Competition is a tricky concept within the realm of company and culture strengthening. Inherent at the onset of the industrial age, competition has established a deep root both in and outside of organizations over the last 250 years. Moreover, it is a global economic cornerstone and the largely unquestioned milieu of most business. Without a doubt, competition is an active and persistent juggernaut in the marketplace. But, how does it measure up within the walls of the workplace? In that particular environment is it likely to be a constructive force or a destructive one? Fortifying or corrosive? As a business advisor and organizational culture specialist, these questions are both significant and intriguing to me. When building a strong, unified company culture, where does internal competition fit in? Or does it? The more genuinely cohesive, collaborative and connected an organization is, the better, stronger and more profitable it tends to be. There is a synergy generated through a unified collective of people working for a shared purpose. A “power in numbers” effect that tends to expand and build on itself. In my experience, the key qualities required for this type of dynamic unification to emerge and take hold are trust, inclusiveness, support, candor and clarity of purpose. It’s against this backdrop that competition needs to be examined. Curiously enough, the origin of the word comes from the Latin competere, meaning to meet or come together. The purpose of this coming together, however, is as opposing rivals. This is where the idea of competition gets tricky in business. If a company’s strength is tied to the cohesiveness and connectivity of its people, what is the cultural effect of rivalry? Becoming aware and paying attention to the use of competition and how it is framed within the company walls, is critical to cultural health and internal stakeholder performance. Inviting people to weigh in on how they experience internal competition is a great way to get a sense of its value or not. Asking where and how they see it working also shines a light on its effectiveness. The important thing is that a leader become aware of its overall value or liability to the organization. Simply employing its use because “that’s what’s always been done,” is neither smart nor strategic. If it’s important to know, and I suggest it is, just ask. A strong and unified organization is built through the power of connection, not division. Leadership catalyzes this power…or not. Like everything, it’s a choice. Check out these “5 Tips” to better your leadership! 5 Straightforward Tips to Become a Better...

  My husband John and I made our annual pilgrimage to a sacred rite of summer’s end…the Minnesota State Fair. We get there early and stay late, covering miles of fair territory and eating more food than is normal for two human beings. As is customary, we ambled through the cattle and horse barns, delighted by the napping Brown Swiss calf with his unbelievably long eyelashes, as well as the Scottish Highland, looking laid-back, his long shaggy hair blowing breezily in the wind. In the horse barn we saw “Cayenne,” a majestic though anxious horse standing uncomfortably in its stall, a Post It note warning “Do not pet. I bite.” I asked a woman sweeping near the stall about Cayenne and she told me that Cayenne simply does not like being at the fair. She pointed to a fresh new board in the back of the stall, sharing with me that Cayenne had just kicked the old board out yesterday. Cayenne’s handler, she added, doesn’t know what to do to make him comfortable. That word handler, got me thinking about the business environment. Being a self-admitted word geek, several years ago I had looked up the root of the word “manage.” Turns out, it comes from two Latin words, manus meaning “hand” and agere meaning “to act.” Manager and handler are eerily synonymous. While I’m fairly convinced but not absolutely sure that most animals don’t like being handled, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that most people do not. Being handled or managed often feels manipulative, which not so coincidentally bears the same Latin root, manus. With traditional forms of management, oftentimes, there lacks an inherent trust in another person’s ability to know, to self-govern, to set relevant goals, to perform, to excel. I suggest that all of this people “handling” is creating many of the issues that company leadership bemoans. Perceived lacks of initiative, slacking work style, disengagement, resistant behavior and other negative actions and attitudes may all be born of this dispiriting style of interaction. Many forms of management are still largely un-evolved. Still evident in today’s workplaces is a trace of the paradigm found in the horse and cattle barns. Stalls = cubicles; handler = manager; produce = produce. Hey business, it’s time to leave the barn. Our understanding of what inspires and stimulates human beings and evokes real potential is available and continuing to emerge. There is no reason to remain with these older styles of people management. They are, at their core, limiting and uninspired. Business leaders! Explore what is now available with regard to creating work environments that stimulate potential and engage people to the company and the work. Increasing...

