Today is a big day. It’s the kick-off event for the Learning and Development Hangout Series sponsored by Meridian Knowledge Solutions and hosted by yours truly. Today’s topic: Gamification in the Modern Workforce. Kris Dunn and I will have a uncensored conversation on the realities of gamification and discuss how leveraging gamification can produce meaningful employee and organizational outcomes – without breaking the bank. Click …
Stop Saying “I Can’t” and Start Acting Like a Consultant
Hearing someone say “I can’t” is one of my top pet peeves of all time. If you’re being asked for something that’s a true impossibility—I can understand that—but too often I hear “I can’t” when the real answer is “I can solve you problem, but I’ll need to approach that problem from a different angle.” “I can’t” is probably one of …
The Secret Sauce of The Best Managers At Your Company
You’re familiar with The Best Places to Work lists that come out every year. Imagine a spin on that idea—designed to be administered inside your company—The Best People to Work For. It would go a little something like this: survey goes out to all employees asking them, anonymously, to identify who the best managers in your company are. Then they’d be asked to explain why they chose …
Now THAT’S a D*MN Good Resume
View PostGAME ON!: A Quick and Dirty Introduction to Gamification
I was up over at Fistful of Talent last week talking about gamification — what it is, what it isn’t, and 3 step to ensure that you set your gamification initiative up for success. Here’s a snippet from the intro: “Over the past few weeks, I’ve been elbow deep in online learning. Newsflash: Translating a dynamic live training experience into an equally engaging …
HR SCI-FI: When Everything Is Free
Check out this excerpt from “The Big Moo”: “What if your company’s business model was like that of public broadcasting? That is, all of your products [and services] are free. You can only earn revenue by convincing your customers to donate money that represents of their value of of your product.” The book goes on to point out that thousands of public radio stations …
PSA: NOW Is The Time To Start Applying For Summer Internships
View PostBe Bolder in 2015
This time last year, you had some hopes, dreams, and aspirations for how you’d use your time in 2014. Now it’s 2015, and if you’re like me, you have tons to be thankful for because so many things went better than you could have planned. But there were are also things that you wish you’d handled differently. New habits you …
5 Realities That Drive Innovation
Newsflash: You don’t have to cure cancer, go on Shark Tank, be in tech, or work for a trendy Startup firm to innovate. The good news is there’s space for all of us to innovate in whatever our chosen specialty. You don’t have to revolutionize your field or the world. Here’s my short list of the five most important things …
The ONLY Guide To Office Halloween Costumes You’ll EVER Need
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Should You Wear A Costume To Work For Halloween? If there’s been any kind of official messaging advising against dressing up for Halloween… stop here. You’re probably better off showing up tomorrow in your blue blazer or pencil skirt. Sorry chump – no Halloween for you. If dressing up will in some way prevent or hinder your …
Stop Saying “I Can’t” and Start Acting Like a Consultant
Hearing someone say “I can’t” is one of my top pet peeves of all time. If you’re being asked for something that’s a true impossibility—I can understand that—but too often I hear “I can’t” when the real answer is “I can solve you problem, but I’ll need to approach that problem from a different angle.” “I can’t” is probably one of …
The Secret Sauce of The Best Managers At Your Company
You’re familiar with The Best Places to Work lists that come out every year. Imagine a spin on that idea—designed to be administered inside your company—The Best People to Work For. It would go a little something like this: survey goes out to all employees asking them, anonymously, to identify who the best managers in your company are. Then they’d be asked to explain why they chose …
Now THAT’S a D*MN Good Resume
View PostPSA: NOW Is The Time To Start Applying For Summer Internships
View PostBe Bolder in 2015
This time last year, you had some hopes, dreams, and aspirations for how you’d use your time in 2014. Now it’s 2015, and if you’re like me, you have tons to be thankful for because so many things went better than you could have planned. But there were are also things that you wish you’d handled differently. New habits you …
JEDI MIND TRICK: Fake It Til You Feel It
What are you doing with your body at this very moment? Are you sitting or standing? If your standing, is your weight equally distributed between your feet or are you placing the majority of your weight on a single foot? What about your arms – crossed, by your side, on your neck, or in your lap? You’ve already heard/seen the …
10 Signs You Might Be A Workaholic
View PostShower Guilt + Red Bull Binges = Work-Life Balance Problem
It’s birthday eve for me. My tradition for the past few years has been to use today as a personal new years eve of sorts. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on what’s occurred in the last year. I’ll list out milestones, lessons learned, people I’m grateful for. I also pick some areas I need to improve on in the …
What Went Wrong?: Your Answer Might Be Sabotaging Your Career Development
The last time you ran into a roadblock or encountered a failure, how did you explain what went wrong? You answer might identify a key developmental roadblock!
