Insights

In our two decades plus of working intimately with organizations on internal development and growth , one key attribute that we have found which sets apart organizations that have sustained performance and positive employee engagement year in, and year out are those organizations, regardless of size, that invest in strong internal mentoring programs. This is because a strong mentoring program nurtures continuous learning beyond the confines of traditional employee developmen

The landscape of work has undergone a profound transformation, with the rise of remote and hybrid work models. In today's dynamic work environment, the concept of a hybrid team — where some members work from the office while others work remotely — has become rapidly prevalent. As organizations adapt to this paradigm shift, managers find themselves at the forefront of a new era, charged with the responsibility of leading teams that span physical and virtual spaces. Managing a

The past four years have not been kind to America’s urban centers. The pandemic's economic impacts and virtual work policies have resulted in mass migrations, empty offices, and declining tax revenues for many major cities creating what has been phrased as “ urban doom loop ”. This in turn has directly impacted the health of existing communities within these cities. We believe that similar to organizational health, community health is a reflection of its vitality, strength, a

Like it or not, we are living in the Age of AI. However, amongst all the cautionary tales about AI’s takeover of our work world, we came across some very interesting statistics recently. According to research by UIPath, 83% of people using AI believe that it can help reduce burnout and increase job satisfaction, and 80% think it will help them do their jobs better. Even more fascinating, 79% of people view employers more positively when they leverage AI. While there are legit

Frank Blake, the beloved former CEO of Home Depot, credits the company’s core value of “Entrepreneurial Spirit” as the secret behind its success year after year, even during tough economic times. According to Blake, Home Depot's founders wanted their team members to think and behave like their name was on the front of the building. When employees aren't afraid to take risks, they grow. Many successful organizations, from Home Depot to Amazon to Starbucks have fueled their gro

The metaphor of the dance floor and the balcony was made popular by Harvard professor Ronald Heifetz as part of his work on adaptive leadership. In this metaphor, the "balcony" represents the vantage point from which leaders can gain perspective, observe the bigger picture, and reflect on the overall dynamics of the situation. In an era of rapid and unpredictable change, leaders need to be able to both stay in the game as well as pull themselves to a level above from time to

When I ask this question, the response I get most frequently is, “Oh yes, our company offers all sorts of training and development opportunities. We are continuously investing in the professional development of our staff.” While these actions and intentions are great, this response in itself is a limited if not an inaccurate definition of what a learning organization is. Professor and author Peter Senge first introduced this concept in his book “ The Fifth Discipline ”. Accor

The phrase "culture eats strategy for breakfast" is often attributed to the management guru Peter Drucker, and it suggests that an organization's culture is more powerful than its strategy in determining its success or failure. However, the idea can also be applied to organizational structure. An organization's culture can have a greater influence on how the organization operates than its formal structure. This means that, even if an organization has a well-designed structure

Everyone feels a certain way about emotions. Some people fully subscribe to them and describe themselves as being emotional beings. Others may go to the opposite side of the spectrum and believe they’re just “not emotional.” We usually tend to think of emotions as being good or bad, positive emotions and negative ones. We know we like to feel “happy” and “joyful,” which we usually classify as positive emotions, while we don’t usually like feeling “anxious” or “angry,” which w