Why Your Employees Aren’t Excited To Meet Your Goals
Business owners often tell me that their employees don't show motivation, ask for too much, or just don't get on board with their ideas for how to help the company make more money. Knowing how human beings function at work can be helpful in understanding this. In the...
Meeting Kindred Spirits and Fighting Toxicity with Love
A keynote speech delivered by Dr. Julie Pham at "The Spirit of Work" book launch You never know when, where, or how you will meet a kindred spirit. That is how I feel about Dr. Marie Gervais. We met three months ago, when she interviewed me for her podcast, after I...
Reversing Incivility With Intent To Be And Do Good
Do a search on incivility and rudeness in the workplace and you will come up with hundred shifts of posts. It's a hot topic for a reason... As you’re looking for answers on how to improve your workplace climate, you’ll find a ton of great courses, resources and tips....
Imagining a Workplace Culture With No Prejudice!
When my friend from Cameroon walked down the hallway of the accounting firm where she worked, nobody smiled at her. Every person she greeted appeared to have not heard her and sometimes even bumped into her as if she were invisible. Although they said good morning to...
I Was Writing A Book But Didn’t Know It
It was my first date on my first job as a teacher and nobody greeted me. I had to ask at the office where my classroom was and request a key - no tour offered. The class had a storage room that had never been cleaned and no supplies had been ordered for the year....
A Foundation for Workplace Interactions: Soul-Enhancing Words and Actions
We need a new way to think about workplace interactions Ask any employee or manager what their workplace needs to improve, and the most likely answer will be “communication”. Next inline on the “must-improve” list will be “accountability” then, “dealing better with...
Why You Need Your Heart To Work
Why you need your heart to work Since this month features Valentine’s Day, it seems timely to talk about the link between emotions and decision making at work. There is a strong link between emotional self-awareness and ability to solve problems at work. Increasingly,...
How Leaders Can Be More Compassionate to Employees
How Leaders Can Be More Compassionate to Employees (a guest blog) by Rose Julian When asked where acts of compassion regularly occur, the office would probably be last on your mind! Professional environments are focused on advancement and economic outcomes to achieve...
10 Ways to Survive the New Supervisor Nightmare
So your time has come and you're officially the new supervisor! Of course you are feeling both excited and perhaps a bit scared at the same time. You want to make a good impression and you want people to like you, but you recognize a need for discipline and want to...
Leadership and Management Plus COVID-19
What has changed for leadership and management since COVID-19? You may be wondering what has changed for managers since the experience of a global pandemic and widespread economic upheaval. From my perspective, the basics of management continue to be the foundation...
Why do people follow bad leaders and what can you do about it?
Most of us have either experienced or currently work with bad leaders who are incompetent, tyrannical or vindictive. You may have asked yourself how someone so incompetent ended up in a position of power. Or you may wonder why everyone seems to put up with the tyranny...
What is the Difference Between Training and Coaching?
There can be confusion between the terms training and coaching. When an organization approaches me for training or coaching, there can be confusion between the terms training and coaching and what to expect for each. I thought it might be helpful to clarify how I see...
Moving Effectively from Operations to Supervision
Often people who are great employees are promoted to supervisory positions. After all who doesn’t want to promote a loyal, capable and dedicated employee who is well-liked by the team? Being a part of a team and knowing how to do your job well are important...
Beyond Protesting and Donating: 5 Practical Ways to Support BLM
Other than protesting, donating or signing a petition, what can you do – what could you do that would show support for #BlackLivesMatter (BLM)?
How to Make Your Site an Online Leader
You can be an excellent leader of your team, and a leader of your field or industry. If you manage a business that conducts activity online, being a leader involves consistently ranking at the top of the search engine results pages, as well as being viewed as a...
Why People Procrastinate and What to Do About It – everything you need to know!
We procrastinate because of emotional regulation issues, not time management. ~ Dr. Tim Pychyl According to Dr. Tim Pychyl of the Procrastination Research Group (as quoted in the New York Times), we procrastinate because of emotional regulation issues, not time...
Why Time Management is a Myth and What to Do Differently
"You will never 'find' time for anything. If you want time, you must make it." ~ Charles Buxton By the age of 50, Barbilee Hemmings, B.A., B.Ed. Quality of Life Specialist and owner of QualityOfLifeAssurance.com has earned enough ‘time accomplishments’ to call herself...
