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Change: How to Lead it, Manage it, and Do it - Vol. 1
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."--Alvin Toffler Remember the Impressions song “People, Get Ready, There’s a Train A-Comin”? Lately, I’ve been singing it “People, Get Ready, There’s a Change A-Comin!” It seems that everywhere we turn, there’s one change right after another. I think most folks are convinced…
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Is Tony Hsieh Hurting Zappos' Company Culture with Holacracy?
For the past couple of years one of the hottest names in leadership has been Tony Hsieh. He is the CEO of Zappos, a pioneer in online shoe sales and distribution. For the past decade they have been a staple of the Best Places to Work list, generally ranking in the top 10. A few years ago, Hsieh implemented an organizational philosophy known as ‘holacracy’ and many have watched (myself included) with…
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Soft Skill #1: Empathy
Soft Skills: Empathy – Foundational in a Diverse Workplace In our 8th grade English class we read Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. In summary, TKAM explores issues of race, violence and assault, prejudice (personal as well as legal), and the power of culture through the eyes of Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch, a 6 year old girl in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout's father, Atticus Finch,…
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Skillsets and the 21st Century Workplace
Skillsets and the 21st Century Workplace ‘Skills’ is a word that is used widely in our society – ‘they’ve got skills that pay the bills’ goes one of our idioms. The concept of skill plays an important role in sports, politics, business, hobbies, and just about everything we do as people. Webster’s gives us this: a skill is ‘the ability to do something that comes from training, practice, or experience.’…
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#6 - 16 Tips for Proper B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S-P-R-O-T-O-C-O-L
We are excited to bring you the 6th and final installment in our 'Business Protocol' series! This series was meant to give you a broad introduction to business etiquette with helpful tips and reminders. We hope it has been useful and informative. Our review this week will be found in a complete summary at the end of the article, so let's jump right into our conclusion: O - Organizational chain of…
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Assessments: Types, Uses, and Importance -- A Series
Assessment #1: The DISC Indicator It's no secret that here at PG&A we value assessments. They are a highly effective way of gathering data about what is going on within an organization, cost effective, and can help you locate problem areas or individuals before they become overwhelming, as well as aiding in hiring, team building, discipline, executive coaching, and generally 'getting people in the…
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#5 - 16 Tips for Proper B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S P-R-O-T-O-C-O-L
We apologize for the delay here on our blog, but we are always pleased to be busy! Here is the 5th entry in our 'Business Protocol' series. We will be concluding this series in the near future and I will be moving on to a new topic, so visit our blog for the final installment! First, here's our customary review: B- Be on time. U- Use the 'relate to' model to help remember names and titles. S-…
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Understanding Progressive Discipline
Understanding Progressive Discipline Last week we talked some about termination and the proper process for letting an employee go. In that post, I mentioned the term 'progressive discipline', which is an important term for us in HR and one that deserves some consideration. We're going to take a '30,000 foot' view here -- we have an entire training session set up on this topic and having a robust…
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Breaking up is Hard to Do - Tips for Termination
Breaking Up is Hard to Do – Tips for Termination Most folks have experienced the difficulty of breaking off a relationship. It can be an emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing experience. Though we often don't think about it in a work context, ending relationships in a work environment can be very difficult, both for individuals as well as the culture of your organization. Like in the non-work…
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How to Maximize Employee Engagement
Anyone else have a complicated life? Though I'm still a young man, the amount of stressors and 'things-to-do' is constantly a pressure. My wife and son, work, master's classes, church, chores at home, time to study, reflect and write blogs (!) all compete for my time, and my guess is all of you experience this very thing as well. Our employees are no different, and though we all spend much of our…
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Wisdom From The Colonel
Throughout the history of the United States, few personalities have been as large and captivating as Theodore Roosevelt. Born to a wealthy and prominent family, Roosevelt lived a wild and eventful life that included both incredible power and influence as well as loneliness and isolation. He wore numerous hats: State Assemblyman, cowboy, hunter, author, historian, governor, Secretary of the Navy, Vice-President,…
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#4 - 16 Tips for Proper B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S P-R-O-T-O-C-O-L
This week we're bringing you the 4th installment in our 'Business Protocol' series. After this week, there will only be two more blog posts left until we finish this series, so be sure to check back in as we wrap up! As we normally do, let's start with some review of what we've already covered: B- Be on time. U- Use the 'relate to' model to help remember names and titles. S- Stay an arms length…
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What We Can Learn From Sled Dogs - Leadership Lessons from the Iditarod
Over the past week, about 80 Alaskans have been competing in the annual Iditarod race. For those uninitiated among us, the Iditarod is a grueling, one-thousand mile race across the frozen tundra of Alaska's western frontier, starting in Willow (about 80 miles north of Anchorage) and ending in the west coast town of Nome. It is by far the most popular sporting event in Alaska and has been growing in…
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Thinking About Adaptive Leadership -- Part 3
Thinking About Adaptive Leadership – Part 3 This week wraps up our discussion of Adaptive Leadership – make sure to take a look at my last 2 posts for a more complete summary! In summary, we've sketched out some of the most important elements of adaptive leadership, including differentiation between technical and adaptive problems, differences between leadership and authority, the importance of disequilibrium,…
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#3 - 16 Tips for Proper B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S P-R-O-T-O-C-O-L
We're back with the 3rd installment of our 'Business Protocol' article! Thanks for stopping by! Here's a quick glance at the previous 2 weeks: B- Be on time. U- Use the 'relate to' model to help remember names and titles. S- Stay an arms length away. I- Importance of organizational culture. N- Never be intoxicated! Now, onto our new material! E - Everyone should understand the importance of…