Exploring Life’s Priorities: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand & On Being a Time Billionaire — Nov 2024

During the COVID years, we were all given the opportunity to reflect on our mortality and on what’s truly important in life: our fast-paced daily routines came to an abrupt halt, allowing us to recalibrate -- to refocus on the priorities in each of our lives. But, while COVID isn’t over, most of us have [...]

2024-11-19T12:44:54-06:00November 19, 2024|

The Lifeblood of Any Organization: Its Culture — August 2024

Ever heard the story about the customer who brought four tires to a Nordstrom Customer Service counter to return them?  As the legend goes, although Nordstrom doesn’t sell tires, the employee processed a refund anyway.  Talk about a culture that 1) is highly customer focused, and also 2) completely trusts and empowers its people to [...]

2024-08-28T15:38:42-05:00August 28, 2024|

The Key to Sustained World Class Performance: Deliberate Practice — PEN June 2024

Everywhere you look, standards are rising.  In business, in sports, in education, in healthcare – really in all aspects of human and organizational achievement – what is considered "world class" continues to increase.  For example… It used to take 72 hours by plane to cross the Atlantic (1913); it now takes just over six.  The [...]

2024-06-24T09:00:43-05:00June 24, 2024|

Say What?? 18 Best Practices for Effective Communication – May 2024

I had a conversation with a CEO of a PEN member organization recently, in which he lamented the fact that his messages were just not getting through to employees -- he was communicating, but the messages just weren’t sticking.  So I asked him what channels he was using, to which he replied the normal ways: [...]

2024-05-20T13:02:15-05:00May 20, 2024|

Igniting the Future: 35 Insights to Excellence — Feb 2024

Indulge me for a second: after nearly 10 years with the “PENworks” label, our annual conference is now igniteEX. Why the change? “Ignite” captures the essence of the conference -- it’s about inspiring change; sparking ideas and innovation; improving processes, people, and outcomes! After hosting years of successful conferences, we've seen first-hand the energy and [...]

2024-02-29T08:45:48-06:00February 29, 2024|

14 New Year’s Resolutions for Professional & Personal Productivity, Health, Happiness — Jan 2024

As we start a new year, many of us set personal, professional, and organizational goals.  But research shows that up to 80% of New Year’s resolutions are broken, and that the average date of breaking resolutions is about January 20 (that’s why the gym is so crowded the first two or three weeks in January [...]

2024-02-29T07:46:31-06:00January 24, 2024|

Performance Excellence Network & Iowa Quality Center Announce Partnership

Performance Excellence Network & Iowa Quality Center Announce Partnership Collaboration Provides IQC Members Access to PEN Resources, Supports Performance Excellence throughout Iowa   ST. PAUL, Minn., December 13, 2023 – The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) and the Iowa Quality Center (IQC) today announce a partnership that expands the mission of both organizations throughout the Upper [...]

2023-12-11T15:53:36-06:00December 11, 2023|

Learning from the Future: How to Plan for Tomorrow When Everything Has Changed Today — Nov 2023

I was having a conversation with a colleague recently about how the world has changed the last several years.  Think about the fundamental shifts we have collectively experienced, many brought on by the pandemic but many because of other things.  For example, how many of us knew what Artificial Intelligence was just a year ago?  [...]

2023-11-27T12:14:37-06:00November 27, 2023|

Why Good Organizations Sometimes Fail — PEN Sept 2023

I get asked occasionally what is the single biggest reason organizations fail.  Of course, there isn’t one right answer: organizations -- even from the same sector or industry -- have different cultures, different core competencies, different strategic challenges and advantages, different circumstances that contribute to success or failure.  As a result, some organizations struggle with [...]

2023-09-20T14:28:45-05:00September 19, 2023|

Exploring Life’s Priorities: Rocks, Pebbles, Sand & On Being a Time Billionaire — Aug 2023

During the COVID years, we were all given the opportunity to reflect on our mortality and on what’s truly important in life: our fast-paced daily routines came to an abrupt halt, allowing us to recalibrate -- to refocus on the priorities in each of our lives. But, while COVID isn’t over, most of us have [...]

2023-08-25T06:33:01-05:00August 22, 2023|
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