This is a special episode of Engaging Leader, featuring part 2 of an excerpt of Jesse’s live interview on TechSmith’s Visual Lounge with Matt Pierce. While part 1 focused on the 5M framework as a comprehensive planning tool for communication, Simple Visual Story (SVS) is a great model for executing the components of the […]

This is a special episode of Engaging Leader, featuring part 1 of an excerpt of Jesse’s live interview on TechSmith’s Visual Lounge with Matt Pierce to share tips for engaging a remote workforce. How effectively are you communicating with your remote workforce? Remote communication is more widespread than it’s ever been. Many people now have […]

  We’ve entered a new era with more people than ever working remotely, especially from home. This past year, according to author Charlene Walters, women have made up 80% of the people who left the on-site workforce during the pandemic.   In this second of a two-part interview, Jesse is joined again by Charlene to discuss […]

  Many people say that entrepreneurship is often still a man’s world ― despite the fact that 42 percent of all small business or franchise owners are women, and there are 13 million female-owned businesses contributing to $1.9 trillion in revenue in the US. According to author Charlene Walters, a multitude of research has shown […]

  Us versus Them gaps have always affected the American workplace – Sales versus Marketing, Manufacturing versus Engineering, Human Resources versus Legal. But today there is an urgent need to address a wide range of culture gaps, especially due to the impact of the pandemic, racism and protests in support of Black Lives Matter, and […]

  Us versus Them gaps have always affected the American workplace – Sales versus Marketing, Manufacturing versus Engineering, Human Resources versus Legal. But today there is an urgent need to address a wide range of culture gaps, especially due to the impact of the pandemic, racism and protests in support of Black Lives Matter, and […]

  Working remotely isn’t just a new normal that we must learn to live with. It’s an opportunity to work and lead in ways that provide great operational and productivity results for the organization, as well as to be a part of a great team while finding individual meaning and purpose too.  But there is […]

  Interviewing job candidates can feel like wading through a foggy swamp. You’re attempting to discern whether candidates would be successful on your team, while struggling to prevent the massive headache and wasted resources of a poor decision.    Asking the right questions during interviews can bring clarity to the process by giving you a […]

Some leaders look at their people, shake their heads, and say, “They can’t get there from here.” Sometimes that’s true. But often the solution is creating a stronger culture, where employees are encouraged and coached to contribute their best thinking. People are different, and these differences can add value. As a leader, you need to […]

“Why am I the only one who finds these issues? What’s wrong with my people? Why can’t they see this stuff and fix it?” If these frustrations sound familiar, you’ll love this conversation with Karin Hurt about her newest book, Courageous Cultures. We talk about building teams of micro-innovators, problem-solvers, and customer-advocates working together. In […]

What barriers do you face? Whether in our personal lives, at work, or in our communities, we all face challenges that can prevent us from reaching our full potential. And the same is true for those you lead. Dave Shurna joins me to discuss tips from his new book about breaking through barriers of all […]

Today I share some reflections about what I’ve been reading, learning, thinking, and practicing over the past few weeks. How can we as imperfect leaders and human beings contribute to helpful solutions, rather than to ongoing conditions of inequality, discrimination, and fear … including the fear of talking honestly about topics like racism? Resources Mentioned […]

Psychological safety is a team member’s sense of confidence that the leader and the rest of the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for speaking up. They feel safe to take risks, fully contribute, share ideas, and raise concerns – all of which are necessary for an organization to innovate, solve problems, survive, […]

To be a leader who truly engages the hearts, minds, and behaviors of people, you have to authentically connect with them on a human level. You’ve heard the phrase, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”  In today’s age of connection, in order for people to trust you, […]

At most organizations today, the work people do tends to hurt their wellbeing, when it should be making them happier and healthier. A major key to turning this around is helping employees make their work more meaningful … which is all about discovering how they can best contribute. And of course, it’s simply smart business. […]

Join my conversation with the Deputy Chief Health Officer at IBM, with a 350,000-person global workforce, about measures that major companies are taking during the COVID-19 pandemic, including recommendations for employee mental health. The world’s population is facing considerable social and economic disruption. Millions of employees and employers are adjusting to circumstances not seen for […]

Are you able to stay happy, energized, and productive during all the distractions, changes, and uncertainties of COVID-19? It’s not easy! And it’s hard to be an effective leader for your team if you aren’t maintaining your own mental and physical wellbeing.  Our team at Workforce recently shared with each other what’s been helping us […]