Establishing your authority: A step by step guide for moving from operations to management thinking
When you are first promoted to a supervisory position, it can be a shock to your system! Your promotion caused you to change spots in the hierarchy of the organization. In terms of interpersonal relationships, the ground under your feet will have shifted. This means...
Managing Diverse Workforce: 2 Incidents
Can you handle managing a diverse workforce? Read this article to find out the different things you should watch out for in managing a diverse workforce.
A 2020 Vision for the Future of Work
Overview of the future of work trends Let’s recap on the future of work using the most recent OECD statistics. We already know that automation is on the rise, but that on a high skill level, it will only affect between 13-14% of new jobs in the labour force....
Workplace Politics and Me: Do I have to play this game?
You may have encountered politics at your workplace in some way or form. If you are like most people, you probably associate a negative connotation to workplace politics, and would like to stay as far away from it as you can. However, workplace politics need not be a...
Workplace Politics: The Good, the Bad and the In-between
Workplace politics takes on different meanings in different situations, and may be positive in some situations, and negative in others. People understand workplace politics to be the 'dark side' of workplace culture. The Link Between Workplace Culture and Politics...
Workplace Politics: The Basics
Workplace politics is a part of life, and the more informed you are, the better prepared you will be to navigate the ocean of politics at your workplace. Especially as a newcomer to Canada, knowledge can prove to be powerful, helping you make informed decisions. Read...
Lipstick and Beer. Business in tough times
In times of economic duress businesses close, people lose their jobs and there is a climate of fear. The three most common reactions to a downturn in the economy are freeze, flee and fight. During the freeze period, spending is down. Then there is massive exit for...
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Some clarifications for newcomers to Canada
Many immigrant employees are confused by the concept of sexual harassment. Here are a few incidents to illustrate. Can you tell which of these incidents constitutes sexual harassment and which are cultural misunderstandings? A man tells his female co-worker that her...
The Future of Work II: Is There a Relationship Between Industry 4.0 and Emotional Labour?
Introduction People, production and profit. These are the three primary gears in the machine that Industry 4.0 claims to revolutionize with the most significant disruptor to the future of work since the first industrial revolution. [bctt tweet="Through artificial...
How to Find Work in the Banking Industry in Canada With Churchilean Andrada
Churchilean Andrada moved to Canada from the Philippines 1.5 years back, when her husband sponsored her shortly after their marriage. Church, as she likes to call herself, had to leave her career in the banking industry to make the move. After 10 years of working in...
Self-Awareness Can Make You A Better Leader
3 ways you can use self-awareness to develop ethical decision-making I. Two stories of leadership – which one would you rather be known for? I was at a construction manager’s meeting not so long ago when I heard these two presentations. The vice president of one of...
In A Nutshell, What’s The Future Of Work And Why Should I Care?
(Part 1: How people and machines came to be in relationship together and the Gig economy) It is not hard to see that employment is changing rapidly and shows high volatility worldwide. Many employees feel like they are on an employment roller coaster that takes off...
Removing Obstacles To Team Success
You may be an inspiring leader who can motivate anyone to do anything. But if you can’t identify and remove the obstacles to individual and team success, it is all empty words that don’t build authority or credibility. [bctt tweet="A great leader knows the...
Pre-influencing your team for great attitude
I have been reading Robert Cialdini’s most recent book Pre-Suasion. It's about how people are triggered to behave in certain ways under certain conditions. The short version is that people are influenced by reciprocity, social proof, likeability, consistency, scarcity...
3 Stages To Results: Managing Your Emotions Through Career Transition
How do I look for work when I feel SO terrible? If you have a career history but are transitioning to a new job, career or industry, you are probably worried about the answers to these questions. What if I’m unemployable? Who would consider hiring me? Am I up to date...
Three Things Your Supervisors Are Doing Wrong And How To Fix Them
“I can’t get anything done because I’m always firefighting!” Heard that before?Most supervisors are promoted from operations because they are good at their jobs.As supervisors however, they typically struggle by focusing on tasks without strategy, lack of people-savvy...
Are Limiting Beliefs About Managers Holding You Back?
