A great mission statement, developed and implemented the right way, engages employees, defines priorities and guides daily work. However, most people equate mission statement development with getting a root canal. Mission statements fail for five reasons: 1. Leaders develop them without involving those who implement them. 2. They choke off growth because they focused on […]
The holidays are over and we’re tempted to do what we do every January: Make resolutions for the New Year. But let’s face it: How many of you acted on the resolutions you made last year? For many, great plans start with a bang but end with a fizzle. Why is this? Why do well […]
The holidays can be challenging for some of us and emotional triggers appear to be in abundance during the festive season. Â Whether it is the stories of Christmas past or the stories and the demands of Christmas present, we certainly can find ourselves flooded with powerful emotions without realizing it. When you find yourself […]
Thanksgiving is a time where we reflect upon those things for which we are thankful. The team here at MFI wanted to take this opportunity not only to thank our clients for your trust in us and for allowing us to support you in your efforts to reach your goals but also to share our […]
Remember Newton’s Third Law of Motion:  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction? I’ve coined a similar law for business teams: For every symptom there is a hidden root cause. Symptoms are easy to see while root cause is often hidden. Why should we care? We make decisions on what we can […]
I’ve heard it said that the only constant you’ll have in life is laundry: it’s always there, waiting to be done. Like everything else, business is in a constant state of change. Though we’ve changed our name, we’ve been around since 1992 and I’ve seen business morph and change on a regular basis ever since. […]
Many organizations will discover too late that survival mode is no longer adequate. A shift has occurred, requiring leaders to exercise more than situational awareness used to identify immediate short-term financial trends. Leaders in the New Normal 2.0 must open their eyes to emerging, even sometimes barely detectable, long-term shifts in the societal and global […]
We See Opportunity Companies are facing three big issues right now. One, a lot of their employees are disengaged. Two, a lot of those employees are looking for other work. Three, it’s getting harder and harder to find good people. The positive spin right now is that we have several different generations all working together. […]
It seems everyone is working so hard on their particular area they don’t have the luxury of time to pull their heads up from their desks and get a broader view of the business. To them, being strategic feels like one more thing to do. I think people naturally want to think “big picture.” We […]
Even with all the assessments, scorecards and performance reviews, there appears to be a growing chasm between performance and perception. Why just yesterday a coaching client of mine – we’ll call him Tom – scratched his head when saying, “I thought my work would speak for itself. Now it appears, that in addition to my […]