When men are actively involved in gender diversity efforts, 96% of organizations report progress, compared to only 30% when men are not involved. However, many men don’t feel equipped to play any role in inclusion and equity. For some men, the traditional model of masculinity steers men away from talking about emotional topics (except to […]

In case you didn’t already realize it, the people who are graduating college now and entering your workforce are not considered Millennials … they are the next generation, Gen Z (sometimes called Post-Millennials).  And even though Millennials have already driven a significant shift in how people communicate in the workplace, it looks like Generation Z […]

With four very different generations making up today’s workforce, how do you effectively engage them all? In particular, a frequent question we receive is how to communicate with younger employees. Today’s workforce is made up primarily of four generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Gen Y (also known as Millennials), and Gen Z (sometimes called Post-Millenials). […]

When you identify the reasons why high-performing employees choose your organization, it serves as a compass in guiding your ongoing development of the employee experience. Furthermore, if you use those insights to craft an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that resonates with both current and prospective talent, it becomes a strong foundation of your employer brand […]

What makes your company different from your competitors in the talent marketplace? Can you articulate the reasons in a message that is unique, authentic, and compelling? A strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is key to recruiting, retaining, and fully engaging top talent. Your EVP is a clear message about why people choose to join your […]

If it seems like you can’t trust your team to own projects and results, how can you improve accountability? This is the final episode in a four-part series of interviews with Jonathan Raymond about how to practice emotional transparency to cultivate accountability within your team. This time, we discuss three hacks — the most important […]

Many leaders feel frustrated by what seems like a low level of personal ownership among people in their organization. Things don’t get done on time, problems don’t get solved, and issues get ignored rather than proactively addressed before they become problems. Sound familiar? This episode is part 3 of a four-part series of interviews with […]

A couple days ago, the CEO of a small business complained to me that one of his managers has been displaying some of the classic signs of a lack of accountability — brushing off the severity of a mistake, letting tensions build with his own direct reports instead of asking for advice on how to […]

Accountability. Many organizations name it one of their top corporate values. And yet no matter how much they talk about accountability, leaders often feel frustrated by what seems like a low level of personal ownership among their employees. Things don’t get done on time, problems don’t get solved, and issues get ignored rather than proactively […]

Did you set any New Year resolutions for yourself this year … or goals for your team? If so, are you still on track, or have you given up? According to U.S. News, about 80% of New Year resolutions fail by the second week of February. Does that mean you shouldn’t set goals to improve […]

With so many things competing for attention, leaders at many organizations struggle to get their people to pay enough attention to important communications — such as for change initiatives. And it’s an even bigger struggle to get them to take the messages/information to heart, remember them, and put them into action. Fortunately, neuroscience has provided […]

The relationships between your team members make a big difference — both in terms of business results and each person’s wellbeing. As tempting as it is to rely on virtual communication and collaboration, technology too often contributes to workplace isolation and even loneliness. In today’s technology-driven workplace, particularly if some team members are working remotely, how can you cultivate a sense of community?

The home improvement store chain Lowe’s was named #1 among Fast Company’s 2018 Most Innovative Companies, for augmented and virtual reality, as well as #1 for innovation among specialty retailers on Fortune’s 2018 World’s Most Admired Companies. How did a company in a dusty, old-hat industry (hardware stores) suddenly become known as an innovator? As […]

When developing a communication strategy to drive change within an organization, we use various models and frameworks to help ensure we create a strategy that actually works. The Fogg Behavioral Model is a powerful framework for driving change. BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist and the founder of Stanford University’s Behavior Design Lab. Fogg is […]

A strong, authentic employer brand is key to recruiting, retaining, and fully engaging top talent. The most effective companies build a differentiated employee value proposition (EVP). Many people think of an employer brand only in terms of recruiting new employees, but to be effective, it should be comprehensive and authentic as relates to the overall […]

You can’t achieve your potential as a leader or an organization without practicing effective communication. Organizations that communicate effectively with their workforce deliver better results. According to a study by Willis Towers Watson, companies with high effectiveness in communication and change management are 3.5 times more likely to significantly outperform their less effective peers. They: […]

Boom! That’s the sound of performance appraisal processes being blown up across the country. There’s been a collective lightning flash of realization that the old way of doing it just isn’t doing it. But what’s really happening? In a new piece of research, The Truth & Lies of Performance Management, Michael Bungay Stanier and his […]