Feeling stuck? This post is for you! Read on... I work with a lot of supervisors in my supervisory leadership program. Some of them surge ahead and embrace the course, others struggle but start to move forward in their supervisor jobs as they see the power of setting...
Is your supervisory leadership training effective? Let’s check.
Once this is in place,...
Why people don’t follow procedures and what to do about it
You have been through this before. An employee seems to know what to do. You have communicated the procedure, and probably explained the steps. And…it isn’t done. Or it isn’t done right. You could tear your hair out! Ranting and raving, getting mad and frustrated or...
Using your natural connections to get into a career: Barry’s story
Many newcomers get their first job through connections. For Barrie Latter, a family connection in Canada was able to find him a job opportunity before he planned to immigrate. He is a firm believer in using your connections to get to find a job higher up in the...
How Arnold became a master networker and rocked his career!
Let me tell you about Arnold D’Souza and how he built a meaningful and well-paying job in Canada by having a clear career path and networking. Arnold moved to Canada 8 years ago, from Dubai, where he handled the logistics for 40 countries and 27 distributors for...
Your transferable skills: Finding and using them for work
Are you confused about this talk of “soft skills” for getting a job? Do you wonder what it means to have “transferable” skills? Do you want to have a fast way to find out what your soft, transferable - or whatever employers want skills - are and then use them to get a...
“I love my company!” Group pride, inclusion and employee engagement
“I love my company!” Group pride, inclusion and employee engagement How an inclusion opportunity came up at Fenceline and what happened when they took it on. Marie Gervais, Shift Management Inc. “Never underestimate your ability to make someone else’s life...
Want to elevate employee engagement? Try this simple idea (consistently!)
Does employee engagement have to be tricky? Developing a collaborative workspace with commitment to purpose and goals can be helped along with one, simple, consistent check in. The side benefits? Increased engagement and stronger sense of belonging. The other day I...
Can a construction company be intentionally inclusive? Jen-Col says “Yes!”
Jen-Col is serious about building a better future. When you first walk into Jen-Col Construction (Building a better future), I guarantee you will be impressed. The building is a combination of new and old with repurposed recycled wood in different shades throughout...
How Emanuel did it: 3 strategies for getting into an industry
Emanuel was a Masters in Economics graduate and needed to find work. He found that the skills he had in math were useful for supply chain management so he decided to investigate the industry as a possible career route. To avoid being stuck in a survival level job, he...
“I love working here!” Real examples of inclusive workplaces
Belonging: The antidote to toxicity and the elixir of engagement! Recently I ran a web training session about successfully addressing toxic workplaces. I asked, as I usually do, for any workplace experiences, attendees might like to send me in advance so I could...
Diversifying your workforce…Who has time?
Have you ever been in a conversation with a group.. when one person was way behind what everyone else seems to know? I witnessed exactly that at a business dinner event just recently. Everyone at the table was talking about ways they were strategizing to find...
Supervisory survival basics: Giving direction
Being good at your job has its downside. People usually come into their first managerial positions because they are good at what they are already doing. Decision makers identify them as responsible, committed and technically competent. With those company-friendly...
4 ways to motivate others using your experience
What motivates people? The first response of almost everyone you ask this question is “money”. Yet in study after study, money has only proven to be a motivator when someone is in grinding poverty or in a situation of narcissistic hoarding. Even then, as soon as the...
How not belonging teaches inclusion
I’m what they call a 3rd culture kid. I belong to the 17.7% of Canadians who had one or two parents born outside of Canada and grew up learning to bridge different cultures, languages, and worldviews. Let me share with you a few stats about immigrants in Canada and a...
Increase your leadership attraction: Your backstory
Did you know that leadership attraction and marketing are related? You couldn’t control how your story started, but you can write a few good pages in there ― Mustafa Saifuddin As I was reading Russell’s most recent book called Dotcom Secrets, something really jumped...
Channeling Your Inner “Scary Leader”
Lots of people come to me with their workplace issues and management dilemmas. I listen patiently and help them come to a few conclusions about their next steps. Upon reflection, I would say that 99% of the managers seeking my advice have problems because they have an...
