Employee happiness depends on the boss
I’ve long been interested in the relationship between employee job satisfaction and work-related performance ever since I read about the famous Hawthorne studies conducted by Elton Mayo, a Harvard professor and generally regarded as the founder of the [...]
Throw out the Carrots, Burn the Sticks … and Watch Employee Motivation Blossom
I’m often asked how to motivate employees. Indeed it’s a ‘perennial’ question with added urgency for managers wondering how to motivate a ‘Millennial’ generation where old school tactics such as rewards, recognition and fear are no longer producing [...]
Confidence – not perfection – should be the goal
The great debate continues. A controversial OpEd by clinical psychologist Lisa Damour in the New York Times about the fundamentally different approaches girls and boys take to school assignments caught my eye the other day. Lisa’s observation - based on years [...]
Employee wellbeing starts with job control not yoga classes
Many of us have taken up some form of mindfulness or movement practice to help manage our stress and ageing bodies. I love going to yoga a couple of times a week for both the mental benefits that help soothe the week’s stress as well as the physical benefits [...]
Vive le Corporation Libre!
Growing up in Montréal, I vividly remember the storm French President Charles de Gaulle caused when he declared "Vive le Québec libré! during an official visit to Canada during its centenary in 1967. To this day, the debate about sovereignty and control [...]
In God We Trust: All others bring data
I was fortunate enough to see W. Edwards Deming, the father of modern quality management, give a presentation shortly before he passed away in his early 90s. Deming's speech was not overly polished – he spoke ever so slowly – but it was profound. His [...]
Driving Performance Through Quality Performance Conversations
Over the past five years, a revolution in Performance Management has taken place. Companies such as Accenture, Microsoft and PWC have dumped their traditional "backward looking" ratings approach and have adopted or are experimenting with "goal oriented" [...]
The Meeting is Dead: Long Live the Meeting!
A Ted talk here by Jason Fried (the CEO and co-founder of project management firm Basecamp) really got me thinking about this issue. He makes a very convincing case that the best place to work isn't at work due to what he calls the M&M factor –Meetings [...]
Deciding how to Decide
In the face of digital disruption and generational change, deciding how much to involve others in the decisions you need to make as a leader and manager is more relevant now than ever. Advances in technology – particularly AI - mean that many decisions [...]
The 3 E’s of Team Leadership
Recently, I've been thinking about Leadership in the 21st Century Leadership. More specifically, in what ways will leadership change over the next couple of decades due to artificial intelligence? Indications suggest that AI will have a profound effect on [...]