Archive for April, 2007

Brotherhood of the Rope Update »

This blog’s theme for 2007 is the Brotherhood of the Rope. See the first post of the year.

The rope is made of many strands representing our various strengths. The rope makes it safer to summit and it also symbolizes the psychological connection between climbers.

Today two climbers, Vassily Pivtsov and Maxut Zhumayevk, summited Everest without […]

Employee Engagement for All: MMP #11 »

Monday Morning Percolator (MMP) #11
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.  ~ Albert Einstein.
In the center of the apple is the core, in the centre of an idea made to stick is a simple or core statement.
In the last Monday Morning Percolator, I outlined the 6 principles of stickiness outline in the book, Made […]

Zengagement: No Complaints »

Complaining, wanting all the conditions to be just the way we’d like them, doesn’t get us anywhere. In fact, we’re just distracting ourselves from the task at hand.
Dr. Joseph Parent, Zen Golf.

Hoist the Hostmanship Flag »

Service is no longer good enough. Hostmanship has raised the level of how we approach work to a new level of caring, involvement, pride, profit, and engagement.Are you ready to engage in hostmanship or are you so complacent that you will be left behind?Hostmanship is the art of making people feel welcome. The concept is […]

ZENgagement: Inspire Yourself »

Inspire yourself. A major inspiration for employee engagement comes from within.  Are you relaxed enough to perform at your best?
Dr. Saul Miller wrote a wonderful little book in 1990. I encourage you to read it if you want to feel freer, lighter, more alive and at ease.
Each of us has a personal connection to an […]

A Cautionary Rant: Praise Craze Ahead »

We have gone praise crazy.

This is the warning of a recent Wall Street Journal article: Most-Praised Generation Craves Kudos at the Office.

I am a strong advocate of a healthy, positive, and strong workplace but I question the need of organizations to hire recognition gurus to help them say, “good job, thank you, and well […]

Tie into employee engagement: Monday Morning Percolator #10 »

Are you holding employee engagement together with duct tape?
Don’t let engagment die with all the other projects, initiatives, and work screaming for  your attention.  Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath, offers 6 powerful principles to give engagement gumption, tenacity, and longevity.
Make your approach simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional and use stories. The next 6 Monday Morning […]

Grieving an employee engagement sunset… »

Can employee engagement lead to employee disengagement?
I felt sad reading how the Saskatchewan labour relations board put a halt to employee engagement activities for SGI, an insurance company in Saskatchewan. The sadness was that the very concept that could enrich the workplace for all had become a source of dispute between the organization’s management and union.
Here […]

Strengths: What you do with what you’ve got »

Eddi Reader performs a powerful song questioning untapped strength on the TED website.
I have chosen this song as the theme song for this strength based leadership blog. Her powerful voice weaves with the lyrics to create a song of strength, energy, and caring. Click here to watch and listen to this very powerful and inspiring […]