It's A Time Of Opportunity For Your Business

2 Minute Read

For years, as we’ve guided leaders through the strategic planning process, we’ve challenged people to not just do more of the same, but to challenge assumptions of their business, their customers, and their beliefs on the way things are or should be. To find ways to try new approaches, or try doing the same things in a different way. Instead of waiting for their industry or business to be disrupted, they disrupt. Regardless of the circumstances, this is something that is very hard for most organizational leaders to do.

Change, Leadership, StrategyApril 13, 2020Business, secret to business success, successful businessesComment

Too Little Too Late...

3 Minute Read

Recently, a client had a key employee resign unexpectedly, and they were left scratching their heads wondering what went wrong. They had big plans for this employee in the future. In fact, they had discussed this during many of our leadership team group sessions. When the employee put in his resignation, it felt a bit like a punch in the gut. The leadership team felt that they had invested so much time into this employee. They asked us to conduct an exit interview in hopes of learning from the situation, so they don’t repeat the same mistakes.

During the exit interview, the employee reported that he felt like he had plateaued in his current role. And he wasn’t sure what career path the company had in mind for him. It made our hearts sink a little because we heard the leaders of the organization discuss the plans for his future. But they quickly discovered that they never clearly laid out that plan to the most important person: THE EMPLOYEE!

Leadership, Retaining Employees, TrustMarch 16, 2020career development, developing employees, employee career pathsComment

How To Create A Succession Plan

4 Minute Read

We have a critical question for you: Do you have someone to replace key employees if they suddenly left? Many companies have good intentions of developing people for key roles, but aren’t ready if a key employee left tomorrow. That creates a big problem.When we have discussions with our partners, we’re often asked that magical question: How do we create a succession plan? And how do we do it effectively?

Finding the right person to fill key roles is one of the greatest challenges of leaders. Firstly, it's important to note: a replacement plan is not the same as a succession plan. It takes time to create individual plans, to develop people, and to give them the experience and mentoring they need to be successful.

Bad Meetings: And What to Do About Them...

4 Minute Read

We’ve all had those days. The days where we go from meeting to meeting, only to find that at the end of the day, we didn’t get anything productive done. Bad meetings are the cause. We get frustrated and think, "What a waste of time!" Yet, it happens again and again. For multiple reasons: people schedule meetings that don’t need to happen; they invite people that don’t need to be there; hold meetings for much longer than they should; they don't have a purpose or an agenda; and they waste our precious time.

How to Keep Remote Employees Engaged

4 Minute Read

Telecommuting...sounds like something from the future. However, it is one of the most challenging issues for businesses today. Employees want flexible work schedules and work hours. And many companies are trying to make it a priority and allow employees to work remotely. Some have even gone as far as hiring full remote teams that work in different states across the country.

4 Easy Ways to Develop Bench Strength

5 Minute Read

If you’re a business leader, it’s safe to believe that you understand the need for, and the benefits of, succession planning. So, for the purpose of this article, we won’t spend much time addressing them. What we will highlight, however, are a few ingredients that are necessary in order to develop bench strength for your key employees. In sports, the definition of bench strength is “the quality and number of players available to substitute during the game”. In business, there’s a bit more focus on the quality piece; but really, the concept is the same. The purpose is to have people ready to step into a different role when a leadership or key position becomes available or when a new role is needed.

Organizational Culture: The Alka-Seltzer Method

3 Minute Read

More and more companies today have come to understand that employees are demanding that the company they work for fit their values and beliefs about how employees and coworkers should treat each other. They look at a company’s philosophy about customers and their beliefs about social causes. And most importantly, they look at organizational culture. And if the company doesn’t fit the mold, the employees go elsewhere.

Some companies have not spelled out what behaviors support their specific culture. And this creates confusion for employees. For other companies, there is no connection between what’s documented and what’s actually happening. New recruits may be told during an interview about the mission and how people interact but once hired, find that isn’t how people really act day-to-day.

Company Culture, TrustJanuary 21, 2020Alka-Seltzer, behavior, company culture, corporate culture, culture, employee culture, organizational cultureComment

Get Sh!t Done: How to Hold Yourself Accountable

4 Minute Read

Ahh, the feeling of setting new goals. It’s exciting. You’ve planned exactly what this year is going to look like, both personally and professionally. Your company is expecting big things this year. You’re probably feeling headstrong and ready to take on the world. You have no doubt that all of this can get accomplished. You’re ready to do this!

