Emotional Intelligence – Its Importance in the Workplace and Strategies for Improvement
Every organization is “in business” to achieve its goals. These goals differ depending on the private, public, or non-profit nature of the organization, and success in achieving the goals is influenced by both external and internal factors. The biggest factor over which the organization has control is the performance of its employees – and there are historical and recent, more effective, ways to influence performance. My dad built Buicks, working on the assembly line for General Motors. For 45 years he arrived at work at 6:00 a.m. and...
read moreWhew! Is it almost April already?!
Hello friends and readers, We have been absent from the blogosphere as we’ve had an exciting couple of months of client delivery and conference presenting! We’ve launched five Leadership Development Programs, with a combined total of 170 participants, within the past 3 months. We are proud to say that the Lumin team is delivering customized programming to each of these five programs, which are located across the country. Our LDPs present the participants with new information to build their leadership tool boxes, to practice those...
read moreIntentionality – From One of Lumin’s Partners, Megan Brogger
Intentional literally means, “done deliberately”. In preparation for the last post of the month, I had the most time of all the Luminaries to consider what to write about. I was actually able to deliberate, to observe my behaviors and patterns, and to consider the contexts in which I am more or less effective being intentional. The common denominator of me being intentional?? Time. For me, time meant a variety of things this month: 4 weeks to prepare my blog post, at least 5-10 minutes of prep before each meeting so that I could recall...
read moreIntentionality – From our Director of Assessment Services, Chelsea Berryman
Around this time, everyone is thinking about New Year’s resolutions, which is really a way of being intentional about how you are going to behave or what you want to accomplish as you enter the New Year. However, like many others, I find myself forgetting about these resolutions by mid-February, slipping back into a comfortable pattern as all of the energizing drive that comes with the beginning of a New Year fades away. This year, I decided to do something different and apply a principle I use in my work to help me be more intentional about...
read moreIntentionality – From our Director of Operations, Amy Feist
Being intentional is a skill, and, like any skill, if you want to develop it, you need to practice. It is so easy to fall into a routine, whether it’s productive or not. One needs to be intentional in reviewing: “Is this actually helpful and am I doing this for a reason that will help me meet my goals and/or my company’s goals?” If not, you need to step back and re-evaluate. Working on the operations side, there are many distractions that come up during the day and can easily lead me off task. Because I like variety and to start projects...
read moreIntentionality – Start Your Year Off Right!
In “Alice in Wonderland,” Alice is lost and asks the Caterpillar for advice: Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Caterpillar: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. Alice: I don’t much care where. The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go. Alice: …so long as I get somewhere. The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough. In business and organizations, it’s all too easy to focus on the actions you’re taking – on the work that you’re doing –...
read moreOur Last Post of the Year!
Per our intro post on Illuminations this month, we were going to talk about some of our challenges and successes as a service provider to the government during the shutdown and sequestration, but rather than dwelling on the challenges of the year, we decided to look forward to re-energizing during how to spend the holiday break instead! We all talked about what rejuvenating, relaxing, and re-energizing activities we could do during break and thought we’d share a few! Take some time to reflect on this year – What went well for...
read moreSpreading the Word About Mentoring in 2013
Throughout the month, we are reflecting back on 2013 – its accomplishments, successes, and yes — even challenges! One topic on the top of our research and client delivery lists this year was Mentoring Programs. Just to recap a previous blog post about Mentoring Programs (and why we are so interested in helping organizations design, implement, and/or manage them): 50% of the senior workforce is retirement-eligible today. Years of experience and organizational knowledge may soon be walking out your door. Figuring out how...
read moreReflecting on 2013
This month on Illuminations, as we reach the end of 2013, we want to look back and reflect on this year in Lumin. It has been a wonderful year. We have been very fortunate and we are looking forward to an even better 2014. We came together in March of this year to really pursue this opportunity of a woman-owned business. We “Luminaries” have worked together for years and found that we share similar values and complementary skills so we wanted to apply these to a company we could call our own. Since March, work has moved at a rapid pace as...
read moreLumin’s Approach to Team Building
As discussed earlier this month, we believe that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to team-building. Instead, we use a standard system to ensure that we are thorough and systematic. The following are the usual steps in our team-building process: Involve key stakeholders and people with knowledge of the team (e.g., supervisors, organization leaders, decision-makers, etc.) to understand: The goals of the team The relationship of the team with the broader organizational context and culture Other characteristics of the team that make it...
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