Mike Kanazawa has written a terrific new manifesto for changethis.com entitled People Don’t Hate Change, They Hate How You’re Trying to Change Them. In it he explains why change programs fail to gain traction. Mike is the CEO of Dissero Partners. He is also the co-author with Robert Miles of the excellent book entitled Big Ideas to Big Results. Mike understands the importance of focus, of connecting with people and being inclusive by keeping people informed and giving them a voice in the change process. After you check out Mike’s free, downloadable manifesto, I’m sure you’ll want to go deeper by reading his book.
Category Archives: Connection Culture
Staying Connected With Your Family
My blog is primarily about Connection Cultures in the workplace and how they increase employee engagement. Connection is even more important at home. I’ve had several friends who were so swept up in their careers that they ignored and lost connection with their spouses. Their lives drifted apart and their marriages soon ended in divorce.
Maureen Dowd at The New York Times wrote a gem of an article entitled “An Ideal Husband” that infers the importance of relational connection in marriage. There’s a lot of wisdom in this article. I’ll be reading it soon to my two teenage daughters.
Wisdom in Starting on a Positive Note
It’s wise to begin your day on a positive note by saying “good morning” to your colleagues at work. Failing to recognize them is to communicate indifference. It’s also wise to begin every meeting with a positive comment. Research has shown that beginning a meeting with a positive comment makes group participants better listeners and makes the group more constructive. These benefits of starting your day and meetings off on a positive note are consistent with the findings of Professor Barbara Frederickson’s research on positive emotions.
I learned the foregoing from my friend Alex Kjerulf. Check out his Chief Happiness Officer blog and his book entitled Happy Hour is 9 to 5: Learn How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work.
Our Responsibility to Connect to the Disconnected Among Us
Years ago when I attended a large church in Wheaton, Illinois, I remember the Asgedom family who came from a refugee camp in Sudan. They were ever present members of our church community. Mawi Asgedom was a young boy at that time. I recently learned that Mawi went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard in 1999 and was voted by his fellow students to be one of the Harvard’s four commencement speakers.
Standing before an audience of 30,000 Mawi gave a remarkable speech entitled “Of Snakes, Butterfies and Small Acts of Kindness.”
Forgiveness as a Bridge to Unity
Nelson Mandela recently celebrated his 90th birthday. I’m grateful for this man and the wisdom of his example. When he entered Robben Island Prison he was known for confronting his enemies. When he was released 27 years later, Mandela stunned South Africans with his magnanimous behavior toward former adversaries.
Changing Values at The Wall Street Journal
Disconnection occurs when an acquiring company and the employees of its newly acquired company define excellence in different ways. In this month’s Atlantic, Mark Bowden writes about this issue in an excellent article entitled “Mr. Murdoch Goes to War.” The article, as you might guess from its title, is about how Rupert Murdoch is altering The Wall Street Journal.
One of the three elements of a Connection Culture is Vision, which includes an organization’s mission, values and reputation. Altering an organization’s identity is tricky business. This is especially true when the employees of an organization have a strong emotional connection to the organization’s identity. In such situations employee engagement can decline and quality of execution along with it.
This is a story I’ll be watching closely for possible inclusion in my next book. If you have any insights about changes at The Wall Street Journal, please post about them or email me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.com.
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”
A friend’s email just reminded me of Benjamin Franklin’s words to his fellow signers of the Declaration of Independence. “We must hang together, or we shall surely hang separately,” opined Franklin following the Continental Congress approval of the Declaration. Franklin’s words conveyed a literal meaning in that signing the Declaration was treason according to King George III and therefore punishable by death. Since that time, “hanging together” has kept America strong. Adolf Hitler, Nikita Khruschev and, more recently, Osama bin Laden, proclaimed that America’s diverse ethnicities and creeds would result in disunity in the face of adversity. They missed the real source of America’s unity.
The Brain, Change and Connection Cultures
Consultant and blogger Michael DeWitt just posted an insightful video on his Spooky Action blog about how the human brain works and its implications for organizational change efforts. He concludes that leaders should create Connection Cultures to help members of organizations accept and implement change. Check out DeWitt’s blog. It’s one of the blogs I frequently read for its wisdom on topics such as leadership, organizations and employee engagement.
Vistage Course on Connection Cultures
Vistage, the world’s largest organization for chief executive officers, has established a course to help its members create Connection Cultures and increase employee engagement, productivity, innovation and profitability. E Pluribus Partners will conduct the course for Vistage.
Presentation to Wharton Alumni
On September 17, I’ll be giving a presentation to members of the Wharton Alumni Club in New York City. The presentation will be about how Connection Cultures meet universal human needs to thrive at work and in life outside of work. Details can be found at this link.