Andrew Temte

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! Today, I’m talking about the judicious use of rallying cries in a corporate setting.

Do Rallying Cries Work? — Andrew Temte The point I’m driving at is that while you as a leader may do just fine with the ambiguity of unfinished goals—simultaneously cleaning up last year’s mess and rolling out shiny new initiatives, many of your people detest loose ends, unfinished business, and incomplete goals.

Imagine a big project or product launch that multiple teams have been working on for months. The planning is complete, and significant effort and resources have been expended designing, building, and positioning the new offering for market. Teams are lined up at the end of the proverbial runway, and then senior leadership tells everyone to hit the “pause” button until further notice. Weeks go by and there hasn’t been a peep from senior leadership about the status of their go, no-go decision. In this situation—which is all too common in business—are team members waiting patiently or are they going out of their minds wondering what the heck is going on? It’s almost always the latter and not the former.

Radio silence is a terrible management practice and is a big driver of employee dissatisfaction. You don't have to always have all the answers, but keeping stakeholders updated on why things are happening goes a long way toward preventing unnecessary spinning and emotional waste. You can prevent spinning, gossip, speculation, and emotional waste by being prompt, clear, and as transparent as possible during times of uncertainty in your business.

In part three of my miniseries on workplace culture, I sit down–literally–for an episode of The Balancing Act Podcast with my friend and former colleague, Rob Van Craenenbroeck. Rob is co-founder of Culture@Work, a leading organizational culture consulting business based right here in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Rob is also the author of The Culture Factor.

This is a special episode as Rob and I had the opportunity to sit in my office face-to-face for this conversation! Tune into episode 125 to hear Rob's story, his 'rocket-booster' moment, and his thoughts on improving organizational culture.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1KCsLtOwzgE8yn8YutbbNm?si=7d31cc986f114528

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/maximizing-human-capital-with-rob-van-craenenbroeck/id1563119885?i=1000642903178

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ioUrT2vwq3Y

Maximizing Human Capital (with Rob Van Craenenbroeck) | The Balancing Act Podcast Ep. 125 In part three of my miniseries on workplace culture, I sit down with my friend and former colleague, Rob Van Craenenbroeck. Rob is co-founder of Culture@Work...

The answer to this question is an emphatic “no.” That's why it's so important to surround yourself with team members with different perspectives, life experiences, and world views from your own, and not just a "Team Yes" of people who are a direct reflection of you.

Business is hard no matter how you cut it. So as a leader, it’s best to be realistic, authentic, growth-oriented, and appropriately vulnerable versus the alternative leader persona of being a directive “boss” with all the answers and a tight grip on information and decision-making.

Since the business will outlive me, I have a responsibility to act as a steward and build teams that will work to maximize long-term value to all stakeholders - employees, shareholders, and customers. Loads of research supports the notion that “Team Diverse” outperforms “Team Yes” across myriad metrics. Building “Team Diverse” and viewing the world through the lens of a steward makes good business sense.

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse from frigid western Wisconsin! Today, I’m talking about the importance of establishing organizational clarity through effective goal setting.

Enjoy and Go Packers!

Clear Goals Matter — Andrew Temte What do your people want (other than more money)? They want clarity, autonomy, empowerment, respect, and organizational accountability. They want to make a difference and do good, meaningful work. They want to know that leadership cares and that everyone in the company is rowing in the same directio

Digital transformation has been all the rage over the last decade as companies have raced to put tools in place that better allow them to harness data from their business to make better decisions. And today, most companies have crossed that finish line in one way or another. The new challenge is leveraging it to make great decisions.

The best way to maximize the effectiveness of your data and analytics investments is to arm your entire organization with the skills needed to analyze and act on it. I recommend investing in a continuous and experiential learning and training regimen designed to upskill your people's human skills, business acumen, financial literacy, and data literacy. By developing a better internal understanding of how these four key competencies work together, your team will have a more complete toolkit for critical data analysis and decision-making.

