Articles
Peak Performance Articles:
Want to Impress The Board
Maybe you read it to your little
children, or it was read to you when you
were young. The Little Engine That
Could, did! It went chugging up that
seemingly impossible mountain..."Up,
up, up. Faster and faster and
faster"...until it reached the top with a
trainload of toys for the children who
lived on the other side.
But did you ever think of telling the
people responsible for pulling your
company up every hill, the very people on whose performance your company depends, to
read The Little Engine That Could? Probably not, because few members of management
acknowledge the need to teach that a positive attitude counts for as much as an
encyclopedic knowledge about product and service, competition, and marketplace put
together.
Breaking Barriers
They were stacked boldly on the floor, looking bigger than I had imagined them to be. The orderly piles of boards seemed out of place, belonging more at a construction site or lumber yard than here, at a seminar.
I stared at their edges, raw from the teeth of a sharp saw that had severed their strong fibers and cut them into 12-inch squares. "Can you do it?" my soul whispered, hopeful that such a timid thought wouldn't be sensed in this room full of positive thinkers.
BreakThroughs Participants Get An Attitude Adjustment
Taking a deep breath, letting go of fear and anxiety, a varied group of men and women focused on the goal right in front of them: breaking a 1-inch thick piece of pine in half.
The task required little physical strength of power, but demanded a positive attitude on the part of the person hitting the board.
Sustaining Peak Performance
Have you ever had a day in which everything goes just right? Are those days' just accidents or is there some secret as to why you perform so well on those days? Those were the questions posed by Walter Kowalski, BS, president, BreakThroughs, Inc., in his session entitled, "Sustaining Peak Performance."
TeamBuilding Articles:
Effective Employee Meetings
As a first step, let's begin where many people begin a week or month: the regular office staff meeting. Since putting eight members of your staff in the same room costs money, it is only practical to make sure the hour or two used for each meeting is valuable to both the team leader and all members of staff. This can be accomplished only if all parties are equally prepared and provided with a detailed agenda designed to keep the meeting focused and on track. Cost-effective meetings for real results occur only if conducted seriously.
The first step, according to Walt Kowalski, president of BreakThroughs, Inc., is to create a list of standards to be strictly followed at each meeting. This includes distractions, etiquette and any other behavior that's either accepted or not accepted. "The first meeting you have is to set standards," said Kowalski, whose management consulting company's clients include Verizon, Hewlett Packard, Bank of America and the US Navy. "With all the chaos of every business, this could be the one thread of continuity."
Are you a Team Player and How's your Attitude
The weekend of October 11th & 12th was the retreat for the Leadership Douglas County program. The retreat took place at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club where the participants enjoyed good food, a good atmosphere and great information. BreakThroughs, Inc. facilitated the day and half retreat where different exercises were used to enhance their team building skills.
