make a difference

Energy of the People

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It’s during the challenging moments that your people make the biggest difference. Each person in your organization is a source of energy, with a unique set of gifts to contribute, and the potential to leverage these together with their distinctive insight and experience, to convert products and services into strategic value for your customers. This energy is focused like a laser when employees share commitment to a common purpose and culture. And unlike other forms of energy, …

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About Promises

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Organizational culture is a core element of sustainable competitive advantage. Talented people gravitate to companies who care about their employees and customers, companies whose leaders measure and strengthen their culture, recognizing its impact on their ability to create value.  One tactic that demonstrates this value proposition is making and keeping promises. In a world where customers have many options available to them, “promising” an outcome, and then delivering it, is a differentiator.   A promise is deeper than …

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It’s Not The People…It’s The Leadership

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We begin our careers by accepting an entry level job with specific requirements and responsibility only for ourself. If we do well, and increasingly master our assigned duties, we get promoted; if we sustain our high performance, then we continue to earn greater responsibility. Eventually, given our reliable performance and high mastery of skills, we’re promoted into a leadership role and required to lead others who are responsible for doing the tasks we excelled at doing. We’re …

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To Cultivate Breakthroughs

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One of the first questions we ask when we begin a new job is: “What’s required of me?” When these basic expectations are met, we get evaluated as being diligent and dependable. But when heads are down, focused on reliably completing expected tasks, people can get stuck in their routine, and never question if there’s a better way to do the job. Looking around, they often find that they are surrounded by people who are just as …

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Inspiring Energy

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We celebrated Labor Day this week, a day dedicated to the contributions that working people make to our country’s progress and supporting us all. It’s a remembrance that we appreciate more this year because the Covid disruption has created a stark contrast. We honor those who have defied the risk and worked, often tirelessly, to keep products flowing and shelves stocked, to care for us, to teach us and to protect us; likewise, we remember and respect …

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How Do You Make Things Better?

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The objective of change is improvement. Making a product, service or process better creates value. The products and services we use, our food, our environment, our communication tools, the number of options we have, and many other things have improved because someone decided to challenge the status quo and take on the risk of making them better. Surviving in a competitive world demands that improvements continue, but overcoming the barriers built to sustain the status quo is always …

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Acting on What’s Been Learned

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Mastering leadership is a continuous process of learning how to adapt to change and how to motivate it. It’s what leaders are expected to do.  Lately, leaders have been consumed with adaptation. But now it’s time to act on what’s been learned, relying on purpose and values, on encouragement and transparency, to inspire collaboration that can make things better going forward.   Learning begins by reflecting on what experience has taught, and then finding a better way by applying lessons …

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Relationships Deliver Results

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“You cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.” ~Stephen Covey  A leader’s ability to improve results depends on the strength of her or his relationships. Organizations are living entities and relationships are their lifeblood.  Building strong relationships is not about the amount of interaction but rather the quality of it. Leaders earn their right to lead through these interactions. A leader’s commitment, credibility and authenticity are constantly assessed. Are promises kept? …

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Essential Discussions

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The world of work will continue to evolve in the months ahead. As you evaluate how best to shift your business from protection mode back to proactive mode, there will be an abundance of opinion within the organization about the most effective way forward.  Dialogue, often emotional, about the pros and cons of alternatives, and their projected impact on results, will increase. Many of these discussions will be critical, risky, political deliberations that result in decisions …

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Expectations

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The way we do business will be different going forward. With most of us now connecting virtually, what should we expect once the proximity restrictions are removed? What are our expectations about rejoining our organization’s physical community?  In the 1980’s, author John Naisbitt (“Megatrends”) introduced the concept of “High Tech – High Touch.” Its premise is that the more dependent we become on technology, the greater will be our need to gather, to experience human touch. …

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