A friend had been anticipating a pink slip for weeks. The employees of her company had been told it was coming, but of course no one knew who would be impacted. Over these weeks she experienced all of the common feelings - fear, sadness and anger. She began her contingency planning in-between her sessions of [...]
If you've recently experienced a reduction-in-force your organization you've probably noticed that no one is currently showing up for work. Sure the survivors are in their chairs, but everyone is doing more with less and they have less energy for their work than ever before. Employees are preoccupied with their own security and mourning the [...]
There is no doubt that the current economic environment may require unprecedented solutions for poor business performance. The national unemployment rate climbed to 8.1% in February, indicating that layoffs might be the "go to" solution for many companies experiencing declining business results, but this solution is far from unprecedented. Any seasoned business professional has likely [...]
In previous blogs we have reviewed Stephen M.R. Covey's first two "waves of trust" - self-trust and relationship trust - derived from his ripple effect metaphor of trust. The model which is introduced in Covey's book, The Speed of Trust, suggests that trust is interdependent and flows from the inside out. Covey's third wave of [...]
In my last blog I wrote about Stephen M.R. Covey's book The Speed of Trust, where he refers to five waves of trust. I wrote about the first wave, self-trust and I'd now like reveal the second wave - relationship trust. Covey introduces the concept of "trust accounts" - how we establish and maintain them. [...]
Stephen M.R. Covey's book, The Speed of Trust, is a must read for leaders. Let's face it, trust is at the heart of all solid relationships and the workplace is a series of relationships. The book breaks trust down to its essence. We often think of of trust stemming from one's character only, but Covey [...]
Leadership has many definitions. At Leadership Beyond Limits, we subscribe to the efficacy of transformational leadership as presented by Bass and Avolio (1994). This leadership definition implies that leaders lead followers to levels of higher morals. In addition, transformational leadership implies that the followers are better off with the four I's of: 1. Idealized influence [...]
Nurturing the innovators within an organization is key to growth. An article in the December 2008, Harvard Business Review, Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators, by Cohen, Katzenbach and Vlak explores corporate America's inability to identify and utilize people in the workplace with these vital skills. The authors sum up the problem, "Most companies do a [...]
Think about your current leader or supervisor. What thoughts or feelings immediately surface for you? Does this person inspire you? Are you excited to spend time with her sharing new ideas and working toward a common vision; or do you dread every interaction? Does she give you energy or suck the life out of you; [...]
In case you missed it, I thought I would pass on the invitation to the Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism event that came from John Mackey, CEO at Whole Foods. Here it is: I am writing to invite you to a special event that I am hosting in November. The event is called Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism. It's [...]
