As 2016 winds down and we turn our sights to 2017, many of us will begin setting personal, professional, and organizational goals. But 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 the gym is so crowded the […]
Continue ReadingWhen Great Leaders Become Good
No, this isn’t an article about the recent presidential election, though I suppose it could – maybe should – be interpreted through that lens. It’s about the difference between good leaders and great leaders – and the imperative for us all to strive to be both. I read two great articles on leadership recently, […]
Continue ReadingStressed Spelled Backwards is Desserts: How to Reduce (Workplace) Stress
Things are a little tense these days. We’re in the final stretch of what many experts are calling the most stressful, polarizing Presidential elections in generations, filled with talk of building walls, deporting immigrants, and hiding emails. And though calmer now, this summer many American cities (the Twin Cities included) endured countless nights of civil […]
Continue ReadingThinking Inside the Box: How Organizational Innovation Really Works
A recent Wall Street Journal article 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 Creativity for Breakthrough Results”) reveal […]
Continue ReadingIf You Don’t Take Care of Your Customers, Someone Else Will
According to the Research Institute of America and CX Solutions (formerly TARP), 90% of dissatisfied customers will not come back or buy again. 90%. And yet we see service breakdowns in every type of organization pretty much every day. Think of the last time YOU received poor service – from a utility or cable company […]
Continue ReadingChillax: 13 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress
Quick trivia: from what movie does the line “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” come? 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 fictional TV network. The movie climaxes […]
Continue ReadingSeeing around Corners: The Power of Big Data & Predictive Analytics
Does the name “Nate Silver” ring a bell? It should: he is the statistician who correctly predicted the winner in all 50 states and DC for the 2012 presidential election (and something like the last nine consecutive presidential elections before that, dating back to Reagan). He’s also developed a powerful system for predicting the performance […]
Continue ReadingLearn What Drives Organizational Excellence: Become a 2016 Performance Excellence Award Evaluator
Are you interested in learning more about what makes organizations successful? 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 the same way? The Performance Excellence Network is […]
Continue ReadingThe Secret Sauce of Leadership: 9 Traits that All Good Leaders Have
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 […]
Continue ReadingExcellence Decoded: Insights from PENworks 2016
Last week, the Performance Excellence Network hosted our annual (sold out!) PENworks 2016 conference. The event featured 31 local, regional, and national speakers, each sharing best practices and insights to improve organizational performance and personal and leadership effectiveness. Some speakers were from large, complex organizations (Cargill, State of MN); some were from small nonprofits […]
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