The Lead Where You Are Podcast

A ‘network of engaged teams” performance model which promotes high employee engagement, strong, real-time communication, and rapid information flow is transforming organizations and providing for a very powerful organizational competitive advantage. These teams are purpose-focused, consistently exhibit the right team behaviors, are committed and supported at the very highest level of the organization.   Read More

The unfortunate reality about performance management as it was designed 30 years ago; it doesn't work today. Enhanced talent performance requires change, moving from traditional performance management to future-focused performance enablement.  Read More Here & View Graphic

Engagement is a by-product of an enhanced performance environment, an effective employee communications strategy, and a transparent, team-oriented work environment and culture.   Read the full post here.

Each of us can proactively move from waiting for that leader-led semi- or annual performance reviews to highly effective and targeted continuous performance connections by using a simple 3 I framework to focus and account for your performance actions, activities, and results: Initiative, Influence, and Impact.

In this last segment, we will outline the 5 keys to creating a highly effective communication strategy. Don't wait any longer. It's time for your organization to turn employee communications into a dynamic competitive advantage and highly effective employee engagement and retention strategy. Read More

How do you begin to shift employee communications from a tactical, primarily ad hoc exercise, with little to no coordination or consistency into a highly effective, dynamic, well-orchestrated, strategic competitive advantage? Find out here. Read More--> 

Too often you hear it in the hallways (or over conference apps, ironically) and see it on employee surveys, “We don't communicate as a company. We send a lot of emails, but we don't communicate.” Employee communication is truly the lifeblood of any organization. The more timely, efficient, and consistent the communication flows, the greater chance that the organization thrives. Read More

The traditional career path of linear career progression continues to be disrupted and evolve. For decades, employees looked to their employers to develop them and provide career advancement opportunities. If they completed the required in-house training courses each year and paid their dues by doing what management asked, employees could follow a [fairly] predictable career path. Read More

The old performance management model of the manager setting goals, establishing expectations and giving semi- and or annual performance reviews with little or no feedback along the way is an ineffective performance model. True performance is all about clarity, alignment, action and feedback. Read More

The Island of Negativity is where negative people go to thrive. And if not dealt with quickly and in a positive way, just one negative person can destroy an entire performance environment, so we need to be prepared to respond. Read More

The true measure of any organization and its people are the consistent results they deliver and how those results are achieved. It creates an opportunity to shift the old performance model to one where we are leading our own performance. It is your performance, your impact, and your career in your control.   Read More

Employee-Led performance is the key to shifting performance results from top-down driven to one that is employee-owned, leader supported and enabled by the organization. Read the full update here: https://bit.ly/2TDZCu0

We complete our series on Triboarding, cultivating a lifecycle of employee engagement, by highlighting a key factor that not only enhances employee engagement but also top-tier employee retention and growth: Transboarding, which helps in planning for and enabling success. Read More

This week we explore the engagement strategy of “reboarding,” the planned and intentional effort to continually “re-recruit” and engage every employee, every day, no matter the position or tenure. Read More

Onboarding is to employee engagement like breakfast is to the start of any day, the of the most important meal of your day, or in the case, the engagement of an employee's career. Getting off to a great start sets the stage for future success. In fact, many studies show good onboarding increases retention by nearly 85%. Read More

There is surfboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding, and snowboarding, all highly engaging activities. But now there is Triboarding, activities designed to engage an entire employee population. Triboarding sets the foundation for a career of engagement.   Read More  

Over the past four weeks, we've been discussing this "unspoken" key to engagement of communication. We believe this key, while it is ultimately only one of three keys we have to overall engagement, is the most overlooked and underutilized. Let's take a quick look back over the past four weeks and highlight the six main points we have discussed that can help you start making that immediate impact within your organization.   Read More

The pace, means, format, content and frequency have all evolved and with that our employee communication strategies must evolve as well. So where do we start? Here are four next-step opportunities to enhance your overall employee communications impact. Read More --> 

The speed and form in which we are accustomed, and now expect, to receive information and updates has completely altered how we communicate with our employees and how our employees should be communicating with either other. And that is what we are going to a breakdown today. What is the difference between corporate communication and employee communication? Both of which are crucial for organizational success. Read more.

With the evolution of technology, 24/7 news cycles, and the meteoric rise of social media platforms, the overall landscape of how and when each of us consumes our information has changed. And with that, so have the expectations each of us has on our communication needs and desires, even within our organizations.   Read More

Communication tools and how we communicate have been evolving, however, our current environment has forced us to adapt rapidly in a way most of us were unaccustomed to and most likely never thought possible. So while our environment has gone 'all-in', it's time for us to go 'all-in' as well. To read this update click here

Needless to say, check-in's and progress updates are important. A baseline gets established and then the work gets measured along the way. An important piece of employee engagement surveys that many organizations leave out is the ongoing measurement of how things are progressing. Read More  

A survey gets released, a plan is formulated to improve the low rated areas, but then somehow a year later another survey is conducted and the scores remain the same. Many factors can lead to this unwanted cycle, but here are the top three reasons we have found when we begin working with our clients and what you can do to break the cycle. Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/326bpnH 