“If it ain’t broke” – Workplace lessons for the entitled
Here’s a workplace attitude comparison I think you will find interesting... You might remember when social media evangelist Jill Rowley’s employment termination at Oracle made the headlines. Rowley was portrayed as a talented creative whose free spirit did not fit the...
Keeping your diverse employees
It is tough to find quality workers these days. You probably have invested quite a bit in recruiting, hiring and setting up for skilled employees from diverse backgrounds for your company. But how do you keep them? Many skilled workers from other countries will take...
Andrew’s story: Finding work in chemical manufacturing
Let me tell you about how I first met Andrew Zheng... I was a speaker at the Chinese Students and Scholars Association gala (CSSA) and met Andrew during the networking portion of the evening. He impressed me by explaining how he landed a job in his industry right...
What is the difference between culture, personality, wellness, and performance issues?
Let me tell you a story... An employment counsellor told me about a client - an immigrant who had come to Canada as a refugee - who quit and immediately walked away from a very good job on a Friday. The client said he was offended by the three month review he had just...
How Sandra cracked the code on “Canadian Experience”
"A career is a journey with stops along the way, not a destination." It’s a classic line that newcomers hear when trying to find work in Canada: “We are looking for someone with ‘Canadian experience.’” And while this isn’t necessarily an invalid point,...
How to be a better you: Changing your habits with “If/when…then”
Have you felt frustrated with yourself for not being able to change habits? Maybe you’ve heard yourself saying, “Just this one chocolate bar,” or, “Tomorrow I’ll get serious about this,” when you are trying to make a lifestyle or workplace change. When struggling to...
How to make yourself irresistible in a job interview – part four: 5 gestures to create success
You know what they say about body language... The way we position ourselves as we share a message comprises the bulk of the communication that gets through to the audience. Estimates range anywhere from 55% to 90% (and the debate among communication experts will...
Your accent: Shrinking the elephant in the room
Accent. Everyone pretends it doesn’t matter. But after interviewing both employers and internationally trained professionals, it was the one topic that was consistent on both sides of the equation. Immigrants say accent stops them from getting hired. Employers say...
How to make yourself irresistible in a job interview – part three: 4 (More) strategies that help people know, like, and trust you
The job interview... It’s that ominous space that separates your accepted job application and the job offer. And it doesn’t depend - at least not entirely - on your technical skill. In the end, whether or not you land the job offer you’re hoping for depends on how...
5 (Commonplace) Bad Meeting Presentation Mistakes & What You Can Learn From Them
For many of us, just the mention of the word “meeting” makes us roll our eyes and groan. We’ve all had the misfortune of sitting through yet another bad presentation and have cursed the heavens for losing an hour (or longer) of our lives to boredom and frustration....
How to make yourself irresistible in a job interview – part two: 4 Strategies that help people know, like, and trust you
Make no mistake... You can show you have all the technical skill in the world, but if the interviewer doesn’t leave that meeting feeling they know you, like you, and can trust you, there’s a good chance you’ll miss your opportunity. In part one of this series “How to...
How to make yourself irresistible in a job interview – part one: The 3 crucial ways to prepare
Ever wonder how some people have the uncanny ability to get people to know, like, and trust them within just minutes of meeting? Academics call it the “KLT” factor and it measures how much a person feels they “Know, Like, and Trust” you. Notice that KLT rests entirely...
Bringing out the talents of your team: Survey and you shall receive
I recently did a communication training for an organization whose leadership spent two hours beforehand explaining to me that their employees were "all under-performing, irresponsible and unresponsive." I didn’t believe them then, and I believed them even less when I...
How immigration categories work in Canada (and why you should care)
Ever wondered who comes to Canada, how they are classified, and how many people are actually accepted? If not, maybe this will persuade you to get curious about immigration categories: by 2030 immigration is projected to account for all - not just some, but ALL - of...
How to get strategic and START putting out fires in your business or team
Do you spend most of your time at work dealing with emergencies?... Does your business day revolve around putting out fire after fire, and are you constantly working to respond to client needs (or demands) because you are worried that you will lose your customer to a...
3 Typical workplace communication problems you can actually do something about
Workplace communication is a two-way street. It involves people listening to each other and responding, where ideas are shared and then collaboratively built out over time. So, when workplace interactions evolve from poor communication, it is no surprise that a...
