Ep 67 Continuous Improvement and Task Balancing with Kevin Gazzara

One of the secrets of getting to “flow” in a work process is to “level the load.“

Not overburdening the process and managing the natural volatility of inputs has a remarkable effect on productivity. My guest, Kevin Gazzara, has insights into how to do this in our brains. Check out our fascinating conversation!

Kevin has an undergraduate degree in engineering and business and completed his MBA and doctoral work in Organizational Leadership. Kevin then moved to the technical side when he worked for Transamerica Corporation. He also worked at Intel for 18 years as an Operations Manager and General Manager, and in his last 10 years at Intel, he focused on managing Intel University and the Management Leadership Development, as well as residential programs around the world.

Currently, Kevin is a senior partner at Magna Leadership Solutions, a firm that started 15 years ago when he retired from Intel in 2007. Magna Leadership Solutions provide management and leadership programs including the Lean Forward Academy which offers global programs virtually and in person. In addition, he is an ICF (International Coaching Federation) executive coach, and Positive Intelligence coach.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST:

• Kevin’s background before he started Magna Leadership Solutions
• What made Kevin transition from the technical and business side to the organizational side of the organization?
• His big leap, moving from engineering to the people side of the business.
• The difference between leading a technical team and being a leader training teams from all over the company.
• Kevin’s ideas, principles, and how he deals with how other people see and perceive things.
• Three commandments of leadership
• What does Kevin do to help other people get deeper knowledge and become more flexible with their approach?
• Why communication is by far the number one missing leadership practice or competency across the globe.
• Systems influencing the performance of the team
• Organizational performance and aligning it to business results
• Why do organizations obscure the cost of turnover?
• What managers should do to improve problem-solving.
• Why managers should balance their employees’ workload and how to balance the workload for your brain.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• No one can do one type of task effectively for extended periods. Changing task types throughout the workday leads to better overall productivity and happier employees.
• Allowing people control over the types of tasks they perform and when and how long they perform them will allow people to gravitate towards what they love.
• When you can retain employees, you are always going to get better performance, engagement, and motivation.

Memorable Quotes From Kevin Gazzara

“Go find someone to mentor you or to coach you… to be a sounding board for you.”

CONNECT WITH KEVIN GAZZARA

Main website: https://magnaleadership.com/

Positive Intelligence website: https://pqtrainingandcoaching.com/