This episode of The Balancing Act Podcast is part two in my miniseries dedicated to workplace culture -- what it is, why it matters, and how you can move the needle on your organization's culture.

This week, Chellie Woodham Phillips joins me to expand our thinking on the subject. Chellie is VP of Communications and PR at Coweta-Fayette EMC and is the author of several award-winning books. Her most recent work is Culture Secrets: Any Leader Can Use to Build a V.A.L.U.E. Culture. Tune into episode 124 to hear Chellie's story, her 'rocket-booster' moment, and her thoughts on all things workplace culture.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/632VVTa6ZzSvixuukWQeQY?si=c18db8a2b83c477e

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-v-a-l-u-e-of-a/id1563119885?i=1000642087759

YouTube: https://youtu.be/eAoNedNYevE

The V.A.L.U.E. of a Great Workplace Culture (with Chellie Phillips) | The Balancing Act Podcast 124 This episode is part two in my miniseries dedicated to workplace culture -- what it is, why it matters, and how you can move the needle on your organization'...

As I reflect today on the words and leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., I am struck both by how far we've come in racial equity since his time and how far we still have to go.

It's easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about some of the things that divide us as a nation, whether that's by race, gender, identity, or status. But this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. provides the blueprint for all of us to find a role in the good fight. It's through the love we show our fellow humans in our day-to-day interaction that we dissolve hatred and division. We'll never see eye-to-eye with everyone on every issue. But we have the opportunity to treat everyone with grace, dignity, and compassion. Those three, applied consistently to every interaction we have with another human being, will go a long way toward a better world for all of us.

Oh, and self-love comes first. It's really difficult to spread love to others if you're not enamored with what's going on inside.

Hello from snowy western Wisconsin and welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! Today, I'm talking about getting back into the classroom this semester for the first time in 20 years. What will I learn from my students?

What Will I Learn from My Students? — Andrew Temte We’ll have a group discussion on several concepts that are essential to building resilience and a healthy relationship with work. Those concepts are self love, curiosity, courage, compassion, gratitude, agility, situational awareness, and self-awareness, just to name a few.

I’m on the record as being a fan of scrapping the annual performance review, weaving performance evaluation into the flow of work, and replacing the annual performance review with an annual learning and skills gap review. But until that idea gains traction, what can we do to make the annual performance review process more meaningful—especially for the employee? My recommendation is to link the mandatory self-evaluation that’s part of your performance review at work to your personal self-evaluation.

The bottom line is that life’s far too short to be stuck in a role that doesn’t suit you or to let time pass in a career that doesn’t align with your personal purpose.

Unsure of what your personal purpose is? Download my free Personal Planning Guidebook today to discover your purpose and develop a solid plan for your future: https://bit.ly/3RYrU0v

What is organizational culture? Why is culture so important to your business? How do business performance and workplace culture intersect? How can you make meaningful changes to your corporate culture? These are just a few of the questions I'll be exploring with my guests over the next few weeks in my workplace culture miniseries on The Balancing Act Podcast.

My first guest is Eric Stone. Eric is founder and CEO of Clear Path Ventures, author of Jumpstart your Workplace Culture: A Roadmap for Igniting High Performance, and was a regional VP for Enterprise Holdings for over 26 years. Tune into episode 123 to hear Eric's story, his 'rocket-booster' moment, and his thoughts on the balance between culture and performance.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LKAuA2NuL2INfwWt5jP2D?si=3d0e2b8dcdcd4fba

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-workplace-culture-matters-vol-1-with-eric-stone/id1563119885?i=1000641297335

YouTube: https://youtu.be/duRSZUX0dQs

Why Workplace Culture Matters, Vol. 1 (with Eric Stone) | The Balancing Act Podcast Ep. 123 What is organizational culture? Why is culture so important to your business? How do business performance and workplace culture intersect? How can you make m...

If you look under the hood of most organizations, you'll find a clear division between those who are bonus-eligible and those who are not. In most organizations, that structure spreads beyond bonuses into authority and decision-making power. This structure feeds the mentality of "some jobs exist primarily in service of other jobs," whose compensation is tied to a given department's performance. Whether intentional or not, rewarding only certain teams based on performance directly communicates to the rest of the team that their jobs are less important.

