For regular readers of this blog, you know that I often get my material from real-world situations that come directly from engagements I am working on.

This week I was conducting a Business leadership simulation workshop and one of the scenarios in the best practices simulation was focused on the leadership challenges of managing a team of people who may have “checked out” after going through a significant amount of change. During the debriefing discussion one of the participant leaders shared something quite profound that got me thinking:

“The way I see it, when dealing with Direct Reports in a large organization there are two types of employees, those who really care about the business and their careers, and those that don’t. But what I always wonder about is this…is that caring built into the structure of the business or is the structure of the business built into the people that care. If I can unlock that mystery, I think I would be a much better leader.”