Tag: Leadership

Do you know the truth about how your people are feeling right now? We'll fill you in. They're hurting, stressed, and exhausted, but don’t feel safe enough to tell us. It's time to figure out how to connect with your people and we have insights to help.

In this session, we are joined by Dr. Michael Wilson of the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Wilson studies the end-of-life experience of care in the ICU and has augmented his focus in response to the unique needs and circumstances that have been brought to light by COVID-19.

During change people want and need three things: clarity, connection, and conversation and messaging needs to address each of these elements.

As change continues to accelerate, business agility becomes an organizational imperative. Pivoting quickly is an imperative for organizations to survive.

When smart and agile leaders lead with vulnerability and heart, they change our relationship with work forever. If the current crisis leads us to a more engaged workforce, that would constitute one positive outcome.

Organizations need to implement changes to navigate tremendous challenges. Communicating effectively has never been more critical than it is right now.

If your people don’t trust your leadership, then navigating a crisis and delivering future success become nearly impossible.

Jim Haudan speaks with Dr. Rick Lofgren, president and CEO of UC Health, and Charlie Piscitello, chief people officer at Acutus Medical, Inc. to get their thoughts as how leaders can best lead during challenging times.

During large-scale change, being nimble is key. You must be know your Why, but be prepared to adjust your what and how as new challenges arise. Let your purpose, your why, guide you and your people to achieve long-term success in the end.

Engagement surveys have a place and time.This is not it. But it's still critical to know what people are thinking,to guide organizational shifts.

The only way to catalyze and accelerate results is through your people. You need to move fast right now. But you can’t skip steps.

Insights on how to think about challenges at the intersection of strategy and operations.Specifically, how to make the complicated a little more simple.

Recently, Root Inc. co-founder Jim Haudan met via video conference with Jim Boomgard, president and chief executive officer of DAI: International Development, and Joe Morgan, seasoned CEO, advisor and strategist, to get their insights on leadership during the Covid-19 crisis.

Our health industry expert and managing director, Kalen Stanton, and Vanderbilt Health leaders Dr. Paul Sternberg, Chief Medical Officer and Brian Carlson, Senior Director of Patient Experience, share insight on how to inspire and engage clinical teams to deliver personalized patient care.

To maintain a positive culture that drives results, leaders need to constantly nurture it. Throw in a global pandemic and the need becomes exponentially greater precisely when we are most distracted. But positive culture in this environment is not optional – it’s necessary! Here are three strategies you can implement immediately.

Changing our behaviors to flatten the curve is a major societal change, but we go through the same phases when faced with change in our work. When your team is facing change – big or small – there are four elements to creating lasting change to consider and plan for.

In this episode, we’re tackling the very current topic of leading during a crisis. We want to share insight on what health care leaders – and leaders in all industries – should be doing to help guide their people during this unprecedented and very worrisome time.

There has been a lot of great content put out about how to lead and engage your people and your organization in times like these. However, I haven’t come across much that is targeted at the individual. Yes, leaders need guidance, but as an individual I want advice on how best to navigate these difficult waters too.

My mindset can’t be that of a marathon runner or a sprinter during these uncertain times. Instead, I think we should embrace an interval training mentality.

The big differentiator is how leaders empathize, engage, motivate, and capitalize on their talents and knowledge in the face of adversity.

The coronavirus has forced many to cancel meetings, conferences, and gatherings that were previously considered essential. Don't go dark, go virtual! Here are our top tips for driving virtual engagement that works.

Today I'm discussing change & consistent CX. Today you need to either keep pace with change or risk failure. And when it coems to CX, organizations need to be consistent because the experiences created for customers are the pathway to success or failure.

While welcoming adversity might feel counterintuitive and against how most human brains are wired, the benefits are huge. So the next time you’re facing what you would normally consider an undesirable and unexpected problem, try hugging that thunderstorm of adversity. Odds are, you’re about to see your personal growth skyrocket.

Leaders need to tell stories because facts tell, and stories sell. Stories create connections. I feel like everyone does have a good story to tell; they just always don't know how to organize their facts in a compelling way.

Is employee engagement a buzzword? What leaders can do to foster an engaged workforce.

