Category Archives: Organizational Culture

5 Reasons to Hire Employees with an Entrepreneurial Spirit

reasons-to-hire-blogContributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Innovative. Dynamic. Agile. These are the qualities that many business leaders want their companies to embody. But the larger a business grows, the more its employee culture tends to weaken into a complacent group of passengers waiting for someone else to take the driver’s seat. Shake off that stereotype by attracting and retaining employees with an entrepreneurial spark. Here’s how to recognize these talented workers and why they are so valuable.

1. Think Outside the Cubicle

The 2015 Amway Global Entrepreneurship Report indicates entrepreneurs love to learn, take calculated risks and tend to have a non-traditional way of thinking. Employees who aren’t afraid of challenging the status quo may seem risky, but they can often give a company the edge over the competition. Continue reading→

5 Essential Tips for Startups to Grow Big

A businessman is pointing out in the chest where is a word collocation ' start up '. A concept of the starting up new business. Drawn wings. Black chalk board on the background.

Contributed article in our entrepreneurial business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

“Nothing is as great as succeeding at an early age.”

Never welcome your early success as if you’ve achieved your goals, instead take it as just the beginning of the uphill struggle that you need to continue doing. Settings up your own business might have been in your mind for years; however, you didn’t spend much of your time realizing the true meaning of the a famous quote by Bill Cosby, “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

Perhaps you’re not sure about your success or you have no idea whether it’s what you can call “Success”. Let me finally ask you, “Did you achieve “The Milestone” on your path that eventually turned out to make you proud of yourself?”Continue reading→

How to Be the Boss that Employees Love

Employee EngagementContributed article in our business series. Enjoy! – Kimberly

Happy, motivated and engaged employees are at the heart of any successful business. When an employee is fully engaged with their job and enjoys the work that they do, they will be much more likely to care about the success of the business as a whole, and this will reflect in their work. On the other hand, unhappy, demotivated and disengaged employees are a recipe for disaster, causing serious problems for companies and restricting business growth. In order to help your business succeed and grow, motivating and building good relationships with your employees should be a top priority. Here are just some of the things that you can do in order to become a boss that your employees look up to, respect and admire.Continue reading→

Digital Nomads & The Remote Work Revolution (Infographic)

Contributed article in our business series. (Originally posted here.) Enjoy! – Kimberly

Back in 1990 barely anyone classed themselves as a freelancer or telecommuter. Sure there were independent contractors, but computers and the internet were almost exclusively an office based phenomenon, and those that did have cell phones could literally only make phone calls.

When AOL made home internet connections more viable, when email took off, and laptops and computers became faster and more versatile, the first remote office workers emerged. 15% of the working US population fit this mold by the early 2000s, and in 2015 this number is around 30%. This directly correlates with faster internet speeds, the use of software and apps, and the rise of mobile technology. Some experts likePieter Levels predict 14% of the entire world population will adopt some kind of digital nomad lifestyle by 2035!

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The Stories We Tell: Creating and Perpetuating Your Corporate DNA

thumbnail(Originally posted on projectconnections.com)

Recently, several of my clients have become extremely interested in exploring what they call their “corporate DNA.” At first I resisted, because I was concerned that this metaphor implied that they were incapable of changing. But for the most part, this model is being used to explore the unique identity of an organization — the strengths that are admired, and should be preserved and transmitted to future generations.

Most every kid who has the luxury of getting an education learns the basics of DNA. DNA is what causes a giraffe to have a long neck, kangaroos to have pouches, and porcupines to have quills instead of fur. Tadpoles turn into frogs, not butterflies, because of their DNA. And a lot of behavior has its roots in an organism’s DNA. Birds have wings, but dogs don’t, therefore dogs don’t fly. Snakes, lacking both legs and wings, resort to crawling. But what is the meaning of the DNA of an organization?
Continue reading→

What is Design Thinking? A Powerful Methodology for Projects, but NOT “Thinking About Design”!

Why do simple and effective approaches to getting things done often become obscured by jargon? For example, way back in the last century when I worked at HP we experienced big changes in the business environment. Although layoffs are common at HP these days, back then everyone I knew believed that HP had a “no layoff” policy. As offshoring became commonplace, it became clear that the lifetime employment contract was no longer viable. Executives and HR people started using terms like “career self-reliance” and “workforce resilience” — fancy phrases used to convey a pretty simple message: “You’re on your own when it comes to career development and job security.” Unsurprisingly, thousands of people were laid off over the next few years. Being laid off didn’t bother me nearly as much as seeing the reality of our situation needlessly obscured by buzzwords. I strongly believe that the terminology used in communicating the changes was unnecessarily complicated and indirect. Complex doesn’t necessarily mean complicated. I prefer to follow Einstein’s guidance to “make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

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How to Lead Effectively. Video Blog 3 by Kimberly Wiefling (Wiefling Consulting)

How can you lead effectively when you’re promoted? You have 2 ears and 1 mouth, so use them in that ratio! Start by listening, collaboratively set clear goals, and work together as a real team, not just a group of people jockeying for position, power and status. Check out Kimberly’s 1 minute view on this.

* Thanks to Japjot Sethi of Gloopt for making this professional video!