GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

Do you have time to take three days away from your office to develop your HR leadership skills? I know, I know – you’re really busy and that’s a long time to be out of the office. Well, we wouldn’t ask you to take three days away to participate in our HR Leadership Certificate Program if we weren’t absolutely certain it would be worth it. 

Cascade is offering a new and innovative four-part course on Project and Change Management, beginning February 1st.  Instructor Donald Nagle teaches with a practical knowledge as well as extensive personal experience. The post below is his vision of what the current reality is, and how he can teach class participants to succeed by completing the projects that they are working on right now.

What makes employees want to do their best? Right at the top of motivators is positive reinforcement, i.e., people who thoughtfully listen to our ideas, recognize our strengths and reward our efforts with appreciation. There are plenty of managers and executives with weak people skills who think beautiful buildings, snazzy perks and fat paychecks will bring out the best in people. They don’t.

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  Find out what it means to me.”  Well said, Aretha.  When it comes to workplace respect you can throw out the “Golden Rule”…You know, that rule you learned in kindergarten – treat others how you want to be treated yourself.  Instead, let’s follow Aretha’s advice.

Are you on the fence about attending our Annual Compliance & Payroll Update? Here are the top 10 reasons employers find it beneficial to their business.

Whatever you have heard about the word “Lean”, it is not downsizing.  Some people tend to associate the term, “Lean” with “downsizing” or “restructuring”.  Some people think that through the implementation of “Lean”, that out of ten people, two people’s jobs could be eliminated, so that a company has to let two people go. If you have this kind of intimidating image about “Lean”, this is not the original understanding.  Let’s examine Lean more closely.

In your workplace, have you heard the word “Lean”? I am sure many of you have. The word “Lean” was first described in 1988 by John Krafcik, who was a quality engineer at GM-Toyota joint venture “NUMMI” plant in Fremont, CA. Krafcik has continued to research the Lean method jointly with MIT researchers, such as Jim Womack, who is a major active advocator for “Lean”. The concept of “Lean” was majorly adopted from Toyota Production System (TPS) and developed through the 1990’s.

Cascade is delighted to introduce Bill Swift to our Members. A trainer and counselor since 1981, Bill has a passion for promoting life-long workplace learning. He is an expert at facilitating organization development, exemplifying forward-looking leadership by practicing principles of honesty, direct communication, and resilience. 

In your workplace, have you heard the phrase “Employee Engagement” and the word “Kaizen”? It is true that there are various definitions of “Employee Engagement” in each different organization. And “Kaizen” is originally a Japanese word that means continuous (quality) improvement.

“Success is the feeling you get when you accomplish your priorities,” according to Keith Gibson, President of IntegrityLogistics. I attended his talk in Portland, where he shared insights about living your values rather than falling into others’ vision of success.