We asked members of the workforce to name their organization’s top priority for 2020. Are you helping your people connect the dots of your strategy ?

Each day, I work alongside a team of people who are equally passionate about proving that change is possible.

Not long ago, several of us at Root got a chance to work with a Division I college football team to help reestablish a high-performance culture and team.

Creating change mindsets during financial downturns requires doubling down on engaging your people in your strategic priorities to maintain focus.

What kind of a decision-maker are you? Whether individual contributors, managers, or executive leaders, the decision-making process is very important.

Decision-making within an organization can be a sticky subject. Emotion and opinion are at play, which can cloud facts and impede forward motion to the end result. Here are some tips to help you achieve collaborative decision-making.

Organizational change is unavoidable. Here are four tips to keep operations running smoothly amid change.

Our latest In Light of Change podcast features change leaders Dr. Alison Tothy and Eric Passon discussing the power of marrying data with storytelling.

People have longed for connection at all times. If you do this for the people you work with and for clients, they will be become your greatest cheerleaders

Change requires commitment, focus and a process that gives every single person in the company a connection to the strategy.

Want to inspire strategy success? Well it's a lot like setting the table for Thanksgiving. It's all about the whole experience, and not just the turkey.

A study revealed seven areas where leaders can make changes in the workplace that would have a significant impact on the organization

Check out this short 10-minute webinar from Root CEO, Jim Haudan, who shares some details on these four areas where leaders can help build trust.

Research shows that HR managers may not know what their employees are thinking as much as they think.

40% of employees don’t understand their company’s purpose. If you don’t know what your company stands for how can you derive the pride of purpose.

Connecting purpose and meaning at the various levels of the business is something that organizations don’t always do and it has detrimental effects.

Paradox is important because new strategies get stuck in translation around a major paradox causing polarization instead of creating a platform for change

The voice of fear and limitation can easily change your growth mindset from being intensely focused on being better, to being consumed with being bitter.

Making an employee’s first months and year as successful as possible begins before they even show up for Day 1 and goes far beyond paperwork.

If the strategy isn't clear and the executive team and board of directors weren't aligned on the it, they would never be able to bring the strategy to life.

At a time where creativity and strategic innovation is falling short and change is a way of life, people are not showing up at work engaged in what they do.

In my previous blog, I talked about the seven fears that keep people from telling the truth in organizations and the impact on business performance. Today, I want to tackle how organizations can create safe havens for change. The key ingredients to creating a safe haven for truth telling are relevance, humor, vulnerability, and co-accountability … Continue reading “The Bold Side of Vulnerability in Creating Fearless Engagement – Part 2”

Realism and truth telling are at the heart of authentic engagement and change. The challenge is that rarely have we seen organizations of any type, profit or non-profit, where people tell each other the truth. And the higher you go in an organization, the worse it gets. As a matter a fact, when we ask … Continue reading “The Bold Side of Vulnerability in Creating Fearless Engagement – Part 1”

There are few things in business more important than having the right people in your company and ensuring that those people are set up for success – not just for individual success, but to help your company achieve its strategic goals. All too often, we hire new people with great excitement and anticipation only to … Continue reading “I really like him! Let’s hire him!”

An effective conversational leader needs to build a framework and define a clear purpose for the conversation so people understand the intention behind it.

Without effective dialogue, achieving real results can be challenging. But how do you ensure the dialogue in your organization is genuine and meaningful?

Leaders commonly when the business isn’t performing - “we must have the wrong people or management team in place” – and they initiate a structure change.

Woody Allen was right. It’s unfortunate how often I’m disappointed when I try a new service provider (restaurant, other retailer, hotel, etc.). In some cases, I continue to be disappointed with the vendor, but I stay because it’s too much effort to switch (phone or cable company). My disappointment is the result of the vendors’ … Continue reading “90% of Life Is Just Showing Up”

Visualization is probably one of the strongest assets any organization has in its arsenal and is a major competitive differentiator

Think about companies where employees are engaged. Southwest Airlines or Zappos? It’s a totally different customer experience.