Right Now on Tremendous Upside: 3 Tips For Handling Conflict at Work
I’m over at a Tremendous Upside today giving 3 tips you can use to make your work conflicts less awful and more productive. The full, original post can be found in the link below. Here’s how it starts: Think of the last time you had an argument with someone at work. Sucked, right? No one likes conflict, which is why so …
The Secret Sauce of The Best Managers At Your Company
You’re familiar with The Best Places to Work lists that come out every year. Imagine a spin on that idea—designed to be administered inside your company—The Best People to Work For. It would go a little something like this: survey goes out to all employees asking them, anonymously, to identify who the best managers in your company are. Then they’d be asked to explain why they chose …
Managers: Employee Participation in Goal Setting May Not Be What You Think
Employee participation in goal-setting occurs when the manager directly involves the employee in the defining and setting of their own goals. It has long been shown to impact goal achievement by impacting an employee’s commitment to and perceived importance of their goals. Participation is linked to employee satisfaction, performance, and engagement—things all good managers want. Here’s the reality about employee …
The DOs and DON’Ts of Requesting & Receiving Feedback
Manager feedback is one of our best options for personal and professional development. The problem is that feedback makes most of us anxious because there’s always a real chance that the feedback going to sting. We want the companies we work for to invest in our growth, but too many of us let our feedback phobia get in the way of our development. …
Stop Saying “I Can’t” and Start Acting Like a Consultant
Hearing someone say “I can’t” is one of my top pet peeves of all time. If you’re being asked for something that’s a true impossibility—I can understand that—but too often I hear “I can’t” when the real answer is “I can solve you problem, but I’ll need to approach that problem from a different angle.” “I can’t” is probably one of …
Managers: Employee Participation in Goal Setting May Not Be What You Think
Employee participation in goal-setting occurs when the manager directly involves the employee in the defining and setting of their own goals. It has long been shown to impact goal achievement by impacting an employee’s commitment to and perceived importance of their goals. Participation is linked to employee satisfaction, performance, and engagement—things all good managers want. Here’s the reality about employee …
5 Realities That Drive Innovation
Newsflash: You don’t have to cure cancer, go on Shark Tank, be in tech, or work for a trendy Startup firm to innovate. The good news is there’s space for all of us to innovate in whatever our chosen specialty. You don’t have to revolutionize your field or the world. Here’s my short list of the five most important things …
Innovate Like A Boss: 4 Things To Remember
I read this post yesterday from Chris Ponder II over at Performance I Create that got me thinking about innovation — I think we’re losing sight of what it means and how to get there because “innovation” is such a buzzword these days. Here’s my short list of things to remember if we want to drive innovation in our teams: #1 – If you’re going to define a goal or competency solely around “innovation,” do so …
The Secret Sauce of The Best Managers At Your Company
You’re familiar with The Best Places to Work lists that come out every year. Imagine a spin on that idea—designed to be administered inside your company—The Best People to Work For. It would go a little something like this: survey goes out to all employees asking them, anonymously, to identify who the best managers in your company are. Then they’d be asked to explain why they chose …
The Leadership Skill Your Managers Are Missing: Compensation Fluency
For those of you at companies with matching fiscal and calendar years, the start of Q4 means performance review season and the accompanying compensation conversations and decisions we all dread. Embedded in most of the conversations going on in around compensation is fear and anxiety that someone is going to end of on the short end of the stick. For direct reports …
Team Building Exercises That Don’t Suck
This isn’t about your company/team picnic. Get someone to fire up the barbie. Some one bring a kickball. Pack a first aide kit. Have a grand ole’ time. I’m talking specifically about the types of events/activities that are forced on teams that are in need of a tune up. You know the kind I’m talking about… And if you’re anything like me, …
COACHING 101: Don’t Be A Vampire and Please Shut Up
Check out this clip from the Showtime series “House of Lies”: If you manager tries that hard to sell you on the value of their coaching — run. They’re not in it for you. They’re also probably not as evil as the blood sucking vampire in the clip above. Probably. Chances are their view of coaching is out of whack. Too many managers’ view of …
What Went Wrong?: Your Answer Might Be Sabotaging Your Career Development
The last time you ran into a roadblock or encountered a failure, how did you explain what went wrong? You answer might identify a key developmental roadblock!
