Randy Grieser's Blog, page 11

Who’s Your Favorite ‘Teacher’?

My teenage children can’t help but compare their teachers.  At least several times a year I hear, “Who’s your favorite teacher?” They talk about which ones they like or don’t like, which ones are encouraging or indifferent, and which ones are nice or sometimes not nice.

Employees of organizations where there are multiple supervisors do the same thing.  If someone is working for one of the bad managers, but one of their coworkers from a different department talks about their great manager, the...

I’m Not Your Therapist!

When I speak and write about the role of leadership I often talk about the importance of caring leadership.  I believe that the best leaders care about their employees. And that among other things, they are supportive in times of personal, health and family crisis.

However, this does not mean that I am my employees’ therapist!

A regular question I get from leaders is how to manage the balance between being a caring leader and not becoming employees’ “go-to person” for support.

In my experienc...

The Great Motivator – Meaningful and Challenging Work

I believe the majority of employees desire to have meaningful and challenging work as a part of their normal job activities. Having some level of difficulty in their work is preferable to the boredom of an unchallenging job. As a leader I am very aware that employees having work that brings them satisfaction is not only a great motivator, but also plays an important role in keeping employees engaged.

Most people have an innate desire to improve and better themselves. I see this in our employe...

Losing Productivity? Grab It Back!

Have you ever found yourself reaching a good, productive rhythm at work, only to see it slip away again under daily and weekly pressures?

Since my concussion two years ago I have struggled to be as productive as I once was.  Sure, I still get a lot of work done – After all, I did write a book while recovering from the concussion.  However, I am very aware that due to my continued symptoms, I have less time to get meaningful work done.

As I’ve written about in my book The Ordinary Leader, my a...

What’s Your Purpose? Communicate it!

What is your organization’s purpose?

Sometimes when I ask people what the purpose of their organization is, they struggle to articulate anything meaningfully.  Many will go to their smartphone and try to find some sort of purpose on their website – that may or may not be there.

The importance of developing a clear organizational purpose has been written about extensively.  Most notably, Simon Sinek has described the “golden circle” and his call to action that starts with “why” – “People don’t...

Encouragement – Moving Beyond “Good Job”!

I have never been good at giving the “you’re doing a great job” type of encouragement to my staff.  Don’t get me wrong, I do realize that encouragement is valued, and that to sustain a productive and innovative culture, leaders must give encouragement. When there is a lack of encouragement, employees wonder if they are valued, and may question if what they do matters to the organization’s success.

While I do from time to time offer up the platitudes of “nicely done” or “good job,” the main wa...

A Great Place to Work – Beyond the Foosball Table

Most of us are familiar with stories of some of the Great Places to Work – the Googles of the world, with their complimentary food courts, massage and foosball tables.  The hope is that these extra perks will help make them a great place to work.  And as a result, they are more likely to attract and keep talented employees who will be more motivated to be innovative and productive.

I have no problem with these sorts of initiatives.  When used in conjunction with intrinsic motivators I am sure...

Make Your Leadership Intentional

Make your leadership more intentional, and you will improve your self-awareness, focus and effectiveness.

When I use the term intentional, I am referring to the simple process of slowing down and thinking things through before speaking or acting. This is particularly important when it comes to potentially difficult interactions with others or important decisions. In recent months I have focused more on being intentional in both my thinking and actions.

I have historically too quickly moved f...

Caring Leadership Makes a Difference

With the January 2017 release of my new book, The Ordinary Leader: 10 Key Insights for Building and Leading a Thriving Organization, the frequency of my speaking events has increased.  One of the things I really enjoy about speaking at so many varied events is getting to hear many different stories of people’s experiences at work.

Most recently, I gave a presentation on the importance of organizational health. I talked about the role of caring leadership – the idea that leaders should care at...

The Millennial Question

I recently gave a keynote on the topic of employee engagement. After my presentation, I was asked the following question, “What strategies do you use to motivate millennials?” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts and then responded, “I believe all this debate about millennials is overblown. I motivate millennials in the workplace the same way I motivate everyone else.” To my surprise this short, simple answer was met with applause.

Since this presentation, I have talked more intentiona...