Stop spending 80% of your time on one bad egg
Ever notice how there are those "bad eggs" on your team who, like vacuums, seem to suck not only your energy, but everyone's energy? Learning to deal with the "bad eggs" on our teams can feel like a trap. [bctt tweet="It's easy to think that with just a little more...
Live your work life as if you could die tomorrow
Recently I have been reminded of the importance of death... When we think about our own death and what might be our legacy after we have left this world, it can have a big impact on how we live daily. It has a lot of weight on how we treat people at work, in our...
The quick guide to increasing cultural comfort in the workplace
Increasingly organizations are looking to hire for "fit." They've become more conscious of the culture that they are trying to create within their company and look for people who have the "right" attitudes, energy, and predilections to meld well with what is already...
Cross cultural negotiation – part three: Personality traits that lead to cultural behaviour change
Turns out that your personality traits impact how effectively you can navigate cultural difference. Learn how “The Big Five,” “The Asian Personality at Work Index,” and how individualism and collectivism impact your ability to negotiate.
Cross cultural negotiation – part two: Using influence
Learn the 6 universal principles of influence you can start using today to improve your negotiations and your relationships.
The spirit of work: How courtesy, respect and thoughtfulness create the foundation for all other work success
Recipes for success at work are printed everywhere…articles, textbooks, templates, and checklists. Ready for a different approach? Find how Marie’s 3 key values can ignite your team and enable you to light the way for others.
Cross cultural negotiation – part one: Using power strategies
If you are working with human beings at all you will find yourself negotiating. Two definitions of the word negotiate that I like are "to obtain or bring about by discussion" and "to find a way over or through a difficult path or obstacle." Put those together and...
Ndumiso’s Swaziland to Canada story: Advancing in the telecommunications workplace
If you took our Canadian Workplace certificate course, you might remember an engaging interview video with Ndumiso. In the video he explained his creative way of finding work in his chosen field of telecommunications. After moving to Canada from Swaziland, Ndumiso...
Turning Twitter into a giant job board
Not one who needs to use a lot of words in a day? You probably find that Twitter is a favourite social media space and it turns out that many employers feel the same way. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are posted by employers using a mere 140 characters everyday, and...
Integrating international employees to your workplace
Imagine you have just landed in a country where you will be working and living for the first time... Everything is new and strange. People don’t respond the way you expect them to and the environment, food and even the smells around you are completely unfamiliar. When...
Gerard Keledjian: An immigrant success story
About four years ago I migrated to Canada from Dubai, UAE, bringing with me over 15 years of experience and the dream of starting an exciting, new chapter in my life. However, like most new immigrants, I struggled to find my footing. In my search for solutions, I made...
Courageous conversations you wish you’d had
Have you ever found yourself wishing you would have had a conversation that could have made a difference for you and for the other person? Maybe you wish you had told that wonderful colleague you appreciated her but were afraid it might be taken the wrong way or “go...
To stop the talent drain, develop your own leadership
Your leadership actions are predictors of your organization’s success. If you are in any kind of a management position right now, sit down with a pen and paper and take five minutes to write down your answer to this question: Why would anyone want to follow me? If you...
On fasting, culture and family
You may or may not know that I am a Baha’i. One thing that Baha’is do as part of their spiritual practice is to participate in a month of fasting every March from the 1st to the 19th, then celebrate the Baha’i New Year on the first day of the spring equinox. So what...
Is it true that some people can’t be motivated?
Unpacking Motivation Ever found yourself asking this question? It's one that I am often asked, usually by someone who is frustrated with an employee who seems to have a lot of motivation issues, and usually when the asker has already decided that the answer to the...
Foreign credential recognition in Alberta: A few explanations and resources
One of the most common settlement difficulties faced by newcomers in Canada is credential recognition. Because countries differ in educational standards, what might have been a Bachelor of Engineering in one country may be considered a two-year equivalency in...
3 critical supervisory leadership tools for this century and the next!
Supervisory leadership promotion: do you have the tools? To promote someone to a supervisory level, the most common approach is to choose someone who is good at the job and has been both responsible and loyal to the company. Very little thought goes into...
Build Powerful Engaged Teams
Outstanding teamwork doesn’t just happen. The core competency of management is to truly appreciate your staff and make the team more powerful than individual workers to produce business goals. Training is not enough. You can develop the individual until the cows come...
