Ever wonder why we call the people we work with “employees” and where the term came from? Here’s a quick history: Implicare (Latin): To enfold,involve,beconnectedwith. Empleier (French / Anglo – 1500s): To hire, engage, involve in a particular purpose. Employee (today): A person who works for another in return for money. Over time, the word has lost meaning. People we work with have been reduced from those who were involved, connected, and engaged, to a transaction. To make it worse, we use... Read More

I remember the mission of Philip Crosby Associates even though it has been a few years since I worked there. I suspect the other 299 or so people who were part of the team back then could too. “The mission of Philip Crosby Associates is to provide lives for our associates and to improve the quality of goods and services all over the world.” We heard that mission, saw that mission, lived that mission, and believed that mission. Every day. Today I joke that more people can quote the mission of the Starship Enterprise than they can... Read More

Quality Guru Phil Crosby got famous off his first best-selling book, Quality is Free. His premise was really pretty simple organizations spend a lot of time and money doing things wrong; prevent errors and defects from the start and you have quality. To do that, you have to engage employees, educate everyone on a common understanding, change the culture, listen for the hassles as he called them, and fix those hassles. When you do, quality improves, finances improve, and morale goes up. As his HR Manager in the publicly-traded company that... Read More

Im sure theyre well meaning, but HR people by the droves like to use trite phrases like, Employees are our most important asset. But think about it. An asset is a resource that a company owns or controls to either pay debts or to get a future benefit from. Business owners, bosses, and HR people who think they own the employees who work for them have a distorted view of reality. Business owners, bosses, and HR people who think they control the people who work for them as some bosses do probably get lip service at best when the boss is... Read More

I read yet another article by HR professionals advising business owners about how to be sensitive to people of various religious beliefs or no religious beliefs - during the holiday season. Apparently, some would argue that everything should be kept so generic and non-potentially offensive that traditional symbols of Christmas should be taboo in the workplace. Honestly sometimes I think we try to be so open-minded that we risk having our brains leak out. We have become so sensitized to offending anyone that we have gone far beyond not only... Read More

Culture... every organization has at least one. It is created by what the leader says, does, promotes and tolerates. Culture can change from great to mediocre quickly. It takes more time and a whole lot of intentionality to go the opposite direction - from mediocre to great. Why should you care? Couple reasons: Engaged workplaces have a 24% lower attrition rate than disengaged workplaces. Fully engaged employees have a 3x higher ROI than average employees. Ask yourself these questions as you think about the culture of your... Read More

This week, I was at an event where I heard a few successful business leaders sharing their recipes for success. One commented that you have to have 3 things: a good idea; a great team; and $$$. I love a good idea. I love brainstorming good ideas with entrepreneurs. I love hearing their dreams and the sometimes outrageous ideas that no one else has tried yet. I also love it when the money is available to fund the vision of an entrepreneur. Ive seen entrepreneurs take all kinds of risk, leveraging everything to move their concepts from ideas to... Read More

Ok, Ill admit I was never a Beatles fan of course, I was a small child when they were around and I had an older cousin who was one of those teenagers screaming and fainting at Beatles concerts which I thought was really stupid. That said, you couldnt grow up in the 60s without hearing a LOT of Beatles songs like Cant Buy Me Love. I can still recite some of the words that were constantly pounded into my young brain I dont care too much for money; money cant buy me love. Nowhere is this truer than in the workplace. Nowhere is money used more... Read More

One thing I learned in my first HR Management role at Philip Crosby Associates is that there are all kinds of things that employers can do to improve qualityfor free. Over time, I realized that the same can be said about morale, alignment, engagement, and culture. Too many employers dont get this. If you want a workforce of passionate employees who share your values, get your mission, and see your vision, you have to be willing to be inclusive and share information and decisions with them to help them buy into the big picture. Business... Read More