There's another way. Numerous studies dating as far back as 1987 and as recently as the COVID pandemic have consistently found that companies with Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) retain employees at a much higher rate than those with traditional bonus structures or no bonus structure at all.

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! Today, I’m expanding on my December 9, 2023 Muse on the Leadership Expectations Trap.

Happy New Year!

The Expectations Trap, Part II — Andrew Temte This urge to do it yourself is one that comes naturally—at least for some of us. Remember class projects in high school and college? Were you the Type A high achiever that jumped in when deadlines approached and “took over” to prevent a failing grade or substandard outcome? I played this role ...

We spend most of our time evaluating the outside world through our "one size fits you" set of lenses, which are colored by our experiences and accumulated unconscious biases. We spend far too little time looking inward. But cultivating our hypothetical inner eye can have tremendous benefits, allowing us to strike a more appropriate balance between what's happening on the outside and what's happening on the inside.

Put simply, the inner eye is a mechanism for intentional self-reflection that challenges our beliefs, biases, and actions, coupled with a willingness and ability to learn, pivot, and change. It's part of our innate toolset that allows us to continually improve as humans.

There are many benefits of being multidimensional. I gain so much value when I allow my alter-ego, the lead vocalist of The Remainders, to come out to play...

How do you balance work and life? How do you prevent work from becoming all-consuming?

Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2024, I'd like to introduce you to John Danaher. John is an advisor to several businesses, is the former president of medical and veterinary education at Adtalem Global Education, was president of Education and Global Clinical Solutions at Elsevier, and worked with me at Kaplan and served as president of the Schools of Health Sciences and Nursing at Kaplan University - now Purdue Global.

The focus of our conversation is on the topic of medical education, nursing and physician shortages, the role of mentoring and coaching in the medical profession, and how to improve human (soft) skills in the physician and nursing workforce. Tune into episode 122 to hear John's story, his 'rocket-booster' moment, and his thoughts on all things medical education.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/428N6hJ4o6lRm9LPpIQrMr?si=8ab797f5dc064d62

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-medical-education-with-john-danaher/id1563119885?i=1000640533389

YouTube: https://youtu.be/kReIOg7dQZk

The Future of Medical Education (with John Danaher) | The Balancing Act Podcast Ep: 122 Happy New Year! In the first episode of 2024, I'd like to introduce you to John Danaher. John is an advisor to several medical businesses, is the former pres...

In my personal journey to grow the skill of self-awareness, I’ve learned to listen to the language I’m using to describe the activities I’m engaged in when I’m speaking to myself and to others. And yes, we all talk to ourselves… This may seem odd to some because we spend most of our time listening to others, critiquing their use of language, and discerning their outlook and disposition. Since I’ve started to listen with intent to the words that are coming out of my own mouth, I’m much more aware of my own feelings and how I’m carrying myself.

There’s a strong positive correlation between feelings of disengagement in the workplace and the use of the phrase: “I have to ___.” In contrast, when I find myself saying: “I get to ___,” my mental disposition tends to be much lighter, more positive, and forward leaning. So when you’re feeling stuck or disengaged, start listening to yourself. Are you framing your daily activities negatively (I have to ___)? If so, pay close attention to the activities you’re framing in this way and make a list of the things you feel like you have to do.

What do you do with this list? For more, see my recent Saturday Morning Muse on the subject at: https://bit.ly/3NH1e1Q

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! Today, I’m telling a personal story from my youth and relating it to today for my annual New Year message.

Happy New Year!

Peace... — Andrew Temte Most importantly, ask yourself if your reaction to a new acquaintance is based on the response that our hyper-polarized society expects you to have, or are you willing to learn and grow your thinking and your network beyond the confines of a fixed mindset to an issue, people, or culture.