MONEYBALL: Coaching Cagey Employees
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’ve been writing for the next module in our leadership development series. This module is on coaching – specifically the different types of coaching that managers of people should be doing all the time. Most managers don’t coach nearly as often as they should. The best coaches are doing their thing frequently and consistently. One big reason managers don’t …
Ever OK For Managers To Yell? The Results Are In
Last week, I asked you to weigh in on a discussion about whether or not it’s ever OK for managers to yell. We left instances where safety or well-being was at risk out of the discussion. I refrained from sharing because I wanted to hear what you all had to say. Your opinions came in through comments to the post, twitter, …
Managers Want To Coach, So What’s Stopping Them?
And that’s not just based on anecdotal experience. A new study asks managers about their leadership preferences: Managers want to coach. Over on HBR’s Blog Network this morning, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman posted some results of a new study on coaching attributes and perspectives. You can take the assessment here if you’re interested. Their study compares managers’ preference more traditional, directive leadership or leading …
Mismatched Performance Management, Training, Comp, + Culture Matter, Comcast
I hate calling the cable company. Nothing is ever handled in less than a 60 minute phone call, you always end up in a battle royale with the automated system, you end up repeating your issue no less that 49 times, and after all that they put you on hold for 9 minutes and then the call gets dropped. I’m not …
INFOGRAPHIC: 5 Behaviors That Turn Cat Herders Into People Leaders
Experimenting with an infographic today. 5 behaviors that distinguish run of the mill cat herders into leaders of people
JOB POSTING: Training Specialist/Whiz
View PostTune In For Today’s Live #LDHangout!
Today is a big day. It’s the kick-off event for the Learning and Development Hangout Series sponsored by Meridian Knowledge Solutions and hosted by yours truly. Today’s topic: Gamification in the Modern Workforce. Kris Dunn and I will have a uncensored conversation on the realities of gamification and discuss how leveraging gamification can produce meaningful employee and organizational outcomes – without breaking the bank. Click …
HR SCI-FI: When Everything Is Free
Check out this excerpt from “The Big Moo”: “What if your company’s business model was like that of public broadcasting? That is, all of your products [and services] are free. You can only earn revenue by convincing your customers to donate money that represents of their value of of your product.” The book goes on to point out that thousands of public radio stations …
The ONLY Guide To Office Halloween Costumes You’ll EVER Need
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Should You Wear A Costume To Work For Halloween? If there’s been any kind of official messaging advising against dressing up for Halloween… stop here. You’re probably better off showing up tomorrow in your blue blazer or pencil skirt. Sorry chump – no Halloween for you. If dressing up will in some way prevent or hinder your …
TRAVEL ETIQUETTE 101: No Ugly Crying At Strangers On Planes
My job involves some travel to facilitate the leadership development series we’re creating. I’m hardly a road warrior at this point in my career, but traveling for work has meant I’ve seen some questionable behavior on planes and in airports. I’m not talking about your baby crying. I’m talking about the kinds of things where you instinctively think “didn’t your mama teach you not …
Never Forget
Never Forget #neverforget
Fancy Show Chickens
Yesterday morning was a Whole Foods for breakfast kind of morning. On our way out, we came upon a lady promoting her livestock feed outside the store with her pet chickens. I learned about different chicken breeds. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered that there were multiple breeds of chicken. Best of all – I got to hang with Capt. Jack Sparrow. …
John Oliver On The Pay Gap
I caught a few minutes of John Oliver’s show on HBO the other night in my hotel room in Houston. He took on the gender pay gap and why it actually matters. Plus, he was pretty funny. Here’s a minute long clip: That’s from the beginning of the segment. Watch the whole thing here (it’s about 7 minutes long). He …
Some Things Can’t Be Unseen
Have you ever accidentally seen something you were never supposed to see? And it really wasn’t that extraordinary but you still can’t unsee it? That happened to me this morning on my way into the office. Picture it: You’re on my way into the office this morning when you’re passed by another car. You notice it happens to be the car of an acquaintance, so …