Is online learning for you? Let’s find out
Online learning isn’t for every professional. It might work for you, let's find out. For me, I have been taking and creating online courses for several years now, and it occurred to me that I should look at the characteristics of successful online learners to see if...
Getting through to your boss
Have you experienced any of these issues with your boss? Your boss tells you to do something that is completely the opposite, or in contradiction to what he/she told you to do earlier Your boss forgets what he/she asks, and repeats things you already know, or doesn’t...
How to use your voice more effectively: 4 Critical strategies
To get a job or start a business you probably spend a lot of time perfecting your resume, personal description of strengths, your handshake and your pitch. You likely had a professional head shot taken for your website, or put effort into creating one that would make...
The need to be right versus the need to know
In his book How to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie writes that one of the biggest obstacles to living a happy life is allowing the need to be right to take over the need to know. Most of us will defend our beliefs to the death, even when all evidence...
“Why don’t they do things my way?” Practical strategies to deal with the emotions of cultural clash
The non-neutrality of culture Culture is not neutral. When any group of people starts spending time in the same place, over time they develop norms of behaviour. Some of those norms are helpful, healthy, creative and show interesting ways to see the world, take...
“Give them support and cut them loose!” Practical strategies to unleash the power of your team
This week we partnered with our friends at TINYpulse to bring you a webinar that showed managers how to see the significance of diversity, how to better understand culture and how it shows up in the workplace, and we outlined some strategies to build inclusion in your...
Building and recovering team trust: A basic framework for managers
Trust: difficult to build, easily broken, requires maintenance! Trust between people comes from three different dimensions: Ability – Both people need to believe that the other person can do the job or task Integrity – This is built from a history of past actions,...
Workforce plagues: Understanding and dealing with social dominance and narcissistic personalities at work
Around the world we are seeing rises in two diametrically opposed attitudes: on the one hand collaboration and integration across difference, and on the other, entitlement, social dominance and narcissism. If your workplace has individuals exhibiting social dominance...
“We’re going to have to let you go” – Words the indispensable NEVER have to hear
In 2015, Gartner, an IT research and consulting firm, estimated that one third of all jobs will be replaced by software, robots, and smart machines by 2025 [1]. The World Economic Forum is predicting a “Fourth Industrial Revolution” to take place between 2015 and...
5 Disastrously common meeting presentation mistakes & what you can learn from them
For many of us, just the mention of the word “meeting” makes us roll our eyes and groan. We’ve all had the misfortune of sitting through yet another bad presentation and have cursed the heavens for losing an hour (or longer) of our lives to boredom and frustration....
Want more confidence? Try these steps!
Have you ever found yourself watching someone else participate easily in a conversation with a stranger and wondered, “How did he/she do that?” Or perhaps you watched a presenter put forth a series of ideas with brilliant logic, a great sense of humour, or...
7 Barriers to communication and a lesson from YouTube
Barriers to communication can be removed! Ask employees in any workplace what the company’s biggest internal problem is and the majority will say without hesitation, “communication,” (insert eye rolling and groans here). Why is it that although we are social...
Why you can’t afford to have poor communication in your business or organization
We start with a story... There was a young man driving his car home on the expressway one evening, when he heard a loud bang and felt his left rear tire blow out. He pulled the car over on the shoulder of the expressway, got out, and saw that he had a flat tire. Even...
Reflections on high school reunions and cultural awareness
I had a crazy moment of cultural awareness/flashback/shock at my 40th high school reunion event a couple of weekends ago. Like many people I know, if you are still in touch with even a couple of people from your high school days 10 years afterwards, you are in the...
“What? Are you trying to teach me something?” The link between organizational learning and polar bears
Let me tell you a tale of two species… I was at a conference recently and one of the participants shared this story with me. “So, I went to the CEO and I said, ‘We have to start learning to stay current in today’s economy.’ The CEO said, ‘Ya, why? I’m making money so...
Virtual introductions: The “why” and “how”
When you are anxiously looking for work or trying to find a client, where do your thoughts go? After reading this post, hopefully they will zero in on one tiny, often overlooked but immensely powerful practice: the virtual introduction. The four categories of people I...
Get Your Download
