"A Better Workplace" - Meridian Group's Newsletter

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Click on the issue number for a copy of the newsletter.

Number 1, 10-24-01: Keep a problem where it belongs, with the person who has it.

Number 2, 12-17-01: Build relationships and cut turnover

Number 3, 1-17-02: Lessons in Corporate Culture: What Can Terrorist Regimes Teach Us?

Number 4, 2-19-02: Tip-Toeing Around the Top Brass: The Cost of Corporate Politics

Number 5, 3-15-02: Get out of the way!

Number 6, 4-17-02: Foster Openness: Improve Work Life and Workplace Productivity

Number 7, 5-16-02: Managing Giants: Turn Your Boss Back into a Human Being

Number 8, 6-18-02: More on Managing Upwards

Number 9, 7-15-02: Building a Collaborative Culture

Gaining involvement and eliminating the chilling impact of criticism

Number 10, 8-11-02: Strategic Planning Meetings: Converting Strategy into Action

Number 11, 9-14-02: Culture Change in Three Days? Yes. The Power of Action.

Number 12, 10-16-02: Motivate without Criticism... What, are you nuts?

Number 13, 11-15-02: Capitalizing on Management Turnover: tap into new ideas from subordinates to select the next boss.

Number 14, 12-17-02: Where Did the Profits Go? Look to Your People, the Prophets of Profit!

Number 15, 1-15-03: The Cardinal and the Senator: Lessons in lost leadership, the power of speaking out and the steep price corporations pay for silence.

Number 16, 2-15-03: The Uncommitted Employee: Look at the Culture and Leadership First!

Number 17, 3-16-03: Take it From Warren Buffett.
Tap New Resources and Use Culture to Build Your Economic Moat

Number 18, 4-15-03: Creating Evolutionary Change in Your Organization's Culture.

Part I: From Dinosaurs to Birds—How Small Steps Lead To Big Changes

Number 19, 5-15-03: Creating Evolutionary Change in Your Organization's Culture.

Part II: Employees frustrations lead to doubling productivity

Number 20, 6-15-03: Creating Evolutionary Change in Your Organization's Culture.

Part III: A supervisor's thank you notes lead to plant-wide improvements

Number 21, 7-15-03: Capturing the Spirit of Independence in your Company.

Engaging employees' spirit of independence and other deep human desires at work is the key to creating a satisfying, productive and profitable company.

Number 22, 8-15-03: Cut Costs—Tap The American Dream

Number 23, 9-15-03: Will NASA Be Allowed To Change It's Culture?

Number 24, 10-15-03: The Missing Element in Operational Excellence

Number 25, 11-14-03: Men and Women Leaders Use Different Ways to Get Similar Results

Number 26, 12-15-03: Ask People What Motivates Them.

If you want to create a workplace where people are more motivated, ask your employees and managers what motivates them, and then act on it.

Number 27, 1-15-04: Retention — Tomorrow's Challenge

Number 28, 2-15-04: Selecting the Best Candidate
When a group is involved in selecting its own leader, you get the best candidate and a motivated, committed team.

Number 29, 3-15-04: 360 Degree Feedback—The Cultural Approach
When people don't understand their situation, how can they possibly do the best job? Good feedback tells people what's really going on.

Number 30, 4-8-04: What's Your Job?
People can only do their best when they know what their job is. Many don't.

Number 31, 5-14-04: Evolution* and Corporate Survival

Companies cannot escape evolutionary imperatives. Understanding these can help companies and their leaders prepare for, and survive, in this unpredictable world.

Number 32, 6-15-04: Managing Cultural Leadership

How the CEO makes decisions makes all the difference.

Number 33, 7-16-04: Peter Drucker's Effective Executives—Then and Now

Drucker started his career 65 years ago. What was effective leadership then is very different from effective leadership today.

Number 35, 8-15-04: Meaning at Work

People fill every situation with meaning. The challenge for companies and management is to make sure the meaning is positive.

Number 36, 9-15-04: The Big Mistake

Many managers unknowingly make mistakes that decrease profits, lose their best employees, prevent them from achieving goals, and push away clients. What is the biggest mistake?.

Number 37, 10-15-04: The Problem: People Won't Speak Up at Meetings

A manager asks for help. Here is the solution.

Number 38, 11-15-04: Storytelling and Work

People's stories reveal details of the work culture that tell you what to do to lead it.

Number 39, 12-15-04: It's Never Too Late to Say "Thank You"

Appreciation is an esential part of a productive work culture

Number 40, 1-15-05:  An Employee Evaluation That Actually Improves Performance!

This employee evaluation, that starts and finishes with the employee, guarantees improved performance.

Number 41, 2-15-05: What Part of the Culture Can You Really Change?

"Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Reinhold Niebuhr

Number 42, 3-15-05:  The Necessary Structure for Culture Change

Successful culture development requires a structure and a process similar to that used for managing and controlling the operational side of the business. But what do you do if your company is not familiar with such structures?

Number 43, 4-15-05: Can Your Employees Say, "I Love My Job?"

The Conference Board* reports that there has been a substantial decline in employee happiness. As you will read here, building a values based culture builds both employee happiness and corporate success.

Number 44, 5-15-05: Mergers and Middle Management

What should middle managers do when their company is being acquired?

Number 45, 6-15-05: The Boss Got the Job Done--Wrong Job!

Bully-bosses might win the fight, but they always lose the war.

Number 46, 7-15-05: Stop Policing Your Employees. Redesign Their Jobs!

If you have to badger your employees, it’s time to redesign their jobs. A well-designed job is self-policing.

Number 47, 8-15-05: The Problem Employee

To manage a problem employee, fist identify the real problem and who has it, then involve the right people in the solution.

Number 48, 9-15-05: Employee Involvement Out of Control! 

Number 49, 10-15-05: The 5 Keys To A Successful Company

When these five key parts of an organization are well managed, the organization functions at its highest level of productivity, profitability and satisfaction.

Number 50, 11-15-05: "All Roads Lead to Rome"

As the sage said; "If you know where you are going, it doesn't matter where you start." The best and fastest way to develop your company's culture: start where you are.

Number 51, 12-15-05: "If I Have Big Enough Lever, and a Fulcrum, I Can Move the World"*

The human level of company culture is the most powerful lever to improve performance. The fulcrum is the quality of the employee's experience. This determines the level of motivation.

Number 52, 1-15-06: "I Didn't Know We Were Playing Football!"

Most American managers see business as a game, a very serious and important game. If you don't understand that, you'll be frustrated by the actions of your company's leaders. But the winning strategies of gamers are not enough to create successful enterprises.

Number 53, 2-15-06: If You Want Teamwork, Show It

Leaders may not get what they ask for verbally, but they always get what they ask for with their behavior. Their actions trump their words every time. If you want to strengthen teamwork, ask questions, use a team decision process, and focus on common ground.

Number 54, 2-15-06: The Oscars and Company Culture

This year's Oscars reward uncertainty. Tolerance of uncertainty is an essential quality of successful cultural leaders. Sadly our broader culture is largely intolerant of uncertainty. Creating trophy CEOs doesn't help the situation either.