STOP THIS NOW… Because Chelsea Says So
Saturday feels like the right time to divert from my normal subject matter. Today, I’m talking about something I want people to stop doing right now. It’s a simple request: Stop posting your ‘come hither’ photos to social media. Seriously. Not quite sure what a ‘come hither’ photo is? It’s a selfie in which the subject strikes a pose, facial …
Goal Setting Objections: What To Expect and What To Do About Them
New year = new goals. That’s true for you and the people who report to you. Most of your employees will be comfortable and reasonably engaged with the whatever goal setting flavor you’re trying to sell them on, but the reality is that some folks might flat out object. When the people we manage don’t jump on board with the enthusiasm we hope …
5 Realities That Drive Innovation
Newsflash: You don’t have to cure cancer, go on Shark Tank, be in tech, or work for a trendy Startup firm to innovate. The good news is there’s space for all of us to innovate in whatever our chosen specialty. You don’t have to revolutionize your field or the world. Here’s my short list of the five most important things …
10 Signs You Might Be A Workaholic
View PostGrading Out Miss America Contestants
View PostCOACHING 101: Don’t Be A Vampire and Please Shut Up
Check out this clip from the Showtime series “House of Lies”: If you manager tries that hard to sell you on the value of their coaching — run. They’re not in it for you. They’re also probably not as evil as the blood sucking vampire in the clip above. Probably. Chances are their view of coaching is out of whack. Too many managers’ view of …
Shower Guilt + Red Bull Binges = Work-Life Balance Problem
It’s birthday eve for me. My tradition for the past few years has been to use today as a personal new years eve of sorts. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on what’s occurred in the last year. I’ll list out milestones, lessons learned, people I’m grateful for. I also pick some areas I need to improve on in the …
What Went Wrong?: Your Answer Might Be Sabotaging Your Career Development
The last time you ran into a roadblock or encountered a failure, how did you explain what went wrong? You answer might identify a key developmental roadblock!
MONEYBALL: Coaching Cagey Employees
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’ve been writing for the next module in our leadership development series. This module is on coaching – specifically the different types of coaching that managers of people should be doing all the time. Most managers don’t coach nearly as often as they should. The best coaches are doing their thing frequently and consistently. One big reason managers don’t …
INFOGRAPHIC: 5 Behaviors That Turn Cat Herders Into People Leaders
Experimenting with an infographic today. 5 behaviors that distinguish run of the mill cat herders into leaders of people
YOU’VE GOT THE POWER: Your Employees Don’t Act Always Like Themselves With You
Quick question: Have you ever modified your behavior based on who you were with? Of course you have. One of the many lessons you learned as a kid was that certain situations and people call for a certain set of manners and behaviors. You learned that the way that you spoke with close friends wasn’t necessarily the same way to speak …
JEDI MIND TRICK: Fake It Til You Feel It
What are you doing with your body at this very moment? Are you sitting or standing? If your standing, is your weight equally distributed between your feet or are you placing the majority of your weight on a single foot? What about your arms – crossed, by your side, on your neck, or in your lap? You’ve already heard/seen the …
10 Signs You Might Be A Workaholic
View PostNERD ALERT: What New Research Says About Using Intelligence To Predict Whether Employees Will Help and Harm Your Company
If you’re a manager of people, chances are good that you’ve hired, promoted, and fired people based on employee behaviors that were not necessarily listed on that person’s job description. Which means that you’ve made a workforce decision based on non-task performance. Admittedly, this post has a heavier emphasis on research than most of my others, but that’s because new research came …
Very Superstitious: 5 Myths, Legends, and Lies of Psychology
I’m in writing mode here at Kinetix HQ for our leadership development series. That means I’ve been securely fastened to my keyboard with a steady stream of caffeine and tunes for a while. It’s not a bad place to be, either. When it comes to caffeine, I’m pretty straightforward. Give me a nicely-sized americano and I’m happy as a clam …
Managers Want To Coach, So What’s Stopping Them?
