Tag Archives: michael lee stallard

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Connect at Work During Lunch

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#38 Make Lunch and Break Connections – In many workplace cultures today, taking lunch away from your desk may brand you as a slacker.  It’s too bad this is the case since taking time to connect with someone who energizes you is a great way to boost your personal productivity by refreshing and re-energizing your brain. Try it this week.

This is the thirty-eighth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Maintain Connections…Even When You Disagree

Angry Business Man

#37 Safeguard Relational Connections

Don’t nuke people who disagree with you. If you disagree with someone, say so but do it in a respectful manner. You might even begin your response with “I may be wrong but is it possible that…?” or “It’s just one person’s opinion, and I may be wrong, but I wonder if it could be that….”

If you offended or hurt someone’s feelings, apologize. If someone apologizes to you, give him/her the benefit of the doubt and forgive him/her.

This is the thirty-seventh post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Connect Through Skip Level Meetings

Businessman Conducting a Meeting with His Staff

#36 Hold “Skip Level” Meetings

Hold “skip level” meetings where you meet with the people who report to one of your direct reports. In the skip level meeting, the leader should encourage attendees to share their ideas and opinions about how to improve the business.

To preserve connection with your direct reports, make sure you communicate that you will be hosting these meetings with their teams on a regular basis so they don’t feel that they are being audited. Keep the focus of the meetings on giving people a voice to share ideas for how to improve the business, and debrief with your direct reports so they are in the loop on the feedback shared.

This is the thirty-sixth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Article on Pixar’s Culture Featured in Economic Times

Economic Times LogoPixar’s leadership team has discovered the secret to consistently creating great films, and it has nothing to do with merely hiring great talent (although they do that too). The secret can be summed up in one word: connection.

An article I wrote on the topic has been featured in the Economic Times, India’s premier daily business publication. Be sure to read Animated Leadership: How Catmull & Co. Created a Culture that Consistently Makes Great Films and share your thoughts in the comments.

What lessons from Pixar’s culture will you apply to your own organization?

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Can Phil Jackson Build “the Yankees of Basketball”?

philjackson

As seen on Fox Business.

Phil Jackson, the New York Knicks’ new president of basketball operations, is nothing if not audacious.  After building two basketball dynasties as a coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, he accepted the challenge to achieve a three-peat, but this time in the toughest town of all, New York City.  Furthermore, he will try to build more than a great team.  In his new role, he is responsible for building a broader organization.

Will Jackson end his career in a blaze of glory or will the Knicks and New York City reduce him to smoldering ashes?  Despite the obstacles, I’m betting on the former.  And there will be a lesson for CEOs in watching Jackson in action. 

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We Are Featured: 20 Insightful Leadership and Management Sites

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We are honored to have been featured on Huddle Recruit’s list of 20 insightful leadership and management sites. The list is designed to help entrepreneurs and innovators stay on top of the latest advice, and is a helpful resource for anyone hoping to refine their leadership skills. Check out the great list of blogs and prepare to be inspired.

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Connection Tip: Respect Other People’s Time

Business people holding clocks over their faces

#35 Respect Other People’s Time

When you interrupt someone while he/she is otherwise engaged, show that you respect his/her time by saying, “Sorry to interrupt you. Is this a good time to talk?”

Another way to respect other people’s time is not to linger. If the other person is not very responsive, it may be a sign that he/she is busy and is eager to get back to work. Be sensitive to the other person’s responsiveness or lack thereof as a cue. Many people will not explicitly tell you they are busy because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.

This is the thirty-fifth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Connect at Work: Recruit Best Friends

Two Friends Laughing at Work

#34 Recruit Best Friends

According to Gallup Research, 30 percent of employees have a best friend at work. These employees are seven times as likely to be engaged, they are better at engaging customers, they produce higher quality work and they have higher well-being. People who don’t have a best friend at work have just a 1/12 chance of feeling connected and being engaged.

If you have a best friend who has the competence to fill a role in your organization, recruit him or her.

This is the thirty-fourth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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3 Ways Pixar Gains Competitive Advantage from Its Culture

As seen on Fox Business.

To infinity and beyond: That’s where Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios are headed, provided they maintain the type of leaders that have gotten them this far. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios, describes what he’s learned about leadership and corporate culture in his excellent new book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration.

Pixar has been phenomenally successful with the likes of Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Up, to name but a few of its films. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar to boost its struggling Walt Disney Animation Studios unit. Catmull and John Lasseter, Pixar’s CEO, were appointed to lead the unit as president and CEO, respectively.  With the leadership change, Disney began to produce hits such as Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.  If any doubt existed that Disney’s magic was back, it was put to rest with the 2013 release of the blockbuster movie Frozen.  Having earned well over a billion dollars in revenue at the box office in its first six months, Frozen became the highest-grossing animated feature ever and moved into the top-10 worldwide highest grossing movies of all time.

The success of Pixar and Disney Animation begs the question: what’s the secret sauce? In a word, it’s “culture,” i.e. the shared attitudes, language and behavior that consistently produce excellence in a given endeavor.  With 70 percent of American workers disengaged today, Pixar and Disney Animation provide a model for engaging and energizing employees by making culture a competitive advantage.

Here are three ways Catmull and his leadership team create a culture that consistently makes great films.

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3 Ways to Tap Into the Power of Community

Soccer Team

As seen on SmartBlog on Leadership.

Smart leaders are developing a competitive advantage by creating a sense of connection and community among employees and customers. In the fitness world, SoulCycle and Tough Mudder are two organizations that have successfully tapped into the power of community. Each has developed a vocal and rapidly expanding following.