Far too often I come across stories or direct examples of a leader who has surrounded herself with the same general characteristics and behaviours of the leader herself. And not in a ‘geez, this beer tastes great’ way. The trait I see that causes the most damage or stagnates a team and indirect teams into an endless pit of debate is the ‘no’ trait. No, that will never work. No, I don’t think we should pursue that. No, it’s not something we would ever do. These are lines a leader might say, but leaders are equally influenced by the team she is surrounded by and it’s highly likely she might be fed the ‘no’ ingredient well in advance. It’s the ‘no’ seed planting approach. Some
Executives Archive
Corporate bullies. I’m fed up with them. In 2006, Sarah J. Tracy, Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik and Jess K. Alberts published an influential paper entitled “Metaphors of Workplace Bullying: Nightmares, Demons, and Slaves: Exploring the Painful” in the Management Communication Quarterly. In it the authors note: Based on qualitative data gathered from focus groups, narrative interviews, and target drawings, the analysis describes how bullying can feel like a battle, water torture, nightmare, or noxious substance. Abused workers frame bullies as narcissistic dictators, two-faced actors, and devil figures. Employees targeted with workplace bullying liken themselves to vulnerable children, slaves, prisoners, animals, and heartbroken lovers. I hope you weren’t drinking tea when you read that as it might now be all over your laptop or device. Seven years later,
The Social C-Suite By Dan Pontefract for CLO Magazine Among the 47,361 employees surveyed in 120 countries worldwide, Gallup – a research-based performance-management consulting company – pegs the percentage of employees who are engaged at 11 percent. In Canada employee engagement creeps up to 20 percent and in the United States it’s slightly better at 28 percent. BlessingWhite, a competitor to Gallup, indicates only 33 percent of North Americans and 30 percent of European-based employees are in fact engaged in their place of work. To be engaged – whether for Gallup, BlessingWhite or any other HR consulting firm – is for an employee to feel a part of the organization, like she wants to go the extra mile, is willing to stay and will recommend