And that’s not just based on anecdotal experience. A new study asks managers about their leadership preferences: Managers want to coach. Over on HBR’s Blog Network this morning, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman posted some results of a new study on coaching attributes and perspectives. You can take the assessment here if you’re interested. Their study compares managers’ preference more traditional, directive leadership or leading …
Over At FOT: The Tale of Kitty Clark And Some Brand Spankin’ New Research
I’m over at FOT this morning talking about the legendary tale of Kitty Clark. Use your imagination to picture her. Long straggly, dirty blond hair, gum chewing, ripped bell bottom jeans, flannel shirts, usually bare footed, trash-talking 8th grader. Even the teachers feared her. She never went to her classes. She was always roaming the halls looking for trouble. A smoker …
YOU’VE GOT THE POWER: Your Employees Don’t Act Always Like Themselves With You
Quick question: Have you ever modified your behavior based on who you were with? Of course you have. One of the many lessons you learned as a kid was that certain situations and people call for a certain set of manners and behaviors. You learned that the way that you spoke with close friends wasn’t necessarily the same way to speak …
Extraverts May Win The Battle, But Neurotics Win The War
This week, we’re digging into the filming for the first two modules of our leadership development series. I’ve been manning our bootstrapped teleprompter so this has pretty much been my position for the last day or so: So far, most of our filming is for the first module – Pop the Hood – covers the use of personality assessments to build …
No, I Don’t Organize Closets For A Living… But I Like The Way You Think
A couple of weeks ago Adam Grant (who is a total research rock star in my book) wrote Why Behavioral Economics Is Cool, and I’m Not over at the Huffington Post. Here’s a snippet: “When they think of psychology, they picture Sigmund Freud lying on a couch telling them they failed a driving test because they failed to kill their fathers and sleep with …
Play on playa: The Case to ‘Hire Former Jocks’ Just Got Stronger *New Research*
Whenever someone says “hire former jocks”, there’s a divide — pro-jocks and anti-jocks. I know a lot of anti-jocks. They saw athletes that slept through classes, engaged in serial tomfoolery, and pinned the non-jocks against the lockers. They had all the glory, the girls/guys, and teachers that were willing to fudge the grades to ensure a seat during the state playoffs. A real bunch …
NERD ALERT: What New Research Says About Using Intelligence To Predict Whether Employees Will Help and Harm Your Company
If you’re a manager of people, chances are good that you’ve hired, promoted, and fired people based on employee behaviors that were not necessarily listed on that person’s job description. Which means that you’ve made a workforce decision based on non-task performance. Admittedly, this post has a heavier emphasis on research than most of my others, but that’s because new research came …
Managers Want To Coach, So What’s Stopping Them?
And that’s not just based on anecdotal experience. A new study asks managers about their leadership preferences: Managers want to coach. Over on HBR’s Blog Network this morning, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman posted some results of a new study on coaching attributes and perspectives. You can take the assessment here if you’re interested. Their study compares managers’ preference more traditional, directive leadership or leading …
Over At FOT: The Tale of Kitty Clark And Some Brand Spankin’ New Research
I’m over at FOT this morning talking about the legendary tale of Kitty Clark. Use your imagination to picture her. Long straggly, dirty blond hair, gum chewing, ripped bell bottom jeans, flannel shirts, usually bare footed, trash-talking 8th grader. Even the teachers feared her. She never went to her classes. She was always roaming the halls looking for trouble. A smoker …
Play on playa: The Case to ‘Hire Former Jocks’ Just Got Stronger *New Research*
Whenever someone says “hire former jocks”, there’s a divide — pro-jocks and anti-jocks. I know a lot of anti-jocks. They saw athletes that slept through classes, engaged in serial tomfoolery, and pinned the non-jocks against the lockers. They had all the glory, the girls/guys, and teachers that were willing to fudge the grades to ensure a seat during the state playoffs. A real bunch …
What Mistake Do Companies Not Even Know They’re Making? *New Research*
It’s no surprise that staffing is good for companies. Also no surprise that a company’s investment in training/developing their workforce is a good sign. We know that separately, staffing and training are linked with performance gains… but do companies investment in staffing and training simultaneously mean anything? Are companies that heavily invest in recruiting AND training really any better off than …
JOB POSTING: Training Specialist/Whiz
View PostTune In For Today’s Live #LDHangout!
