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This practical, comprehensive guide to designing and running more effective meetings will result in less time wasted, more collaborative decision-making, and measurably improved business outcomes.
This valuable resource lays out a structured method for designing and leading better meetings. Its facilitative approach marks a transition from the leader as “the expert with the answers” to a new world where the leader's job is to ask the right questions and manage context. To ask the right questions, facilitators need access to a wide range of tools and expertise to match the tool with the situation. With facilitative tools properly applied, leaders can build consensus around important questions, creating buy-in among team members and stakeholders, which will make their work so much more effective. At the end of every meeting, the participants, not the presenter, will own the content, which is key. Used correctly, these resources can help build a culture of engagement and motivation. This book is an easy-to-navigate catalog of tools collected and tested by the MG Rush Facilitation consultancy to provide evidence-based results.
This valuable resource lays out a structured method for designing and leading better meetings. Its facilitative approach marks a transition from the leader as “the expert with the answers” to a new world where the leader's job is to ask the right questions and manage context. To ask the right questions, facilitators need access to a wide range of tools and expertise to match the tool with the situation. With facilitative tools properly applied, leaders can build consensus around important questions, creating buy-in among team members and stakeholders, which will make their work so much more effective. At the end of every meeting, the participants, not the presenter, will own the content, which is key. Used correctly, these resources can help build a culture of engagement and motivation. This book is an easy-to-navigate catalog of tools collected and tested by the MG Rush Facilitation consultancy to provide evidence-based results.
What Would It Be Like to Restore Sanity? What would it be like to work together again in creative and generous ways? What would it be like to be curious about who you're with rather than judging or fearing them? What would it be like to engage together in exploring possibilities rather than withdrawing in conflict or disagreement? What would it be like to be working well together?
From 50 years working with leaders globally, I state with full confidence that leadership has never been more difficult. And it's not our fault. We've been good and caring leaders, we've led people in empowering, engaging ways to create meaningful, productive work. But now we face external conditions far beyond our control to change, dynamics intensifying at shocking speed.
The perfect storm is here, created by the coalescence of climate and human-created catastrophes. As leaders dedicated to serving the causes and people we treasure, confronted by this unrelenting tsunami, what are we to do? I state my answer to this also with full confidence:
We need to restore sanity by awakening the human spirit. We can achieve this only if we undertake the most challenging and meaningful work of our leader lives: Creating Islands of Sanity.
An Island of Sanity is a gift of possibility and refuge created by people's commitment to form healthy community to do meaningful work. It requires sane leaders with unshakable faith in people's innate generosity, creativity, and kindness. It sets itself apart as an island to protect itself from the life-destroying dynamics, policies, and behaviors that oppress and deny the human spirit. No matter what is happening around us, we can discover practices that enliven our human spirits and produce meaningful contributions for this time.
From 50 years working with leaders globally, I state with full confidence that leadership has never been more difficult. And it's not our fault. We've been good and caring leaders, we've led people in empowering, engaging ways to create meaningful, productive work. But now we face external conditions far beyond our control to change, dynamics intensifying at shocking speed.
The perfect storm is here, created by the coalescence of climate and human-created catastrophes. As leaders dedicated to serving the causes and people we treasure, confronted by this unrelenting tsunami, what are we to do? I state my answer to this also with full confidence:
We need to restore sanity by awakening the human spirit. We can achieve this only if we undertake the most challenging and meaningful work of our leader lives: Creating Islands of Sanity.
An Island of Sanity is a gift of possibility and refuge created by people's commitment to form healthy community to do meaningful work. It requires sane leaders with unshakable faith in people's innate generosity, creativity, and kindness. It sets itself apart as an island to protect itself from the life-destroying dynamics, policies, and behaviors that oppress and deny the human spirit. No matter what is happening around us, we can discover practices that enliven our human spirits and produce meaningful contributions for this time.
Take ownership of your work and unleash the power of agency in your organization!
To help give employees the power, influence, and voice necessary to truly excel in their workplace, organizational development experts Miller and Katz reveal the importance of agency and offer practical advice on how to achieve it.
With more knowledge workers entering the workplace, many are being stifled by traditional employee-manager relationships that hamper their ability to fully contribute and feel engaged at work. And in a constantly changing and competitive world of work, organizations must evolve to keep up with worker satisfaction or else face a decrease in performance and loss in talent.
