Chris Dorobek, the well-respected talk show host of Federal News Radio in Washington, D.C, recently interviewed Jason Pankau and yours truly about employee engagement and strategic alignment based on an article Jason and I wrote for the award-winning Leader to Leader Journal entitled “To Boost Performance, Connect with the Core.” You can listen to the unedited radio interview at this link.
Tag Archives: connection cultures
Hundreds of Employee Engagement Ideas
My friend David Zinger, founder of the Employee Engagement Network, organized a number of leading thinkers and experts on employee engagement and asked each to provide 10 ideas to increase employee engagement. The results were compiled in an e-book entitled The Top Tens of Employee Engagement. It’s a great resource to get actionable ideas that will boost employee engagement. Check it out.
Brain Research: To Improve Learning, Use Whole Body
We learn best when we think, feel and do. That’s the message of Dr. Adele Diamond, a cognitive developmental neuroscientist who currently teaches at the University of British Columbia in Canada. We might refer to this as “whole body learning.” According to Dr. Diamond, the executive function of the brain — the prefrontal cortex — works best when we go beyond the rational mind by also involving emotions and physical behaviors. That makes sense since the more we involve other parts of the brain, the more neural connections we make that reinforce learning.
The implications are wide-ranging. It reminds me of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Robert Sternberg’s identification of different thinking styles. The more we incorporate different approaches to learning that speak to diverse individuals who are wired to learn differently, the greater the probability they will in fact learn.
Are you using more than analytic, rational methods of learning? Do you use stories to move people emotionally? Do you employ exercises that require people to behave in ways that will help them learn?
For those who want to go deeper, there a fascinating hour-long interview of Dr. Adele Diamond by Krista Tippett of American Public Radio’s “Speaking of Faith” program that you can hear at this link.
Video Training: Connection Cultures in Churches
Some of you know that in addition to speaking and teaching leadership at organizations such at Google, NASA, Johnson & Johnson and the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business, Jason Pankau and I frequently speak in churches about how Judaeo-Christian values lived out create what we refer to as a “Connection Culture.” To learn more, watch the following video series of Jason Pankau teaching a workshop on Connection Cultures for Churches.
Session 1 – The Case for Connection
Session 2 – Creating a Connection Culture
Session 3 – Inspiring Identity
Session 4 – Knowledge Flow
Session 5 – Committed Members and Servant Leaders
Friedman, Seidman on Character & Connection
Here is an outstanding session from the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival where Dov Seidman and Tom Friedman discuss the importance of individual and corporate character in a connected world. I was fortunate to attend the first Aspen Institute Ideas Festival some years back where it seemed all the speakers touched on the issue of connection. In a future blog post, I plan to share some of my thoughts related to connection that I recorded in my personal journal following that event.
Adams Family Character
This weekend, my wife Katie and I went for a rare getaway to Boston, about a three hour drive from our home in Connecticut. Our primary interest was to see the home of the Adams family, not of the television sitcom fame, however. We were interested in seeing the other Adams family, John and Abigail Adams, and their son John Quincy Adams. Katie and I much admire the Adams’s for their character, their faith and the positive impact they had America.
As it turned out, Sunday was the birthday of John Quincy Adams. When we visited the tombs of the Adams’s we saw a wreath on John Quincy Adam’s tomb sent from President Obama.
The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the Mendi Bible that was given by the Mendi men to John Quincy Adams in thanks for representing them in their successful case to win their freedom, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Mendi Bible is kept in a safe except on the weekend of John Quincy Adams’s birthday when it is on display in the Adams’s library adjacent to their home in Quincy, Massachusetts.
The tour guide let me read a copy of the letter the Mendi Men presented to John Quincy Adams at the time they gave him the Bible. The letter expressed their gratitude to President Adams, how much the Bible meant to them during their time in prison and how they continue reading it now that they are free. President Adams wrote back to the Mendi that “it was from that book that I learnt to espouse your cause when you were in trouble.”
The story of the Mendi men was captured in Stephen Spielberg’s highly acclaimed movie “Amistad,” which I encourage you to see. In 2007, Deval Patrick, Massachusett’s first African-American governor, was sworn in using the Mendi Bible (you can read about it in this Boston Globe article.)
Near the church where the Adams’s are entombed, there is a statue of young John Quincy at around nine years old holding the hand of his mother Abigail. She was a remarkable woman of faith, wisdom and courage. Knowing the stories of John and Abigail Adams it should come as no surprise that their son went on to become America’s sixth president and later a defender of liberty and justice in the case of the Mendi’s. As historian David McCullough wrote,
“While there are indeed great, often unfathomable forces in history before which even the most exceptional of individuals seem insignificant, the wonder is how often events turn upon a single personality, or the quality we call character.”
The Adams’ family was a tremendous example of strength of character in action. I was encouraged learning more about them.
Learning about and celebrating the stories of individuals who have good character is one way we can be encouraged to live up to their example. By developing habits that reflect strength of character in our lives and teaching the stories of role models such as the Adams’s to our children we help them develop good character too.
Best Practice Institute Employee Engagement Webinar
On July 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm EDT, Michael and Jason Pankau will join the Best Practice Institute to present a 45 minute webinar on creating a work environment to maximize employee engagement and strategic alignment. Following the webinar there will be a 15 minute period for Q&A.
During the session, Michael and Jason will cover:
- Six universal human needs to thrive at work
- Three core elements of a culture that motivates employees to give their all
- Best practices of leaders who energize the people they lead
- Why task and relationship excellence are necessary to achieve sustainable superior performance.
You can register for the webinar at this link.
LeaderLab Podcast Interview
Jason Pankau and I were recently guests on LeaderLab’s podcast interviews available online or at iTunes. LeaderLab’s podcasts are hosted by David Burkus. David’s past guests on LeaderLab’s podcasts have included Marshall Goldsmith, Daniel Pink and Steve Farber. Check it out.
July’s Leadership Carnival
The Need to Respect Legitimate Authority and One’s Colleagues
With the recent firing of General McChrystal as commander of American forces in Afghanistan over his insubordination, I thought it would be an ideal time to reproduce here what I wrote in Fired Up or Burned Out about one of the greatest military leaders in history, America’s Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall.
Marshall created a culture that stands in stark contrast to the culture created by General McChrystal as reported in a Rolling Stone magazine article entitled “The Runaway General.” Defenders of McChrystal argue he was speaking truth to power. General Marshall was known for speaking truth to power but, unlike McChrystal, he recognized the need to respect legitimate authority and to always be respectful in dealing with the people he interacted with whether they were fellow soldiers, diplomats or representatives of foreign governments.
Because Marshall possessed humility of character, he knew that he was not always right and had to defer to the decisions of his superior in the chain-of-command then put extra effort into executing such decisions. As a result, Marshall had the complete confidence of the leaders he reported to such as General John “Blackjack” Pershing and President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt.
Marshall should be one of the role models all leaders strive to emulate. The title of the chapter I wrote about General Marshall was “Soldier of Peace.” You can read it below.