  Companies, as an entity, emit a certain quality or energy. That particular quality is a product of the collective culture of the organization. Firmly within that collective is leadership, powerfully influencing and shaping both the culture and the quality it emits. Like a beacon or harbinger, this unnamed and largely unacknowledged quality broadcasts outward. Beyond carefully designed branding and/or PR, this quality is communicated through the interactions people of the company have with those outside of it. Vendors, customers, friends and family of employees, consultants and others are able to perceive a great deal about the company even tangentially. Like some kind of fascinating sonar, information is being transmitted. As humans, we are big energetic cue readers. We’ve needed it to get the group to 2015. It may seem like we are all communicating on a mostly verbal and visual dimension, but there is much more “communication” happening and much of it is soundless and sightless. This quality, that we are less aware of, is energetic. Try as we might, this is not a quality that takes its orders from marketing gurus, ad agencies or even the C level. For company leadership, this is a very important realization to get. The energetic quality of an organization will be transmitted. The pervasive cultural quality will echo forth. If there is a preponderance of dissent, corruption, confusion, discord, rancorous competition, anger, greed or mean-spiritedness, that’s the signal. If there is a prevalence towards care, fulfillment, supportiveness, openness, collegiality, happiness or the valuing of contribution, that will be the signal. Ask someone their thoughts about any given organization they interact with and they may or may not be able to articulate them. But, they will act and behave in accordance to them—articulated or not. Those actions and behaviors show up in the form of sales, customer loyalty, referrals, productivity, healthcare costs, new hires, attrition and many others. Human evolution has crafted some well-honed tools over the last 200,000 years. Not the least of which, is our ability to interpret energy. Regardless of ad campaigns, HR posters, PR spins or company mission statements, that channel of communication is open and operating on a very powerful frequency. It is imperative for leadership to tune in. Discover “8 Powerful Ways” you can affect and influence the energy your company emits. 8 Powerful Ways to Energize Your People...

  It’s astonishing to me when I consider that we modern-ish human beings have been around for about 45,000 years. Even more astonishing, when I consider that the Industrial Age came into being only 165 years ago. A hundred and sixty-five years is not a long time to get the hang of something…in evolutionary terms. As such, we are still relative neophytes when it comes to organizing and compelling joint action from groups of people not considered slaves or enlisted personnel. Let’s face it, commanding and controlling other folks, being commanded and controlled ourselves is the longer legacy. Though the imprint of that consciousness remains alive either in memory or in reality, we are now in the process of moving beyond it to something different and more evolved. Unlike some extraordinary bacteria, able to change and mutate instantly with newer circumstantial information, we humans take awhile. The great news is that what we may lack in evolutionary speed we can make up for with awareness, creativity, intention, and will. These more advanced minds of ours are extraordinary for witnessing a current reality, assessing it’s value, exploring possibilities and taking action in ways that can move us forward more intentionally. Our ability to create better outcomes is both singular and a profound responsibility. We now find ourselves in a very interesting time and place from an evolutionary standpoint. There is a crossroads feel about it. On one side lies the trajectory we have been on, on the other side, the invitation to step up to a new level of being human. This is not the first such crossroad and, hopefully, not the last. In the arena of business, this is a powerful opportunity. Most companies only access and receive a very small part of the potential of those that work for them. Not because they don’t desire the fuller potential, but because they don’t know how to call it forward. That’s the more evolved work. To do so, requires an acknowledgment of what exists and an exploration of what’s possible in its stead. The great up-leveling opportunity and invitation is upon us…in life, at home, at work. We can keep our focus distracted and small or we can become aware of the immenseness of this time. Business environments can become one of the great benefactors of this remarkable moment as can all areas of life. As with other extraordinary moments, it begins with a conscious choice at a crossroad. Lead your people and your business forward. Check out “8 Ways” to get things moving! 8 Powerful Ways to Energize Your...