You have the opportunity to lead: to show up with confidence, connected to others, and committed to a purpose in a way that inspires others to follow. But great leadership — leadership that aligns teams, inspires action, and achieves results — is hard. And what makes it hard isn’t theoretical, it’s practical. It’s not about […]

Imagine life is a game where you are juggling five balls. Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls — family, health, friends, integrity — are made of glass. ~ James Patterson The first secret to work/life balance is recognizing that it’s not about balance. It […]

This episode is about a true story that is interesting and well told — a story that is important for all leaders and entrepreneurs … especially those of us who aspire to use business not only to make a living for ourselves but to help make the world a better place. Everyone wants to be […]

This is a conversation about a book that’s not like any networking book you have read (or ignored) before. In fact, it’s not about networking; it’s about how networks actually work. Networking seems to many of us to be an insincere way to manipulate relationships for personal gain. And yet there is a significant body […]

In the next two decades, nearly 50% of white-collar jobs are at risk, either to automation or artificial intelligence (AI), according to analysis by Oxford University. Every leader and every worker need to ask: What will be left for people to do that machines can’t do better or cheaper? If you don’t figure this out, […]

Grokker is an on-demand wellness solution that engages employees with better health through video, experts, and community. Loved by users in 172 countries around the world and used by top employers like eBay, Aetna, and Pinterest, Grokker was named to the 2017 CNBC Upstart 25 list for successful startups. With over 4,000 exercise, mindfulness, nutrition […]

Willpower is the ability to control yourself to determine your actions. It allows you (and your team) to accomplish what matters most to you — solving a business problem, losing weight, cornering the market, getting out of debt, etc. To control many of your actions, you can use selected disciplines to build a powerful habit. […]

Ambiguity — in the form of uncertainty or conflicting priorities — has become the default state for organizations of all types. It lurks in the background when leaders can’t explain what success looks like, or what aspects of performance matter most for achieving it. It saps energy from talented team members operating in the dark […]

Success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right. Achieving extraordinary results doesn’t require you to be a full-time disciplined person or team, where your every action is trained and where control is the solution to every situation. Instead, the trick is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline […]

Multitasking doesn’t save time — it wastes time. When you try to do two things at once, you either can’t or won’t do either well. If you think multitasking is an effective way to get more done, you’ve got it backward. It’s an effective way to get less done.  Every time we try to do […]

How do great leaders overcome resistance to change ― and the stress that accompanies it? Navigating change is hard, and people often get emotionally hijacked in the process. Leaders need potent, easy to learn, highly effective brain-based tools to navigate the emotions connected with growth and change ― and get their team on track.  In […]

Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list — a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results. A to-do list becomes a success list when you apply Pareto’s Principle to it. Does it seem like every day you and your team have more and more that “simply must get done”? Do you […]

Success demands singleness of purpose. ~ Vince Lombardi, arguably the greatest football coach of all time Extraordinarily successful people, companies, and teams always have one product/service/idea they’re most known for or that makes them the most money. They may have other important things too, but only one of them is the most important. Having clarity […]

Why do some people perform better at work than others? This deceptively simple question continues to confound leaders, as well as all professionals who want to advance and succeed while maintaining balance and wellbeing. We often equate working longer hours with success, but the fact is that type of work leads to stress, burnout, and […]

Leading talented people in creative fields requires a different skill set than what many management books teach. How do you ensure your team consistently delivers a brilliant work product from an inherently unpredictable creative process? How do you manage pushback from your team of super-smart, headstrong creatives? As a consultant to creative companies, Todd Henry […]

When one thing (the right ONE Thing) is set in motion, it can topple many things. Even more significant, a single domino can bring down another domino that is 50% larger. That provides that opportunity not only for linear progress, but exponential progress. Getting extraordinary results is all about creating a domino effect for you […]

What’s the ONE Thing you (or your team) can do this week such that by doing it, everything else would be easier or unnecessary? Behind every successful person is their ONE Thing. No matter how success is measured, personal or professional, only the ability to dismiss distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between […]

All of us have at least one person or group of people that we work with who has an issue that we really need to address — a performance problem, a behavioral issue, a piece of spinach stuck in their teeth — but for some reason, we avoid bringing up the topic with them. We’ve […]

