Chillax: 13 Ways to Reduce Workplace Stress Quick trivia: from what movie does the line “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” come?  It comes from the 1976 movie, The Network.  Winner of four Academy Awards and with an all-star cast, The Network is a satirical film about a [...]

A Message from the President: Thinking Inside the Box: How Organizational Innovation Really Works Network News and Events Lean Six Sigma Forum (Shakopee) 7/31 The 55 minute solution to your business problem (Minneapolis) 8/1 Beyond Baldrige: Managing Quality and the Client Experience at IBM Rochester 8/13 Leading with Courage and Candor (St. Paul) 8/14 Minnesota [...]

Thinking Inside the Box: How Organizational Innovation Really Works A recent Wall Street Journal article captured the challenges most organizations face in trying to be innovative. Authors Drew Boyd (a former J&J executive and current professor at University of Cincinnati) and Jacob Goldenberg (a professor at Hebrew University) reveal a startling statistic. They have asked [...]

A Message from the President: Workers Are Mad As Hell: 14 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement Network News and Events Lean Six Sigma Forum (Shakopee) 7/31 Learn What Drives Organizational Excellence: 2013 MN Performance Excellence Award Evaluator Application Deadline 7/1 Beyond Baldrige: Managing Quality and the Client Experience at IBM Rochester (Rochester) 07/16 The Principles [...]

Yes, I am on Twitter (@LassiterBrian), and truth be told: I monitor business and leadership tweets to get a pulse on “hot” topics for this newsletter (I think they call that “trending” topics). In any event, I have compiled 16 articles from the last 60 days alone on the topic of employee engagement. More precisely: [...]

Last month, I shared 34 best practices that have been demonstrated to promote high performance in organizations. I labeled them the “silver bullet” for achieving and sustaining performance excellence—they represent best practices in customer focus, workforce engagement, process improvement, and organizational measurement […]

A Message from the President:The Silver Bullet: 46 Ways to Drive Organizational Excellence (Part 2) Network News and Events PEN Presents Benedictine Health System with Highest Award, Celebrates Successful PENworks 2013 Making Ethical Behavior Part of Your Culture (Rochester) 06/04 Create a Great Customer-Inspired Experience (Minneapolis) 06/06 Making Your Message Stick: Brain-Based Presentation Design and [...]

If you want to see some of the exciting presentations made at PENworks 2013, we have begun to provide them on the program. Click here to view conference presentations; or go to What We Provide/Events/Archives to see more past presentations, including a video of Benedictine Health System receivings its Baldrige Award of Excellence.

The Network Also Recognizes Eight Other Organizations for Organizational Improvement at May PENworks Conference The Performance Excellence Network (PEN), formerly the Minnesota Council for Quality, has awarded Duluth-based Benedictine Health System (BHS) with the 2012 Minnesota Performance Excellence Award, Excellence Level. The award, framed from the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, is designed to help [...]

A Message from the President:The Silver Bullet: 46 Ways to Drive Organizational Excellence Network News and Events The Best Learning, Networking Event of the Year: PENworks 2013 – May 14-15 No Minneapolis PEN in May -- Attend PENworks May 14-15 No SE PEN in May -- Attend PENworks May 14-15 No St. Paul PEN in [...]