Motivation by the Book “If only our employees were motivated, then we’d get the results we need.” How many times have you heard a similar statement at work? Motivation–one of the most difficult pieces in the management puzzle. Most of us agree that motivation is a key to employee performance; our Management 101 textbooks taught us that. But after a few years in the trenches, trying to develop, r...

Money Equals Love When we think of prosperity and of creating abundance, it’s easy enough to see how working at a job that we love helps us to earn more money then if we worked at a job we hated.  We can also see that if we add plenty of love and warm-fuzzies towards how we treat our coworkers, bosses, employees, and customers, then it makes sense that people will like doing business with us and ...

Mentoring and Storytelling as Training Techniques Organizations are made up of a group of people brought together for a common purpose. Therefore, organizations are socially constructed realities. They exist in the minds of its members. Knowledge is a key asset that allows organizations to compete in the marketplace. Knowledge only exists in the minds of the people in the organization, and built ...

Memories, Meanings and Lessons For Life Some places just feel like home even if you’ve never lived there. I can feel calm settle over me as I turn from the highway and see St. Joseph Convent perched in its solid position above the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside. Its three-story arms spread across the hill as if embracing the furrowed farmland below. The manure-covered fields puff pungent perfume ...

Marketing Yourself Every good salesman knows that you must believe in your product or else be able to do a good job of acting like you do.  It’s no different whether you are marketing products, policies, revolutions, or people.  Marketing is marketing.  Overall image and believability is king.  So how does that play out when you are trying to market yourself? For the sake of consistency let’s sa...

Management Storytelling Example of the Consulting Alliance’s Rich Diversity: Managing through Stories One of the top management/supervisory challenges in our world of information overload is to cut through the clutter. More than 3,000 messages bombard each of us every day, and these constant distractions blur employees’ vision and distort their focus. To overcome all these distractions, managers...

Location, Location, Location – Where to Set Your Stories for Best Effect – and Easier Writing! When it comes to writing fiction, there are numerous advantages to creating a make-believe setting – whether it be a house, a street, a town or even a whole country. Not only do you not need to worry about the little things like train and bus schedules, what time the sun sets, what kinds of flowers blo...

Legible Printing For Small Business A small business’ budget for printing relies on desktop publishing for most of its projects. While a commercial printer offers higher standards, not all small businesses can afford this luxury. In many cases, a desktop printer or office supply shop can produce handouts and other important literature in a legible fashion for a fraction of the price that printing...

Leadership Storytelling To Fire Up Employees and Please Your “Customers”– Tell Your Stories! One of the top leadership challenges in this world of information overload is to cut through the clutter. More than 3,000 messages bombard each of us every day, and these constant distractions blur employees’ vision and distort their focus. Managers need to constantly remind employees of the company’s co...