Culture

People are under stress and feeling threatened. Show appreciation, offer positive feedback, and talk openly.

Recently, I had the opportunity to join Craig Anderson on his popular Executive Evolution podcast. So I wanted to share my perspectives from what was a great and fun discussion. We covered a lot of ground—leadership challenges, decision-making in uncertain times, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way in higher education and beyond. As […]

Addressing change fatigue requires a more human-centered approach to leadership. Originally contributed to TrainingIndustry.com Change isn’t new. But in today’s volatile climate, the rate of change is increasing. We must do better at meeting people where they are to enable this change. From technological overhauls to political unrest, economic volatility to institutional restructuring, individuals and […]

The leader’s role is to position the organization to be successful in a constantly evolving environment.

As the self-care trend emerged over the past few decades, I was too busy to pay much attention. My mindset has slowly evolved.

Creating a highly engaged workforce is one way to counter the potential loss of people. Here are five strategies to enhance employee engagement.

Leaders influence the growth and development of their staff. They choose assignments, assemble teams, and provide direction. Two other significant leadership competencies to develop are the ability to provide feedback and feedforward. Feedback refers to sharing observations about behaviors that have happened or are happening, and feedforward refers to anticipating future growth opportunities. In both […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Laura Patterson, Leadership Coach and Consultant at MOR Associates.  She previously was CIO at the University of Michigan. Laura can be found on LinkedIn and can be reached at [email protected]. More than 19 million workers left the workplace between April 2021 and February 2022, a record pace that disrupted business […]

The Biggest Change I Ever Managed: A Cultural Tale [Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Susan Foster, IT Business Manager at Bowdoin College. She is a MOR program alum.  Susan may be reached at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.]   One sunny afternoon, during an average week, while doing average daily business, I got a call from my […]

Most of us would disavow being a micromanager.  Yet, I’m sure that most (or all?) of us have micromanaged to some extent at some points in our careers.  I know I have.  And, most of us at some point have experienced leaders micromanaging us. But micromanaging has some very real negative impacts on both employees and […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Mark Askren, MOR Associates Leadership Coach, and former Vice President for IT at the University of Nebraska. Mark may be reached at [email protected].] As leaders, we’re always on stage. Our staff, colleagues, campus stakeholders, clients, and the people we report to are paying attention to our work behaviors. What we say […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Brian McDonald, President of MOR Associates.  Brian may be reached at [email protected].] Just imagine if all the people who have been through a MOR leadership experience within your university could form a cohesive community of change agents who collaborate to propel the initiatives needed to make transformational progress versus incremental. Community […]

This week we’re going to do something different and start with the results of last week’s survey.   From Last Week  Last week, we asked: Which of these practices is most important to you? 41% said building relationships 27% said weekly planning 19% said owning your calendar / defensive calendaring 13% said delegating whenever possible […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Brian McDonald, President of MOR Associates.  Brian may be reached at [email protected].] Last week’s Tuesday Reading discussed what trends influencing the future of work may mean for universities and healthcare systems.  As we gradually recover from the pandemic, employees are reflecting on their ability to work from home productively and […]

[Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Brian McDonald, President of MOR Associates.  Brian may be reached at [email protected].] During this current health crisis it may be helpful to take a few minutes to step back and think about the leadership challenges and responsibilities that are inherent in this increasing critical threat. Before you begin this, it […]

Today’s Tuesday Reading is an essay by Matthew E. Mooney, Assistant Dean for Teaching, Learning and Technology the at Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business. His essay first appeared as a leaders program reflection last fall. [Matt may be reached at <[email protected]>.]    I’ve so appreciated previous reflections. It’s comforting to see that while we are […]

Last week the Tuesday Reading, On Being Grateful,1 focused on showing appreciation and called attention to a quote from Robert Emmons, University of California, Davis psychologist and author: “Feeling gratitude starts off with the realization of what we have received from others and what it has cost them.”2   This led me to suggest four ways that […]

Two days from today on the fourth Thursday of November, people in the United States will celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving. A similar holiday is celebrated on the same or other days by people in many nations.   In the United States, a day set apart for giving thanks has been observed, most years, […]

… to be truly effective, you need to be!   Bill Taylor, Robert J. Smith Professor of Accountancy at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business and an expert on subjective performance evaluation, has said it this way: “… I’m convinced that if you truly want people to elevate their performance, you have first to […]

Recently on TV, I was attracted to a Cascade dishwasher detergent commercial featuring child actress Sierra Richards, who seeing her “mother” rinse off the dishes before putting them in the open dishwasher asks, “just what does the dishwasher do?” This question is an example of thinking critically about what the “mother” in the commercial was doing. […]