Articles

The Ethics of Disruption

Every business leader dreams of a disruptive innovation that changes the way we live or work. For some, the motivation is purely creative. They want to solve a problem, make a difference, or do things in a way that no one has done before. For others, the driving force is the truckload of money, fame, power, and the perks that tend to follow. Disruptive innovation, by definition, disrupts. This...

Manage Employee Fulfillment for Peak Performance

Part seven in our Mindsets of Workplace Transformation series. How does a great leader maximize performance? Great leaders — and their most successful employees — understand that sustaining peak performance goes hand in hand with supporting employee fulfillment. This seventh Mindset of Workplace Transformation asks you to shift your focus from optimizing performance to optimizing satisfaction. In past posts, we’ve covered shifts from status to service, control to creativity,...

Efficiency vs Effectiveness: Resisting the Tyranny of To-Do

Have you ever had a day, a week, or even a year where you have a nagging sense that, despite being exhaustingly busy, you haven’t been that productive? You’re not alone. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, it’s easy to focus on getting things done and lose sight of why any of it matters to begin with. Understanding what real productivity looks like is the key to...

The Productivity Prison

Are you one of those leaders who’s always pressuring your team — and yourself — to get things done faster? You’re not alone. The “time is money” philosophy at the heart of this mindset is also the heart of the industrial age management philosophy on which most traditional business “best practices” are based.  If this is your management modus operandi, you’re probably just as convinced that faster is better as you...

Purpose-Driven Leadership: Why and How to Make the Shift.

In part 4 in our Mindsets of Workplace Transformation series, we examine how purpose-driven leadership and profit-driven leadership don’t have to be at odds. In previous installments, I’ve covered three key mindset shifts leaders must make to transform their workplace from struggling to thriving: the shift from seeking status to being of service, the shift from maintaining control to fostering creativity, and the shift from focusing on survival to...

Quiz: Are You a Micromanager or Do You Just Lack Systems?

Despite knowing that micromanaging is not the most effective use of their time, most managers struggle with getting employees to uphold standards and achieve results. Find out if your lack of systems is holding you back with this quiz.

Why Micromanagement in the Workplace Stifles Innovation — and How to Stop It!

Part 3 in our Mindsets of Workplace Transformation series. Below, we cover how workplace micromanagement can severely diminish employee capacity, and what you can do about it. Picture a company where all workers do exactly as their managers ask with no feedback or resistance. Sound like nirvana? If so, you might be in need of this mindset shift: moving from control to creativity. Many leaders fall into the trap of...

From Status-Seeker to Servant Leader: The Second Mindset Shift

This is part 2 in our Mindsets of Workplace Transformation series. Read on to discover how becoming a servant leader can transform your company. The research is in — piles of it, and growing: for businesses to thrive, work must become more than just a paycheque. It must become a source of aliveness that calls forth the potential of every employee. To achieve this, leaders need to shift away...

How Fear Blocks Your Ability to Create a High-Performance Workplace

Part 1 in our Mindsets of Workplace Transformation series. After 25 years working with individuals and organizations to transform their work and their workplaces, I can point to hundreds of ways in which the high-performance workplace has become not only more prevalent, but more healthy. Technology has made it possible for people to work from anywhere, allowing work arrangements to accommodate a wide variety of lifestyles and schedules. Hierarchies...

How to Keep Employees Happy and Productive (Without Huge Salaries)

Following up on the theme of last week’s post, we’d like to focus on how employers can keep and engage core talent by keeping employees happy and productive without paying huge salaries. That’s not to say that Gravity Payments' model, which involved CEO Dan Price taking a major pay cut to boost his employee minimum pay to $70,000, didn’t get Gravity Payments workers pretty excited; however, this model is...