Develop a competitive advantage starting WITHIN your organization.
Helping your workforce achieve their potential is the right thing to do—both morally and fiscally. Capiche helps businesses gain a competitive advantage by developing the most valuable resources they already have—their employees—to increase productivity, sales, engagement and retention. This can be done with a modest investment of time and resources, yet the returns are fantastic. Time and again, this success has been documented in businesses ranging from insurance sales to high-tech engineering to law enforcement and beyond. The theory of developing employees’ strengths towards a culture of hope, confidence, resilience, optimism and happiness makes sense, and now the benefits have been proven by scientific research.
Read Chris’s Latest Posts
Ever Wonder About the Value of Marketing?
Ever wonder about the value of marketing? Well, you’re not alone. Last week, I saw an example of best marketing practices in action—at the Portland, OR, airport. We were in between flights from Medford to Spokane with some time to enjoy. Read more …
Who’s the Boss of Work Engagement and Happiness?
Try a new perspective: Instead of asking what your employer is doing, check in with what you are doing. Whose responsibility is it to create employee engagement, happiness and thus, results? Read more …
What a Year It Was—What a Year It Can Be
With the holiday season wrapping up and a new year on the horizon, this is the time of year we reflect on the past and set our intentions for the future. I have a series of reflections I use with my coaching clients as well as for myself. Try them out! Read more …
Naughty or Nice: Which Makes for a More Effective Leader?
Which boss do you think achieves better results—the one who inspires by kindness or by fear? Despite the inroads made by science of happiness researchers in recent years, the general consensus in business culture still seems to be that the tougher the leader, the more productive the employees. Read more …
Too Busy?
How did you answer the last time someone asked, “How are you?” I’ll bet it was something like, “Oh, I’m slammed,” “I’m so busy!,” “Crazed,” or “Buried.” Recently a colleague told me she was “doing a trapeze act until the monster project is finished.” The week before, she was “wrapping up a gargantuan project.” Sounds impressive, but what does that even mean? Read more …
What Tops the List of Lessons Learned by a Recent Master in Management Grad?
“Was it worth 20 months and $20,000?” This is the question posed in the October 26, 2014, article by Statesman Journal editorial page editor Dick Hughes. As an adjunct instructor who taught Working with Emotional Intelligence to Dick and his cohort, I am happy to report Dick’s answer was an unequivocal “Yes.” Read more …
Are You on Track to Meet Your Year-End Goals?
Last month, I read a blog post by my high school classmate Bruce Johnson titled “How to Craft a 100-Day Plan So You Finish This Year Well.” He’s a very smart guy who, as he puts it, has “a business growth coaching, consulting and executive education firm that helps business owners and entrepreneurs like you become great at building a business that’s designed for maximum growth, impact and profitability.” Read more …
Mt. Ashland Creates Its Brand from the Inside Out
Your culture is your brand; your brand is your culture. The two are one and the same—inextricably intertwined. It’s where marketing, positive psychology and innovative business practices intersect. And it’s the common denominator in successful companies. Read more …
Bad for Business: Where Business Schools Went Wrong
The golden era of the business school has ended. We’ve gone from a time when MBA programs were regarded as prestigious, pragmatic and selective to one where they’re an embarrassment. Why? Warren G. Bennis and James O’Toole believe it’s because MBA programs have made decisions that are bad for business. Read more …
The Top 4 Employee Needs to Fulfill for Greater Happiness and Productivity
If you’ve been following this blog and other science of happiness research, you already know achieving employee satisfaction is key to creating a sustainable and productive workforce. It’s simple, really. More satisfied employees = happier employees = more engaged employees = more productive employees = a mutually beneficial equation for everyone. Read more …
10 Ways to Practice the Negative Approach to Happiness: Part 2
Pretending everything is copacetic when you’re feeling otherwise is another form of counterproductive suppression. Therapeutic modalities such as radical acceptance therapy teach us to soften ourselves to pain, grief, and anxiety. Read more …
10 Ways to Practice the Negative Approach to Happiness: Part 1
As we try to grasp the vision of happiness before us, it vanishes before our eyes. According to Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, we may have better luck achieving happiness if we tiptoe up to it from behind. Read more …
The Path to Happiness May Be … Backward?
You know those days when everything seems to go wrong? When you tell yourself you are not going to trip on that extension cord, you are not going to mention that painful topic to your friend, you are not going to burn your hand on that pan you just pulled out of the oven—and then you do all three? There’s a scientific explanation for this phenomenon. Read more …
Blue Ocean Leadership: 4 Steps to Boosting Employee Engagement
There are half a trillion reasons why every American should care about employee disengagement. They’re called dollar bills, and that’s how many the US economy loses annually because of the 20% of discontented employees who undermine workplace productivity, according to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace report. Read more …
The 5 Languages of Appreciation: Motivating Employees by Developing a Culture of Appreciation (Part 2)
The most common form of appreciation expressed in the workplace is words of affirmation, and it is especially important to practice with individuals whose primary language of appreciation is verbal praise, according to Dr. Paul E. White and Dr. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace. Read more …
The 5 Languages of Appreciation: Motivating Employees by Developing a Culture of Appreciation (Part 1)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People author Steven Covey argues that psychological survival—feeling appreciated, understood, and affirmed—comes second only to physical survival in human needs. Even so, employers who are myopically focused on the bottom line may not recognize the value of cultivating appreciation in the workplace. Read more …
Let Me Count the Ways: 5 Love Languages for Better Communication
Over two decades after its original publication, Dr. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts not only tops the marriage and relationships category, but it is also the #1 bestseller in both Relationships and Religious Studies—and it currently ranks #45 of all Amazon book sales (see Top 100 Books). Read more …
How Do You Build Relationships?
How healthy are your relationships? At work, at home, with friends, with relatives, with neighbors? The ability to develop strong relationships is the final reward in becoming emotionally intelligent. It flows naturally out of the first steps: be self-aware; regulate and motivate yourself; and exhibit empathy. Read more …