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As some of you know, I started a new job about two months ago as the Director of People and Associate Experience at Carter Myers Automotive. We have 23 locations and 1,200 employees. I lead the People Team, which is made up of the Human Resources and Payroll groups. I’ve never worked in automotive before, so I’m learning a lot about this essential industry.

I made the change from full-time self-employment for several reasons: I missed being part of...

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Here's a video where you can learn about our Six-Factor Employee Engagement model. It’s the result of five years of field research, learning from experts, and presenting findings to practitioners. We field-tested it, created practices, modified them, and measured results. Now I’m happy to share these ideas with others.

When employees are engaged, they’re so committed to their work and workplace that they’re willing to give...

Employee engagement is the ability to be motivated, dedicated, and emotionally connected to your work and workplace so you give your best, discretionary effort. Engagement doesn't happen by chance - it takes intention and effort. But you can strengthen your workplace.

Here's an infographic on ten ways to engage employees:

Do you like this infographic? You can download the full size version.

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Last week we shared our six-factor employee engagement model to leaders at Penn State. This is the result of more than five years of research and development while I was leading human resources at EnergyCAP, consulting with other organizations, studying the experts on engagement, and building a comprehensive employee engagement program.

I believe this work matters greatly because:

• there is majority disengagement among workers
• the national engagement rate...

Over the last five years, I’ve led hundreds of training events, mostly around CliftonStrengths®. Usually, the idea for an event begins with team leaders wanting to do something for their team.

Maybe there’s a team retreat coming up, or there’s a team problem to solve, or they want to offer professional development, or they’ve heard of the CliftonStrengths assessment (formerly StrengthsFinders®).

Different reasons have brought them to me, but most events end the...

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In our previous blog we discovered that although it was easy to blame the Great Resignation of employees on the pandemic, that wasn’t the actual cause. The real cause of the unprecedented numbers of employees voluntarily leaving their workplaces was employee disengagement. Now that workplaces are returning to normal (albeit a new normal), should they be concerned about employee disengagement?

According to Gallup, only 34% of American employees are...

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You’ve probably heard of the Great Resignation, which refers to the unprecedented number of American workers who resigned from their jobs during the pandemic. Maybe your organization lost employees during this time or maybe you left yourself. If you did, you’re in good company—I did too. But what you may not know is what really caused the Great Resignation.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 4 million people...

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CliftonStrengths® isn’t supposed to be used for job selection, but what if you’re looking for that kind of direction? That’s where PathwayU comes in. CliftonStrengths can tell you what you’re good at, while PathwayU can predict possible pathways for fulfillment and impact. Together, CliftonStrengths and PathwayU are a winning combination.

What is CliftonStrengths?

CliftonStrengths is a talent...

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How do you know which paths to take for greater meaning, purpose, and joy in your calling? Introducing PathwayU.

PathwayU is a platform that uses predictive science to help you discover which paths could create more purpose, meaning, and joy in your life and work. Think of it as a calling assessment, possibility finder, job hunter, coaching tool, and educational resource rolled into one platform.

PathwayU was originally designed for college students to choose best...

A study looked at the early lives of 300 exemplary people who left indelible marks on the world. These were 300 world changers like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, and Clara Barton. They contributed in various ways across various times and in various industries but held some things in common. What did the study find?

Among these 300 exemplary people:

• 75% were troubled by poverty, broken home or difficult parents
• 74 of 85 fiction writers and 16 of 20 poets saw...