Fast-forward three months. You’ve struggled to stay consistent with your goals. We know. Life gets in the way, schedules change, and suddenly you have gotten really busy. You’re behind, you might have procrastinated just a little, and you didn’t do everything you said you were going to do this quarter. Now you’re off track and mad at yourself for not being more accountable. Sound familiar? We’ve all been there.

Burnout At Work: What To Do About It

4 Minute Read

Imagine this all-too-familiar scenario. You work a full-time job, maybe even a little more. On top of just doing your job, you're managing a team of other people, also trying to get them to do their jobs. And maybe you’ve got kids at home, so not only are you working and managing people, you’re a full-time parent who has to cook, clean, do laundry, and attend soccer practices.

Even though you’re trying your best, you just feel like you're always struggling. Always tired. Always have something else you have to do. It’s getting harder for you to wake up in the morning; your workload is getting heavier, and your supervisor is requesting that you complete more projects in less time. It seems like you are constantly on the go, you have no time for yourself, and you don’t see an end in sight. You’re drowning in your own hectic life… We’ve all been there.

#AskRevela - Toxic Boss

5 Minute Read

Let us be your leadership “Google.” Ask Revela!: Last year, in an article from our #AskRevela series, we addressed the question of how to deal with a toxic person on your team. We examined possible reasons and tips for handling someone who is less-than-pleasant. We looked at it from the perspective of a peer or direct report. But what about a toxic boss? What if that person is your manager? So here’s today’s question…

How do you successfully motivate your team when your supervisor’s toxic behavior affects morale, both yours and the team's? - Anonymous

Ask Revela, Communication, Company Culture, Retaining EmployeesNovember 20, 2019#askrevelaComment

Leading with Compassion: A Requirement of Leaders Today

4 Minute Read

The word compassion holds many meanings, and it’s hard to define. Here’s what we know. Compassion consists of three main elements: recognizing or noticing when others are struggling, understanding and feeling for the person that is struggling, and responding or having the motivation to act and help relieve the struggle. Compassion takes empathy one step further with that final element: having the motivation to act.

You might be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with leadership? I can’t fix every person’s problems.” Our answer: It has everything to do with it. Human beings are born with a compassionate instinct at our core. In fact, research by David Rand at Harvard University shows that with both adults and children, our first impulse is to help others, not to compete with them.

Communication, Leadership, TrustOctober 30, 2019business leadership, compassion, leading teams, Leading with empathy

Making Work Meaningful: Inspire. Engage. Ignite.

Company Culture, MotivationOctober 22, 2019celebrate wins, communication, inspire, leading teams, making work meaningful, motivating employees, teamworkComment

Hiring Assessments: Are They Right For You?

Company Culture, Hiring, Retaining EmployeesOctober 15, 2019assessments, future planning, hire, hiring, hiring assessments, Workforce PlanningComment

A Plan for Succession

Change, Generations, Retaining Employees, Strategy, Succession PlanningSeptember 26, 2019Business Succession, Business Succession Plan, how to create a succession plan, how to do succession planning, Plan for Succession, succession, succession plan, what does a succession plan look likeComment

Have You Created Your Individual Development Plan?

4 Minute Read

If you do research on how to create an individual development plan (IDP), you’ll probably notice that the advice you find is typically offered to a leader or manager, helping to develop an IDP for their employee.

They all start with the notion that first, you should know where the business is going and then talk with your employee about the future. Next, it’ll walk you through determining what the person is missing (gap analysis). Finally, it ends with creating a training plan and applying it. You might even find some lists that have a few more steps, but the majority contain at least those steps.

Executives are the Reason Development Efforts Fail

Company Culture, Leadership, Retaining Employees, TrainingAugust 9, 2019commitment, development efforts, executives, fail, problem-solving, staying involved, what employees needComment

The Importance of Developing High Potentials

Transforming the Employee Evaluation

Do You Need an Executive Coach?

Change, Company Culture, Leadership, StrategyJuly 3, 2019ceo, coach, executive, executive coach, executive coaching, executive coaching and leadership development, executive coaching session, leadership, outside perspective, status quo, TrustComment

How to Save your Workforce

3 Minute Read

You’re about to lose 40% of your workforce. Yep, we said it. That’s awfully close to HALF! Over recent years, we’ve seen many Baby Boomers retire. Waved goodbye as they took their knowledge and expertise out the door with them. As of December 2018, 39.2% of people in the US workforce were aged 55 or older. Traditionally, most people retire in their early to mid-60s. So what does this say for your company in the next 5-10 years?