  I talk a lot about leadership’s role in influencing and shaping strong and vital work communities. Most of us recognize that leaders play a critical role in the health and prosperity of their organization. However, there is another type of leadership that is of even greater significance—that of self-leadership. Whether or not we lead others, we are pre-ordained to be leaders of ourselves. We may not want the job, but like it or not, it’s ours…for a lifetime. For many of us, the self-leadership course can feel somewhat vague or even non-existent. Culturally, we are conditioned to look to others for cues, lessons, information and approval, rarely turning the lens inward. Of course, this makes sense when we are young and maturing, but at some point self-leadership requires, well, the self. Taking the time to uncover who we are, the gifts we possess, what brings us joy and happiness, the inner areas we choose to cultivate, the work we are called to do, the life we are compelled to live…all of these are fundamental inquiries to a more elevated form of self-leadership. As with any above-average leader, there is profound value in knowing who you are leading. The same holds true for above-average self-leadership. Who is this person you are leading throughout the course of your life? Penetrating beyond the pat, conditioned answers is crucial. It’s crucial to true happiness, fulfillment, growth, and evolving as a human being. The best leaders recognize that inspiring and lifting others to greater heights is the hallmark of the truest kind of leadership. And, so it is for self-leadership. Others can and will affect the process—as social beings we are informed by models, community and acquired wisdom. Self-leadership does not occur in a vacuum. The vigilance required, however, is in keeping an eye inward, learning to recognize the knowledge and guidance emanating from that place. It’s up to each of us, as to the kind of self-leader we are and will become. In many ways, it’s the most important leadership role on Earth. We each have extraordinary potential and gifts yet unknown. When we elevate our own self-leadership, we take a step forward in realizing that potential and leading the way to a life more fully realized—the leadership job of a lifetime. The best way to become an able leader of others is to first be an able leader of yourself. Interested in becoming a better leader? We can help. Discover how...

  There are two phenomena which both vex and fascinate me. The first has to do with perception—how our perceptions of both ourselves and others can vary so dramatically depending on environment. The second dovetails off the first, but concerns the myopic focus that many companies place on revenue generation and profitability above all else…including people. Beginning with phenomenon one: All of us move from environment to environment through the course of our day. Depending where we are, we likely view ourselves and others differently. If we are at a coffee shop, our perception may be one way. If we are at a community function or at the grocery store, it may be another. So it continues in our home, with friends, with family, at the gym or in a place of worship. Depending on the environment, our perception of ourselves and those around us will vary to some degree. As you consider the varied environments you inhabit…home, community, nature, church, a friend or family members home…pay attention to your perception of yourself and the other people in those places. How do you feel when you are there? How do you feel about others when you are there? Next, turn to your workplace. What kinds of perceptions of yourself and others are happening at work? And, how do these perceptions affect you and your behavior? For many of us, the workplace evokes a singular quality. Our perceptions at work can be quite different from the perception we experience in the other environments in our lives. We tend to behave and view the world differently at work. With that our perception of self and others is also affected. Likely, this is a big part of the distinction that we convey through language when we refer to “work and life.” The two worlds simply feel different. I believe that this difference or schism is primarily due to the level of value associated with human beings and their contribution in the workplace. We have not yet deeply integrated human value into much of our work world. And, one of the primary reasons for this is the accepted ritual of honoring the value of money and money generation over that of human value. It’s upside down and most of us know it. Money and money generation is vital and commendable. However, it is the result of something. That something, more often than not, is the work force and their action. To honor the result and not that which has created it, is both shortsighted and un-evolved. The fact that this distortion continues baffles me. I’m reminded of the Wizard of Oz and the simple act of drawing back a curtain to see the...