Most resolutions fail because they’re typically not integrated into a broader long-term personal plan. Loads of energy and attention get poured into resolutions early in the year. Then time passes, entropy sets in, the inertia of the previous status quo takes over, and the hopes and dreams of New Year’s Eve are eventually dashed—leading to disappointment and regret.

Instead, I encourage you to (a) adopt a continuous improvement and “seek to understand” mindset, and (b) develop a concrete plan for achieving your desired future state. Doing this work will help in the shift away from ill-defined resolutions that have little chance of success to a New Year’s Eve in which you recommit to your long-term plan and the short-term goals that represent stepping stones on the way to a brighter future state.

To get you started, I've developed a Personal Planning Guidebook just for you. It's available for free on my website at www.andrewtemte.com/purpose

Best wishes for a safe and happy New Year to you and your family!

New Year's Resolutions? Bah Humbug… In this special New Year 2024 episode of The Balancing Act Podcast, I walk listeners through my Personal Planning Guidebook.

Instead of making New Year resolutions that have a low probability of becoming reality, invest in yourself through the development of your own personal plan. Why are you here? What's your vision for the future? What are the steps necessary to make significant progress toward your desired future state?

Learn more in today's episode and download your FREE copy of my Personal Planning Guidebook now at www.andrewtemte.com/purpose.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7t1yVHWGk5zbSHgRb5Dqzf?si=6d37291a94334e65

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/do-you-have-a-personal-plan/id1563119885?i=1000639910485

YouTube: https://youtu.be/8FEjZ6tlwPM

Do You Have a Personal Plan? | The Balancing Act Podcast Ep: 121 Are you living a purposeful life? In this special New Year 2024 episode, I walk listeners through my Personal Planning Guidebook. Instead of making New Year ...

We are wired to resist change and conserve energy whenever we can. We love the status quo and routinely get caught in the trap of firefighting and “doing” to keep ourselves busy. We look for shortcuts and the fastest path to achieving whatever objective lies in front of us. The typical result from this tension—that business is hard versus our innate wiring to look for shortcuts—is that strategic planning, goal setting, process mapping, defining standard work, and establishing organizational clarity take a backseat to just getting things done.

Operating in the absence of organizational clarity means that unwritten rules and ad hoc processes become the norm. Since nothing is codified and communicated, the organization’s culture becomes one of firefighting and crisis management. Fiefdoms are established, job protectionism flourishes, and information about what’s really going on is traded like state secrets.

Few people enjoy working in cultures like this, but oddly, we tend to avoid the difficult work to improve the situation. Defining clarity through strategic and tactical planning tends to fail because those activities are seen as “extra work” and are not woven into the flow of business operations. Efforts to drive continuous improvement, organizational health, and operational excellence are doomed to fail if they’re viewed as extraneous to the day-to-day operations of the business.

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! This weekend I’m telling a story about service excellence and how my face broke the CLEAR machine.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

My Face Broke the Machine — Andrew Temte Continuous improvement is based on three primary tenets: identifying & minimizing waste, respecting people, and maintaining a maniacal focus on the customer. My advice today is this: use the holiday shopping season to look for examples of service excellence and service failure.

We fill our lives with "busy" and distractions. The little downtime we have is reserved for the escapism of TV and other entertainment. Instead, I would encourage you to be purposeful and set aside time for personal reflection and contemplation. We're only going to be here once. Make sure to check in with yourself regularly to ensure your actions and activities are aligned with the type of life you want to live and the legacy you want to leave.

Reflection and contemplation lead to a heightened sense of self awareness.

This is the third and final installment from The Balancing Act Podcast - LIVE, which was recorded on November 15, 2023, at The Main in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin. My guests today are Jake Erickson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse, and BGC alumni Chad Wonderling, interim CFO of
Salesloft in Atlanta, GA.