Today is a big day. It’s the kick-off event for the Learning and Development Hangout Series sponsored by Meridian Knowledge Solutions and hosted by yours truly. Today’s topic: Gamification in the Modern Workforce. Kris Dunn and I will have a uncensored conversation on the realities of gamification and discuss how leveraging gamification can produce meaningful employee and organizational outcomes – without breaking the bank. Click …
GAME ON!: A Quick and Dirty Introduction to Gamification
I was up over at Fistful of Talent last week talking about gamification — what it is, what it isn’t, and 3 step to ensure that you set your gamification initiative up for success. Here’s a snippet from the intro: “Over the past few weeks, I’ve been elbow deep in online learning. Newsflash: Translating a dynamic live training experience into an equally engaging …
Team Building Exercises That Don’t Suck
This isn’t about your company/team picnic. Get someone to fire up the barbie. Some one bring a kickball. Pack a first aide kit. Have a grand ole’ time. I’m talking specifically about the types of events/activities that are forced on teams that are in need of a tune up. You know the kind I’m talking about… And if you’re anything like me, …
COACHING 101: Don’t Be A Vampire and Please Shut Up
Check out this clip from the Showtime series “House of Lies”: If you manager tries that hard to sell you on the value of their coaching — run. They’re not in it for you. They’re also probably not as evil as the blood sucking vampire in the clip above. Probably. Chances are their view of coaching is out of whack. Too many managers’ view of …
Managers Want To Coach, So What’s Stopping Them?
And that’s not just based on anecdotal experience. A new study asks managers about their leadership preferences: Managers want to coach. Over on HBR’s Blog Network this morning, Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman posted some results of a new study on coaching attributes and perspectives. You can take the assessment here if you’re interested. Their study compares managers’ preference more traditional, directive leadership or leading …
Mismatched Performance Management, Training, Comp, + Culture Matter, Comcast
I hate calling the cable company. Nothing is ever handled in less than a 60 minute phone call, you always end up in a battle royale with the automated system, you end up repeating your issue no less that 49 times, and after all that they put you on hold for 9 minutes and then the call gets dropped. I’m not …
INFOGRAPHIC: 5 Behaviors That Turn Cat Herders Into People Leaders
Experimenting with an infographic today. 5 behaviors that distinguish run of the mill cat herders into leaders of people
PHOTOS: Filming for Leadership Development Series
We’re finally filming the videos for the first 2 modules in our leadership development series. Here’s a taste of how it’s all looking:
What Mistake Do Companies Not Even Know They’re Making? *New Research*
It’s no surprise that staffing is good for companies. Also no surprise that a company’s investment in training/developing their workforce is a good sign. We know that separately, staffing and training are linked with performance gains… but do companies investment in staffing and training simultaneously mean anything? Are companies that heavily invest in recruiting AND training really any better off than …
Excited To Be Back At Work Today? Yeah Right… Unless You’re Experiencing Work Engagement
If you’re not enthused about the return of monday and you wish you’re counting down to your next long weekend, you’re not alone. It’s normal and it’s a feeling everyone is familiar with. Take it easy today. It’s hard to beat the beach and quality time with family and friends — I get it. You’ll get back into the swing …
Big Data: It’s What’s For Breakfast
I had fat-free cottage cheese with cantaloupe for breakfast #WishIHadWaffles But you don’t care. Neither do I. I’ve never really understood why people seem to feel compelled to share that stuff with the universe. Why can’t you just keep your grapenuts to yourself? No one cares. That’s not true. Because anyone who’s interested in the treasure trove of knowledge that is big data …
Who’s Up For A Friday Riddle?
Bet you can’t guess what I’ve been up to this week at Kinetix HQ… Here are your hints: 1. Its related to leadership development… 2. the NFL… 3. Samuel L. Jackson… 4. Lucy Lui… 5. and pyrotechnics. It’s bananas. But in case you’re still not picking up what I’m throwing down…here’s a little more background on what the heck I …