When we think of efficiency, we tend to picture something mechanical like a train–a well-tuned system that chugs along, each part working in unison, creating a beast of unusual power. And it is true that trains are very efficient, which is why when we create teams in our companies, we try to craft the most efficient possible group. Lots of time and money is spent figuring out which teams would have the smoothest dynamic. It turns out, though, that in […]
Company culture seems to be a widely circulated term, but one that few people clearly understand. Culture is the ‘good stuff” in an organization that makes individuals work harder, more enthusiastically, with honest direct communication, which translates into peak performance. It may be defined as: a company’s values, practices, beliefs, language or simply the way of thinking that exists in an organization. If you want to be a truly successful and innovative company, culture must be a daily focus in […]
We have found that working with teams and organizations on soft skills can be very valuable in improving team camaraderie as well as productivity and profitability. Teaching soft skills like empathy can help your team be more in tune with your clients, their direct reports, other departments, as well as family and friends. The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence found that training on this type of interpersonal skills showed increases in daily production as high as 20% and […]
Dean Smith began his long and historic coaching career at the University of North Carolina in 1961, at the tender age of 30, but already with a long history of compassion and inclusion behind him. As a high schooler in rural Kansas in the late 1940s, he pushed his school to integrate the basketball program, which at the time had separate teams for black and white players. He kept that activism up at UNC, where he signed the first African-American […]
A local logistics company had hired a great team of very qualified drivers, engineers, and managers, but they had a problem, and that problem’s name was Dave. Dave was great at planning. He had the math skills of a rocket scientist. He could figure out routes, costs, weights and savings better than anyone else on staff. Dave spotted inefficiencies the way most people spot a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk. His face would light up as if he had found […]
WellStar Health System in Atlanta, Georgia is a great place to work. And it’s not just the not-for-profit health group’s 14,000 employees who think so. For two years in a row, Fortune has named the company one of the 100 best companies to work for. WellStar’s executives credit their focus on work-life balance for the award. They know that to build a strong team, executives must support employees both at work and at home. In conjunction with this, the company […]
It was 4th down on the two-yard line, early in the first quarter of a September 2013 game between the struggling Carolina Panthers and the go-nowhere Giants. The choice to go for it or not was a seemingly obvious decision. Of course, you kick the field goal. You “have to take the points here,” as announcers are fond of saying. Panther’s head coach Ron Rivera was perhaps the perfect example of a by-the-book coach. Generations of coaches had kicked the […]
As a leader you must continually build your techniques, capabilities and habits. You need to be able to evaluate honestly where you are, what strengths you have and what you need to work on. Some of the improvements can be external, some internal and at times it is simply awareness of your weaknesses. “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of […]
It should have been an easy meeting. Management at all levels agreed on the path for the new initiative. It wasn’t really a time for discussion; it was a time to explain plans and to set goals. And then, a lowly associate asked to speak. Point by point, goal by goal, the associate tore into the agreed-upon solutions. Management was taking the wrong direction. The new program would fail without key changes. He could see the flaws in their plan, […]