“Don’t worry about the money. Do the right things, and the money will come.” Coaches and consultants like me say such things. Most people nod their heads. But do you really believe the statement? If you do, in the short term your team may look like losers. I can illustrate by taking you to the world of judo. Meet my …
Why bother with corporate values?
Automotive News produces really informative videos. This 4-minute briefing on Serra Automotive’s inventory sourcing is a great example. One of my mentors worked for Al Serra for a long time and has great respect for the team. The opening lines from current President Matt Serra gives me clues as to why: From a values perspective, the way we think about …
Recruiting employees? Which kind? From which pool?
Classical education is at the heart of what Hip Socket is about. One way I describe it: Wrestle and grow more organized, confident and influential. The tradition calls us to slow down so we can get organized in our knowledge of the problem before us … then wrestle with it, often in challenging dialogue, to get confident in our understanding …
Eight ways to ask a question well
As coaches, Mike and Mark spend a lot of time teaching clients how to coach their teams. You can learn powerful questions … you can master frameworks for the conversation … but how do you ask the question? This episode borrows liberally from Mark’s training with the International Coach Federation and from Michael Bungay Stanier, who we think is the bee’s …
Making money, serving customers or impacting generations of families?
What if you could have all three? This article (warning, it’s from a conservative source) has a great summary of some of the things that make Ritz-Carlton a great luxury hotel chain. And it makes that summary in the midst of an article about how the hotel’s cultural behaviors could transform a family’s culture for the better. The hotel chain …
Why I bought new tires: The value of coaching and CX
It took more than 3,000 miles, a trip to urgent care for asthma, altitude sickness treatments, a bloody nose that made a hotel room a crime scene, a hail storm, severe weather while fighting traffic during Stanley Cup celebrations and … well, anyway, we’re home from a trip to the Rocky Mountains. I bought new tires. I want to tell …
Podcast 114 – Crucial Conversations: Take action–and follow up!
That high-stakes, emotional conversation you just had? The one where you finally had a resolution to a big issue? It’s all for nothing if you don’t complete this final step. This episode is part of our series on “Crucial Conversations.” The first episode is at this link. We would love your questions and comments for future episodes: Email Mike and …
If you measure happiness, what are you measuring?
Happiness and engagement go hand in hand for employees. An influential business book, “The Happiness Advantage,” has suggested that for over a decade now. Last week we talked about surveys to measure happiness and how dialogue gets to the heart of things more effectively. Talk with your people. But just what is happiness? What is engagement? Enter this article: “In …
Surveying your people vs. talking to them
I’m going to utter a heresy in this article. At least, it’s a heresy to many of my colleagues working on culture. A manager recently talked to me about helping his team collaborate more. I asked him what he would get out of that. As often happens in coaching, I was surprised by his answer. I thought he would say …
A litmus test for your employee retention
My outstanding design and marketing firm shared this article about employee-generated content. It is a pretty clear litmus test of how engaged and retained your employees are, isn’t it? They don’t have to create material they can use to promote your business. Researchers call it “discretionary effort.” We see it often with customers: They have to give you money for …