Performance

Political beliefs are personal. Chances are slim that anyone can change our minds about our political views. Yet some people debate and argue about politics with their family, friends and coworkers. Because people spend so much of their time at work it makes sense that conversations about beliefs, sports, religion or politics arise. Political discussions frequently happen during the election cycle, but for the past few years these discussions haven’t slowed down. During the recent Workplace Strategies conference, Ogletree Deakins provided participants a checklist for employers to evaluate political expression. There are two sides of the coin; the employees’ and […]

Peter Drucker coined the term knowledge worker in 1959 anticipating an age when people would generate value with their minds more than their muscle. As early as 1954, Drucker encouraged leaders to push decision making down through the organization. Drucker said, “Knowledge workers have to manage themselves. They have to have autonomy.” Today most of us are knowledge workers. And as knowledge workers, we often know more about our tasks than anyone including our managers. Managers have to accept this and their new role; to establish an overall direction and allow the knowledge worker to figure out how to get […]

Businesses have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to improve their employee engagement scores. Yet Gallup who has measured engagement scores since 2000 has seen little if any change. Engagement has been defined a number of ways including employees who consistency give discretionary effort and have a desire to remain employed at their company. Gallup defines engagement as employees who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace. Engagement is directly linked to performance thus profit. Performance and engagement are both results of cultural, technological and physical environments. Performance consultants agree that workplace performance is affected […]

Drama in the workplace costs $350 billion per year in the United States according to Gallup research. Add it up; blaming, backstabbing, bullying and sabotage leading to absenteeism, turnover and negative company reputation. It is all non-productive work time! Workplace drama is not simply a diminishing force on productivity. It’s a lost opportunity to harness inevitable workplace conflict. Well-managed conflict at work results in improved solutions, innovation and enriched co-worker relationships. Managing conflict is a key leadership skill. Understanding the elements of workplace drama is critical to turning a potential drain on productivity into a positive outcome. Charlie Sheppard, author […]