Last week, I talked with many executives who are asking the question, “what is the workplace impact of COVID-19?” In the short-term… Messaging: Don’t use a “Return to Work” announcement, as we are still working even when remote! Instead, call it “Return to Workplace” (not “Return to Office” as not everyone has an office). For some companies,…
When historians look back at 2020, how will they assess our generation’s business leaders’ response to the psychological impacts of this quarantine? Our employees’ well-being is dependent on how we assess and assist their different dimensions of health. While most organizations have Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) in place for the physical and mental dimensions, COVID-19…
The Covid-19 pandemic’s affect on America’s economy resulted in a record 3.3 million people filing unemployment claims last week. That number was 281,000 one week earlier, and it shattered the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982. Knowing that there are more layoffs to come and many leaders have never been in this situation before,…
In Patrick Lencioni’s recent book, The Motive, he differentiates a CEO’s perception of their position as a continuum between individuals who see their position as a career-achievement reward, for which they are now being financially compensated….versus as a responsibility, for which they are in a position to serve and to suffer for their employees and customers. Korn Ferry’s…
This book, by David Dotlich and Peter Cairo, highlights some specific leadership failures: The vast majority of leaders do not receive adequate feedback to help them understand their own personalities. Once they do, they are capable of adjusting their behaviors in ways that lead to increased success (p. xxi). So, why don’t we provide personality…
Employees are seeking deeper purpose from their employment, as they want to feel part of something bigger…a company that goes above and beyond. This is usually not the same for the shareholders and board of directors. How does a company balance these financial and operating goal differences? On top of this, organizational structures are changing,…
To create a consistently strong, value-creating revenue growth – there has to be a good organizational execution in operations. In today’s business environment, there are significant changes to operating models: Lean – streamline processes, continuous improvement Digitization – customer self-service experience Automation – replace human tasks with robots / artificial intelligence Analytics – intelligence /…
70% of change efforts fail, which leads to crumbled organizations, frustration and resentment. I once saw an ERP implementation contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Systems Integrator…not have a budget for change and training. Several Project Change Requests later, there was the minimum required to get us to Go Live. Many enterprise…
A famous Renaissance work was Machiavelli’s The Prince. Its thesis was “there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” John P. Kotter agreed with this thesis in HBR’s What Leaders…
There are a large number of interacting elements in today’s business world, which can be described as: Volatile – rapid change on large scale Uncertain – cannot predict with any precision Complex – complicated by many factors Ambiguous – little clarity on what events mean and what effect they may have For leaders, they seek…
