With businesses continuing to work from anywhere, companies are more focused on efforts to ensure their people are engaged, no matter where they may be working. These days, many people seek employment with organizations that have environments and cultures that support their personal values. In the US, April is National Volunteer Month, so there’s no time like the present to start thinking about how and why you should support volunteering efforts in your company.

Why is it that most organizational change initiatives tend to fall into one of the following categories:

• It is slow to launch
• Are recycled from previous efforts that did not achieve intended outcomes
• Never realize their full potential

Before you can drive positive engagement behaviors, it's critical to understand what those look like for your teams. As companies forge ahead with new work environments, new communication tools and new technologies, it's more important than ever for everyone in the organization to have clarity.

What 'good' looks like may be different depending on what part of the organization you are engaging. So if working with accounting the desired behavior may look different than working with customer service.

Having clear definition, consistency and reinforcement is an important step for leaders to further positive engagement in an organization.

In this video ALULA's Danielle Geissler, Ph.D., provides steps leaders can take to help drive positive engagement behaviors throughout the organization.

Being successful in complex and chaotic times takes a leader who understands it's the environment created that is the driving force. One of the most challenging parts of this crisis is that there is no perfect plan to help guide and reenergize an organization.

However, leaders who remain focused on their teams and finding the right balance between engagement and results will be best positioned to be successful.

In the following video, ALULA's Danielle Geissler, Ph.D., suggests important steps for leaders to take in order to engage their teams, while still driving success for the organization.

Lately it feels like every time you ask someone "how are you doing?" we are all waiting for the perfunctory answer of "I'm fine" or "I'm doing ok". In reality we all know that the last year has had a negative impact on many of our work experiences and our daily lives. 

When the pandemic started, many organizations and teams quickly pivoted to new work environments, new ways of engaging, embraced new technology and dealt with a whole new set of challenges. While these changes were quick to be embraced, the uncertainty of how or when they may or may not change are taking a toll.

As leaders it's important for you to identify symptoms of Uncertainty Fatigue and bring about ways to help employees manage through it.

ALULA's Danielle Geissler, Ph.D., provides insights for leaders to assist employees in combating Uncertainty Fatigue while encouraging critical engagement behaviors.

While we all see light at the end of this pandemic tunnel, one thing that will not end anytime soon is managing and engaging a remote work force.

We’ve come a long way, ladies! We haven’t quite reached the end of our journey to close the gender gap or achieve broader inclusivity overall, but we have made—and are still making—progress.

The phrase transition plans, change in control, new leaders at the top, assimilation, and onboarding have dominated the media since January, as changes in governments’, corporations’ and other organizations’ leadership occurred.

In 2020, Carmen Klein, VP Organizational Effectiveness and Systems (HR) at Cadillac Fairview graciously shared her thoughts and experiences using ALULA's Performance Coaching and Feedback as an enabler for their OneCF Culture. 

Cadillac Fairview is one of the largest owners, operators, and developers of best-in-class office, retail, and mixed-use properties in North America, valued at over $32B. Their real estate portfolio also includes investments in retail, mixed-use, and industrial real estate in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.

Cadillac Fairview’s employee engagement ranks in the Global Top 25% Most Engaged Companies. The firm has received accolades for their OneCF Culture, including Waterstone Canada’s Most Admired Cultures and Achievers Most Engaged Workplaces in North America.

The company’s journey to make its people and culture a competitive advantage began years ago, when company CEO John Sullivan made this observation: “Cadillac Fairview’s success is partly defined by the results we achieve (EBIT, returns, growth). But our success also is defined by how employees achieve those results, and the mindset and behavior of every employee. Behavioral leadership is key.”

A new year brings the opportunity to apply learnings from the previous year and plan for areas where you want to improve. One thing I’ve seen over my years of coaching are leaders who go through their days bouncing from place-to-place and task-to-task, at the end of the day, feel as though they’ve not accomplished any of the work they planned.