Plus Delta’s CEO Wins Top Honors
August 10th, 2010 by Jeremy Lurey
Plus Delta’s CEO Jeremy Lurey Receives Inaugural 40 Under 40 Award by M&A Advisor
On Monday, July 26th, Plus Delta’s Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Lurey accepted his award as one of The M&A Advisor’s Top “40 Under 40” executives of the year. Held at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the inaugural M&A Advisor Recognition Awards Gala Event celebrated the leading forty M&A, Financing, and Turnaround professionals who have made great accomplishments before their 40th birthday.
Created by The M&A Advisor to promote mentorship and professional development, the 2010 “40 Under 40” Award winners were chosen for their individual accomplishments and particular expertise from a vast group of international nominees and by an independent judging panel of distinguished business leaders.
Best Recognition and Rewards Programs for the Post-Recession Economy
February 23rd, 2010 by Jeremy Lurey
At Plus Delta Consulting, we are committed to creating a brighter future for those seeking to improve individual, group, and organizational performance as well as those focused on transforming organizations in ways that produce better business results. Broadly speaking, we are part of “OD” (Organization Development), but we also push the boundaries of the field and what many call “new OD” to connect communities of organizational professionals from other arenas. We not only seek but also strive to share new theories and practices that serve the 21st century organization with others. Towards that end, we launched a LinkedIn group called the “Future of Organization Development (OD)” last fall (see http://bit.ly/FutureOD) and regularly participate in other online conversations to facilitate these discussions.
Here is an excerpt of a recent discussion about the Best Recognition and Rewards Programs for the Post-Recession Economy:
[Jeremy Lurey]: A couple weeks ago, I facilitated a great session with a local NHRA (National Human Resources Association) chapter. The topic was Recognition and Rewards programs, and we used a World Cafe (see www.theworldcafe.com) format to bring everyone – and their richly diverse perspectives – into the room. During the World Cafe rounds, groups were asked the following 3 questions:
1. What are the top three MONETARY recognition and rewards approaches that you use in your company?
2. What are the top three NON-MONETARY recognition and rewards approaches that you use in your company?
3. What are the underlying assumptions of your recognition and rewards system, and does the absence of receiving a reward equate to PUNISHMENT?
Provided below are some of the key themes that emerged from the group. I’m curious if this is in line with your experiences or if you have other “best programs” you would recommend.
12 Organizational Idea Starters to Get You “Going Green”
February 16th, 2010 by Samantha Lurey
Many organizations have realized that green business practices provide a competitive business advantage. It’s an opportunity to make a real difference in a way that benefits not only bottom line results, but also fosters stronger employee engagement, improves community relations, and creates a sense of corporate responsibility.
Some companies have integrated their green initiatives into every aspect of their business, and have even resulted in the addition of innovative products and services to boost bottom line results. In most cases, though, it’s not easy to come up with potentially significant contributions that result in a measurable impact to cost or profitability.
Plus Delta Consulting recommends collaborating with all of your stakeholders — employees, customers, vendors, and business partners — to gather input, ideas, and perspectives. Educate your stakeholders about sustainability and the company’s vision, and then involve them so everyone feels like they are contributing to the goal. They will be much more engaged in the process and will be much more likely to participate in any new initiatives.
Whether your organization is looking to implement green initiatives as part of a large-scale transformation, or just at a grassroots level, Plus Delta suggests the following idea starters to… Read the rest of this entry »
Employee Engagement: Changing Workplace Conversations
February 9th, 2010 by Cris Hagen
Every major consulting or research firm has the data to prove it. Engaged employees are not only happy employees, but they are much, much more productive employees. They make companies more profitable, and shareholders richer. (Click here to download a Gallup white paper on the power of employee engagement as a core business strategy.)
I think that most leaders are coming around to believe that this is a truth: engaged employees are a good thing for the business. The problem is that many leaders have trouble figuring out what it takes to get those employees “engaged”.
Let’s make it clear. “Engaged” employees are emotionally involved with their job, their company, and their co-workers. Some of their co-workers become friends outside the workplace, and they care about and support one another.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that HR departments in companies should start planning weekly company picnics or make a return to “fermentation Fridays”. I’m not suggesting that we run a “social Meet Up” application on the company intranet.
