Employee Engagement: The Heart of Business Success – Les Landes

Few challenges drive managers crazier than the constant battle to get their teams aligned to produce consistently strong results. Steve Lawler of the Lawler Group draws on his unique experience as a team-building consultant and Episcopal priest to provide a roadmap with practical tools and concrete examples of how to get team members working on the same page and pulling … Read more about this episode...

It just isn’t the “right fit.” How often do we hear that excuse when an organization has an employee problem that leads to poor performance – and often letting people go? Knowing how to make that right fit and maintain it over time is one of the biggest challenges facing HR management today. Jeff Pattison, Director of Employee Support … Read more about this episode...

The sense of urgency and frustration in the search to find a truly successful employee engagement formula is accelerating daily. Engagement expert, Bill Burnett, thinks many organizations are losing their way, in part, because they’re asking the wrong question – “What can we do to fully engage our employees?” Burnett says employees are already there, and instead companies should … Read more about this episode...

It’s one thing to realize that engaged employees are a vital key to business success. It’s quite another to know how to get there. The employee engagement field is covered with people who have varying opinions on what it takes to tap into the full potential of the workforce. Dr. Hazen Witemeyer offers revealing insights on critical drivers and indicators … Read more about this episode...

What’s the one critical factor in getting employees tuned in and turned on to go the extra mile? According to employee engagement expert David Zinger it’s – helping people feel truly connected … with one another, with the customer, with the organization as a whole and everyone associated with it. In this program, you will hear how David helps organization … Read more about this episode...

Companies everywhere are scrambling to figure out how respond to a seismic shift taking place away from traditional organizational structures and decision-making authority. Hear Anna McGrath, principal and founder of WonderWorks Consulting, talk about how “holacracy” is providing a “positively disruptive” framework that allows all employees to take greater initiative and participate in decision-making with a single set of rules … Read more about this episode...

Tom Watson, founder of IBM, once said, “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.” Think about the message that kind of comment sends to employees. “It’s not only okay to fail, that’s how we succeed. We not only tolerate honest mistakes, that’s what we expect.” Hear internationally renowned expert, Cindy Solomon, talk about … Read more about this episode...

Employee engagement surveys come in all shapes and sizes, and they are definitely not all created equal. Creating an effective survey that produces meaningful, actionable data is a true science. According to Bob Hardy from Opinions Incorporated, it begins with a rigorous process to ensure that you are crystal clear about what you want to GET from it – … Read more about this episode...

Most companies are discovering that employee recognition is more than a nice thing to do – it’s just good business. Still, much of the recognition that takes place is more about one-off programs and activities rather than a routine “habit.” Drawing from his new book, “Recognize THEM: 52 Ways to Recognize Your Employees in Ways They Value,” consultant and author… Read more about this episode...

The quest to crack the code to employee engagement and unleash the power of people in the workplace has led organizations down countless paths – most of which have futile and frustrating. Part of the problem according to employee engagement expert, Les Landes of Landes & Associates, is the tendency to search out and implement “best practices” from other … Read more about this episode...

Strategy is not just for leaders anymore. Changing times have brought changing attitudes and expectations among employees. They want to know more about what’s going on in the company and in the marketplace. What’s more, they want to know how strategy affects them and what they can do it about it. In short, they want to be in on the … Read more about this episode...

It’s one thing to think positive in a challenging business environment. The task gets a lot bigger when it comes to being a leader who sets an example for the power of positive thinking day by day. Dr. Kathy Cramer of The Cramer Institute offers important insights and valuable tips on how to be a force for potential and possibilities … Read more about this episode...

Getting employees aligned and engaged requires an approach to communication that creates “shared meaning” from a dialogue that puts as much emphasis on story-listening as story-telling. Hear Sheri Rosen, VP of Communication for Frost, a banking and financial services company, talk about employee communication strategies and tactics that have helped them garner recognition as one of J.D. Power’s Top … Read more about this episode...

A lot of people think about communication as merely crafting and distributing messages – usually to inform, educate, entertain or influence an “audience.” But the traditional “show and tell and sell” method of communication is giving way to more of an interactive conversation model in organizations that want to achieve a high level of employee engagement. In this program, Linda … Read more about this episode...

Few companies have been able to create the kind of employee engagement culture that produces world-class leadership and business success like Southwest Airlines. In this interview, Ginger Hardage, Senior Vice President of Culture and Communications, reveals the philosophy, tools and techniques – as well as the business impact – of the engagement efforts that have made Southwest the envy of … Read more about this episode...

Too often employee engagement efforts get caught in a type of program trap where the organization is checking off activity boxes instead of getting to the heart of what gets people tuned in and turned on. Hear veteran HR expert, John Baldino, share helpful insights on how to reach people where it matters – and how to get management on … Read more about this episode...

Organizations say they are open and eager for employees to help make improvements in the companies where they work. But most traditional suggestion programs have been pretty dismal failures. Mike Simms of Simms Consulting has a better way. Drawing on his personal experience as a General Manager for a Baldrige Award winning company, Wainwright Industries, Simms offers provocative ideas on … Read more about this episode...

The typical workplace can be deadly serious – which doesn’t help much to foster a high-level of employee engagement. Steve Hughes has a very special niche in the consulting world – he’s an expert on how to use humor for serious impact in a business setting. In this entertaining interview, you’ll learn some of Steve’s tips and techniques that you … Read more about this episode...

