“Trust Me, I’m a Leader”: Why Building a Culture of Trust Will Boost Employee Performance – and Maybe Even Save Your Company

/in , /by

Do your employees trust you? The brutal truth is probably not. It may not be fair, and you may not want to hear it, but chances are that previous leaders have poisoned the ground on which you’re trying to grow a successful business. Make no mistake: Unless you and all the leaders in your organization can gain the trust of your employees, performance will suffer. And considering how tough it is to survive in today’s business environment, that’s very bad news for your company.

Hi there! This article is available for free. Login or register as a StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Self-Guided Client by:

Subscribing to the Self Guided Program - It's Free!


 

About the Author

John Hamm is one of the top leadership experts in Silicon Valley. He was named one of the country’s Top 100 venture capitalists in 2009 by AlwaysOn and has led investments in many successful high-growth companies as a partner at several Bay Area VC firms. Hamm has also been a CEO, a board member at over thirty companies, and a CEO adviser and executive coach to senior leaders at companies such as Documentum, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, TaylorMade-adidas Golf and McAfee. John teaches leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. To read John Hamm’s full biography, click here.

Inspiring Employees with a Values-Rich Environment

/in , , /by

Even if your corporate culture leaves a lot to be desired, managers can create a localized environment that inspires your employees to achieve peak performance. It’s a fact that I discovered over and over in my work for JetBlue, Southwest, Doubletree and other companies with high-performing cultures: the vast majority of your employees want to work in a place where people care about customers and each other, are fully engaged, take pride in their work, and feel the obligation to continually improve. In other words, they want you to create an inspiring culture, even if it’s just in your department. They will even help you create it, if you show them the way.

Hi there! This article is available for free. Login or register as a StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Self-Guided Client by:

Subscribing to the Self Guided Program - It's Free!


 

About the Author

Ann Rhoades, author Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture that Outperforms the Competition, is president of People Ink, a culture-change consulting firm. Ann serves on the Board of Directors for JetBlue and P.F. Chang’s. She was one of the five founding executives of JetBlue Airways; Chief People Officer for Southwest Airlines; and Executive Vice President of Team Services at Doubletree and Promus Hotel Corporations. To read Ann’s complete biography, click here.

Recommended Resource – Reviving Work Ethic

/in , , , /by

Reviving Work Ethic: A Leader’s Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce
by Eric Chester

About the Reference

Reviving Work Ethic by Eric Chester provides actionable methods organization leaders can employ to instill within their young workers the strong work ethic foundational to America’s market success. He begins by categorizing young workers on a cognizance and compliance scale; later revealing what leaders must do to imbue workers within each quadrant with a strong work ethic. Eric clearly defines this target ethic as being comprised of a positive attitude, reliability, professionalism, initiative, respect, integrity, and gratitude. He closes by highlighting the value proposition of a workforce characterize by a strong work ethic.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like Reviving Work Ethic because of the actionable insights provided to imbue workers with a strong work ethic. Unique to this writing is the cognizance and compliance matrix that provides an excellent starting point from which leaders can specifically tailor their actions to individual employees. We further appreciate Eric’s deliberate definition and influencing actions associated with each aspect of work ethic. His attention to defining work ethic, employee conversation starters, action tips, and work ethic value proposition tables, contribute to the completeness of this book and make it ideal for new and experience leaders alike.

If we had one criticism of Reviving Work Ethic it would be Eric’s singular focus on new workers. StrategyDriven Contributors believe to varying degrees and for differing reasons workers of all ages and experience levels have a sense of entitlement. Furthermore, we believe workers from all generations can be found in each quadrant of Eric’s cognizance-compliance matrix. Thus, while we agree younger workers may be more easily influenced, we feel it is a leader’s responsibility to attempt to instill a strong work ethic within all workers and to take appropriate action to hold those accountable who do not demonstrate these desirable characteristics.

A strong work ethic is critical to individual and organizational success. Leaders must act to imbue their subordinates with these admirable characteristics. Because of its clarity and immediately actionable methods to instill a strong work ethic within workers, Reviving Work Ethic is a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Corporate Cultures – Culture Trumps Strategy

/in , /by

Culture is hard to quantify but its impact on business operations is unmistakable. Even the well-conceived strategy cannot withstand the onslaught of a counter focused culture. In order for a strategy to be implementable, it must be formulated to work within the confines of the corporate culture. Alternatively, the corporate culture must be changed before the strategy is implemented… typically a years long process.

Hi there! Gain access to this article with a FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription. It’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.

Sign-up now for your FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription

In addition to receiving access to Corporate Cultures – Culture Trumps Strategy, you’ll help advance your career and business programs through anytime, anywhere access to:

  • A sampling of dozens of Premium how-to documents across 7 business functions and 28 associated programs
  • 2,500+ Expert Contributor management and leadership articles
  • Expert advice provided via StrategyDriven’s Advisors Corner

Best of all, it’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.

Access the Article Now!

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 51 – An Interview with Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen, co-authors of Riding the Tiger

/in , , /by

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 51 – An Interview with Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen, co-authors of Riding the Tiger examines what it takes to lead a thriving global organization through an Enron-like catastrophic event. During our discussion, Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen, co-authors of Riding the Tiger: Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times, share with us their insights, personal experiences, and illustrative examples regarding:

  • a brief history of the catastrophic events that took place at Satyam Computer Services and the impact those events had on the company
  • the six components of the ‘Lights On’ strategy
  • the role of communications and learning in executing the ‘Lights On’ strategy
  • the most important leadership guidelines when dealing with a crisis
  • what executives should do to ensure their organization’s leadership team is prepared to deal with a crisis should one occur
  • what leaders should do to ensure their personnel don’t revert to an undesired way of behaving during a time of crisis
  • how leaders can keep their employees focused on the good of the company and its salvation during troubled times

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Priscilla and Ed share in Riding the Tiger and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from their websites, www.NelsonCohen.com and www.RidingTheTiger.com.   Priscilla and Ed’s book, Riding the Tiger, can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!

About the Authors

Ed Cohen & Priscilla Nelson, partners at Nelson Cohen Global Consulting ( www.NelsonCohen.com), provide thought leadership and strategic guidance to leaders and companies around the world. They are co-authors of Riding the Tiger: Leading Through Learning in Turbulent Times (www.ridingthetiger.com) published by ASTD 2010.

Ed has worked in more than 40 countries with organizations including Booz Allen Hamilton, Satyam, Seer Technologies, National Australia Bank, Larson & Toubro and the World Economic Forum. He is the only Chief Learning Officer to lead two companies to ASTD BEST Award #1 ranking; Booz Allen Hamilton and Satyam Computer Services (only company outside United States to achieve this).

Pris has 30 years of experience with Fortune 500 companies around the world. She has received international acclaim for her work in global leadership development, diversity and executive coaching.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:00 — 53.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS