Energize & engage your workplace
When was the last time you learned something new? Being a newbie again, can be a wonderful experience. People who thrive have a sense of learning and vitality, as Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath found. Flow, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi showed, is the state where you are challenged and learn, but though there is a “stretch” you are not challenged beyond …
You probably know the story of three masons chipping chunks of granite from large blocks. When a bypasser asked what they were doing, the first Mason said: “I’m cutting stones”. The second man replied: “I am building a wall.” The third, who was humming a tune as he worked, smiled, “I am building a cathedral!” Job, career, or calling? That …
Do you need more engagement and positive, constructive ideas? A dialogue to tap into the collective intelligence of a large department or organization can be done in a World Cafe, developed by Juanita Brown and others. The World Cafe engages people around a central theme and helps them connect and learn. Like all great things, it’s simple but can be …
Positive cultures lead to productivity and can even stir high performance or “positive deviance”. How could you make that work? People perform best when they feel good about themselves, plus: when they know what they must do and what the criteria are. Clarity Though rather simple, this is explained in The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. …
Today, let’s focus on developing a positive, productive culture from a leading position, so you can involve more others than as an individual positive agent. How could you work with your team or organization? Invite By involving – I mean inviting others. A positive, productive culture is built on intrinsic motivation and its energy. People contribute because they are energized …
Do you need your team or organization to be more innovative, agile, productive, and engaging? Then helping them develop a more positive culture is something to seriously consider. But wait a minute. Wouldn’t that require a huge culture program? Well, maybe not! What if you could start small, and today? Research and practice show that Interaction Interventions influence your team …
If you really want a positive culture and extraordinary meetings, I recommend the Liberating Structures (LS), developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless. LS focus on changing routine habits of interaction and the culture will be influenced organically. LS are “microstructures” that shape your conversations and meetings. They may seem small but have a big impact. Old-fashioned micro-structures The five …
What I’ve learned about improving meetings in my client work aligns with Dan Mezick’s tips to “game your meetings”. Mezick learned this as a Scrum consultant who helped organizations adopt this agile approach to software development. The Scrum methodology aims to create a learning climate that values quick testing and experimenting, inspection and interaction to avoid the expensive, lengthy software …
Let’s take another look at meetings as they are important indicators of organizational culture. We’ve checked why there are meetings. This week, let’s look at what happens in meetings. Meet how? The How: How often are meetings held, and with whom? Is it a standard circus, like the bi-weekly team meeting, scheduled with an iron format? Or are meetings incidentally …
Hey, Valentines. We were talking about meetings on this blog but, this week, we’ll make the workplace kinder. Let’s spread some “Valentines” at work. Random acts of kindness Random acts of kindness are the easiest way to develop a more positive culture at work. You can do them anonymously – and on the go. It fits any culture type. But …
Are you looking forward to meetings? Many people hear a firm No inside. Meetings are often associated with wasting time and practicing patience. In many organizations, they are the opposite of fun, learning, true connection, positive awareness, and shared purpose. Hence, they do not contribute to a positive culture that needs these four ingredients. Game your meetings As Daniel Mezick …
Individually, you can influence people to be more positive. When you do this in a conscious effort with a group, not only can you influence more others but you can also support each other. We all have doubts, or lack courage every now and then. A team can help you persist. Energizers So who are the others that can help …
