Today the American Management Association posted a podcast I did with the AMA’s Dave Summers. The topic of the podcast is how to create Connection Cultures that increase employee engagement. You can hear the podcast and even download it on an iPod or iPhone by clicking on employee engagement.
Category Archives: Connection Culture
Webinar: The Connected Enterprise
This Thursday November 6 at 11:00 AM Eastern, I’ll be participating in a webinar hosted by Lee White of E Quint Consulting. The webinar is titled “The Connected Enterprise: Using Social Connectivity to Drive Productivity.” It will consist of a panel discussion with Lee Bryant, Co-Founder, Headshift, Mark Scrimshire, Founder, Ekive and yours truly.
The focus of the conversation will be around the factors that contribute to a successful Enterprise 2.0 implementation, and practical advice for carrying out such a project. Some of the questions the panel will address include:
- How important are the social and behavioral aspects of creating a successful “connected enterprise” initiative, as opposed to the strictly technical aspects?
- How does the use of social tools in the enterprise lead to improvements in employee engagement and employee retention?
- How does opening up information access reduce organizational risk?
Don’t miss what is certain to be an enlightening conversation about the intersection of Enterprise 2.0 and corporate culture. To register for this webinar, click here.
Presidential Leadership: Civility Amidst Stress and the Forces of Incivility
On Thursday John McCain demonstrated the character strength of valor which is defined as speaking up for what is right. As stated in an article that appeared in this morning’sThe New York Times:
When a man told [McCain] he was “scared” of an Obama presidency, Mr. McCain replied, “I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared” of “as president of the United States.” The crowd booed loudly at Mr. McCain’s response.
Speaking at a Social Media Conference in San Francisco
I wanted to let you know that I will be presenting at the Advanced learning Institute’s “Social Media For Internal Communications Conference: How To Engage Employees, Drive Change & Improve Your Bottom Line Using BLOGGING, PODCASTING & The Latest WEB 2.0 Technologies,” November 17-20, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. This conference will focus on how to use social media for internal communications and leverage the latest interactive tools and techniques to advance your organizational goals. You can save $200 by mentioning email code “SPK” when registering and another $400 on top of that if you register by October 2nd (the “early bird” registration deadline).
My session topic will be:“Giving Employees A Voice: How H&R Block Built An Online Community”
For more information or to register, see below or click here to go to the conference website.
Hope to see you there!
Are You Experiencing the Six Universal Needs to Thrive?
Do Your Company’s Mission, Vision and Values fall flat?
A well-articulated mission, vision and set of values increases employee engagement. It’s the responsibility of an organization’s leadership to understand and communicate mission, vision and values. Sadly, most leaders dismiss it as window dressing. Great leaders, however, are serious about this responsibility. Howard Schultz of Starbucks did a remarkable job when he wrote the book Pour Your Heart Into it. Here’s another outstanding example below from the commander of the nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Montpelier. Next month Jason Pankau and I will holding a training session for managers at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics. They build nuclear submarines. When I recently read Montpelier Command Philosophy, my thoughts were on the people I’ve met and worked with at Lockheed Martin Aerospace and who build and maintain military aircraft and those I’ll meet who build nuclear submarines. Their work is so important to protect liberty on the world. I hope they appreciate it.
The USS Montpelier Command Philosophy
Webcast: Beryl Companies’ Remarkable Corporate Culture
Tune in on Monday September, 29 at 11:00 AM Eastern to hear my guest Paul Spiegelman, CEO of Beryl Companies, talk about the remarkable corporate culture at Beryl and how it has resulted in high levels of employee engagement and retention. This organization is one of the best examples of a Connection Culture that I am aware of and Paul is an extraordinary leader and author of Why is Everyone Smiling?
For more about the webcast click on employee engagement.
Webcast Tomorrow: H&R Block Connects to Improve Employee Engagement
Tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM EST I will host a webcast with my guest Kristina Patrick, Senior Project Manager for Outreach and Business Development at H&R Block. When H&R Block’s new leaders wanted to engage employees by involving them in a conversation about the firm’s activities, they turned to Kristina. With a meager budget Kristina and her colleagues produced a remarkable internal news and social media platform that had H&R Blockers buzzing. Tune into this webcast to hear how you and your company can increase employee engagement and get the biggest bang out of your internal communications and social media budgets. You can sign up to attend by clicking on employee engagement.
Do you thrive at work? Connection is key to employee engagement.
In this presentation to executives at Lockheed Martin, Michael Lee Stallard explains why organizations and individuals need Connection Cultures to thrive.
Michael Stallard on Connection Cultures from Michael Stallard on Vimeo.
Great News Today From Katie’s Oncologist
Forgive me for this self indulgent post but I feel like shouting to the world what my wife Katie’s oncologist just told us today: Katie is not likely to have a recurrence of ovarian cancer after being in remission for nearly five years now. We celebrated the good news with Dr. Hensley, our oncologist, and Nick the doorman (and now receptionist) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who I’ve written about.
In honor of the occasion, I’m posting an essay I wrote about our experience, how our family members and friends helped us through a difficult season, and how the experience changed my life. Feeling that people really cared for Katie and our family helped me see how important relationships are in life and to employee engagement in the workplace. Here’s the essay:
Many inspiring articles have been written about cancer survivors and how the experience of facing cancer and overcoming it changed their lives. Fewer are the stories of those who walk beside them. Just as a stone tossed into still waters sends ripples to every shore, the impact of a cancer diagnosis stirs up the lives of more than just the patient. This is my story of walking beside my wife Katie during her battle against first one cancer and then a second a year later, a journey that has changed my life in expected and unexpected ways.