The solution? Enabling your employees to exercise their individual agency in the workplace. Through an actionable roadmap that highlights common pitfalls and practical steps necessary for establishing a culture of greater agency, this book will provide individuals, teams, managers, and leaders with concrete ways to clarify their current level of agency and identifies specific actions they can take to exercise greater agency.
To help give employees the power, influence, and voice necessary to truly excel in their workplace, organizational development experts Miller and Katz reveal the importance of agency and offer practical advice on how to achieve it.
With more knowledge workers entering the workplace, many are being stifled by traditional employee-manager relationships that hamper their ability to fully contribute and feel engaged at work. And in a constantly changing and competitive world of work, organizations must evolve to keep up with worker satisfaction or else face a decrease in performance and loss in talent.
The solution? Enabling your employees to exercise their individual agency in the workplace. Through an actionable roadmap that highlights common pitfalls and practical steps necessary for establishing a culture of greater agency, this book will provide individuals, teams, managers, and leaders with concrete ways to clarify their current level of agency and identifies specific actions they can take to exercise greater agency.
From Great Place to Work, which produces the popular FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For ranking, comes a new definition of what it takes to make an organization great FOR ALL--for the business, for people and for the world.
For 20 years Great Place to Work has published their gold-standard list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. But their latest research shows that what was good enough to be a "great" workplace 10 or 20 years ago is not good enough now. Even at the best workplaces, leaders can--and must--do better. CEO Michael C. Bush and his team connect the dots to show how the emerging economy is about developing every ounce of human potential. Today's business climate is defined by speed, social technologies and people expecting "values" besides value. As a result, leaders have to create an outstanding culture for everyone, no matter who they are or what they do for the organization. They have to build a Great Place to Work For All.
The authors share new research on how Great Places to Work For All outperform in the stock market and grow revenue 3x faster than less-inclusive rivals. Bush and his team tell surprising, inspiring stories about how closing gaps in the work experience between groups of employees pays off for everyone. They document the ways Great Places to Work For All benefit the individuals working there and contribute to a better global society. And they introduce a new leadership framework, showing the advantages of what the authors define as Level 5 "For All" leaders. In effect, the times demand executives who not only are business-savvy but also are devoted to fairness, have deep faith in people, and empower all individuals to reach their full human potential. This is a call to lead so that organizations bring out the best in everyone.
For 20 years Great Place to Work has published their gold-standard list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. But their latest research shows that what was good enough to be a "great" workplace 10 or 20 years ago is not good enough now. Even at the best workplaces, leaders can--and must--do better. CEO Michael C. Bush and his team connect the dots to show how the emerging economy is about developing every ounce of human potential. Today's business climate is defined by speed, social technologies and people expecting "values" besides value. As a result, leaders have to create an outstanding culture for everyone, no matter who they are or what they do for the organization. They have to build a Great Place to Work For All.
The authors share new research on how Great Places to Work For All outperform in the stock market and grow revenue 3x faster than less-inclusive rivals. Bush and his team tell surprising, inspiring stories about how closing gaps in the work experience between groups of employees pays off for everyone. They document the ways Great Places to Work For All benefit the individuals working there and contribute to a better global society. And they introduce a new leadership framework, showing the advantages of what the authors define as Level 5 "For All" leaders. In effect, the times demand executives who not only are business-savvy but also are devoted to fairness, have deep faith in people, and empower all individuals to reach their full human potential. This is a call to lead so that organizations bring out the best in everyone.
This powerful guide draws on strategies from Black resistance movements and merges historical wisdom with modern technology to combat the DEI backlash and build sustainable workplace equity in today’s hostile climate.
As the unprecedented backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion intensifies—with corporations dismantling initiatives, lawmakers passing anti-DEI legislation, and post–George Floyd promises abandoned—this tactical handbook arms advocates with revolutionary resistance strategies drawn from Black historical movements.
Dr. Janice Gassam Asare transforms centuries of Black resistance wisdom—from Underground Railroad networks to civil rights organizing tactics—into modern resistance plans, wielding ethical AI as a force multiplier to create sustainable change that outlasts corporate whims and political cycles.
Each chapter grounds modern workplace tactics in revolutionary approaches of more than twenty prominent Black historical figures, including the following:
This isn’t just about surviving the backlash. It’s about reimagining workplaces where everyone thrives.
As the unprecedented backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion intensifies—with corporations dismantling initiatives, lawmakers passing anti-DEI legislation, and post–George Floyd promises abandoned—this tactical handbook arms advocates with revolutionary resistance strategies drawn from Black historical movements.
