Monthly Archives: June 2022

feels like home

Creating a Workplace that Engages Employees and Feels Like Home

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If you want people to be motivated to go to the workplace where they spend a good part of their day, it’s important to consider and put in place what people need and want.


I recently returned home from a day of work and some errands and noticed how good it felt to walk in the door and relax at home. I enjoy the feeling of home, the amenities, and the person I share my life with.  This made me think of how people feel going to their workplace.


Many companies have over the years implemented attractive features at work, like game rooms, workout areas or gyms, showers for those commuting by bicycle and more. Team building events have also been popular and are coming back again.


But it’s crucial to consider the emotional and psychological aspects of employee needs as well. The foundation of that is trust and feeling that appreciated and respected. Having a good relationship like a best friend at work is very important so that employees know they have someone to confide in and share any problems or issues.


Therefore, I often promote the practice of mutual coaching, where employees learn about each other and implement a few basic coaching skills. The better you know and understand someone, the more effective you can be at coaching them.


The coach can be the boss, but it is best to create an environment where people can choose who they want to get closer to for emotional and psychological support. People do not have to become psychologists or counsellors, but simply need to use a few basic interpersonal skills.


Here are some things to consider for improving the workplace experience:

  1. Ways to get to know fellow employees
  2. Fun activities
  3. Contributing ideas for workplace improvements
  4. Recognition program
  5. Regular feedback on performance
  6. Someone to call a best friend at work
  7. Challenging projects or assignments
  8. Participation in company social and community events
  9. Easy access to coaching and support when required
  10. Participation in continuous improvement initiatives

This is a starting list, but you can do a team exercise to brainstorm more and then narrow the list down to the top 3-5. You can then have teams come up with ways to improve in these areas. Just make sure that if you get people’s input, you need to act on the best solutions or communicate what you can or cannot do.


Even though it is now fashionable to have people work from home full or part-time, it is important to have people work together physically, as it is much more stimulating and allows for developing better team spirit.


Start now to improve the workplace so people will want to make the commute and feel happy to do so.


business transformation & success

The 5 P’s for Business Transformation & Success

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with Certified Business Coach Pete Mohr


In this interview with business coach Pete Mohr, we discuss the 5 P’s model Pete uses to help entrepreneurs transform and grow their businesses. Pete has applied this to his own business Shoetopia, two retail shoe stores in Ontario Canada.


Pete provides a free business assessment for entrepreneurs to find out what’s going right and wrong with their business. You can access the free assessment here.


To learn more about Pete Mohr visit his website Simplifying Entrepreneurship.


difficult employees

How To Deal with Difficult Employees Part II

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In part one of How to Deal with difficult Employees, I used the analogy of the high school dance to explain the five types of students who attended the dance and how they behaved.


Once you deal with the unsavable number five’s you may still be faced with dealing with difficult employees. The important thing is what action to take.


Below questions to answer to work through to the cause of the problem so you are able to resolve it. You can download this as a for from the forms and worksheets resources.


  1. What is the problem?
  2. How long has the problem been occurring?
  3. Was the employee ever able to do the work as required?
  4. What has changed if anything? If yes, what changed, when and what can be done to reverse it? Will addressing this solve the problem?
  5. What has been done to address the issue?
  6. What has not been done that can be done to address the issue?
  7. Does the employee have all the tools and support required to do the work as required?
  8. If answered no in question 7, what tools and support is needed for the employee to do the work as required? Write down a list of resources to provide the employee and when it should be delivered. See if this solves the problem. First make sure that the employee understands what you expect from them and set a time to deliver the resources and to check if the problem is solved.
  9. Has the provision of tools and support resolved the issue? If yes great, if no go to the next question.
  10. Could the employee do perform the task or fix the problem if her life depended on it?
  11. If yes, then start again at question one and if you cannot find the cause of the problem, either live with it or replace the employee.

mastermind group

The Benefits of a Mastermind Group for Business Owners and Leaders

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Interview with Guest Expert Chris Williams of Group Coach Nation


Business owners and leaders often have few people to talk with about the problems they face in their business. In other words, you don’t want to go home too often and burden your wife or husband with the big problems you struggle to solve.


This is where Mastermind groups come in. Problems become opportunities for growth when they are addressed properly. Mastermind groups are made up of business owners and leaders who face similar problems and are there to help each other find solutions and make breakthroughs in performance.


In this interview with Chris Williams of Group Coach Nation he explains what a Mastermind group is and how it can benefit business owners and leaders. Chris used mastermind groups to accelerate the growth of a past business and then learned how to launch his own Mastermind groups. He now trains other coaches in starting successful Mastermind groups.