4 Leadership Habits to Schedule

During my bout with the flu when my husband was proceeding to tell me about how busy his calendar was, he showed it to me on his phone later.  He actually did this while we were in the emergency room while I was hooked up to an IV that was administering fluids and nausea drugs to me while I waited to be admitted.  Hey, there is only so much you can talk about in the ER.  I was somewhat out of it (go figure) but talking about his schedule for the week reminded me of some good habits we ought

2 Keys to Being a Successful Leader Instead of a Doer

A production line worker is promoted to line supervisor, yet he is still running the line like the rest of his team. A department Vice President is still solving day-to-day issues and is drowning in a to-do list that has nothing to do with leading the people in her department. At every level of the leadership hierarchy, I see it often.  Leaders not leading.  Yes, they are busy doing, but they devote little to no time leading people.   And if they just led more, it would actually shorten their to-do list! They were stars at their functional roles, so what

Dealing With the Disgruntled

I recently received an email from a company (hoping to sell me their services) that included an article on “resignation violence” and told the story of an employee who went in to HR to resign her position and ended up attacking the HR representative. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that while workplace violence by co-workers is relatively low, it is on the rise. During my career, there are a few situations that come to mind when I was concerned about going in to a meeting or became concerned during a meeting due to an employee’s response.

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch: 9 Takeaways from Adam Grant at #SHRM18

“The work of culture building is never done.  It’s always a work in progress.” – Adam Grant People were excited about the concert Tuesday night at #SHRM18, but I was giddy about hearing Adam Grant speak that morning.  The organizational psychology nerd in me was so excited to hear Adam Grant speak, and his comments did not disappoint. Top takeaways from his presentation all centered around company culture: 1. What got you here won’t get you there. Hire for cultural contribution (if you are a big company).  Cultural fit is still important for startups. I think most people miss Adam’s

Mental Health in the Workplace… What Can You Do?

Recently I talked about authenticity during employee hardships. With recent events in the news, including the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, I wanted to dive deeper into how employers can help employees in need. Mental health is an ever-growing concern in our nation. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness: Approximately 1 in 5 adults (43.5 millions) in the U.S. experience mental illness in a given year. One in 25 of those Americans suffer a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. 9% of adults