Employee surveys can be an incredibly powerful tool, but unfortunately, most organizations squander the opportunity by making one crucial misstep once the survey results have come back. Learn what that misstep is and some recommendations to solve it! Read the full update here: https://bit.ly/2tTC0aW

With all of the good and important data that can arise from employee surveys, it is absolutely crucial to set objectives, communicate the importance to the employees, and, most importantly, to know and understand the key identifiers that are important to measure. Read the full update here: https://bit.ly/393UDI6

Each of us has the opportunity to lead where we are, no matter our title or position in the organization and to have a positive impact on others, ourselves and our respective organizations. Skeptical? Then try a few of these actions in the next couple of weeks and let us know your impact. Read the full update here: https://bit.ly/36IYdG9

For decades, leadership was reserved for a select few individuals in any organization. Top-down decision making and command and control management created a performance environment of employee compliance, focused on task completion. However, an evolution in performance is rapidly occurring. With disruption and globalization impacting nearly every industry and organization, the top-down, command and control performance and leadership models of the past are proving to be too slow and increasingly ineffective. Read more, here: https://bit.ly/36P35dC

It's now December 31, 2020, and another year has just flown by! You are at a New Year's party with family and friends, reflecting on this past year and the start of a new decade. You mentioned to the group that 2020 was by far the best year, professionally, you have had. They asked, “What made the difference over other years?” You told them that you make a conscious decision last January that 2020 was going to be different; that you were going to take more control of your career, your performance and the impact you would make. Read the full update here: https://bit.ly/2QC1xOs

In this excerpt from our new ebook, Lead Where You Are, due to be released January 2020, we highlight a model for leading change. https://bit.ly/2SeRNeh

Make it your task each day to achieve a purpose. A sneak-peek from the Leading With Purpose chapter of our new book, Lead Where You Are, due to be released on January 13th, 2020. https://bit.ly/34CBTgb

Our new ebook, Lead Where You Are, is ready to launch January 2020. A book that has been in the making for over 6 years. Inspired by the evolution currently underway in organizational and individual performance, Lead Where You Are is both a catalyst and guidebook to assist individuals and teams navigate and thrive in this rapidly evolving, highly disruptive and often unforgiving performance environment. Read more here: https://bit.ly/2rEhGZt 

Adobe has continually led the way in reinventing traditional HR and HR practices. They took a look at how inefficient and ineffective the traditional performance review process was and changed it. Read the whole story here: https://bit.ly/2JUkbNQ

We can learn a lot from FedEx. Their Purple Promise of making every FedEx experience outstanding is shared by over 400,000 employees worldwide, each accountable to each other and their customers. Many organizations talk about accountability, FedEx is an organization that exemplifies accountability. https://bit.ly/2pct3a6

Assembling a self-motivated and self-directed team gives ownership to people who want to contribute. A project won't go anywhere if people aren't motivated to take it on. The story of W.L. Gore and Associates. https://bit.ly/2OTStnv

Organizations that are deemed ‘Best Place to Work', ‘Most Admired', ‘Best Companies to Work For', and so on, invariably have a very defined and compelling purpose beyond just making a profit or completing tasks. Purpose provides a pathway to success and ensures alignment between the organization and the actions and behaviors of every employee.

Employee-Engaged performance is the key to shifting performance results from management driven to employee-owned, supported by formal leaders and enabled by the organization.

There is no question the current state of most performance management processes needs to change.  However, a rush to change can have a devastating impact on morale and productivity and, in the end, not produce the sustained performance every organization is looking for. Click Here to view this post.

Every organization and individual needs a foundation to enable both personal and organizational engagement. A foundation that leads to accelerated business results. The C.A.R.E Model provides this. View the C.A.R.E model video we've produced here: https://bit.ly/2ZAnu5y

With the future of performance being a network of engagement and performance teams that form, perform and reform as needed to deliver results, it is key to have a model that provides a framework for team success from inception to disbanding. View the 'Engagement Team Lifecycle' video here: https://vimeo.com/354996659

It is well known that most performance management processes being used today actually promote and measure lagging performance. However, even working in a performance process that might be lagging in nature you can lead your personal performance by doing these “lead where you are” activities.

To truly sustain that next level of performance success in this complex and ever-changing business environment, pursuing your performance requires ongoing performance connections, not in just once or twice a year review cycles.

Nearly every organization is faced with the same issue: How do you retain talent as organizational structures become flatter with little to no upward mobility opportunities? “Career ladders” are collapsing and a new vision for career progression is emerging.

It's time for a shift in leadership! The old command and control management model of the past just won't cut it anymore.

Defining and marketing a company culture is great but enabling and sustaining an engaged performance environment is key.

Our experience has shown that if you want sustained employee engagement, then you need to actively engage your employees, not just HR and or leadership in these efforts. Create an environment where employee engagement is employee-led, leader supported and organizationally enabled.

We are seeing a trend in our employee engagement results in nearly every organization we survey. That trend? People want even more information on their organizations current state direction and future vision.

Like organizational and individual performance, learning continues to evolve. Today, even more so than in the past, it is crucial to continue developing our individual skills and talents both inside and outside the workplace.

Like organizational and performance, learning continues to evolve. Today, even more so than in the past, it is crucial to continue developing our individual skills and talents both inside and outside the workplace.