In a recent podcast, Mike Robbins spoke of the need for leaders to think about employee morale. I think of morale as being another word for culture. Changing culture is one of the most challenging change-management tasks a leader has to tackle. Seemingly overnight, perhaps literally overnight, leaders have had to move workers to remote working cultures.
The Work Goes On: Like many of you, I serve in a not-for-profit organization. In a recent meeting, we went over how there is a negative impact on revenue from grants, events, and donations due to the pandemic. Many not-for-profit organizations are struggling. Yet, the group quickly changed to a discussion of how to continue delivering the services over video …
A Different Question: During the last five or six months, groups I meet with have been discussing what is changing due to the pandemic. Yesterday, in one of those groups, I mentioned that I thought it was time to start considering other things than just the epidemic and all the change. One of our members suggested we talk about what …
This Is Just a Test: In a panel conversation this week, one of the panelists noted that a lot of companies, who thought they have solid emergency plans, discovered that they did not. That’s the bad news. Of course, the good news is that for many, the pandemic is a reasonably straightforward way to test our systems without real structural …
Good News and Bad News: Recently, I again heard the oft-told story about the Chinese farmer who suffered several setbacks. Each time an adverse event happened, the neighbors complained about how bad the situation was. Each time, the farmer said, “Perhaps. We must wait and see.” I know the story as “The Farmer’s Horse Ran Away.” The link will take …
Business Jargon: For several years now, the business community has been using the term “pivot.” It is certainly not the first, nor do I believe it will be the last term that the business community appropriates from other disciplines. For me, the word pivot conjures up mental images of levers and gears moving around a pin or bearing. Secondary images …