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6 Fundamentals That Underpin Engagement – authentic organizations are high-performing organizations.

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We began our research by asking people to describe their dream organization—one that feels authentic and within which it is possible for one’s best self to emerge. We’ve synthesized these ideal organizational qualities and have shown how some workplaces are making the elements of the dream real, inspiring the rest of us in the process.

Put together these multiple benefits – commitment, creativity, understanding, personal development, trust, purpose, and freedom—and you have created the fundamentals that underpin engagement at work. And we know that engagement is correlated with performance.

Why Should Anyone Work Here?The dream organization, then, is also the high-performing organization.

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About the Authors

Rob Goffee is Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, where he teaches in the world-renowned Senior Executive Programme.

Gareth Jones is a Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at London Business School and a visiting professor at Spain’s IE Business School in Madrid.

Rob and Gareth consult to the boards of several global companies and are coauthors of Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? and Clever, both published by Harvard Business Review Press.

8 Keys for Overcoming Extreme Personal and Professional Adversity

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‘Sur-thriver’ insights on how to conquer fear and devastating losses with confidence, courage and chutzpah
 
Soldier 1: “You’re hit, you’re bleeding man.”
Soldier 2: “I ain’t got time to bleed.”

This short, yet intense excerpt from the movie Predator provides an important insight into one’s character. While challenges are sure to present in life, the principle here is that you can’t allow tragedy to stop you from moving forward toward completing your mission. Few business leaders have had to deal with more life-altering tragedy than Linda Losey, including the horrific separate deaths of her two young sons, yet the bevy of heart-wrenching circumstances have not stopped her from aspiring toward and achieving both professional and personal life goals.

How do you overcome devastating events and other personal challenges? How do you survive life’s most tragic situations to emerge stronger, healthier and perhaps even happier in the wake of catastrophic circumstances? How do you exist through the long, endless nights of your seemingly endless anguish to rise to see a brighter day and actually enjoy life once again? When do the persistent internal inquisitions, “Why now? Why me?”

Such are the questions that Linda, now Founder and COO of Bloomery Plantation Distillery, has asked herself time and time again, which has resulted in the kind of wisdom that can only be gained by struggling through extreme adversity (multiple times in Linda’s case) and coming out on the other side with a healthy mindset, a fresh perspective, and an inner well of strength, resolve and tenacity needed to not just survive, but thrive.

Below, Linda provides a few practical, top-line insights to help individuals better deal with unexpected adversity and even tragedy, and find astonishing strength to overcome:

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About the Author

Merilee KernMerilee Kern, MBA, is Executive Editor of “The Luxe List” International News Syndicate, an accomplished entrepreneur, award-winning author and APP developer and influential media voice. She may be reached online at www.TheLuxeList.com. Follow her on Twitter here: www.Twitter.com/LuxeListEditor and Facebook here: www.Facebook.com/TheLuxeList.

Mike Purcell Joins StrategyDriven Power & Utilities Advisory Services Practice

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StrategyDriven is proud to welcome Mike Purcell as a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Senior Advisor. A highly experienced nuclear power consultant, Mike joins StrategyDriven’s Power & Utilities Advisory Services practice.
 

“We are thrilled to have Mike join our StrategyDriven Advisor Services Team,” said Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Advisory Services Practice Leader. “Increasing demand for clean, affordable electricity combined with an aging infrastructure, retiring workers, growing regulations, rising capital costs, and intensifying budget pressures challenge utility executives and managers now more than ever. We are fortunate to have an industry professional of Mike’s caliber to help our Power & Utility clients meet these challenges. His hands-on knowledge and experience in performance improvement, regulatory inspection readiness, license renewals, and power uprates will be a great asset to our team”

Mike Purcell Joins StrategyDriven Power & Utilities Advisory Services PracticeFor decades, Mike has served in senior leadership roles within the Power & Utilities Industry. His experience includes within the nuclear oversight, quality assurance, engineering, licensing, performance benchmarking and improvement, training, leadership development, and change management functions. Mike also possesses extensive regulatory and licensing experience including inspection readiness activities for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) IP95001, 95002, and 95003 inspections, baseline inspections, license amendments, fire protection program inspections and implementation, license renewals, and extended power uprate activities.

Prior to becoming a management consultant, Mike held numerous influential positions at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), leading nuclear oversight, engineering, and training functions as well as performance improvement initiatives including:

  • Senior Manager, Nuclear Oversight – responsible for performance of the quality control and quality assurance functions and providing oversight of day-to-day plant activities important to nuclear station safety and security
  • Senior Fleet Licensing Manager – led a diverse and geographically distributed team of licensing professionals responsible for all licensing activities associated with TVA’s fleet of six nuclear reactors
  • Senior Manager, Training and Development – successfully integrated the training and development functions across TVA into a single high-performing organization providing pipeline and continuing technical training programs; supervisory, employee, and leadership development; regulatory / compliance training; and organizational effectiveness / culture change programs and initiatives
  • Nuclear Plant Organizational Effectiveness Assessments – participated on teams of highly experienced utility professionals in the performance evaluation of four nuclear plants in the area of organizational effectiveness and safety culture
  • Regulatory Assistance / Recovery Initiatives – Supported multiple Mock NRC Inspection Assessments using NRC Supplemental Inspection Manual Chapters 95001, 95002, and 95003
  • Performance Improvement through Employee Engagement Initiatives – Led employee engagement/process & performance improvement initiatives at the Sequoyah and Watts Bar Nuclear plants in order to identify solutions to close the $30 million gap in operations and maintenance (O&M) costs and increase generation

Mike further shaped the Nuclear Industry’s performance through his involvement with industry groups including:

  • INPO Organizational Effectiveness Industry Peer and New Nuclear Oversight Manager course mentor
  • Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and EUCG Peer Advisor

Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technical University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He is a licensed as a Professional Engineer by the State of Tennessee.

Click here to read Mike’s complete biography. Mike can be contacted at [email protected].

Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

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Employee conflict is unavoidable in any office environment, this is a fact. Even the most functional of teams will sometimes disagree or experience infighting, which can be difficult to manage.

Example: Hotel Housekeeping Staff Managers are approaching employees on their lunch break to assign tasks, discuss changes and give directions. Workers object to this (“Lunch is my time, I’m off the clock”). Some workers are shouting at managers, threatening to call the union, or altogether ignoring them. Others are listening and taking direction. Managers are frustrated, angry and sometimes shouting back. There is conflict among workers (those who object versus those who don’t) and between workers and managers. You are the director of housekeeping and need to manage this conflict.

Steps to follow to sort out conflict:

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About the Author

Laura MacLeodLaura MacLeod created From The Inside Out Project® with all levels of employment in mind to assist in maintaining a harmonious workplace. Laura teaches conflict resolution, problem solving and listening skills using an innovative method that addresses the human interactive challenges.

For more information on Laura Macleod and her techniques please visit FromtheInsideOutProject.com. To learn more, feel free to email Eliza Osborn at [email protected] or call +1 (877) 841-7244.

Getting Your Message Across, In Principle

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It was Groucho Marx who said, “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them … well, I have others.”

These are mine and I have no others.

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About the Author

Michael ParkerMichael Parker is the author of It’s Not What You Say: How to Sell Your Message When It Matters Most, a former vice chairman of Saatchi &Saatchi London, and is one of the UK’s most experienced pitch coaches. He also competed as a hurdler in two Olympics and now brings his experience and competitive instincts to coaching, ranging from one-to-one interviews to major public speeches.