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 […]
Continue ReadingExcellence 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 […]
Continue ReadingExcellence 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 […]
Continue ReadingThe 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 […]
Continue ReadingEverything’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 […]
Continue ReadingOverwork, Underperform: Why More Hours Leads to Less Productivity — PEN Dec 2018
People are overworked. Maybe it’s because we reset after the last recession and are all asked to do more with less. Maybe it’s because 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring EVERY Day, forcing all of us to do more with less. Maybe it’s because wages really haven’t kept up with inflation the last 30-40 years, forcing […]
Continue ReadingThe Power of Professional Gratitude — PEN Nov 2018
The year was 1623. About half of the Plymouth colony died that year. And while the community was about ready to head into another difficult winter, recent fall rains ended what was a challenging and persistent drought. So Governor William Bradford called a gathering – a three-hour “staff meeting” of sorts. The main purpose of […]
Continue ReadingKeeping Score: Best Practices in Organizational Measurement — PEN Oct 2018
If you don’t know it, I’m a diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan. Third generation season ticket holder (yes, while living 400 miles away in Minneapolis). And if you’re not into football – or just not fully aware of what’s going on in the NFL this season – the Chiefs are in the middle of what […]
Continue ReadingAdapt or Die: Most Corporate Failures are Self-Inflicted — PEN Sept 2018
What do the American mastodon, Woolly mammoth, and Arizona jaguar all have in common? Here’s a hint: they all suffered similar fates to Hostess Brands, Circuit City, and Blockbuster. Yes, they all went away. Extinction. Vanished. Disappeared. But I think the companies could all take a lesson from the animals that died before them: organizations […]
Continue ReadingThe Key to Disney’s World Class Service: Part Art, Part Science, and Part Magic — PEN August 2018
As the story goes, a guest at Disney World once asked “what time is the 3 o’clock parade?” That’s a peculiar question, mainly because it normally would lead to an obvious answer. But Disney Cast Members (their word for employees) are trained to probe beyond the obvious so that they can provide an extraordinary Guest […]
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