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Office Politics 2016 v 2.0 Less than a month to go and mudslinging is taking a new slog this election. I suspect it will get worse. A quick rundown of the last few days and what’s next: What does this have to do with your workplace? Sexual harassment. People may think it’s totally ok to…

What’s worse than workplace drama? It’s right up there with election year political attack ads. Pretty much everyone hates both, wishes they would go away, puts up with it thinking it will end soon. The attack ads do – at least for a little while; the workplace drama doesn’t self-resolve. That’s where leadership comes in.…

There are thousands of books with thousands of ideas about how to appreciate, recognize, or honor people in your organization. So many good ideas. The problem with them is that they are ideas that worked in some other organization that took the time to figure out what worked for them. Though imitation may be the…

“Teamwork: Cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.” That’s what Dictionary.com says. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m sitting in a gym at Wheat Ridge High School on a July Saturday afternoon, waiting to watch…

Do It Right the First Time. Sounds good. Why do rework when it saves time and money to do things right the first time? Why spend money on warranty work, returns, or lost productivity if organizations can prevent all that? People hear the phrase “Do It Right the First Time,” and assume that refers to…

Who Benefits From Your Benefits? Back before World War II, few Americans had health insurance. Fewer still received it as an employee benefit. Of course, life was simpler then. Healthcare was relatively medieval, and most people just suffered through all but the most debilitating pain or disease. Back before World War II, few Americans had…

Workplace conflict. It happens. We like to think that time will resolve things. Time doesn’t heal; it buries. Left unresolved, issues fester and become apparent later. And when they do it’s usually worse. The biggest mistake most people make is not to try to resolve things. The next biggest mistake people make is to try…

Founders’ Syndrome. At least that’s what I call it. Someone has a great idea, an invention, a new way, a new service. Others join the adventure – partners, employees, investors. At some point one of 2 things can happen: Sometimes this works. Kind of. Some founders just aren’t leaders. Some have no idea how to…

Did you know that about $1 billion is spent on employee engagement initiatives annually in the U.S?  Did you know that there isn’t a lot of proof that it’s helping the bottom line?  Did you know that there isn’t a lot of proof that it’s helping employee engagement? Half a century ago, Psychologist Frederick Herzberg…

I have this 19 year old son who likes to quip that when his old man was a teenager surfing in Florida, there was no sand on the beach. Only rocks. Erosion hadn’t created sand yet. So when I talk about what life was like when I entered the professional workplace, let’s just say it…