Our previous posting was the first installment of this series on building an “engaged” workforce. In that posting, we talked about vision, values, mission, and culture being foundational to a truly engaged workforce. After all, we argued, employees need to know what the organization does, why it does what it does, what outcomes it hopes
Want an “entangled” workforce?
A lot has been written lately about companies developing an “engaged” workforce, meaning employees who are energized by their work and committed to helping the company achieve its goals. In fact, I blogged about becoming a “winning workplace” a few months ago that touched on this subject. In their book, “It’s My Company Too! How
“Make no little plans.”
Sometime around the last holiday season, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced a plan to home-deliver merchandise within 30 minutes of the order being placed . . . by a little helicopter drone. That’s right. He claims, when the system is ready some years in the future, you’ll call Amazon, place your order, and 30 minutes
“I don’t care if people don’t like me as long as they respect me!”
Respect is a key element of leadership. That is, it will be extremely difficult for a leader to lead without earning the respect of his or her followers. Followers may do what the leader demands because they must in order to earn a paycheck, but their work will lack energy, and it will lack commitment.
“It’s best to be Attila the Hun every day rather than every other day.”
Consistency is a concept that gets a bad rap from time to time. Playwrite and poet Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Author Aldous Huxley was even more blunt when he said, “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead.” So some
“Trust is the glue of life.”
Trust is the bedrock of leadership. While there are many other important aspects of sound leadership, trust is foundational. Without it, nothing else matters. Regardless of how charismatic a leader may be, without trust, he or she will have no followers. And the reality is this: trust is very fragile. It must be carefully built
Learn to delegate
I’ve written about delegation before, but I continue to think about it because so many small business owners don’t do it very well. Entrepreneurs often like to pull all the significant levers in the business and push all the important buttons. They built the business and know the critical parts of it better than anyone,
Oh, and another thing (about showing initiative)
Our last posting talked about the oft-heard complaint, “Why doesn’t anyone ever show a little initiative around here?” In it, we suggested that a company’s culture needs to make it “safe” for people to take some risks, be creative, and “show some initiative.” We also noted that a company’s values, that collectively make up its
“Why doesn’t anyone ever show a little initiative around here?”
Have you ever said that to yourself? Well, as it turns out, there is a reason people don’t take on challenges unless you direct them . . . and you’re probably looking at that reason every morning in the mirror. If you really want people to take a few risks, be creative, and show a
“Delivering Happiness”
Zappos, for those of you who haven’t heard of it (I hadn’t), is an online retailer with a reputation for world class customer service. It started out selling only shoes but has since branched into lots of other stuff as well. It went from a startup to $1 billion in sales within 10 years. Anyway,