Dr. Janice Gassam Asare transforms centuries of Black resistance wisdom—from Underground Railroad networks to civil rights organizing tactics—into modern resistance plans, wielding ethical AI as a force multiplier to create sustainable change that outlasts corporate whims and political cycles.
Each chapter grounds modern workplace tactics in revolutionary approaches of more than twenty prominent Black historical figures, including the following:
- Ida B. Wells—Documentation techniques for workplace injustice inspired by her work
- Ella Baker and Fred Hampton—Coalition-building methods from the American civil rights movement
- Toni Morrison and Angela Davis—Narrative control strategies drawn from their celebrated writing
This isn’t just about surviving the backlash. It’s about reimagining workplaces where everyone thrives.
Bestselling author Lynda Gratton-a world-renowned authority on business strategy-takes an extensive look at Hot Spots-places and times where cooperation flourishes, resulting in productivity and excitement. Now, these previously unexplained flares of ideas and innovation are thoroughly examined, as Gratton shows how to develop of Hot Spots within ones own environment.
In this thoroughly updated and expanded edition of the bestselling guide (over 20,000 of the 1st edition sold) to employee recognition, author Cindy Ventrice explores how managers need to adapt their recognition strategies to deal with global, virtual, and generational realities. Additions include chapters on workplace culture, fairness, and remote communication.
Everybody hates meetings. And why shouldn't they? Most meetings are poorly led, counter-productive, and time-wasting. Based on decades of practice and research, bestselling authors Weisbord and Janoff have come to the conclusion that most people lead meetings incorrectly. They, instead, propose ten contrarian principles that actually get things done.
Innovation comes from creative tension, not harmonious interaction, says “Dean of Innovation” Jeff DeGraff. He identifies four basic approaches to innovation and shows how leaders can manage the inevitable conflicts between them to create brilliant, unexpected hybrid solutions.
From years of research and practical experience as a consultant, Jeff DeGraff has learned that when it comes to any innovation initiative, disharmony is crucial. We innovate when we disrupt, and we first have to disrupt each other.
DeGraff identifies four contrasting types of innovators. There's the wild experimentation of the Artist, the pragmatic caution of the Engineer, the urgent competitiveness of the Athlete, and the patient community building of the Sage. He includes exercises so readers can find where they fit into this framework and shows how to build, manage, and embrace the dynamic discord of a team that contains all four types. When you combine the visionary thinking of the Artist and the practical thinking of the Engineer, you get innovation that's both revolutionary and manageable, highly ambitious without high risk. When you combine the results-oriented attitude of the Athlete with the values-oriented attitude of the Sage, you get innovation that's both a good investment and good for the world. This is a profound but highly accessible guide for achieving breakthrough solutions by utilizing the full-and seemingly contradictory-spectrum of innovative thinking.
From years of research and practical experience as a consultant, Jeff DeGraff has learned that when it comes to any innovation initiative, disharmony is crucial. We innovate when we disrupt, and we first have to disrupt each other.
DeGraff identifies four contrasting types of innovators. There's the wild experimentation of the Artist, the pragmatic caution of the Engineer, the urgent competitiveness of the Athlete, and the patient community building of the Sage. He includes exercises so readers can find where they fit into this framework and shows how to build, manage, and embrace the dynamic discord of a team that contains all four types. When you combine the visionary thinking of the Artist and the practical thinking of the Engineer, you get innovation that's both revolutionary and manageable, highly ambitious without high risk. When you combine the results-oriented attitude of the Athlete with the values-oriented attitude of the Sage, you get innovation that's both a good investment and good for the world. This is a profound but highly accessible guide for achieving breakthrough solutions by utilizing the full-and seemingly contradictory-spectrum of innovative thinking.
Leadership is critical for any company's success, but how can you put a concrete, measurable value on it? For the first time, David Ulrich shows how anyone can effectively evaluate the impact of leadership quality on the market value of any firm.
Everyone agrees that much of the success of any company depends on the quality of its leadership. Yet there is has been no rigorous, comprehensive way of rating leadership quality as it relates to company market value-until now.
In this book leading scholar, author, and consultant Dave Ulrich provides a “leadership capital index” – a thorough way of assessing how the quality of a company's leadership impacts its value (e.g., like a Moody's index for leadership). Drawing on ten years of work Ulrich finally offers an alternative to the instinctive and subjective approaches people have been forced to take in the past.
