ClickCease
Matt Rusten
Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company

Is joy an underrated asset in your leadership? In our latest article, Matt Rusten explores why joy, much like humor, plays a vital role in building a thriving company culture. From increasing team engagement to fostering resilience, joy can transform workplace dynamics and inspire purpose-driven work. Discover three key ways to cultivate joy in your organization and why it’s essential for leaders who seek both results and fulfillment.

Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company
Business, Faith, Faith at Work
Convene
Do Not Worry

‘Do not worry.’ We’ve read Matthew 6:25-34 in the Sermon on the Mount, but what does that look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? God knows our every worry, fear, and concern – and He can handle it. Many thanks to Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, for his encouragement to think about how our lives might be different by truly living out this scriptural principle.

Do Not Worry
Greg Leith
Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the ...

Got a quick minute to chat? I’ve been wanting to share something with you as you lead in the midst of the election cycle in the USA or when your political election takes place in your country. When the dust settles on the election and the new country leader is declared, one thing will still be as true as it is right now. You’ll still be the one leading your firm the day after the election. Your team members will still come to work the day after the winner is declared. They’ll still be looking to you for leadership, for a paycheck, for a sense of community at their workplace.

What do they want most that only you can deliver? It’s meaning. That meaning they’re looking for begins with you and your leadership. To be sure, what Washington DC does actually can impact your business significantly, however, the president of the United States or the leader of any country does not lead your firm. You do. It’s an enterprise entrusted to you to lead as a steward. It’s a place where people look to you for answers, where people want to be part of a team that cares about them and where people want to be valued, appreciated, and loved. The next president of the country will not show up this week at your office to encourage your team, fix a broken piece of equipment, hire the next team member, sell a big account, or cast a bold vision about how your team will reach your goals and impact the culture.

Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the Election?
Chip Neidigh
A Safe Place To Fall
A Safe Place To Fall
Dave Ulrich
3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

As we find ourselves mid-October and a blink away from a new calendar year, it is an opportunity to prepare for how we view transitions. Transitions allow for reflection and renewal, for letting go and beginning anew, and for learning from the past and creating the future. Instead of laying out trends for the next year, I would like to comment on a fundamental enabler of any transition: hope. Leaders who want to improve, CEO’s who work toward excellence, HR professionals who aspire to deliver more value, and employees who seek well-being all achieve their transitions by realizing hope.

Hope integrates many of the positive traits that shape transitions for others and matter to me personally: learning, patience, service, faith, humility, optimism, gratitude, and so forth. I send hundreds of formal and informal e-mails every month to invite people to programs, to thank people for attending programs, to check in on those I mentor, and to stay connected to those I care about. I begin almost every one of these notes with “Hope you are well.” Hope is one of my personal desires, tag lines, and biases and an enabler of any transition.

If I could implant one trait in my family, friends, and colleagues who are undergoing continual transition, it would be hope. 

3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

consultant

Benefits of Business Consulting

Benefits of Business Consulting

With a title like the above, you might be expecting me to give you a list of 6 or 8 benefits of business consulting.  Rather than a laundry list of benefits, let me explain the process that will allow you to maximize the use of business consulting.  In today’s complex world the consultant is often not the expert.  Who can be an expert on so many areas and subject matters?  The consultant is proficient in a process that will identify the issues and resources needed.  The benefit of consulting, then, lies in this process instead of specific expertise.

My First Presentation

I still remember my first presentation as a professional consultant. I had only been on the job for a few weeks and we were doing a strategic planning project for a large energy company. I had done a key part of the analysis that needed to be shown to the client, so my manager asked me to give the presentation. Our consulting firm had a particular style for presentations, so my boss did quite a bit of editing and reformatting of my slides. No problem. I thought that I was ready ... until I gave the presentation. I stumbled through it. And I  realized afterwards that even though it was my analysis, it was my manager's presentation. I had never really "owned" the final version of the slides. Leaders are regularly faced with a version of this temptation to "fix" someone else's work, especially when the leader is also the owner. The risk is that in doing so, these leaders take “ownership” away from the staff members who have spent considerable time on the task or project up to that point. That can be demoralizing. But even worse than that, it can also lead to less than satisfactory results. Staff members may fall short when the work is given back to them because they don't understand the "improvements." Or the leader is forced to stay over-involved when he or she should be working on other things.

I don't want my opening illustration to be misunderstood. My manager's changes truly did improve the presentation. It communicated the right information in a much more meaningful way. Some of the fault belonged squarely on my shoulders for not spending more time practicing with the new slides so that I was comfortable with them. But the question remains for every leader: how can you accomplish your goals and meet your standards for excellence and at the same time, allow staff members to retain a sense of ownership?