Employee Engagement

Coworkers May Hold the Key to New Employee Retention

Coworkers May Hold the Key to New Employee Retention

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My job provides me with a fantastic opportunity to learn from many smart and successful leaders. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Ralph Stayer, owner of Johnsonville Foods, headquartered in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. I was presenting at NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, and he was in the audience. Johnsonville Foods started as a small butcher shop. Today it has more than a billion dollars in annual sales and offers products in more than…
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Getting Clear on Deliverables Moves Results

Getting Clear on Deliverables Moves Results

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We all have moments of clarity, those times when something we may not have been aware of becomes noticeably clear to us. A few of these came to mind over the past several weeks. One is around how we think about deliverables. Employee engagement is a topic most organizations focus on. It shows up in goals. Yet, is engagement the goal, or are items like reduced employee turnover and increased productivity the desired outcomes? This point comes up often when I…
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From Surviving to Thriving: How Leadership Training Can Transform Post-Acute

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COVID-19 was tough on everyone, but one of the hardest hit areas was post-acute. It was a scary time. Residents were struggling. Caregivers were leaving. Stress and burnout were rampant. Organizations were in survival mode—just trying to get through the day. In the aftermath of the pandemic, post-acute is struggling with several realities. One, there’s a serious staffing shortage and high turnover. Two, morale continues to be low, in large part because of that short-staffing. Three, with…
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To Stop We/They Leadership, Invest in the Middle

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What does it mean when a person or a culture is said to have a we/they issue? The most common explanation of we/they is when someone positions themselves positively (or at least neutrally) while positioning someone else less favorably. A classic example is a manager who says, “If it were up to me, I’d give you a raise, but administration has frozen all pay increases for the rest of the year.” While we/they is harmful…
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“Why Are We Really Short-Staffed?” (Tips for Improving Retention)

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We are short-staffed. It is so hard to find help. These statements are often given as the explanation for a range of issues: why something is taking longer than planned…why response is slower than desired…why business hours are less than they used to be…why people are working more hours than they like…why employees feel overwhelmed…why companies are paying more overtime dollars and at times bringing in temporary workers at a high cost…etc. Taken as stand-alone items,…
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Diverse group of managers working together at office.

The Best Organizations Create a Development-Rich Culture

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What are you doing to develop your replacement? What is being done to build depth in your company? These are important questions for all leaders to consider. The subject of succession planning came up in a conversation with Will Dunaway, the chair of the board for the Center for Civic Engagement. Will is an attorney for the law firm Clark Partington. His office is in Pensacola, Florida. Will was one of several people from Clark…
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Colleagues clapping

Don’t Skimp on Employee Recognition…But Be Careful That It Doesn’t Backfire

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I often get letters from people who read this column. Recently, a reader shared that the organization they are part of had given out awards to some people who did not seem to achieve the success they were recognized for. This is a valid concern. How can a manager be recognized as a great manager when their employee engagement is low? How can an employee be recognized as an excellent employee if they are not…
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business audits using

Dealing With Less-Than-Flattering Employee Engagement Results

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I am grateful that CEOs, owners, and others contact me to discuss their employee engagement results. Due to many impacts that could not be anticipated, most organizations have experienced a decline in these results. They had expected a dip in engagement; however, the dip has been worse than expected. Most of us, when we receive data that we do not like, may respond in a variety of ways. We will discuss some predictable reactions later.…
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Business People Meeting

What “Trust Building” Looks Like in Action

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Dan Collard, a colleague of mine, shared that he often puts my writings through a tool that captures which words are used most often. He told me that the word trust comes up frequently. This makes sense, with all the focus on building strong relationships in the workplace. While building trust has always been foundational in forming strong relationships, it is even more important now. Research from a variety of fronts reports that overall trust is…
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building-self-awareness

Building Self-Awareness Into Your Company Culture

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In my book The Busy Leader’s Handbook, Chapter 1 is on self-awareness and coachability. Self-awareness is one’s ability to perceive and understand the characteristics that make them who they are as an individual: personality, actions, values, beliefs, emotions, and thoughts. The greater self-awareness a person has, the more coachable they are. In the book, I provide tips on how to gain self-awareness and become more coachable. My experience is that a key characteristic the best performers…
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