Productivity & Trade Briefs

Connecting through employee networks can help individuals advance their careers and companies improve their performance. To provide these benefits, however, networks must have a clear strategy, funding, senior sponsorship … and an attractive proposition for all potential members.

A hidden source of friction is slowing your company down. Your workers are complicit in it. So is your management. And it’s driving everybody nuts.

At each step of the leadership journey, the preparation for successfully making the transition is critical to a positive experience certainly for the leader but also for the organization he or she leads. Transitions are not only the visible shifts from one role to another but, when well executed, leaders are prepared, reflective and are poised to be effective quickly in the new role.

A friend of mine was having a hard time balancing her career at a large financial firm with her family demands. She worked at one of those all-too-typical workplaces where employees are expected to log 60 hours or so a week — a perfect illustration of what I call a “culture of overwork.”

A CEO we’ve worked with – let’s call him “Gary” – prides himself on being a collaborative leader who invests in consensus and builds relationships. Gary cares deeply about his employees and is eager to deliver. When he was first hired a couple of years ago, the board was deeply impressed by Gary’s values, trustworthy demeanor, and his collaborative approach. Unfortunately, by the time we met Gary, his habits as a “nice CEO” were about to cost him his job.

You’ve managed the same team for the past five years — then one day you find out that your most successful employee uses cognitive-enhancing drugs on the job.