How to frame, develop, and implement a strategy – the Bookend Workshop Model
How to frame, develop, and implement a strategy – the Bookend Workshop Model
Businesses today pour big money into solutions proffered by consulting firms. According to market watchers like Inc.com and Statista, the management consulting industry was worth between $250–$300 billion in 2019. And that figure is only expected to grow. That investment represents a market need for in-depth analysis and business solutions. It also represents an opening for the “how”—how does a business develop the initial framework for a new strategy and then implement the much-researched, expensive, hard-earned strategy built by consulting companies? That can be more complex.
3 Simple Tips to Improve Experience at Employee Engagement Workshops
3 Simple Tips to Improve Experience at Employee Engagement Workshops
Experience. It’s worth the investment. Experience distinguishes one product and company from another and one outcome from another. In large part, experience is tied to perception. Perception is the intangible feeling that something has value because of the way that thing is presented. Together, perception and experience are important factors in telling ourselves the story of what is happening, and how we are processing information. In the workshop case, it is the way you make your participants feel.
Read MoreFacilitator Brad Allen
Facilitator Brad Allen
Brad Allen is a man with perspective. After about 20 years in the corporate world, he’s now a one-on-one coach, a workshop facilitator, and a father of five. That means he’s seen it all: what goes on in a group setting, more personal moments behind the scenes, and everything in between. Also, somewhere along the way, he made time to author a book—Fried Chicken is Awesome: Finding YOUR Way in a World Gone Mad. So needless to say that Brad is one dedicated, driven guy—an enthusiasm he brings into the workshop as well as the coaching space.
Read MoreWhy Your Last Meeting Probably Sucked (and How to Fix It in 3 Steps)
Why Your Last Meeting Probably Sucked (and How to Fix It in 3 Steps)
We begin a series of articles that highlight some of the most common pitfalls to meetings – whether they are weekly staff meetings or larger, longer workshops. We hope you benefit from the insights and feel free to share your ideas with us!
Read MoreEmployee Engagement Quick Wins Part-2
Employee Engagement Quick Wins Part-2
The Power Of Little Victories, Part II: Where Fun Meets Strategy
There are some practical sides to making quick wins work. Last post, we talked about the fun side to quick wins, and how almost anything – really, anything – could count as a quick win. Well-organised quick wins can be low-budget and even…dare we suggest…fun! But we can practically see managers scratching their heads and employees biting their lower lips: can this really work? Yes. But you must be smart about it.
Employee Engagement Quick Wins Part-1
Employee Engagement Quick Wins Part-1
The Power Of Little Victories, Part I: The Sky Is The Limit
Feeling a little tense at your desk? Stand up and stretch. Perhaps a few spinal twists while sitting will do the trick. Hit a roadblock in your project? Try a brisk walk outside, or maybe just a stroll around the office cubicles. The point is: take action, shake up your monotony, and reset. Make a change and let the momentum from that switch carry you forward. The power of slight alterations on broader performance is well documented. It can be a way to distract, a small reward, an acknowledgement, or just a breath for some space. The virtues of small changes are no less relevant for employee engagement.
Employee Engagement Management Perspective
Employee Engagement Management Perspective
Seeing Things Through The Boss’s Lens
The boss-employee stereotypes are boundless, a source of satire with a sliver of truth. Look no further than the comics in your morning daily – the agony of Dilbert, forever at odds with his relentless pointy-haired boss, or the restful Beetle Bailey pitted against the restless Sarge – these capture the essence of extreme manager-employee antagonism. But those relationships exist for more than just laughs. The comics are drawing out the easy target of the seemingly myopic drive of management, pitted against the humanity of the humble worker. But it isn’t so straightforward. In last week’s post, we talked about the employee engagement challenge from the “human” employee perspective. But we also hinted at the Venn Diagram that joins common issues held by both employees and management. Because, as we’ll see, most of the things we listed as important for employees are also beneficial to management.
Taking The Employee Perspective On Engagement
Taking The Employee Perspective On Engagement
Picture two separate circles. Now start moving them closer together. The result? A Venn Diagram. Now let’s populate our circles with titles. We’ll label one as the employee, and the second is the manager. The employee engagement topic invariable has two sides: that of management, and that of employees. But in the middle there is common ground. While both seem entrenched in their views, it doesn’t help either group to talk past each other. With our employee engagement, workshops, the end goal isn’t just to find middle ground, but also to make that middle ground larger and larger. We want employees and managers to expand their perspectives and realize how many interests they have in common, and recognizing those can lead to real, positive change in the workplace. But to get there, we first have to explore, honestly, how managers and employees see the work engagement problem. This post will tackle the employee side, and next week’s post will look at management’s view.
How to kick off a great Employee Engagement workshop
How to kick off a great Employee Engagement workshop
The stadium is packed. Referees stand at the ready. A whistle blows. The player advances toward the ball, swings for a kick and…misses, sideswipes, and falls down flat. A dramatic start, perhaps, but not a very effective one. The kickoff for any event—be it a sports match, project start, or workshop—is critical for establishing the foundation going forward.
How to improve employee engagement in less time for less budget
How to improve employee engagement in less time for less budget
Here is a scary fact: according to a 2017 Gallup survey, a whopping 87% of the global workforce is not engaged. This is an astounding majority and a huge challenge for HR Directors the world over, when you consider almost 9 in every 10 people are more interested in texting their friends, coffee breaks, and planning lunch than applying that mental capacity to serving customers, solving problems, and innovating on common issues they face.
