Creating an Inspiring, Positive Workplace Culture, More or Less
Here’s a very simple exercise to try at your next team meeting or employee retreat: Have a fast and furiously energetic brainstorm over what you need more of and what you need less of in your workplace. Your goal isn’t to solve all your issues or create world peace in...
How to Make Your Workplace Office More Fun
So everyone on your team agrees that work would be a heck of a lot better if there was just a little bit more fun every day. And you know the stats. Adding more humor and fun to your office leads to: lower absenteeism rates, lower employee turnover rates, less...
Fun Ways to Follow Up With Clients
I admit it. I’m not always the best role model when it comes to following up with clients the way I should. In fact, I’ve thought about starting up a support group, so I could stand up and bare my soul: “I’m Mike. And I’m a lousy...
Does It Really Take an Employee Engagement Survey to Figure Out What You Should Already Know?
Okay, to be clear – I’m not slamming employee engagement surveys. If done right, employee engagement surveys can provide invaluable insights, serve as a scorecard to see whether you’re trending in the right direction or not, and offer employees one...
Nerds Rule the Roost in this Inspiring Workplace
I always love stumbling upon under-the-radar companies that are doing awesomely cool things, like these nerds. (And as a self-identifying nerd, I use this term in a very affectionate way.) The software development company The Nerdery was recently listed by Inc....
13 Ways to Banish Workplace Boredom
I’m reading Pierre Burton’s The Arctic Grail, recounting the numerous historic attempts by 19th Century explorers to discover a northwest passage through Arctic waters north of Canada. During these explorations ships routinely had to overwinter in the sea...
Are Your Values Moo-ving Employees?
Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream considers themselves to be a “values-led ” business. Co-founder Ben Cohen, in fact, had a saying, “When you go to work in the morning you shouldn’t have to leave your values behind.” OK, sure. We’ve...
Inspiring Teams When They Aren’t All There (In Person, That Is)
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “Mike, how do you engage, inspire, and motivate people when they work from home or even in another city and you don’t have the same level of interaction with them as your other onsite employees?” (The second most...


