Employee Engagement: Remembering Your Wine Box
I watched a movie once that confirmed to me the importance of remembering one’s humble beginnings. The movie portrays a future mother-in-law disapproving of her future daughter-in-law because she comes from a lower class of people. One of the funniest and most poignant lines in the movie is spoken during an argument between the snooty future mother-in-law and her former mother-in-law, when the latter says to the snooty mom-in-law-to-be, “I can remember when the wine you drank came from a box.” It put things in perspective and...
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Connection Killer Five — Fear Yes it’s true, Bob is no longer technically a spring chicken. Interestingly enough, he still has some of the same fears he had as a teenager. Time has not removed them, they’re still there. True confessions time: his fear list includes fear of failure, fear of conflict and fear of rejection. The ladies reading this article may not associate with this, but the guys will. Remember how, as a teenager, you’d rather be burned at stake than call a girl for a date? Or staring at the phone...
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CONNECTION KILLER FOUR — APATHY Apathetic people are normally difficult to be around. They seem to have little purpose or energy for life. They rarely have anything positive to say in meetings. Their focus appears to veer to the negative. Instead of taking the opportunity to contribute in a positive manner, they often destroy others’ enthusiasm. I try to avoid such people whenever possible: they drag me down and suck the life out of me. Too much time around them leaves me drained and frustrated. (Give me some air,...
read moreEmployee Engagement (Lose the Idiot Default!)
Connection Killer — Judgmentalism. Recently while reading my wife’s Discipleship Journal, I came upon an interesting, yet unfamiliar term. Matthew Woodley used the term “Idiot Default” to describe a behavior in which one’s mindset immediately assumes the worst of someone’s motives and actions when performance is less than perfect. The “Idiot Default” button automatically kicks in and the next thought is, “That person is an idiot.” (Ouch!) Using the “Idiot Default” button can destroy relationships and is a major...
read moreEmployee Engagement: Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Recently we started a series of articles describing the importance of maintaining connection with employees. Connection Killer One was – self-centeredness. Remember, the path of greatness flows through employee hearts. Connection Killer Two – Lack of Attention At executive advantage we live life on the fast track. In the midst of racing into the future, it’s easy to neglect those who matter the most. A typical example is becoming distracted by our own agenda while others are asking for assistance on a problem. Often we’re...
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Connection Killer # 1 Relationships count. Maintaining a positive connectedness with employees is a very important leadership responsibility and a critical part of relationship building. Owners want their organizations to be great, but they often forget the path to greatness flows through the hearts of their employees. I like to share John Maxwell’s thought that you don’t get employee hands until you get their hearts. Over the next six articles we would like to share connection killers that can destroy an organization. This executive...
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