Archive for "Execution"

How To Boost Workplace Morale At Your Business By Mike Kappel AccountabilityExecutionGenerationsHigh Performance TeamsLeadership

January 29th, 2020 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

From time to time, workers get drained. They don’t want to look at another report, computer screen, or spreadsheet. If your employees look like zombies at your small business, they might be suffering from low morale at work. It might be time to take a look at your company and boost workplace morale.

I’ve seen people with consistent low morale. Before I was an entrepreneur, I had an engineering job at a large, industrial manufacturing company. And on the factory floor, the workers absolutely hated going to their jobs every day. They looked like lifeless drones when they came to work at 7:00 a.m. If this sounds like your small business, you need to implement employee morale boosters.  Click here for full article by Mike Kappel

Development is key to staff retention, according to research By Hywel Roberts AccountabilityExecutionGenerationsHigh Performance TeamsLeadership

January 30th, 2020 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Employers are struggling to retain control over developing their workforces, as employees attempt to free themselves from paternalistic organisations and seek career autonomy, a report from BlessingWhite, seen exclusively by HR magazine, has found.

The team behind Navigating Ambiguity: Career Research Report 2014 surveyed 2,000 employees and business leaders from all age groups. They were asked about their career intentions, the level of input they want from their employers and the way employers are trying to adapt to changing attitudes.  Click here for full article by Hywel Roberts

Google Recruiters Say Using the ‘X-Y-Z Formula’ on Your Resume Will Improve Your Odds of Getting Hired at Google AccountabilityExecutionGenerationsHigh Performance TeamsLeadership

September 17th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Alternative: Reverse engineer their advice and improve recruitment at your business By Bill Murphy Jr.

More than two million people apply to work for Google each year, which is more than 20 times the number of employees at the company at any given time.

With that kind of volume, it makes sense that Google proactively tries to tell applicants what they should do to improve their odds of getting noticed within the herd.

Among its tools are a series of YouTube videos and articles detailing best practices for resumes (embedded below, along with two articles by Google’s former senior vice president of personnel operations). Click here for the full article

If You Want Engaged Employees, Offer Them Stability By Marla Gottschalk AccountabilityExecutionHigh Performance Teams

August 20th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Most of us find it challenging to do our best work when our work environment feels unstable. For example, if you find yourself in the midst of an organizational change, your psychological resources — such as resilience and optimism — may be stretched to the limit. If the way forward at work is particularly unclear, you’ll undoubtedly devote precious energy considering not only the future of the organization, but your personal future there as well. In that context, you might think twice about a risky stretch assignment, even if it could potentially benefit your career and the organization in the long-term. This is often the case if faith in the underlying organizational foundation is acutely in question.  Click here for full article.

Do You Really Know Why Employees Leave Your Company? By Anthony C. Klotz and Mark C. Bolino ExecutionGenerationsLeadership

August 9th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

More employees are voluntarily leaving their jobs than at almost any other time this millennium. When an employee quits, it can feel like a gut punch, leaving managers scrambling both emotionally and operationally. The loss can be particularly acute when employees “ghost” their organization, simply not showing up to work, sometimes only days after starting the job.

In his New York Times best seller, Principles, Ray Dalio argues that setbacks, like losing a valued employee, provide an important learning opportunity for organizations — as long as leaders are willing to reflect on and identify the root cause of such losses. Too often, though, managers and HR professionals are so busy doing damage control that they fail to conduct a thorough autopsy to help them understand what happened and what corrective action is needed to prevent similar episodes from occurring in the future.  Click here for the full article

Nimble Leadership By Deborah Ancona, Elaine Backman and Kate Isaacs ExecutionLeadership

August 7th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Nobody has really recommended command-and-control leadership for a long time. But no fully formed alternative has emerged, either. That’s partly because high-level executives are ambivalent about changing their own behavior. They know perfectly well that their companies need to become more innovative—and they suspect it won’t happen unless they’re willing to push power, decision making, and resource allocation lower in the organization. But they’re terrified that the business will fall into chaos if they loosen the reins.  Click here for full article

Fostering an Ethical Culture on Your Sales Team by Kristen Bell, DeTienneBradley R. Agle, Carrolyn McMurdie, Sands Alice, Aleo Alberto Execution

July 3rd, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Sales scandals can take a large toll.  Beyond devastating consequences to the company in the form of negative publicity and penalties, workers may be held personally liable. Companies must take steps to protect themselves from the risk of sales fraud and our research with over 1,000 sales professionals in 50 companies has uncovered some best practices that we think should proliferate across salesforces of all sizes and in all industries. Click here for full article.

What Holds Back Corporate Social Innovators by Thijs GeradtsLing Ling PhungMaarten van Herpen ExecutionLeadership

July 2nd, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Many corporations aspire to find innovative solutions to society’s problems. Motivated by a growing sense of social responsibility and profit potential, these companies view social and ecological problems as opportunities to develop new products, services, and markets. The problem is that most corporations fail to achieve innovations that have both business and societal payoffs. Click here for the full article.

How to Keep Employees Connected to Customers by Alessandro Di Fiore AccountabilityExecutionMost Popular

June 28th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Developing an understanding of your customer to build a successful product or business model is not just a data-crunching game. Quantitative market research and analytics are important and useful, of course. But when it comes to identifying breakthrough ideas, individual customer experiences can be uniquely powerful. Click here for the full article

Leading Small Teams ExecutionGenerationsHigh Performance Teams

May 10th, 2019 by Spencer Penhart leave a comment

Do you have a hard time managing team dynamics? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Julie Zhuo, a VP at Facebook and the author of The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You. They talk through what to do when your subordinate is bossing around others on the team, a star performer you’ve hired threatens your status, or you want to help an underperforming team member. Click here for full podcast