Organizations are built on processes (or at least should be) – they are a system of interconnected tasks, activities, and routines that guide employees (or technology) through decisions and procedures that produce products, services, or programs that are of value to customers or stakeholders. Simply put, organizations are a set of methods to get valuable […]
Continue ReadingA Season for Reflection: Gratitude, Generosity, Goodness – Nov 2020
So this month’s column was to be about gratitude, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. And it still is. But an article on gratitude seemed somewhat cliché, overly simplified, and quite honestly, a bit insensitive given the circumstances. The pandemic continues to rage – accelerate, to be more accurate. I know many of you reading this […]
Continue ReadingWhat Excellence Looks Like in Today’s World: Insights from PENworks 2020 – Oct 2020
Winning is relative. The Dodgers just won the World Series: they didn’t need to be better than then 1906 Cubs (which had a .763 winning percentage, the best of all time), but just better than the Tampa Bay Rays in a seven-game series. What defines success is based on circumstances: what’s considered achieving excellence in […]
Continue ReadingAmerica’s New Normal: How Stress is Impacting Us (and What We All Can Do About It) – Sept 2020
I recently came across an old Dilbert cartoon that goes like this: The big boss says “How many employees did you say took paid medical leave,” to which Catbert (the evil director of human resources) responds “All of them.” Catbert goes on to say: “a typo on our wellness website listed stress as an illness […]
Continue ReadingPerformance Excellence Network Recognizes Six Organizations
2019 Performance Excellence Awards Presented at PENworks 2020 Online Conference ST. PAUL, Minn., September 24, 2020 – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) honors six recipients of the 2019 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 […]
Continue ReadingCreating a Winning Culture, Even in Tough Times: Insights from PJ Fleck – Aug 2020
There are many articles and books written on the parallels between success in sports and success in business (including an article I wrote back in February on my Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl!). And I imagine there will be many more articles and books written about how both sports and business had to […]
Continue ReadingLeading Forward: Nine Emerging Trends in a Post-Pandemic World – July 2020
There have been many articles, blogs, and whitepapers written the last four months on navigating the current crisis (my March, April and May articles among them). By no means are we finished with the current crisis; in fact, unfortunately, we may have to survive many more months of health-related, economic-related, and social-related challenges. But I’ve […]
Continue ReadingThe Equity Imperative: Moving from Words to Action – June 2020
In the wake of the George Floyd killing and on the heels of a reflective Juneteenth, leaders across the country are increasingly asking themselves what they can do to inspire and indeed ensure more diversity, inclusion, and true racial equity within their organizations and their communities. The imperative is clear: racial inequity sub-optimizes organizational performance […]
Continue ReadingThe Power of the Pivot: Organizational Agility is Key to Survival – May 2020
PGC, a Minneapolis-based 25-year old OEM that produces gaskets, sealings, protection, and stabilizing solutions found itself in a challenging situation. As COVID-19 started to impact the market for its products, its CEO made decision to begin manufacturing parts for face shields. “[We needed] to keep an eye on our legacy business, while listening [and responding] […]
Continue ReadingLeading through Crisis – April 2020
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. […]
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