The focus of our conversation is the benefits of mentorship and coaching in our homes and businesses. I encourage listeners to learn more about their local Boys & Girls Clubs of America and lend their support to this wonderful organization in the form of time, talent, treasure, or all of the above. Tune into episode 120 to hear Jake and Chad's stories and their thoughts on the value mentorship and coaching provide to any community.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3G9FVFQk4lxycg56lrQDAW?si=5a2046f6bf794a5a

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-mentoring-the-next-generation-with-jake-erickson/id1563119885?i=1000639327885

YouTube: https://youtu.be/VtLiJwMRt2s

LIVE: Mentoring the Next Generation (Jake Erickson & Chad Wonderling) | The Balancing Act Podcast https://www.andrewtemte.com/This is the third and final installment from The Balancing Act Podcast - LIVE, which was recorded on November 15, 2023, at The Ma...

From books to podcasts to my Saturday Morning Muse, I have created copious amounts of content around the topic of balance. Why?

As a human being, if I have a highly tuned sense of balance, I can perform better at almost any physical job or task I need to accomplish. Physical and mental efficiency increase. If my sense of balance is underdeveloped, I’ll generate more waste than necessary to perform even the most basic physical functions. I’m much less efficient if I’m continually fighting to maintain balance.

Balance is a critical life skill that translates directly as a metaphor in our personal lives and in the world of business management and leadership. An individual with a strong sense of balance understands and can navigate the interplay between myriad competing forces that push and pull us in different directions each day—work, play, home, self, family, friends, and community are all vying for our attention at any given moment.

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Muse! This weekend I’m telling a story about how strong communication can reduce emotional waste in business.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Reducing Emotional Waste — Andrew Temte As the plane taxied out, we made a 90 degree turn onto runway 4-22, sat for 30 seconds or so, and then instead of roaring off into the sky, the engines whimpered and we made another 90 degree turn onto an adjacent empty tarmac. We all sat in relative silence, waiting for the captain to make an annou

One of the most significant ways to be an effective communicator is also the simplest. Repetition and reinforcement of a message are critical in developing clear communications.

Repetition often goes against our natural instincts and ego. We like to believe as leaders that our words are taken as gospel. Hence, repeating a message over and over is one of the hardest thing a leader has to do.

The reality is that most of what anyone says is quickly forgotten unless repeated many times over, no matter who's delivering the message.

Here's the second installment from The Balancing Act Podcast - LIVE, which was recorded on November 15, 2023 at The Main - An Event Space in downtown La Crosse, Wisconsin. My guest today is Matt Binsfeld, CEO of J.F. Brennan Company, Inc. - a leading marine construction and environmental remediation services company based in La Crosse. J.F. Brennan works on major marine infrastructure projects across the United States.

During our conversation, Matt and I discuss the balance required when leading a 100+ year old family-owned business through significant growth and change. Tune into episode 119 to hear Matt's story, his 'rocket booster' moment, and his perspectives on the world of environmental remediation and marine infrastructure.

You can find The Balancing Act Podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms, YouTube, and my website at www.AndrewTemte.com.

Hit the subscribe button, share the show with your network, and/or give us a rating to show your support for the pod. Our purpose is to create a public good for learning and growth–to add value to your journey of personal and professional continuous improvement. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are a few links to the show:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4JgNwUtDqSRJeEOh240qLE?si=6cc27147483047e4

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-a-story-of-continuous-transformation-matt-binsfeld/id1563119885?i=1000638552389

YouTube: https://youtu.be/7l4ZuCKTS5M

LIVE: A Story of Continuous Transformation (Matt Binsfeld) | The Balancing Act Podcast Ep 119 https://www.andrewtemte.com/Here's the second installment from The Balancing Act Podcast - LIVE, which was recorded on November 15, 2023 at The Main in downt...

If you're an or are studying to become one, check out the great work of the Engineering Management Institute, led by Anthony Fasano, PE, F. ASCE.

Here's my contribution to the Engineering Career Coach Podcast with host Jeff Perry.

How Emotional Intelligence Drives Organizational Development In this video, Dr. Andrew Temte, CFA, former CEO of Kaplan Professional, author of “Balancing Act: Teach, Coach, Mentor, Inspire,” and host of The Balancing ...