irrelevance even less"
    ... US Army Gen Eric Shinseki June 2002

We must face our fears and stand for what we believe.

When it comes to business, today's marketplace is like the ocean: It is deep and it keeps its mistakes.  It is absolutely vital to the survival of any organization that it stay abreast of the changing tides in the market to be able to position itself to both survive, and thrive in the new environment.  This same necessity holds true for individuals as well.  The recent Great Recession brought new meaning to the concept of "Who Moved my Cheese?"  Peoples' dreams of a comfortable retirement were wiped out along with their retirement savings as investment values plummeted and the mass market contracted like a starving belly.  Some people thrived during this time because they were prepared.  Others simply overcame the obstacles, changed to take advantage of new opportunities, and adapted their outlook to the new environment. 

How to Survive Systemic Challenges at Work

Do you feel like having a workplace meltdown?  There is help.
Every place that I have worked had systemic challenges.  Your workplace is probably no different.  Local and State government, small business, large corporate organizations, non-profit organizations, and the Federal government, all have systemic problems that plagued the team and killed effectiveness.  Systemic challenges or problems in the workplace are those problems that are bigger than just one or two personality conflicts.  They are the problems that are sometimes caused by years of cultural or strategic misalignment with the tactical goals of the organization.  They typically impact all facets of the organization.  Here is an important fact:  Every company has them.  No one is exempt.  At some level, there are systemic issues in every organization that negatively impact performance.  It is what the organization choses to do about it that will set it apart from the others.

The High Price of Bad Service

You have probably experienced the pain of cut backs
As a manager or team member, you probably have heard it before.   Your boss walks in and sadly says  "Sorry but we are going to have to cut your budget so stop all spending and give us the names of the people we need to let go."  Then you start thinking about the lives that will be impacted.  You may even have to let one of your friends go because times are tight.  Alternatively, you may have been one of the people that was let go because the organization was not performing as well as everyone had hoped and people needed to go.  It did not have to be that way.  Worse yet, how do you improve the customer experience with a smaller and potentially demoralized workforce?

Grass Doesn't Grow on Busy Streets!

From the mouths of babes
My daughter was noticing the bald spot in the top of my head today while we were visiting my mom in the hospital. When my mom heard what my daughter said, she wisely commented "grass doesn't grow on busy streets". It reminded me of the fact that our elders have wisdom that transcends generations. Mark Twain said "My Father was an amazing man.  The older I got, the smarter he got.

Avoiding Mediocrity: Three Life Lessons from My Dad

Some People are Destined to a Life of Mediocrity

I interact with a lot of people for work.  Sometimes I am the customer, and sometimes the people I am dealing with are my customers.  Over the years I have become more and more aware of the fact that some people are just not very productive, no matter what job you put them in.  They just are not mentally prepared for success and therefore are destined for a life of mediocrity.  I started thinking about why some people are more driven (and likely) to succeed than others.  One of the many reasons that people think the way they think is the environment in which they are raised.  My father recently passed away.  I took some time over the past several weeks since his death to reflect on what I learned from my Dad and how those lessons have made me the man that I am.  While my Dad gave me plenty of advice (some good, some bad :-)), there were three recurring themes in all of his lessons. They are actually pretty straightforward words to live by.  I have captured them here and hope that they are as helpful to you as they have been to me.

Is there not a cause? Improving Team Performance through Visionary Leadership

Impassioned people do tremendous things

I spent many years in public service as a U.S. Marine and in Law Enforcement here in Central Florida before transitioning to private sector.  I have to say that during my time in public sector, I was constantly humbled by the high quality of the people I met and what we were willing to do for people we barely knew or, in most cases, did not know at all.  When the time came to act, we just did.  I know people who have paid a high price to serve others.  History is filled with those who gave even more... Those who "gave the last full measure of devotion" for a common good and in some way made us all better people.

Lessons on Leading Organizational Change

I have met those that believe organizational change is an exercise in futility.  They feel the amount of effort required to truly change a dysfunctional team is not worth the cost in emotional energy and stress.  Instead, they would rather continually suffer the wiles of errant team or simply quit.  Believe me, there are times when you probably should cut your losses and just find another job.  However, there are many instances in which rolling up your sleeves and engaging with others on the team will net the required results.

The Comfort of Chaos

Why do people prefer to live lives filled with mayhem and dissonance?

Do you know anybody that always has something going wrong in their lives either at home or at work.  If the kids aren't sick, then there are problems at work.  If work is going good, then their marriage is tanking.  If the marriage is good then their job sucks and is draining them completely.  In the workplace this attitude can be seen in people who allow the chaos from their private life to creep into their work life (or vice versa)

Dealing with Difficult (AKA: Crazy) Coworkers

Every office has them

They lurk in dimly lit conference rooms, and dusty cubicles waiting to find fault in everything you say and do.  If you present an idea, they are sure to crush it like an 18-wheeler crushes a cute and cuddly rabbit.  They stonewall, impede, discredit, and otherwise hinder organizational progress so that they can look better...or do less work.  They are what keeps you up at night and makes you hate going to work.  They are your co-workers (term used loosely).