Leadership Insights

- From the kitchen table of Michael Legut, Ph.D. Key Takeaways A company’s culture has a strong influence on an organization‘s health because it establishes the norms for what is expected in the organization – “what it is like to work around here”.  If the company culture is viewed as negative or toxic, y ou often see low employee morale, declining productivity, under-used talent, poor retention, autocratic leadership styles and employee disengagement. In a toxic culture, employees often feel stressed, burned out, and the work feels like drudgery.  We all have talents and skills that energize us when we use them. When we use out talents, we feel joy, energy and fulfillment.  Achieving better organizational health may be as simple as identifying those strongest talents and competencies and then assigning employeess to work that fit sthose unique talents. People Make It Go We have all heard that company culture is about “what it is like to work around here”. You can feel ...

- From the kitchen table of Michael Legut, Ph.D. Why Do Geese Fly In A “V”    Key Takeaways .   Organizational and team health can be observed in outcomes like high morale, increased productivity, employee retention, goal clarity and internal politics.  Building a healthy and successful team involves understanding the true talents of team members and then finding the right work to fit those talents.  Interpersonal behaviors such as trust, healthy conflict, accountability, commitment to decisions and attention to results, all provide clues to team and organization health. Developing insight to your interpersonal behavior is about embracing self-reflection.  Self-reflectivion is useful for understanding how your own mindset can influence your leader behaviors and your team’s behaviors.  When geese migra te they typically fly in the “V” formation. They have a long journey and the birds know how to work together to survive this journey. The story of why ge...

F rom kitchen table of Michael Legut, PhD.         When I think about the employee issues related to remote or hybrid work, the topic of engagement comes into play. I’m sure that these different work place options have caused many leaders to be concerned about work performance, disengagement and counter productive work behaviors. One thing to understand is that engagement is about relationships. Relationships between the employee, the manager, and the job. When this relationship breaks down, disengagement can become a significant issue for your business. This article will provide a perspective on how to enhance employee engagement when the work place is not  always in-office.       Gallup recently estimated that disengagement costs companies over $550 billion in lost productivity. That may seem like a big number but when you think about the disruptions disengagement creates, such as mistakes, HR issues, firing, hiring - $550 billion cou...

  Strategies to Support Pandemic Change in the Work Environment   - from kitchen table of Michael Legut, PhD. and Dr. Mary Anne Brady. T he pandemic has introduced many changes in employees work activity, schedules and locations. Companies who create strategies and cultures that focus more on the human issues, have the potential of benefiting from a more flexible, engaged and dynamic work force.   The following table is a refinement from previous versions. Our consulting experiences have shown more disruptions are evolving from the pandemic.   Our research indicates that there are opportunities to leverage some of the traditional organization culture elements while integrating more employee needs. Organization Elements Current State Scenario Future State Scenario Proposed Strategic Action Work Location Employee work activity and location is based on the company’s ability to arran...