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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... -
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... -
Gravity Payments Pays Up: The Good and the Bad About a High Minimum Salary
The media is still buzzing after the CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, announced that he was cutting his own salary to ensure that none of his employees make less than $70,000 per year. It’s a magnanimous move, and the employees, many of whom saw their salaries double instantly, are justifiably happy. For some background, Gravity Payments is a Seattle-based payment processing firm. In young tech companies like Gravity... -
How to Build Your Company Culture on Core Values
A company culture is just a mirror of its owner. The clearer an owner is on what they stand for (and what they won’t stand for) the stronger the company culture they establish will be. In Forbes online, Stanford MBA graduate Kevon Saber gives us the following questions that he used to build the culture at his online wellness app company: 1. When have you felt most alive? Kevon discovered... -
9 Tips for Employee Motivation in Stressful Times
Can’t seem to keep your workers from getting discouraged during a crisis? Try these 9 steps from The Wall Street Journal to optimize employee motivation in stressful times: 1. Be available for support. Make sure to be available for questions your employees might have, be honest and avoid making promises that you can’t keep. 2. Don’t hover over your workers. Have faith that your staff will figure things out on... -
3 Top Investments to Improve Employee Engagement
Looking to foster more passion in your employees? Try these three steps by Victor Lipman (via Forbes Magazine) to improve employee engagement. 1. Link Individual Prosperity to Business Prosperity This is not just about providing financial incentives. Financial incentives should, in fact, be applied sparingly as research shows that these can actually impede motivation and performance in circumstances requiring creativity and innovation. Learn to tap into people’s natural drives for autonomy... -
3 Essentials of Market Research
Video Source: SmallBusinessBC via Youtube Market research is the most critical element of starting and growing a successful business, yet it is often overlooked completely or glossed over. Most entrepreneurs in the start-up stage are so enamoured with their idea that they are actually reluctant to go out and do research that might prove it to be unviable. This might seem illogical – surely it makes more sense to...
