Latitude – Navigating Business Culture

Leadership, employee engagement, and building/sustaining an organization's culture are all contact sports – each requires people to work in parallel and are reliant on each other to be successful. Building and maintaining professional relationships is critical.           Episode Summary: Special guest Kelly Wojda, – recently retired VP of Global Learning and Development at Caterpillar Inc., shares...

Commitment requires sacrifice, purpose, and determination. It can't be assigned. It needs to be a personal choice at every level of the organization. Ultimately, an organization's Executive Team must model and coach commitment to make it 'stick' in their culture.   Episode Summary: Special guest Victor Davis – SVP of Supply Chain at Royal Cup Coffee and Tea, shares his perspectives and experiences...

Culture determines whether healthy relationships can naturally develop and thrive in an organization. What is your organization proactively doing to assist professional, quality relationships to thrive in your workplace?   Episode Summary: Rod and Brian discuss a simple assessment of key processes to help determine if your organization is developing and nurturing healthy boundaries and relationshi...

The research is compelling. Only 1 in 4 employees feel they received meaningful recognition and praise for doing good work in the last week. 70% of employees report their most meaningful recognition had NO $ value. Non-cash recognition provides a higher return on investment than cash by almost 3-1.   Episode Summary:  Rod and Brian share examples, stories, and solutions to four major missed opport...

Research has found that hopeful employees are 14% more productive and up to 69 times more likely to be engaged than their counterparts. Episode Summary: Rod and Brian explore key areas that all employees want to feel hopeful about in their workplace. They then suggest three specific things individual leaders can do to help create a culture of hope. Without HOPE, the possible looks impossible, and...

Rod and Brian interview Al Lucia and recap a number of key takeaways from the last six months of Latitude episodes using Al's technique of harmogenizing – using music as a memory anchor.   Episode Summary: Research has concluded, as a general rule, a human's forgetting curve is that in about 1 day, you forget about 70% of the information you have read or heard. However, music can have a significan...

Rod and Brian conclude this two-part series by discussing three additional ways executives can embed quality or non-quality elements into their organization's culture.   Episode Summary: Three additional ways executives embed culture are discussed, and examples of each are given. These include:  What executives model, coach, and teach Perceived way employees believe they can get recognition and re...

Rod and Brian start a two-part series on the cost of cultural non-quality on overall performance. Episode Summary: The cost of cultural non-quality is defined as the costs and performance waste that would disappear in an organization if employees' mindsets and behaviors were consistently : ·        Aligned to the organization's 'common' goals and objectives ·        Accountable for results; and ·...

Rod and Brian conclude their two-part series on communication by reminding listeners of some key 'basics' that all leaders need to be brilliant in modeling, coaching, and teaching their employees. Episode Summary: How much is LOST between communication intent, delivery, and understanding? How can you illustrate the importance of nonverbal communication? How well does your organization balance high...

Rod and Brian start a two-part series on the importance of communication in a high-performance culture. Episode Summary: This first episode focuses on some common challenges in business communication and five key actions an executive must ensure to drive clarity and understanding in their culture.   Whiteboard Notes:     Reflection Questions: Would your employees say there is too much, too little,...

In this episode, Rod and Brian interview the Founder and President of Creekmur Wealth Advisors. This highly successful business has grown since its inception to now serving over 1700 client households, managing over $420M of assets, and advising on $1B.   Episode Summary: John shares how better u nderstanding, acting on, and actively managing their culture like an investment has created differenti...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss leadership – expectations of, support for, and consistency when leading others in your organization. Episode Summary: Research has found up to 35% of the variability in employee discretionary effort is the direct result of managerial styles and behaviors. This episode discusses a critical continuum in high performance – setting leadership expectations then ga...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss four major components to help align new behaviors and norms necessary to maximize strategy execution. Episode Summary: Research has found that 9 out of 10 top barriers to change are people-related. This episode explores leadership tendencies in aligning new behaviors and common shortcomings. A new High-Performance Model is then discussed that focuses on cultu...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss formal and informal ways to measure, see, and hear an organization's culture every day. Episode Summary: "So, how healthy is your business culture?" A common reply - "I think it's okay." But when the follow-up question is asked – "How do you know?", many Executives have a hard time coming up with anything concrete. Important patterns and trends are all around...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss four major challenges in maximizing the value of values in an organization. Seven practical best practices will be shared. Episode Summary: High performing business cultures use their core values as a key reference point for behaviors both internally and externally. Values are mission-critical principles that are given priority, authority, and power. But many...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss five key lessons learned in designing and implementing an Employee Engagement strategy. Episode Summary: Research has looked at over 300 factors and their potential influence on Employee Engagement. There are common ingredients, processes, sequencing factors, and steps to sustain the gains. But many organizations make the same mistakes.     Join us as we disc...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss the undeniable link between employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) .   Episode Summary: It's been said many different ways – what happens inside an organization (good or bad) can be felt outside by customers. Join us for a discussion on four critical common threads between EX and CX: Accountability Impact (an employee has) Empowerment Measureme...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss the ultimate destination when navigating business culture – consistent high performance. Episode Summary: There are literally thousands of decisions made every single day in an organization. Those decisions, their consistency, and the subsequent actions taken are ALL influenced by your workplace culture.   Excellence is not an act but a habit – a norm in your...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss five Killer Bs that strongly influence the amount of time, talent, and resources an organization invests in business culture. Episode Summary: High-performing cultures of engagement have different beliefs and, therefore, different behaviors. They believe they must move from : Simply setting expectations with employees to  gain agreement Being receptive to new...

In this episode, Rod and Brian discuss the basics of business culture differentiation and how to leverage culture to create a significant competitive advantage.   Episode Summary: How well does your overall organization  understand, act on, and actively manage its business culture to create differentiation and a competitive edge? Recent studies involving 1800 CEOs and CFOs found:   90% said cultur...