Management thinking about the role of employees in the workplace has evolved a great deal since the first assembly lines were implemented more than 100 years ago. However, a lot of managers still today operate like they would prefer to have employees deposit their hearts and the brains at the door when they come into work and pick them again … Read more about this episode...

In the end, the most important thing that any organization needs in order to stay in business and be successful is to build trust with the people who matter most – inside and out. Trust-building spans every aspect of an organization’s operation, especially when it comes to managing a crisis situation. In this engaging interview, communication guru and crisis management … Read more about this episode...

The sense of urgency and frustration in the search to find a truly successful employee engagement formula is accelerating daily. Engagement expert, Bill Burnett, thinks many organizations are losing their way, in part, because they’re asking the wrong question – “What can we do to fully engage our employees?” Burnett says employees are already there, and instead companies should … Read more about this episode...

Being vulnerable doesn’t sound like one of the top qualities you would look for in an effective leader. But according to Roberta Moore, former corporate financial executive turned marriage and family counselor and executive coach, leadership vulnerability can be a powerful force when it comes to building trust and promoting employee engagement. In this thought-provoking interview, you’ll hear how … Read more about this episode...

Few challenges drive managers crazier than the constant battle to get their teams aligned to produce consistently strong results. Steve Lawler of the Lawler Group draws on his unique experience as a team-building consultant and Episcopal priest to provide a roadmap with practical tools and concrete examples of how to get team members working on the same page and pulling … Read more about this episode...

If you look at just about any employee survey, you will find that communication is typically one of the top three problem areas that always crop up. That discontent exists partly because the framework that organizations use for managing communication is based on a flawed notion of the communication process, and it’s not grounded in reality. Organizational communication expert, Les … Read more about this episode...

Most organizations use the issues management process as a tool to help them manage their reputation with the outside world. Dr. Stephen Kasser decided if a well designed IM process works with external stakeholders, it could work for employee communication, too. Not only did it work, but he discovered that more people were able to process more information more quickly … Read more about this episode...

Face-to-face may seem like a quaint old-fashioned afterthought in this tech-driven communication age. But world renowned communication guru, Roger D’Aprix with ROI Communication, says it is still the cornerstone of effective employee engagement. Discover Roger’s effective step-by-step process for making sure that the personal interaction between managers and the people who report to them produces the kind of engaged employees … Read more about this episode...

When most people talk about employee engagement, they’re typically coming from a company-wide perspective. Their focus tends to be on developing systems, processes and policies that are designed to get all employees aligned, tuned in, turned on and eager to go the extra mile. While that’s important, it’s only half the equation according to Jacob Schneid from Momentum, who says … Read more about this episode...

Everyone knows that employee engagement is a good thing – especially leaders – right? According to communication guru and change management expert, Barry Mike, it often takes a thoughtful and systematic approach to reach most leaders with what others in the organization consider obvious. The key is to apply some of the same principles you would use in making … Read more about this episode...

You’ve probably heard the business adage that what get’s measured is what gets done. That principle applies to organizational communication as much as anything else. By any measure, effective communication is one of the most vital keys to business success – and one of the biggest sources of employee complaints. According to communication measurement guru, Angela Sinickas, if it … Read more about this episode...

When people communicate with one another in the workplace, they have about a 33% of getting it right. According to leadership and workplace communication expert, Skip Weisman, most people do one of three things. They either say something that instantly destroy relationships … or they send signals that something else is more important … or they lift people up … Read more about this episode...

What can we learn about employee engagement from what it takes to maintain strong family relationships? Plenty, according to Roberta Moore, former corporate financial executive turned marriage and family counselor and executive coach. In this fascinating interview, you’ll hear about the striking parallels between fostering healthy relationships in the workplace and the “homeplace.” You’ll learn how to apply important … Read more about this episode...

When the practice of “open book management” (OBM) was introduced by Springfield Remanufacturing Company (SRC) in the mid-1980s, it started a revolution that continues to this day. It’s been described as “lightning in a bottle” by one business writer, and it has transformed thousands of companies from struggling to stardom. The success of OBM spawned a book written by the … Read more about this episode...

Many people have the flawed notion that mentoring is merely an informal connection that employees make with a guru who showers them with wisdom and insight. If you want to do it right – in a way that provides significant benefits for the learner, the mentor and the organization – Rik Nemanick from The Leadership Effect offers sage advice on … Read more about this episode...

We’ve all heard about the value and the power of positive thinking, along with the impact it can have on people’s lives. Now, you can learn how to apply those principles throughout your organization with the tools and techniques available through Asset-Based Thinking (ABT). Dr. Kathy Cramer of The Cramer Institute, talks about what ABT is … how it … Read more about this episode...

Sometimes the best way to maintain control in an organization is to give it up. Sound crazy? Not if you hear how Jim Shaffer of the Jim Shaffer Group talks about it. Jim offers sage advice and sound direction on how to “lead by letting go” – how to give employees the guidance and resources they need, and then “get … Read more about this episode...

Nationwide surveys done by big name research firms show that employee engagement is in a pretty dismal state in companies throughout the country. Gallup’s latest report on employee engagement reveals that only about 30% of employees are fully engaged – going the extra mile. About 50% are somewhat engaged, and almost 20% are actively disengaged – laying back on the … Read more about this episode...