“Consider having a goofy day
The author provides the following recommendation for managers, “Consider having a goofy day of some sort now and then. It must conform to the basic rules and values of your organization’s culture, of course. But make it fun.” By having a goofy day at work or dressing up for certain holidays, employees are able to have some fun, which also relieves stress.
“Effective management limits bad stress as much as possible, while promoting good stress in the form of surmountable challenges.” Effective managers also understand the importance of recognizing employees for their daily contributions. The author continues, “Recognition is so powerful because it answers a fundamental human need, the need to feel valued for what we do. Managers are in a unique position to offer—or withhold—such recognition, and with it, the feeling of being valued.”
According to Hallowell (2011), there are five steps to igniting peak performance in an organization. He calls the steps the Cycle of Excellence:
Step 1—Select: Putting people into the right jobs so that their brains light up.
Step 2—Connect: Overcoming the potent forces that disconnect people in the workplace both from each other and from the mission of the organization, and restoring the force of positive connection, which is the most powerful fuel for peak performance.
Step 3—Play: Play, or imaginative engagement, catalyzes advanced work, and managers can help people tap into this phenomenally productive yet undervalued activity of the mind.
Step 4—Grapple and grow: Managers can create conditions where people want to work hard, and employees making progress at a task that is challenging and important turns ordinary performers into superstars and increases commitment.
Step 5—Shine: Doing well—shining—feels good, so giving recognition and noticing when a person shines is critical, and a culture that helps people shine inevitably becomes a culture of self-perpetuating excellence.
The five steps of the Cycle of Excellence provide a novel approach to maximizing peak performance.
Reference: Hallowell, E.M. (2011). Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review.
Homework Case Assignment
Draw on the material in the background readings and do additional research to prepare a magazine article in which you do the following:
· Analyze the five steps of the Cycle of Excellence and discuss the added value of using the Cycle of Excellence.
· Critique Hallowell’s Cycle of Excellence and use it as a starting point to create your own cycle of excellence. Share real-world employer examples (by employer name).
· Discuss how the cycle of excellence you have developed is the optimum approach for managing human capital.
· The magazine article you are writing should be similar to an article you might find in TD: Talent Development (magazine of the Association for Talent Development) or in HR Magazine (magazine for the Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM).
· Utilize at least three other reference sources to build your article. Cite sources within your paragraphs and include them in a References list at the end of your article. (Note: Even though practitioner magazine articles at times do not cite sources or have a reference section, they are needed for our academic purposes. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper for additional information.
· Include a cover page and a reference page. Note that the deliverable for this assignment is not an essay paper, but rather a journal article formatted like other published journal articles. (Most articles are written in columnar form.)