In successive chapters, Ulrich develops multiple dimensions of this leadership capital index, including leaders' personal abilities (their personal proficiency, strategic proficiency, execution proficiency, people proficiency, and leadership brand proficiency) and organizational leadership capabilities (cultural capability, talent management, performance accountability, information management systems, and work process). The result is a groundbreaking book that opens up a major new area of understanding and analysis of business and leadership.
Everyone agrees that much of the success of any company depends on the quality of its leadership. Yet there is has been no rigorous, comprehensive way of rating leadership quality as it relates to company market value-until now.
In this book leading scholar, author, and consultant Dave Ulrich provides a “leadership capital index” – a thorough way of assessing how the quality of a company's leadership impacts its value (e.g., like a Moody's index for leadership). Drawing on ten years of work Ulrich finally offers an alternative to the instinctive and subjective approaches people have been forced to take in the past.
In successive chapters, Ulrich develops multiple dimensions of this leadership capital index, including leaders' personal abilities (their personal proficiency, strategic proficiency, execution proficiency, people proficiency, and leadership brand proficiency) and organizational leadership capabilities (cultural capability, talent management, performance accountability, information management systems, and work process). The result is a groundbreaking book that opens up a major new area of understanding and analysis of business and leadership.
Organizations need innovation, and there is a source right under their noses. Research has shown that people with multiple cultural experiences have higher levels of creativity-David Thomas shows how to create a workplace in which multiculturals can thrive and everyone can benefit from their insights.
In today's rapidly evolving business world continual innovation is now a must. Scholar and consultant David C. Thomas says the same forces of globalization that have created today's superheated competitive environment have also provided a potential hidden advantage: the multiculturals in your midst.
Thomas cites ample research and examples showing that people who have experienced more than one culture are more creative that those with more limited experience. Multiculturals have a broader worldview. Having to integrate different cultural values forces them to develop more complex ways of thinking and makes them better able to see new patterns and connections. Their heightened empathy, the result of learning to adapt to sometimes wildly different cultures, helps them build support for their ideas and work effectively on the teams that implement them.
This book makes a powerful business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity. Thomas looks at how different people express their multicultural identities and how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish, And he shows how even the most monocultural among us can develop the characteristics of a multicultural mind.
In today's rapidly evolving business world continual innovation is now a must. Scholar and consultant David C. Thomas says the same forces of globalization that have created today's superheated competitive environment have also provided a potential hidden advantage: the multiculturals in your midst.
Thomas cites ample research and examples showing that people who have experienced more than one culture are more creative that those with more limited experience. Multiculturals have a broader worldview. Having to integrate different cultural values forces them to develop more complex ways of thinking and makes them better able to see new patterns and connections. Their heightened empathy, the result of learning to adapt to sometimes wildly different cultures, helps them build support for their ideas and work effectively on the teams that implement them.
This book makes a powerful business case for recognizing and cultivating a new dimension of diversity. Thomas looks at how different people express their multicultural identities and how to establish the organizational conditions under which multiculturals can flourish, And he shows how even the most monocultural among us can develop the characteristics of a multicultural mind.
The authors of the bestseller The Secret (over 350,000 copies sold)-legendary bestselling author Ken Blanchard and top Chick-fil-A executive Mark Miller-offer profound wisdom and practical advice for how to keep growing in your leadership effectiveness throughout your life.
This book provides the first deep understanding of a new approach to OD, one better suited to dealing with the complexity and rapid pace of change today.
This is the first authoritative source on an exciting new development in transformational change practices at individual, group, organizational, and societal levels. Dialogic OD theory integrates the latest thinking on the power of narrative and language to create social reality with the latest thinking on applying the science of complexity to changing organizations. This contrasts with the tendency in traditional “diagnostic” OD to think about organizations as fixed objects to be scientifically investigated by conducting an accurate diagnosis-ensuring that conversations convey objective reality (the facts)-and change as something that is episodic and can be planned and managed. Dialogic OD emerged as an approach for dealing with the complex adaptive challenges that organizations face today.
The book has three main sections: an introductory section that explains Dialogic OD and the dialogic mindset, its origins, how it differs from as well as integrates other forms of consulting and change, and implications for practice; a theory section that explains the main philosophical and scientific theories since the 1980s that support or contribute to dialogic thinking; and a practice section that covers how to work from a dialogic mindset with examples of specific practices.
