“Hands down, face-to-face is the best” (pun intentional)

Confession: I have as much fun talking about LEGO® bricks as I do working with them. I actually use these colorful plastic building blocks in team development as a Certified Facilitator in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) – a novel approach that enables participants to “think with their hands and listen with their eyes.” I had 

Continue Reading…

How to Respond When Your Best Employees Quit – Guest Post

[Note: Following up How To Avoid Losing Your Best Employees, Meredith Wood shares the warning signs of when employees are getting ready to leave and how to respond when they do.] U.S. workers are also quitting their jobs more than ever before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In October 2018, over 2% of 

Continue Reading…

Not So Different – Helping Children Understand

He’s a writer of a popular blog, a book author, and sports freak. He’s cofounder of a growing nonprofit that helps others live better. He’s an in-demand speaker for audiences that range from elementary schools to universities to pharmaceutical companies. He loves to travel with his girlfriend and his family. He’s Shane Burcaw, and his 

Continue Reading…

Engaging Workplace Wisdom — Tips on What Works to Engage Others

While I typically speak about employee/volunteer engagement with people currently active in the workforce, the prospect of being with an audience of retirees was too good to pass up. My recent session for Penn State Lehigh Valley’s SAGE Lecture Series was designed with a dual purpose: 1) share the current state of workplace engagement and 2) tap into 

Continue Reading…

How to (Gently) End a Customer Relationship

When I asked other business professionals when it’s best to lose a customer or client, the reasons boiled down to the customer’s lack of respect and not being fully committed to the working relationship. Examples cited included: difficult interactions with or mistreating customer-contact employees being unresponsive and uncooperative paying late or not at all. The 

Continue Reading…

When It’s Best to Lose a Customer or Client

Despite the best intentions, there are times when it’s necessary to give up a customer or client. The reasons vary, as I learned when I asked colleagues why they stopped working with customers. In their own words (and in no particular order), here’s what they said about terminating customer/client relationships. It’s time to cut a 

Continue Reading…

Revisiting the Old “New Different” for Marketers

It’s been nearly seven years since I featured excerpts from Chris Bonney‘s white paper, The View from the Front, about adapting to the recession in my post, Help For Marketers Dealing with the “New Different.” Back then … What’s amazing to me is how little conditions have actually changed since Chris described them in 2009: “Consumers have 

Continue Reading…

How to Keep Your Employees Engaged During the Holidays

The last few weeks of the calendar year are stressful in the workplace as people become distracted preparing for the holidays. Employees can be overwhelmed with year-end reporting and planning deadlines just as everyone else seems to be using up the last of their vacation days. And those at work may be so into the 

Continue Reading…