David Burkus Presents

In this episode, we’ll outline how to fire an employee in a way that is specific, but humane. Research suggests that the boost in productivity from releasing a poor employee is larger than the boost gained from hiring a star player. And sometimes it’s not even about releasing a poor performer, there’s economic or industry specific reasons for having to lay off valued teammates—and it must be done...

Team alignment can make or break the success of any team. But many leaders struggle with how to build team alignment and so just assume that smooth running meetings and responsive teammates means team alignment. But that can be a big mistake, because even a small misalignment in the beginning can compound and create a devastating project breakdown. Team alignment is a bit like the flight plan crea...

According to the Gallup organization, only about 20 percent of adults report being highly engaged in their job. In the United States, the number rises slightly to about 30 percent. But that is still 7 out of 10 people who are missing out on an essential element of a positive working life. And for many of this unsatisfied majority, the easiest solution seems to be quitting and trying again at anoth...

In this episode, we’ll outline the six ways leaders influence organizational culture. Leaders and researchers have engaged in a constant dialogue about the importance of culture, the ways to build culture, and the differences between a positive and toxic culture. But surprisingly little has been said about how leadership influences organizational culture. It’s not that no one talks about it. ...

There aren’t a lot of jobs left that people can do in complete isolation. There aren’t a lot of problems left that can be solved by lone geniuses. Performance is a team sport, one that requires we help each other. You shouldn’t be hesitant to ask for help, and you can’t escape having to ask for it. So, in this episode, we’ll outline how to ask for help at work in a way that boosts your chances of...

Just because you don’t have a title, doesn’t mean you’re not a leader. But if you want to someday gain that title, and the position of team leader or manager, then there’s a dilemma you’ll have to reconcile. You’ll have to be able to demonstrate leadership at work to the people who make promotion decisions, without having had a leadership role to point to. But working on any team creates leadershi...

Bad bosses are a sad reality of working life. Hopefully, you’ve never had to deal with toxic leadership. But if you’re reading this, you probably have. It seems like toxic leaders are far too common in organizations of all sizes. So in this episode, we’ll outline six ways to deal with toxic leadership—and we’ll save the most obvious tactic (leaving) for last. 0:00 Introduction 1:33 Set Boundaries...

High performing talent can make or break a project’s success—or an entire organization’s success. Recent research suggests that high performers aren’t just a little bit more productive, they are drastically more productive than average. One study found high performers created 400 percent more value than their average counterparts. But it’s not enough to merely attract high performers and set them...

Employee engagement has been a hot topic for several decades. And for good reason. Business teams with highly engaged employees have a 59 percent lower turnover rate than those with less engaged staff.  Highly engaged teams are 17 percent more productive. Engaged teams receive 10 percent higher customer reviews. And yes, businesses with engaged employees have higher profit margins than non-en...

Dealing with difficult employees is unavoidable. But the good news is that taking the time to deal with a difficult employee can have a dramatically positive effect on the team. According to Harvard Business School professors Michael Housman and Dylan Minor, the productivity boost gained from removing toxic employees is greater than any boost gained from adding a star performer.  In this epis...

Most leaders agree on the importance of building a positive organizational culture. Positive organizational cultures come from the accumulation of positive team cultures. Most employees’ experience of work is really the experience of working with the teams they serve on. So, teaching team leaders how to shape team culture will have the largest impact on creating a positive organizational culture o...

In this episode, we’ll review five methods leaders can use to keep high performers motivated and achieving. 0:00 Introduction 1:10 Sharing Meaning 2:30 Building Connection 3:53 Creating Safety 4:56 Giving Autonomy 6:11 Providing Growth 7:30 Conclusion What all five of these methods have in common is that they require a mindset shift. Just as organizations need to recognize that high performers don...

Critical thinking is one of the most critical skills for leaders. When it comes to making decisions, crafting strategy, or even just solving smaller problems, leaders are called on to think more critically than those they lead. And as the world becomes more complex, thinking critically has never been more important. In this episode, we’ll outline four ways leaders can think more critically. 0:00 I...

Appreciation is an underutilized part of organizational life. It’s not that leaders think they don’t need to make employees feel appreciated. Most are in agreement that showing appreciation for great work is key to a positive organizational culture. And the research supports that belief. But most organizations equate appreciation with rewards. They create bonus structures and gift-giving programs....

Leaders are learners.  That's not really disputed. You have to be a pretty strong learner to even get into a leadership role. And most people agree that you have to be continuously learning as a leader as well.  The problem is that what is common knowledge is not always common practice. As the demands of the leadership role pile up, and the freely available time on the calendar shrink, i...

Many leaders struggle to give great feedback. The secret to giving great feedback is “don’t mix messages.” Give positive feedback and constructive feedback at different times and in different ways. And in this episode, we’ll review a few simple steps to make both positive and constructive feedback conversations less awkward and more productive. Part of the reason giving great feedback is so uncomf...

How do you build a high performing team? If you think like most people, you will start with acquisition. You will start by thinking about how you can convince higher performing people to join the team. But the truth is that the so called “War For Talent” this acquisition mindset kicked off wasn’t worth the cost. It’s not that there’s no such thing as high performing individuals, it’s that high per...

In this episode, we’ll review the four elements of a powerful mission statement and offer some powerful examples as well. Most mission statements aren’t all that inspiring. The committee-crafted, jargon laden paragraph (or hopefully less) that gets quoted every so often in speeches and referenced in most printed documents. But they lack power either because they’re wordy and complicated, or becaus...

Every organization wants to attract and retain high performers. And it seems like every individual wants to be one of those high performers that gets attracted and retained. But there’s a misconception about high performers that stands in the way of improving our individual performance and hinders organizations from unlocking high performance in their people. That misconception is the belief that...

In this episode, we’ll review the six true causes of burnout and offer some practical tips for leaders to mitigate the damage from these causes. Excessive workload Poor Relationships Lack of control Lack of recognition Lack of fairness Purpose Mismatch Leaders need to take care of more than just the physical when it comes to keeping people productive and healthy. They need to talk about purpose, a...

In this episode, we’ll summarize that research by presenting the top four characteristics of high-performing teams. It's not about who is on the team, it's about how the team behaves. It’s about their habits. It’s about their norms and whether or not the culture of the team contains these characteristics—characteristics that help everyone (regardless of skill or past performance) do their best wor...

And further a company shouldn’t be a family. When companies began to overuse the family analogy, results are rarely positive. Instead, pushing for family levels of commitment can actually do damage to the culture. And in this article, we’ll outline the ways that the “family” metaphor can lead to dysfunction. As well as the steps team leaders can take to transform their dysfunctional fake families...

Decades after the "War for Talent," most organizations finally discovered the truth. Despite spending ever-increasing amounts of money on high performers, high performers weren’t really in it for the money. In this episode, we’ll outline some of the lessons learned about what actually attracts high performers to work on a team—and what keeps them engaged once they’re on board. They want to be hear...

Culture is the secret sauce of organizational success. It seems like nearly everyone agrees that culture is hugely important. The culture individuals find themselves in influences their future actions and ultimately their future success or failure. But while many agree about the importance of company culture, what many fail to understand is that the culture of the team matters more than overall co...

Onboarding new employees is one of the most crucial, but overlooked, aspects of building a great team and great culture. It’s crucial because the first few days of new team member tenure determine how included they feel and how much they internalize the mission and culture of the team. But it’s also overlooked because of the emphasis on using that same time to make sure every legality and regulati...