We don’t need to run “team building” meetings and ropes courses in every department to get employees engaged. And no, we don’t need executives to do a weekly “lunch with the President” meeting (UNLESS the “Pres” is willing to stick with the program and actually follow through on his/her commitment to meet with employees, get to know them, and do something about their suggestions).
What I am saying is that the major reasons employees:
- Enjoy being at work
- Are willing to give more effort to work
- Feel good when they tell their friends and family about their work
5 Steps to Improved Performance As You Kickoff the New Year
January 13th, 2010 by Jeremy Lurey
All of us at Plus Delta Consulting have been reflecting on what we will do as we enter the New Year to improve performance in our organization – and with our client organizations. 2009 was a rocky year for many, and I for one am very glad to put it behind me. With that said, I’d be remiss if I simply said, “Thank God it’s over!” without doing any planning for 2010.
As we enter the New Year then, we’d like to recommend 5 simple steps for you to drastically improve performance in your organization. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take as you begin the New Year to produce better results? Please take a moment to comment below and share your own actions and ideas with us and all of our readers. Until then, here’s our list!
1. Plan your future from the future:
If anything was possible for you and your organization in one year from now (or even 10), how would you have the future be? Suspend reality for just a moment, and don’t worry about being practical or even reasonable. Focus on defining your ideal future based on your most important values and longer-term business objectives. And don’t frame this as “fixing” something that already exists or working within your current constraints. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever considered the possibility that the language we use in organizations can have a direct impact on the experience of an individual worker or larger group? How many times have you seen individuals or work groups that seem to exude a culture that undermines either their own stated goals or those of the organization as a whole? In what ways do they speak of themselves, their co-workers, and the work itself, and how has this correlated with their success?
Alternatively, have you seen individuals or groups within organizations that seem to “get it?” How do they speak about themselves and others, and what culture tends to form around them and spread to other parts of a larger organization?
Tribal Leadership, written by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright, provides a framework from which to understand the various “tribes” in an organization and the cultural stages in which they reside. One of their goals is to educate leaders on how to take a tribe (or set of tribes, if in a larger organization) from one cultural stage to the next, until they align around core values and a noble cause. This is achieved both through providing specific coaching tips and through addressing how a leader and an employee can speak about themselves and others. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Suggestions on How to Work From Home and Stay Productive
December 10th, 2009 by Cris Hagen
More and more I see companies embracing “work-at-home” policies, not only as a way to be more “green” by keeping cars off the road, but as a way to reduce the real estate “footprint” in the office. Some companies estimate the cost of maintaining office space for an employee at around $9,000/year. These same companies are offering as much as $1,000 for work-at-home employees to purchase the necessary office equipment to set up and maintain a home office.
So as the economic drivers for working at home seem to be well established and as companies define the appropriate policies and procedures for determining which jobs lend themselves to “working-at-home” (not to mention the question of how managers will measure the productivity of employees working at home), the question is, how does the “work-at-home” employee stay productive?
Speaking from experience, I would like to offer the following suggestions, and then invite the reader to contribute their own ideas. Read the rest of this entry »
Does Light Boost Workplace Productivity? Green Offices Increase Business Success
November 13th, 2009 by Cris Hagen
We’ve all heard of the “Hawthorne Effect”, right? Studies done between 1924-1932 at the Hawthorne Works (a Western Electric facility located outside of Chicago) attempted to study the effects of lowering or raising the levels of light in the building on employee productivity. As students of OD, we learned that workers responded with higher productivity levels NOT because of higher or lower levels of light, but primarily because they were being shown some interest by management. In fact, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles, and even relocating workstations resulted in increased productivity for short periods of time.
A quick Google search on the impact of environment on productivity brought up several studies on the impact of such things as temperature, visual comfort and view, and office layouts. Once such article cited two cases of note: Read the rest of this entry »
Meet our office pets!
November 6th, 2009 by Samantha Lurey
We practice what we preach here at Plus Delta Consulting and work hard to create a fun place to work. One of the things we promote is a pet friendly atmosphere. Yes, we bring our dogs with us to work (almost) every day. There are a few exceptions when there are clients or other VIP guests coming into the office, but generally the pets get to come to work. Who are these furry friends? Read below to meet our office pets and see the cutest 25-second video clip! Read the rest of this entry »