How many times have you heard a leader say, “Our people are our greatest asset”? You’ve probably even uttered it a few times yourself. It’s a nice sentiment, but really doesn’t tell the full story. Simply having an organization full of stellar individuals is ultimately less important than how they function together. In his new […]

Chronic stress takes a toll on the quality of work and life, for both leaders and the people they lead. Stress muddies our thinking, impairs judgment, damages health and relationships, and causes people to burn out and quit their job. The solution, according to Dr. Andrew Shatté, is for leaders to become stress-relient and to […]

Trek Bikes grew out of one man’s belief that he could build a different kind of company. In a barn in southern Wisconsin, Dick Burke instilled the simple principles that continue to guide the company as it has grown into a worldwide brand: build things that last and leave a legacy of positive change. Dick’s […]

What does it take to lead a team that builds a startup into a nationally recognized company in less than three years, with an annual growth rate of more than 1,000%? Josh Kent is the CEO and founder of over a dozen startups, including SunFrog Shirts, which launched in 2013 and is currently the largest […]

“Stress is the new fat. It makes us sick, depletes us emotionally, and diminishes our quality of life.” ~ Jan Bruce, co-author of meQuilibrium Just like managing weight, managing stress is about becoming aware of personal choices and making better ones, and rewiring thought patterns so that an individual’s habits sustain well-being rather than sabotage […]

Are you a genius or a genius-maker? We’ve all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drains intelligence, energy, and capability from the people around them and always needs to be the smartest person in the room. These are the idea killers, the energy sappers, the diminishers of talent and […]

Is your sight set on a new leadership role? Perhaps you’re the Director of Finance, and you’ve just been tapped to become the new CFO. What do you need to change now that your former peers will be reporting to you? Or maybe you’re not yet in a position with formal authority, but you know […]

The organizations that are most successful in building a culture of health begin at the top, with key leaders championing a vision that includes the wellbeing of every employee. In this episode, Jesse interviews John Burke, CEO of Trek Bikes, who took a stand 13 years ago that launched a culture that has produced improvements […]

When successful people begin to feel uncertain or challenged at work, the one thing they want to know most is why things are going wrong after they have gone right for so long. Leaders tend to rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches […]

As millions of millennials and the even younger GenZers come into the workforce with very different expectations and definitions of loyalty, companies need to shift to make the most of those workers’ energy, skill sets, and incredible potential. Those companies that shift now for the long game of allegiance will have a strategic talent and […]

Your personality at work determines your success and impact as a leader. Is yours helping or hurting your effectiveness and your team’s engagement? Contrary to what most people think, you can change aspects of your personality and become a more engaging leader. A new book analyzing the behaviors of business leaders explains concrete ways that […]

To lead and influence others, whether as a workplace leader or as a thought leader, you need to develop an authentic voice. For example, let’s say you are a CEO delivering a speech to your employees, or a functional VP writing an email to your staff, or a department head presenting recommendations to the C-Suite. […]

In the 21st century, those who are changing the world aren’t just leaders; they’re engagers. Managers and leaders try to get others to do what is needed. Engagers create conditions and cultivate a team that is fully energized to achieve the organization’s purpose. Managers and leaders see themselves as the magic. Engagers see the team […]

David Burkus is the organizer of the upcoming Work Smarter Summit, an online video-based virtual conference where world-class experts share their proven tactics for getting more done, earning more money, and living a life of purpose and productivity. Based on interviews with those experts, David has compiled a free ebook called Work Smarter, Not Harder, […]

Leaders need data for at least two reasons: 1) so they and their team can make better decisions, and 2) to influence their employees, customers, or others to take action. In this episode, we discuss how to achieve both objectives better. We learn how to overcome some pitfalls in how we interpret data, so we […]

In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan. They opened the doors with two employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches. Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon, and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses […]

“Employees who report receiving recognition and praise within the last seven days show increased productivity, get higher scores from customers, and have better safety records. They’re just more engaged at work.” – Tom Rath Recently, one of my team members communicated heartfelt gratitude to another team member named Jenny for her consistently outstanding performance. And […]

Communicating bad news — we all hate to do it, wish we never have to do it again, and yet recognize that there will inevitably be times when we need to do it. Whether it is announcing a reduction in force, a negative change in employee benefits or compensation, a discontinued strategy or product line, […]

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. -Peter Drucker Many leaders and aspiring leaders think their skills and strategies are what create impact, and that perks and parties are what create culture. But in reality a much larger part is created by the leader’s energy in every moment of truth. When you kick off a meeting or […]

