Our world changed in what seems like just a blink of an eye: when COVID-19 arrived in the United States, it instantaneously changed our social habits, our lifestyles, our economy, and our organizations. Indeed, the impact is being felt by our businesses, our hospitals and senior care facilities, our schools, our nonprofit and governmental agencies. […]
Continue ReadingPEN Announces Partnership to Bring Lean Six Sigma Courses to Members
Minneapolis, Minnesota – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) is pleased to announce a partnership with The Netherlands-based The Lean Six Sigma Company (TLSSC), which will bring TLSSC’s world class online portfolio of Lean Six Sigma training to PEN members in the Upper Midwest. “The need to improve organizational efficiency and productivity has never been greater,” […]
Continue ReadingResilience in a Time of Crisis – March 2020
I’ve been doing some form of this column for nearly 20 years (how can that be?!), but this one was probably the hardest one to write. A few weeks ago, I had an article ready on the topic of creating a winning culture – building an elite team or organization that would be successful in […]
Continue ReadingReaching the Top: Parallels Between Super Bowl & Organizational Champions — February 2020
If you don’t know it, I’m a diehard Chiefs fan. I was born and raised in Kansas City, and I’m a third-generation season ticket holder (yes, while living 400 miles away in Minneapolis). I was at both playoff games in Arrowhead last month (both of which required about three or four days to recover my […]
Continue ReadingCheaters Never Win: The Importance of Professional Ethics — January 2020
Last week, we all learned the extent of cheating by the Houston Astros on their way to the 2017 World Series title. If you haven’t heard, the team apparently used a video camera in center field to steal opposing teams’ signs and then would relay the information to a staff member in the locker room […]
Continue Reading14 New Year’s Resolutions for Professional & Personal Productivity, Health, Happiness – Dec 2019
As 2019 winds down and we turn our sights to 2020 – a new decade already?! – many of us will begin setting personal, professional, and organizational goals. However, research shows that up to 80% of New Year’s resolutions are broken, and that the average date of breaking resolutions is about January 20 (that’s why […]
Continue ReadingChillax: 15 Ways to Reduce (Workplace) Stress – Nov 2019
Quick trivia: from what movie does the line “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” come? No Internet – no cheating! Anyone?? It comes from the 1976 movie, The Network. Winner of four Academy Awards and with an all-star cast, The Network is a satirical film about a struggling […]
Continue Reading2020 Vision: How Strategic Planning Helps Better See the Future – Oct 2019
Strategy requires making choices about the future. But here’s the problem: most humans (and therefore most organizations) are actually fairly bad at predicting the future! (Remember the now infamous prediction by IBM that the worldwide market for PCs was about four?!) Why? Because, well, the future is uncertain! There are numerous variables, each acting on […]
Continue ReadingThe 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, […]
Continue ReadingPEN 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 […]
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