Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Communication is Key in Times of Change
We are often asked to assist organizations through the process of implementing significant change. A common reaction to change is some serious resistance which is met with impatience and irritability on the part of the leadership. Yet, we find that sometimes the “why” behind the change is not explained well leading to greater frustration and […]
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33% of change initiatives fail… Do you know what it takes to lead in times of change?
Research by John Kotter in 1996 found that only one in three change programs succeed. Since then, many other researchers have confirmed this statistic. The reasons for failed change are many. People are naturally inclined to defend the status quo, employees don’t understand what is in it for them, change is managed haphazardly, and perhaps […]
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Executive Engagement
One of the critical drivers of organizational transformation is the involvement of executive leaders in the transformation process. We recently surveyed with an international company and the results indicated a significant distrust in senior leadership were at the root of disengagement. Rather than rely upon external resources or Human Resources to uncover the source of […]
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Are you feeding into leadership dysfunction?
The pressures of leadership are many – having responsibility for the success of the organization, and perhaps more importantly, the lives of the employees, customers and communities leaders serve can be a heavy burden. And at the same time, leaders are challenged to manage their own careers and reputations. While most leaders have good intentions, […]
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Demystifying Survey Statistics
The role of HR is changing in many ways. One major shift is the use of HR analytics for data-driven decision making. After working with HR for many years, I have lost count of the number of clients who have expressed their lack of affection for statistics (and that’s putting it mildly!). But numbers do […]
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The Big Data Boom: Helping Leaders Accomplish Strategic Priorities
According to a Big Data @ Work study of 1,144 organizations in over 90 countries, conducted by the University of Oxford School of business in conjunction with IBM, “The most effective big data solutions identify business requirements first, and then tailor the infrastructure, data sources and analytics to support the business.” This has been our […]
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Business Analytics are all the Rage: Should HR Care?
There has been a lot of buzz lately about business analytics, predictive analytics, and big data. Organizations are using such methods to predict behaviors of customers, understand marketing and sales strategies, and inform strategic decisions. However, a study byTDWI (found here) indicates that of all business functions, HR is the least likely to use these […]
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The Peter Principle: 5 signs you are a “Peter”
Our research continuously shows that organizations are better at achieving results than valuing people. If most people will tell you that valuing people is critical to accomplishing results, why is it that so many organizations are unbalanced? One answer can be found in the age-old Peter Principle (Peter & Raymond, 1969. The Peter Principle: Why […]
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Can Leaders Give Employees Meaning at Work? 3 key ways leaders can make a difference…
It’s no secret that Millennials are having a major impact on how organizations attract talent, structure work, and retain top employees. One of the most commonly mentioned characteristics of Millennials is that they seek meaning in their work. And I don’t disagree; in fact, meaning and purpose are important for any employee. Take the example […]
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What is Strategic Engagement?
Strategy without an engaged workforce has no momentum. Engagement without strategy has momentum with nowhere to go. Most organizations have come to recognize the value of employee engagement. Engaged employees are more loyal and productive. However, not all engagement is created equal. The energy of engaged employees must be focused in a way that creates […]
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