Research consistently shows that customer service, innovation, and meeting organizational goals are natural outcomes when employee engagement is high. In our book, The Culture Question, my co-authors and I conducted a survey of over 2,400 people to explore what makes a workplace healthy and engaging. When we asked participants about what makes them feel engaged at work, we heard a … Read More
Insights for Motivating Employees
[Excerpt from The Culture Question] One of the problems with motivation is that we often don’t consider who actually wants the work to be done. It is typically a leader who wants work done in a particular way or within a precise time frame. It is their motivation that is the impetus for action. Many leaders provide negative or positive … Read More
Does Your Organization Have a Safety Net?
On our honeymoon, my husband and I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge – my feet tingled for the entire drive (I am slightly afraid of heights). The experience is memorable not only because of the physical sensations that accompanied the trek, but also for the impressive nature of the structure. Spanning over 4000 feet, and with its highest point … Read More
How to Hire for Talent and Aptitude
Excerpt from The Culture Question: At ACHIEVE, we have discovered that ensuring employees find meaning in their work begins at the point of first contact: during the interview process. We have dramatically changed our hiring processes over the years. Through trial and error, and observations in our own personal journeys, we have come to appreciate that a person’s innate talent … Read More
Why Do You Work?
Excerpt from The Culture Question: Why do you work? Why does anyone work? Ask your friends and coworkers, and you are likely to get a variety of answers. But sooner or later, most people will say something along the lines of, “To pay the bills.” Let’s begin by acknowledging that most of us do not, and could not, work for … Read More
In Sickness and in Health – At Work Too
A friend of mine was recently fired because he had to take time off for a medical procedure. He originally thought he would be off for three days, but after the procedure the doctor advised him that he shouldn’t work for two weeks. When he explained this to his boss, he was fired. Aside from whether his boss’s response was … Read More
How to Create a Culture of Improvement
As a youth, I showed horses. The judge would stand in the center of the arena as we rode around and at the end of the class, riders would line up in the center and winners would ride forward to receive their award as the audience clapped. For many years, I stayed in the center of the arena and left … Read More
How to Define Organizational Values in Your Workplace
Excerpt from The Culture Question: We find Patrick Lencioni’s book The Advantage particularly insightful, and much of what we write here is inspired by his ideas.4 In our work with clients around defining values, we focus on the following two categories: DNA values: Values that make an organization fundamentally unique. Target values: Values that an organization wishes were true, but … Read More
Why Alignment with Purpose Yields Great Results
I recently rented a car and got a powerful lesson in alignment as part of the deal. Not wheel alignment, but alignment with purpose – at least that’s the way I interpreted it. The person who served me did several things incredibly well: she greeted me in a friendly and genuine way, and then went straight into business. She had … Read More
What If Your Organization Didn’t Exist?
Purpose should matter not only to employees. It should matter to our customers, clients, and the broader community as well. Every organization needs external people to be invested in its purpose in order to survive in the long run. Throughout history, businesses, not-for-profits, and government agencies have come and gone. Some have been missed for a moment, but most have … Read More