Most people in their professional careers aspire to be managers. But when that day finally comes, most people are woefully unprepared for the myriad activities that we must be responsible for – including the well-being and development of the team members we are managing. Learning to be a good coach is one of the biggest … Continue reading “Lots to Do When You’re a Manager – Make Your Life Easier”

I think great performers and CEOs often have an uncanny ability to refine special skills of extraordinary anticipation and exceptional peripheral vision. A great illustrative point of that concept is hockey great Wayne Gretzy’s famous quote: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going … Continue reading “Decisions without Commitment – a Recipe for Strategic Failure”

If you want to make sure your front-line employees are getting what they need, make sure you are focusing on training your managers.

Last week, I talked about the challenge of senior leaders in building “collective intelligence” by owning the whole before their individual piece. When senior leaders are working too much on their individual agenda, they are often not spending enough time owning the whole — they’re not focused enough on the big picture of where the … Continue reading “Owning the Whole Before Your Piece – Part 2”

Despite different organizations and different industries, despite different backgrounds and different tenure, I can always find one common thread in any group of managers. Of the hundreds of managers I’ve had the opportunity to coach this past year, all of them would give anything to have more time. It’s easy to agree that certain skills … Continue reading “A Manager’s Greatest Plight – The Relentless Pursuit of More Time”

A people strategy is going to have a greater impact than a mere product launch. Learn why investing in your people is as important as a product launch.

Design is essentially a rational, logical, sequential process intended to solve problems or initiate change in man-made things

Organizations that nurture leadership tirelessly take advantage of learning cycles for people to grow and internalize key contributions.

Few opportunities for building trust are as profound as a leader’s role in creating a “safe haven” for difficult conversations, decisions, and strategy execution – an environment where people feel it is safe to say what they really think and what they think is best for their organization.  Members of a team often define a … Continue reading “A Leader’s Role in Creating a Safe Haven”

Engaging the entire company in the strategic change enables people to understand how they fit and how they can best enact the change that is needed.

There is a lot of advice out there for leaders – books, presentations, and blogs (ironic, I realize). In many cases that advice is meted out based on specific circumstances, such as going through a merger, entering a new market, or facing unprecedented economic challenges. That doesn’t even guarantee the advice will work for your … Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be a Leader? Cutting to the Chase”

One of my favorite quotes from Anne Frank is: “No one ever became poor from giving.” I find it so simple, true, and inspirational. And yet, I’ve also found that people rarely give just to give and even those with tremendous resources don’t pull out the checkbook to give to anything and everything. Quite the … Continue reading “Giving Is Personal”

No matter how great your strategy, it can come to a grinding halt if your managers can’t interpret and translate that strategy

Working together as a team means engaging individuals in how their efforts impact their team’s success and how that success contributes to the company's success

There is no silver bullet for simultaneously establishing a compelling vision and engendering employee engagement for execution

The question became, “How can we balance the need for leaders to establish their vision while gaining commitment from more employees?”

There's a fundamental flaw in the traditional mindset of corporate training - “getting people to training” and a “learning process”

Link people who test, build, manufacture, pilot, serve, and transport the products and services to how it impacts the people using them.

A meaningful journey has challenge, risks, excitement, suspense, unexpected events, unknowns and a purpose that makes it all worthwhile

Any investment in helping managers be better employee coaches can have a lasting and significant impact on the success of your business.

All organizations have business processes, and today’s organizations are constantly trying to transform – from manufacturing to brand-led, from domestic to global. But if you ask organizations for the process that guides the way they manage the organization through change, you may get a blank stare. Strategic change is a process, but it’s often managed … Continue reading “How Successful Strategies Win: Strategic Change as an Interdependent Process”

Adventures take shape in many forms.  And from adventures there are usually lessons to be learned.  I recently took part in a program offered by the National Outdoor Leadership School, which takes people of all ages on remote wilderness expeditions, teaching technical outdoor skills, leadership, and environmental ethics in some of the world’s wildest and … Continue reading “Survivor: Patagonia”

I was speaking at Owens-Corning the other day about the reason for strategies.  Companies create strategies so they can continue to grow.  And to grow companies and the people in them, there are six components: Embrace Reality. In more than 20 years in business consulting, we’ve learned that change and growth can occur naturally if … Continue reading “Six Ways to Lead Change, Build Teams, and Make It Personal”