When it comes to Training, Visibility Matters
I was conducting leadership training for a large public utility, in a rural training facility about 100 miles from the company’s headquarters. The Vice President who had brought me in was a full participant in the first class I conducted, and believe me, his presence and participation in the training wasn’t lost on anyone. A […]
Three Steps to being the Leader you Always Wanted to Be
Along the way, we’ve all observed and noted better (I hesitate to use the word, “best”) habits practiced by leaders we have come into contact with. I’m willing to bet that most of those habits are simple, straightforward, and have a high degree of commonality from one person to another. Here are three that stand […]
How to Avoid Cow Tipping at Work
Urban mythology has it that teenagers, likely fueled by alcohol have, in the pursuit of fun, been known to enter a pasture, sneak up on a grazing cow and, through brute force upend the animal, pushing (aka “tipping”) it onto its side. Rural mythology, however, aided by people who have actually touched a cow with something besides […]
Why Stars Sometimes Fail as Leaders
A bright and promising software engineer, we’ll call him Jay, had made a real mark on his company, developing and innovating some of the most important products and processes in the organization’s portfolio. One Friday, Jay’s boss called him into his office and told him, “You’re so good at what you do that we’ve decided […]
Discretionary Effort…When the Show Must Go On
This past Sunday morning at 8:30, a leader named Ashley learned that a key member of her team had called in sick – totally legit – quarantined with the flu, and would therefore not be at work that day for her 2:00 shift. Not good. OK, you say, people call in sick all the time. […]
Don’t Overwork Your Horses
New supervisors quickly learn that it’s to their advantage to know at all times who the most willing and productive people are on their team, who the ‘work horses’ are. These are the people with seemingly endless capacity to reach for and find another gear, and crunch their way thru whatever pile of work is […]
A Little Less Conversation (About Race) and A Little More Action Please
First things first, I’m delighted that President Trump visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and afterwards made some solid statements about “bringing the country together” vis-a-vis race and anti-semitism. (Good job, @CraigMelvin) It’s a good step for him, one he’s been needing to take. Now it’s time to back up the […]
The Vision Thing…Passengers or Crew
Adapted from Contented Cows STILL Give Better Milk “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in an environment where there is a shared vision of excellence…where people can be the best they can be on a daily basis…where, when they know what is expected of them…understand that reward is linked to performance…and BELIEVE they […]
Sometimes It’s the Little Things
When Alejandro Bustamante became president of Plantronics Mexico some years ago, he inherited, among other problems, a dispirited workforce with dysfunctionally high employee turnover. Nobody wanted to work there. Charged with turning around the plant, which makes telephone headsets and other communications gear, Alejandro knew he could do nothing to change the people working in […]
What Do You Mean, Contented Cows?
If you’ve been following our work over the last 20 years or so, you could skip this post (but please don’t). You know what the reference to Contented Cows is all about, and therefore our reason for titling this blog “Daily Dairy”. But keep reading. A refresher never hurts. However, if you’re new to Contented Cows, and a lot of […]