Retire…Then What?

Leading Yourself to Greater Fulfillment

Looking forward to retirement? Perhaps you have visions of endless travels abroad or rambling around the country in a motorhome when you retire. That could be an exciting season, but is it a permanent lifestyle?Retire...Then What

Maybe you dread the “R” word. Your identity has been wrapped up in that successful career that’s about to disappear…

If you believe that to retire is to end all meaningful purpose in life then you’ve been badly misled. Now’s your chance to really make a difference!

Continue reading Retire…Then What?

Skills to Create Culture (Part 3/3)

Building Safety, Sharing Vulnerability, Establishing Purpose

In the first two parts of this series[1], we looked at Building Safety and Sharing Vulnerability. Now we’ll look at Establishing Purpose, the third of three culture-building skills defined by Daniel Coyle in his book, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Group.

Establishing Purpose

It’s great to have a sense of community that makes us safe and willing to share vulnerabilities. But then the question remains, why are we here? We want to know that we’re fulfilling some sense of purpose, making a meaningful difference.Establishing Purpose

Motivation involves channeling our attention to get us from where we are to where we’re going. To be fully motivated we need to be clear on both our starting point and our destination

But just stating the facts, here’s where we are and here’s what we want to achieve, isn’t enough to fully engage human motivation. Nothing modifies our perceptions and motivations as powerfully as stories. Continue reading Skills to Create Culture (Part 3/3)

Four Foundations of a Team

…Success Starts Here

”Team” is one of those words we use too loosely. Or maybe we’re just hopeful that calling a group of people a “team” will magically make them act like one. But becoming an effective team takes intentionality, skill, and hard work.

Whether it’s a project team, a management team, or an operational team, here are four foundations to build a team on: Continue reading Four Foundations of a Team

Dangerous Mission Statements

Should You Burn Yours?

I was sitting in a CEO’s office when he excused himself to take an important call.  While he was on the phone, I read through the mission, vision, and values statements hanging on his wall.  When he hung up, I asked, “How do these documents influence what happens out there in the office every day?”

All too predictably, he rolled his eyes and chuckled.  “Not much.”

My advice to him was to do one of three things:
Continue reading Dangerous Mission Statements

Defining How We Treat Each Other

But Don’t Say It Unless You’ll Live It…

I consider the most important values of an organization to be those that define how we treat each other.  Here’s an example of such values that I developed with one of my clients. How we treat each otherPerhaps there are some useful points here that you can adopt (or adapt), but be careful:  Never claim a value as your own unless you’re willing to live every word of it.  Don’t destroy your credibility by saying something’s important that you’re not willing to be held accountable to.
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