A few months ago, we had the wonderful pleasure of spending a day interviewing 11 people at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center to try to uncover their secret – because they have gotten the formula right on employee motivation. Anyone who has ever stepped into their facility outside of Minneapolis can attest to the customer service mentality that every employee exhibits – from the front desk, to housekeeping, to the chefs, groundskeepers, and even in accounting.
There is a definite difference in how the majority of these employees “show up” at their job everyday and how they view and take care of their “guests”. They are truly a company that is doing something right. Here is a quick overview of some of the findings we found:
More than 40 percent of the leaders in our surveys say they spend too little time working with individuals to help them unlock their creative energies. Asking yourself, “Have I found my own creative flow? Am I helping other people find their creative flow?”
Take this free work survey to assess your [...]
Leading at Light Speed is a powerful leadership book by Eric Douglas for businesses, public agencies, and nonprofits revealing the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.
Quantum Leap #6 is all about how to Stimulate the Creative Flow.
With rare exception, teams and work groups should [...]
In my new book Leading at Light Speed I talk about the concept of leading through others to relieve pressure in the workplace. What do I mean?
Think of flying on an airplane with an open seating plan such as Southwest. You’ve come across an aisle seat. The middle and window seats are [...]
For those who haven’t been keeping up on recent business and management books, Daniel Pink came out with an absolutely great book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. I mentioned it briefly in a blog post last Fall before it came out. Then, in February, I wrote a book [...]
I was struck by a local news item in The Washington Post on Brian Betts, a model middle school principal, who was found gunned down in his home. While the story obviously includes the murder aspect, I was touched by the leadership angle.
Rising to a challenge: Here was a white man [...]
Wherever you look, news about the economy is bad.
Layoffs abound. Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, recently announced 8,000 job cuts. Home Depot, the biggest home improvement retailer in the U.S., said it will eliminate 7,000 jobs. Even the State of California is letting 20,000 go. The economy lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most since [...]
“I never get to the truly managerial parts of my own job.”
“I’m staying too late at night and working too many weekends.”
“________is really ready to advance but I have no job to promote him/her to right now.”
“If I don’t give my best people some new challenges soon, I may lose them.”
Sound familiar? Is this [...]
“Our people are the key to our success?” How so very often we have heard executives mouth these words. But then, how very often we have also heard their people mutter words such as, “Oh yeah, well, if we really are the key, how come they don’t… ” Of course, it is true. In [...]
The Eastern Ontario dairy farm on which I grew up had numerous oak trees. I have fond memories of collecting autumn oak leaves colored red and orange-brown or fallen acorns for science projects during my school years. Itdeeproots always amazed me that such a massive plant could grow from a small acorn when planted in [...]
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