Leaders everywhere talk about accountability, but nobody is defining what it really means — and more importantly, breaking it down into a set of skills that people could learn and apply. Accountability is about helping people unlock their strengths. In this podcast, Jonathan and Jesse discuss how you can have far more powerful conversations with […]

On Engaging Leader, we share a lot of principles about leadership communication, but what about collaboration communication? In other words, what’s the most effective and efficient way to talk to the colleagues and clients you work with most closely in order to do great work together? That’s a trick question, because there isn’t (yet) a […]

“We’re in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.” ~ Howard Behar As the president of Starbucks North America and Starbucks International, Howard Behar spent over 20 years helping grow the company into a worldwide phenomenon. During those years, he was integral in establishing and nurturing the Starbucks culture. Since the beginning, […]

They’re supposedly young and healthy, but a new study shows that more than half of Millennials report having a chronic health condition. In addition, Millennials struggle how to navigate the health care system, starting with choosing an appropriate health plan in the first place. These and other surprising findings are from a new study on […]

Increasingly, large organizations are finding their competitive landscape changing so quickly that they’re unable to respond fast enough to survive and thrive. Most mature organizations have a built-in tendency to kill off anything agile, innovative, and entrepreneurial — which often is exactly what’s needed to stay ahead of today’s ever-increasing pace of change in the […]

People power your business — and success can hinge on your hiring, inspiring, and keeping the right ones. As a leader, are you cultivating this vital resource? Is there more you could be doing? Are you just winging it? Every HR executive has a laundry list of things they wish managers knew: best practices that […]

We are in the early years of a fundamental demographic shift. What worked in the past will no longer be enough. In order to attract and keep top talent — and to influence their actions — you will need to change how you engage people. Today’s workforce is made up primarily of three generations: Baby […]

“Learn what is true to do what is right.” ~ Thomas Huxley The thing that companies and individuals need most they often get least. What is this thing? The truth. Why? Because people don’t have the courage to say what they’re really thinking. But no company or individual can survive, let alone thrive, without the […]

In episode 136, I shared how there are three secrets to effective content as part of a leadership or workforce communication strategy: visual, sticky, and “nudgy.” We discussed the first secret in episode 127, Let’s Get Visual: 6 Engaging Ways to Use Images. We discussed the second secret in episode 136, Sticky — 7 Keys […]

With warm, summer weather arriving in the northern hemisphere, many of us have vacation plans. But what type of vacation will you take? Will it actually refresh you, helping you come back to work with new energy, fresh ideas, and a better perspective to help you deliver results that matter? If you’re like most business […]

In a typical communication strategy, part of the plan involves leadership actions, but also involves communication content — words, images, videos, and so forth. You’ve probably heard the phrase Content Is King. You can do a great job with other aspects of your strategy, but if the content isn’t effective, you’ll fail to meet your […]

We are in the early years of a fundamental demographic shift. The Millennial generation — which is even larger than the massive Baby Boom generation — now makes up a third of the workforce. As younger millennials continue to graduate from college, their powerful mix of values, communication style, and work perspective is driving a […]

Horrible meetings are a cliché of the business world, and with good reason. Most meetings are a waste of time and don’t accomplish much, if anything. Everyone leaves frustrated that they could be doing something more productive with their time — and not only do your results suffer, so does your credibility as a leader. […]

The new book, The Power of Fifty Bits: The New Science of Turning Good Intentions into Positive Results, by Bob Nease, PhD, is the first practical guide for business leaders to apply behavioral economics to activate the good intentions of people in their workforce. Behavioral economics has shown that people’s choices and actions often are […]

Great leaders don’t innovate products, they innovate the factory. Through most of the 20th century, great leaders focused on reinventing the factory. From Frederick Taylor to Henry Ford, the industrial age was made by people who could envision the best way to design the organization around the product. Today, much of the world has moved […]

In honor of April Fool’s Day, a funny guest joins Jesse to discuss a seriously important topic … how to use humor to drive engagement in all of your communication opportunities. David Nihill went from being deathly afraid of public speaking to hosting a business conference, regularly performing stand-up comedy, and winning storytelling competitions in […]

One of the surprising things about workplace burnout is that no one is immune. Even the most engaged, productive, and passionate people can experience burnout — in fact, their dedication may cause them to be even more susceptible than others. In Engaging Leader episode 019, How to Help Your Team Have More Great Days at […]

What if coaching could become a regular, informal part of your day so you and your team could work less hard and have more impact? That’s the promise Michael Bungay Stanier makes in his latest book, The Coaching Habit. He has trained more than 10,000 busy managers from around the globe in practical, everyday coaching […]

Some leaders foster a disproportionate share of top talent … the kind of talent that goes on to transform their entire industry. Professor Sydney Finkelstein noticed this and then figured out a way to identify who these “superbosses” are and how they do it. Most of what he discovered is counter-intuitive. In one of the […]

For several years, recruiting has been one of the business processes that has best leveraged the potential of gamification. According to a recent article in HR Magazine, gamification can be an effective strategy for talent acquisition because of the power to: Trigger interest in job openings, Enable (and reward) current employees to easily share job […]

Storytelling is the most underrated skill [among entrepreneurs]. ~ Ben Horowitze, famed venture capitalist Storytelling is the act of framing an idea as a narrative to inform, illuminate, and inspire. From Steve Jobs to Sheryl Sandberg to Richard Branson, successful leaders study and practice the art of storytelling in order to attract top talent, increase […]

Many people in the business world believe that working hard will be enough to move their career forward. But whether you’re trying to advance inside a large organization, or you’re an entrepreneur hoping to make a difference in your community or the global economy, you need to become recognized as an authority in your field. […]

Gamification concepts continue to be integrated as part of normal business practices; sometimes it’s as subtle as taking inspiration from certain game elements when tweaking a business process, and at the other end of the spectrum, sometimes it’s literally creating a game for people to play. For one growing company, they not only have created […]

Most business leaders today realize that a strong organizational culture is critical to success. However, culture tends to feel like some magic force that few leaders know how to control. So most leaders try to shape culture based on their intuition, leave it to chance, or try carrot-and-stick approaches to drive performance. To find a […]

Visual communication always gets more attention than written or verbal alone. And with the information and media-overload that everyone now experiences, visual communication is no longer an option when you are trying to influence, lead, or even simply inform people. You can’t assume that sharing information is enough. Even Steve Jobs, when presenting to already-passionate […]

Holacracy is a fundamentally different “operating system” for organizations. Holacracy revolutionizes how a company is structured, how decisions are made, and how authority is distributed. Perhaps the best-known examples of companies who have adopted Holacracy are Zappos and David Allen Company. “No one reports to anyone anymore,” explains The Washington Post about Zappos. “Instead, employees […]

Hourly workers make up nearly 60% of the United States workforce. They are often people who directly impact customers, such as through customer service or making the products. And improving the engagement of hourly workers can decrease absenteeism and turnover costs, while improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and the overall culture of the organization. And yet […]

  As with any important initiative, it’s vital to have the CEO and other senior leaders actively supporting workforce health engagement. These executives can help to: Articulate why the initiative is important to the organization’s purpose and business strategy, Create buy-in from all levels of the organization, Cultivate a supportive work environment, Dedicate resources, and […]

Thankfulness changes things: in yourself, in your team, and in your impact. As we approach Thanksgiving in the US, and the New Year goal-setting that most of us will be undertaking over the coming weeks, let me encourage you to make it a priority to improve your gratitude over the coming year. In fact, if […]

A few years ago, my local gym posted a photo of a handwritten sign that had been posted outside the hospital room of a Navy Seal who had been severely wounded in battle. “The wounds I received,” wrote Lt. Jason Redman, “I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting […]

If you haven’t yet realized it, there’s been a communication revolution building, and it has now reached the tipping point for workforce health engagement. People are now using mobile devices more than desktop computers for digital media, with mobile apps dominating the usage. Text messaging has become the preferred communication method for most people. And people […]

To create lasting behavior change, it’s crucial to understand how the brain’s habit system works, and then develop specific techniques to leverage the power of the brain rather than fighting against it. Psychologist Art Markman joins us to provide insight and practical advice to create sustainable behavior change in the people we lead. He’s the […]

[powerpess] When you drive a car with a manual transmission, you quickly learn there is a right time and place for each gear. You start in 1st gear, then shift into 2nd gear, and so forth until you reach the highest gear. If you try to shift into the wrong gear, the car will grind […]

Social media has a powerful effect on company sales and recruiting efforts. But just having a corporate communications person post things on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter doesn’t actually bring results. On social media, people pay attention to people, not to companies. Employees and partners collectively have an audience 10x larger than the company itself. ~ […]