This is the first authoritative source on an exciting new development in transformational change practices at individual, group, organizational, and societal levels. Dialogic OD theory integrates the latest thinking on the power of narrative and language to create social reality with the latest thinking on applying the science of complexity to changing organizations. This contrasts with the tendency in traditional “diagnostic” OD to think about organizations as fixed objects to be scientifically investigated by conducting an accurate diagnosis-ensuring that conversations convey objective reality (the facts)-and change as something that is episodic and can be planned and managed. Dialogic OD emerged as an approach for dealing with the complex adaptive challenges that organizations face today.
The book has three main sections: an introductory section that explains Dialogic OD and the dialogic mindset, its origins, how it differs from as well as integrates other forms of consulting and change, and implications for practice; a theory section that explains the main philosophical and scientific theories since the 1980s that support or contribute to dialogic thinking; and a practice section that covers how to work from a dialogic mindset with examples of specific practices.
This long awaited 2nd edition of a classic title expands and deepens the story of Mike Wilson, an unlikely servant leader.
At a time of increasing concern about ethics at the top, The Serving Leader makes the case for an approach to leadership that is both more moral and more effective than the ruthless, anything-for-the-bottom-line approach that has brought disgrace-and often ruin- to many once-mighty organizations. "Serving leaders" lead by serving others, not by using them. As one of the characters in the book notes, "A leader qualifies to be first by putting other people first." It sounds paradoxical, but it works-and The Serving Leader shows precisely how and why.
While Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert use a parable to outline the basics of servant leadership, all the people in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based on real organizations-and the results they achieved are what really happened. On one level The Serving Leader is the most practical guide available to implementing servant leadership; on a deeper level, it is a book about the personal journey of growth that real leadership requires.
This 2nd edition features a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, a new introduction by the authors, and a new chapter checking back in with Mike, the main character, to see what he has learned 12 years after he embraced servant leadership.
At a time of increasing concern about ethics at the top, The Serving Leader makes the case for an approach to leadership that is both more moral and more effective than the ruthless, anything-for-the-bottom-line approach that has brought disgrace-and often ruin- to many once-mighty organizations. "Serving leaders" lead by serving others, not by using them. As one of the characters in the book notes, "A leader qualifies to be first by putting other people first." It sounds paradoxical, but it works-and The Serving Leader shows precisely how and why.
While Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert use a parable to outline the basics of servant leadership, all the people in it are based on real people, the organizations depicted are based on real organizations-and the results they achieved are what really happened. On one level The Serving Leader is the most practical guide available to implementing servant leadership; on a deeper level, it is a book about the personal journey of growth that real leadership requires.
This 2nd edition features a new foreword by Ken Blanchard, a new introduction by the authors, and a new chapter checking back in with Mike, the main character, to see what he has learned 12 years after he embraced servant leadership.
Helping others is one of the most universal things that people do every day in their work and lives. Yet often this help is not helpful or is resented or refused. In this seminal book, a preeminent author and scholar analyzes the dynamics of helping relationships and shows how to provide help that is really helpful.
Laura Stack, aka The Productivity Pro®, offers an up-to-date guide packed with advice to help busy executives make sure they are both efficient and effective
Inspired by Peter Drucker's classic The Effective Executive, Laura Stack offers a productivity bible for the 21st century. She focuses on time management strategies today's executives can use to quickly obtain profitable, productive results by managing the intersection between two critical values: effectiveness and efficiency.
Effectiveness, Stack says, is identifying and achieving the best objectives for your organization-doing the right things. Efficiency is accomplishing them with the least time, effort, and cost possible-doing things right. If you're not clear on both, you're wasting your time. As Drucker put it, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Stack identifies twelve practices that will enable executives to be effective and efficient, grouped in three broad areas: strategy, teamwork, and tactics. For each practice she offers tips, techniques, and advice based on her work with individuals and organizations all over the world. There are dozens and dozens of great ideas here for making your organization, your team, and yourself vastly more productive.
Inspired by Peter Drucker's classic The Effective Executive, Laura Stack offers a productivity bible for the 21st century. She focuses on time management strategies today's executives can use to quickly obtain profitable, productive results by managing the intersection between two critical values: effectiveness and efficiency.
Effectiveness, Stack says, is identifying and achieving the best objectives for your organization-doing the right things. Efficiency is accomplishing them with the least time, effort, and cost possible-doing things right. If you're not clear on both, you're wasting your time. As Drucker put it, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
Stack identifies twelve practices that will enable executives to be effective and efficient, grouped in three broad areas: strategy, teamwork, and tactics. For each practice she offers tips, techniques, and advice based on her work with individuals and organizations all over the world. There are dozens and dozens of great ideas here for making your organization, your team, and yourself vastly more productive.