Pensights
The Secret Sauce of Leadership: 9 Traits that All Good Leaders Have — Sept 2019
Leadership matters. It’s what separates the good organizations from the bad and the great organizations from the good. Good leadership is critical for optimizing resources, maximizing employee engagement, aligning organizational activities, and achieving and sustaining high performance. In fact, research shows that leadership is the number one driver of superior organizational outcomes. Or, said another way: without good leadership,[...]
PEN Announces New & Modified Baldrige-Based Organizational Assessment Options
St. Paul, September 9, 2019 -- The need to improve your organization’s performance has perhaps never been greater: there are early signs that the economy is tightening; customers expect more; competent workers are scarce; and competition is intensifying in many industries. But -- with the complexity of organizations -- where does one start? How do[...]
The Service Imperative: Why Customer Experience is More Important than Ever — Aug 2019
So my wife and I refinanced our house earlier this summer (as I’m now fond of saying: “I liked our house so much, I purchased it three times!”) – the low rates were just too appealing and the last time we refinanced was 15 years ago, so we dropped the rate by about 2%. At[...]
Thinking Inside the Box: How Organizational Innovation Really Works – July 2019
A Wall Street Journal article from a couple of years ago captured the challenges most organizations face in trying to be innovative. Authors Drew Boyd (a former J&J executive and current professor at University of Cincinnati) and Jacob Goldenberg (a professor at Hebrew and Columbia University and author of “Inside the Box: A Proven of[...]
Why Good Organizations Sometimes Fail – PEN June 2019
I get asked occasionally what is the single biggest reason organizations fail. Of course, there isn’t one right answer: organizations – even from the same sector or industry – have different cultures, different core competencies, different strategic challenges and advantages, different circumstances that contribute to success or failure. As a result, some organizations struggle with[...]
Excellence Begins with the First Step – PEN May 2019
Excellence is a choice. It’s the result of intentional, humble and visionary leadership; systematic evaluation and improvement that leads to meaningful change; and capable, motivated, and fully engaged employees. It doesn’t happen by accident – at least not for long. It requires data-based decisions; true organizational alignment that optimizes resources and harmonizes on mission, strategy,[...]
Learn What Drives Organizational Excellence: Attend “Baldrige 201” & Consider Becoming a Performance Excellence Award Evaluator
Are you interested in learning more about what makes organizations successful -- what helps them achieve and sustain high performance? Are you interested in helping other organizations — such as schools, hospitals, non-profits, and businesses – in the Upper Midwest improve outcomes? Would you be interested in networking, learning, and sharing with others who feel[...]
Performance Excellence Network Recognizes Two Organizations
2018 Performance Excellence Awards Presented at PENworks 2019 Conference ST. PAUL, Minn., May 6, 2019 – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) honors two recipients of the 2018 Performance Excellence Award. The Award is based on the Baldrige Framework and is the culmination of a rigorous evaluation of an organization’s management and performance system. The evaluation[...]
Excellence is About People, Part 2: Achieving Personal & Professional Happiness — PEN April 2019
In case you missed it, last month I shared 14 insights, tips, and best practices that leaders can do to create an environment that ensures workforce engagement, team effectiveness and productivity. This month, as part 2 of the of the blog (the proverbial other side of the coin), I’ll share 14 more strategies that we[...]
Excellence is About People, Part 1: Engaging & Empowering your Team — PEN Mar 2019
Nothing great is ever achieved without people. Think about it: organizations can only achieve with highly effective people running them; communities and nations can only achieve without highly engaged citizens and highly effective leaders setting a course for the future; projects, initiatives, task forces, scientific breakthroughs, inventions, and even sporting achievements are all the result[...]
The Path to Excellence: The Real Value of Baldrige — PEN Feb 2019
In the wake of the last “Great Recession” in the 1980s (though we didn’t call it that back then), America was in economic trouble. The country suffered a two-phase recession in 1980-82 – one that left unemployment high and interest rates even higher (recall credit cards and mortgages well beyond 20%!). The economic challenges were[...]
Everything’s a Process, So Everything Can Be Improved — PEN Jan 2019
[Ok, don't freak out -- this article was written a few years ago! But hopefully it still offers great insights...] I’m on Day 22 in dealing with a concussion. I guess now that it’s been three weeks, it probably isn’t considered minor – the kind that resolves itself in a few hours or days. But[...]