Does the way you lead communicate to your team that failure is not an option? If so, you are limiting innovation and development, encouraging cover-ups and lies, and breeding more-serious mistakes. This is true whether you lead a family, a small organization, or a huge business. “The best way to minimize failure is to embrace […]

Research shows no one is happy with annual performance reviews—not executives, not managers, and not individual contributors. Even HR teams responsible for performance management aren’t convinced annual reviews provide value. According to Kris Duggan of BetterWorks, that’s because traditional performance management processes and systems no longer accurately reflect the way we work. (They never did, […]

Focusing on goals establishes a business culture of innovation and collaboration because you are measuring ongoing operations, not a single point in time. For organizations to drive better performance, goal setting should be done frequently, and should focus on just a few high-quality, high-impact goals. BetterWorks is an enterprise goals platform designed to enable all […]

Most people today constantly reach for their smartphones for instant answers and services. What’s the weather? Will Monique be joining us tomorrow? What’s the name of that song? And even people who don’t know how to use most smartphone features know how to send and receive texts. For many, it’s their preferred method for timely […]

When you’re the CEO or senior leader, bottom-line results matter. Especially when the going gets tough, the conventional assumption is that the big boss should push profits by any legal means necessary, even if it means twisting the truth, breaking promises, and being a jerk to other people. But for most of us, that intuitively […]

Making the connection between better health decisions and daily energy levels does far more to change employee behavior than telling them about longer-term health consequences. At most organizations, a workforce health strategy includes communication and education to motivate and equip employees and their families to reduce health risks, improve well-being, and prevent the development of […]

What does yawning have to do with influencing people to take action? If you yawn, you trigger “mirror neurons” in most other people, which affect their brain activity and influence them to yawn too. And mirror neurons don’t just involve actions like yawning. They affect thoughts and feelings as well. This is one of the […]

You and everyone on your team has an “inner innovator,” creative potential inside that can be unleashed and harnessed. With the right tools and a little practice, you and your team can improve your creative thinking skills. What’s more, you can build an embedded capability for innovation that engages everyone at your organization and leads […]

Back in episode 14, we talked about the six drivers of behavioral engagement. One driver is Structural Ability; in other words, make it easy for people to take the recommended actions that will improve their physical or financial health. Another of the six drivers is Personal Motivation; make it what they want to do. Gamification […]

According to The Gallup Organization, when companies add a well-being focus to their engagement efforts, it has an accelerating effect. Focusing on employee engagement and employee well-being together helps companies maximize productivity. Today we’ll discuss how your organization can improve your culture, employee engagement, and the bottom line by taking a whole-person approach that allows […]

Some people fall far short of their leadership potential because they let the best part of their time, energy, and focus get sucked up by non-strategic tasks like replying to emails. On the other end of the spectrum are leaders who don’t have the impact they’d like because they don’t consistently respond to important emails. […]

The best wellness programs are ones people don’t even know they’re doing. That may sound like a pipe dream, but a leading researcher says it’s realistic and effective. A few small changes in the workplace can change a waistline … and a culture. Leading behavioral economist, food psychologist, and bestselling author Brian Wansink, Ph.D., joins […]

Being an engaging leader starts with engaging your own work and life optimally. When you are fully charged, you get more done, your mind is sharp and creative, you feel fully alive – and you are a better leader, parent, spouse, and friend. Does that happen by accident, or are there specific actions that create […]

Gamification and mobile technology can both make it easier for employees to use their benefits, and provide the motivation to make it what they want to do. In past episodes of Game Changer, we’ve looked at some gamified applications related to certain health benefits – such as episode 3 with UnitedHealth, episode 7 with Movable, […]

Being an engaging leader starts with engaging your own work and life optimally. Five years ago, Jesse had given up on the umpteenth system he’d tried for organization and productivity. As he went back to the drawing board, he discovered that a new approach had taken the world by storm. It was called Getting Things […]

According to The Gallup Organization, only 24% of employees at companies that offer a wellness program actually participate in it. What’s more, only 12% of employees strongly agree that they have substantially higher overall well-being because of their employer. Today we’ll discuss what’s wrong with the traditional approach to workplace wellness, and how your organization […]

How do you move people from being passive followers doing what they were told, to becoming proactive, engaged leaders themselves? We’ll give you a hint: It’s not about being visionary or giving the right orders. David Marquet is the author of Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders. David was […]