Tag: growth

November 13, 2013 / Articles We Like

Infographic: Generational Differences in America 101

I’ve written a lot about the different generations, and find understanding the root of their differing behavior and corresponding attitudes to be both a fascinating topic and a valuable management tool. As with everything in management, increasing the understanding between team members helps build positive and productive relationships. Also, with this understanding, it is easier to identify and focus on complimentary strengths, and opportunities for growth.

The infographic below is specific to America. It identifies the life shaping events of each generation, how those events lead to specific characteristics, and how to speak to those characteristics as a manager. Learn the language of each generation to increase employee engagement, and help your employees grow and develop. Read more.

About the author:

Anne Loehr is the President of Anne Loehr and Associates, co-founder of Safaris for the Soul, and an Executive Leadership Coach for Mariposa Leadership, Inc. For more good reads, visit Anne Loehr’s personal blog at: www.anneloehr.com/blog/.

November 13th, 2013|Categories: Articles We Like|Tags: Anne Loehr, baby boomers, employee engagement, generation x, generational differences, growth, management, millenials, productive relationships|

July 2, 2013 / Book Reviews

Book Reviews: Employee Engagement 2.0: How to Motivate Your Team for High Performance and Employee Engagement for Everyone: 4 Keys to Happiness and Fulfillment at Work

Head: (4 out of 5)
Heart: (4 out of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 out of 5)

A disengaged workforce can wreak havoc on the best business strategies. Low productivity, decreased customer service, high turnover, low sales and margins are a handful of symptoms a business might experience as a result. The good news is creating engaged teams doesn’t take a lot of time or money, according to author Kevin Kruse, a former Best Place to Work winner, serial entrepreneur and Top 100 Business Thought Leader. Combining research and real-world experience, he explains how to quickly create engaged teams.

Employee Engagement 2.0 is an easy-to-read and practical guide targeted at managers and leaders. The author draws on simple yet timeless principles that form the crux of employee engagement: managers are the key influencers of engagement and communication, growth, recognition and trust are the key engagement drivers. This book outlines the process he used to build and sell several, multimillion dollar technology companies, winning both Inc 500 and Best Place to Work awards along the way.

In this busy leader’s guide, you will learn:

The definition of true employee engagement (not just happy or satisfied)
How engagement directly drives business metrics like sales and profits
A recipe for making anyone feel engaged
How to quantify engagement
7 questions to identify your engagement weakness
How to facilitate a team meeting on engagement
Communication that ensures a rapid, two-way flow of information
How to make your strategic vision “sticky”
How to implement a complete engagement plan in only 8 weeks

While managers are key influencers of engagement, individual employees also assume responsibility for fostering a fully engaged environment. Managers and employees need to work together to build a thriving culture. His new book, Employee Engagement for Everyone is a guide targeted for individual employees, to help them understand what employee engagement is, why it’s important and how a thriving company benefits them personally. The four key engagement drivers – communication, growth, recognition and trust – are reviewed from the perspective of the individual. The book is rich with tips to increase individual employee knowledge and understanding of how to drive engagement on their own in these areas.

The content in these books is actionable, without theories or long-winded language, and includes additional resources for more information. Leaders with business growth strategies will definitely want to read Employee Engagement 2.0, and perhaps give their employees a copy of Employee Engagement for Everyone.

July 2nd, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: effective communication, employee engagement, employee recognition, growth, influence, kevin kruse, strategic vision, Strategy, team motivation, trust|

November 1, 2012 / Articles We Like / Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation / HR / Talent Management / Wise Talk

The Cultivation of Leadership and Design Thinking

Leadership team development is at the forefront of growth and as a business scales, it must do so in a way that is smart and sustainable. In addition to executive coaching to assist organizations with growth, today’s successful leaders need to embrace tools and methods for innovation and problem solving. Design thinking is one of those methods and a proven approach to growth.

In the article, Design thinking and the new language of leadership, *Tim Ogilvie conveys the process of design thinking through a narrative about an executive and his business travel experience.

He identifies three design thinking tools for leadership:

Journey mapping
Visualization
Co-creation

Journey mapping, also known as empathy, is a way to walk in your customer’s shoes, to see the world from their perspective, and is the most fundamental way in which the design process differs from an analytic process. Rather than breaking things down and tweaking the trouble spot, design thinking seeks to build up something new while framing it in a holistic context.

Once you’ve mapped the customer’s journey, leaders become problem-solvers, immediately seeing new possibilities. The problem is: Will the customer see them the same way?

To help solve this, leaders can implement Visualization, also known as ideation — the process of forming and testing ideas in planning, ad-hoc, and research and development activities. Essentially, it’s a tool to create clarity and transparency for collaborative work. This can be done through various methods – gamestorming especially, provides numerous possibilities.

That being said, visualizing a new result is only part of the process. Co-creation, also known as prototyping, is a tool that lets the market tell companies which solution works best. This is the results driven aspect which shows the progress that’s been made. Co-creation is used to engage customers directly in “playing with the future” so we can discover what will truly meet their unarticulated needs.

No mater what the business is, using these design thinking distinctions, leaders can meet the needs of their customers and provide a better product or service before a problem or unmet need becomes common. Leaders who design the growth of their organizations and innovate in such a way will keep themselves on the leading edge of thought. And in the long run, the effort it takes to do research and development using design thinking will in turn save you time and resources.

So, what are you waiting for?

We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

*Tim Ogilvie is CEO of innovation-strategy consultancy Peer Insight and co-author with Jeanne Liedtka of “Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers.” We are very excited to welcome co-author Jeanne Liedtka to join Mariposa CEO Sue Bethanis on this month’s Wise Talk, Thursday, November 29 from 12-1pm PT where they plan to discuss the ability to turn abstract ideas into practical applications for optimal business growth. For more info and to sign up, please visit our website.

November 1st, 2012|Categories: Articles We Like, Design Thinking / Creativity / Innovation, HR / Talent Management, Wise Talk|Tags: business, coaching, design thinking, design thinking model, executive coaching, growth, HR Leadership, Jeanne Liedtka, leadership, Mariposa Leadership, Tim Ogilvie|