We hear it all the time: Innovation is vital to the success of employees, leaders, and companies. It’s a sentiment as ubiquitous as those corny breakroom posters of teams rowing in the same direction or a climber offering someone a hand up to the top of a mountain. Even so, consider the changes that have […]
Fear of change and uncertainty are common reasons leaders give for resistant or underperforming employees. Yet the speed of change and the uncertainty it brings is only increasing. As a result, leaders are unequipped to guide their employees from fear and hesitancy to confidence and action. However, there’s hope. Employees and their leaders can boldly […]
Lessons From The Great Recession IN 2009, in the thick of the Great Recession, I wrote a white paper describing most companies’ challenges. I provided a framework for how they could emerge from the ashes of the economic downturn. As we come out of the COVID 19 pandemic, one is aware of how history repeats […]
The TEDX Talk I’D LIKE you all to imagine you’re an engineer, working on a NASA project, to launch a shuttle into space. Due to weather and other issues, the launch has been postponed 8 times, each costing NASA millions of dollars. The pressure is mounting to get this bird off the ground. The date […]
Reject a Mindset of Fear Keywords: cultural resource management, importance of teamwork in the workplace, improve employee performance, organizational change management. SUPPOSE we are to fully recover from this pandemic. In that case, we have to recover our ability to think big, imagine a positive future, and believe we have the right and the ability […]
Put Engagement Before Planning When we try and create a “one team” culture, we align the wrong things at the wrong time. Typically, management defines the strategies, goals, roles, and metrics and cascades them throughout the organization. Then, they undergo a series of efforts to engage employees in the new structure and plans. However, senior-leader-roadshows, […]
Protect Your Culture SOONER OR LATER, all leaders confront the tough decision of what to do about a toxic team member. Company culture, morale, high-performance teamwork, and productivity are at stake. It is the moment of truth for these leaders: Should I take action or tolerate the toxic behavior? Do we walk our talk, or […]
The Neuroscience of Influence (2 of 3) by Dean Newlund, CEO INFLUENCE: The actions taken to change the behavior of another person. Last week, I wrote that humankind’s story can be summarized as “the struggle to influence.” As long as humans have wanted to connect with and get something from other people, we’ve devised ways […]
How to Influence in Fear, Chaos, and Uncertainty (1 of 3) by Dean Newlund, CEO ANY LEADERSHIP development training would be incomplete if it didn’t address the ubiquitous question asked by managers near and far: How do I influence without authority? Leaders with authority influence differently than those with no authority. Most culture change consultants […]
USRS: Unpredictable Stress Release Syndrome THE EARTH gives up trying to hold back the pressure from below as hot water and steam spits out of the ground at the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Society’s reaction to the recent pent-up isolation, uncertainty, and fear are like the geothermic eruptions in the Badlands: Unpredictable, uncharacteristic, […]