Ordinary sucks

You know it, they know it, ordinary sucks. And you shouldn’t have to put up with it where you work. We help companies and nonprofits leverage their organizational culture to turn ordinary employees into high performers. We believe that everyone is happier, healthier and more engaged when they knock it out of the park every single day. So we give you and your team the tools you need to shift your culture yourselves. Then you get something more powerful than buy-in from your employees. You get ownership.

“Ken’s energetic and honest approach has gained him the respect of an entire organization. The early iterations of SHIFT made a series of challenging conversations easy due to his sincerity, curiosity and willingness to learn about our organization.

“Our project is the better for his leadership.”

—Beth Gignac, City of Calgary

Recent Articles and Videos

Video Blogs

Recent Blog Posts

106 – Work should feel the human spirit not F***ing drain it, with Rob Lion

December 3rd, 2024|Categories: Uncategorized|

Rob Lion shares how he botched a performance feedback conversation with his team member: AND, on a better note, how called out a “constant complainer” on his team. Rob is the Co-Founder of Black River Performance Management and a professor of human resource development at Idaho State University where his teaching and research focus on organizational psychology and behaviour. Rob is an experienced business owner himself in the food and beverage, personal fitness, and business development industries and has over a decade of work in economic development. In those roles, he says, he saw too many people leaving pieces of their soul in the workplace. And that’s what drives him to nurture better leaders. 

105 – How HR can stop your business from f***ing exploding with Cher McArthur

November 19th, 2024|Categories: Uncategorized|

In this episode, Russell sits down with Cher McArthur, the founder of Humming Bee, to discuss the complexities and challenges of human resources. With over 20 years of HR and leadership experience across various industries, Cher and her team at Humming Bee specialize in helping leaders navigate potential minefields such as performance management, conflict resolution, training and development programs, and work distribution.

104 – I Have a F***ing Bubble and You need to Stay Out Of It with Katelyn Bullock

November 5th, 2024|Categories: Uncategorized|

Katelyn tells us about the difficult conversation she had with a colleague who touched her inappropriately in the workplace … and why she chose not to escalate to HR. She also tells us how she almost lost her company during the pandemic but instead grew her business 5X over the next three years through the power of social media connection. Most importantly, she tells us why it’s important to be friendly at the Tim Horton’s drive thru. 

103 – Getting People F***ing Energized By The F***ing Power Within Them with Cheryl Crumb

October 22nd, 2024|Categories: Uncategorized|

Join Cheryl Crumb as she shares wisdom form her career as a trainer, a coach and a guide who works with clients to bring the voice of the customer into their organizations. Machines tend to be predictable and don’t get mad at you, but human beings are unpredictable and emotional.  Producing a cohesive team dedicated to creating an Extraordinary Customer Experience requires rigorous processes, an empowered workforce and enlightened leadership.  This magical combination doesn’t happen by accident… it’s both a top down and bottom up approach.

Coming Events

Read Nicer Book Club

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 |  4:00pm – 5:30pm

Partnered with MeetUp group, ‘Calgary Business Success Network’ of over 1300 members, Work Nicer hosts a monthly book club meeting for an opportunity to discuss the chosen business book and explore it’s concepts, ideas, theories, and just to overall re-connect over conversation.

The next meeting will be held at Red Mile in Boardroom 9 &3/4. The book for discussion is “I Need To F%^$ing Talk To You!” by Work Nicer member Ken Cameron and Russell Stratton, which provides a practical and easy-to-use guide to prepare and successfully navigate a ‘difficult’ workplace conversations.

Even if you have not read the book or cannot complete by the next session, you can absolutely still join the conversation! It’s an opportunity to learn from others, share ideas and meet new people!

I Need To F***ing Talk To You

The Art Of Navigating Difficult Workplace Conversations.

Date TBC

Let’s get one thing straight off the top  “I need to f@#%ing talk to you”, is a bad way to start any conversation, let alone one with a co-worker.

So why is this commonly happening in the workplace? Usually, it’s because some issue has been festering for weeks or months. Too many managers approach a conversation in which they must challenge difficult behaviour with a lot of trepidation. The result is we aren’t direct, we beat around the bush, or we ignore and let unproductive behaviour go unchallenged until we can’t take it anymore and we just f@#%ing lose it.

“Sometimes conversations suck, but you need to have them, and this book lays out how. Russell and Ken have put together and road-tested simple, up-front, and thoughtful approaches to awkward and difficult workplace conversations.”
Andrew Phung, CBC’s Kim’s Convenience

Zoom Zoom! – from “Adaptive Technology” to “Creative Solution”

FacX online (formerly Facilitation Exchange)
Wednesday, October 21st 6:00 MST 
 

In the wake of the pandemic, our flip chart stands and facilitator tool kits are in the cupboard collecting dust. As facilitators, we don’t go out much any more.  Instead, many of us struggle to do our craft over an online platform like Zoom. In this session, we will think about the way we think about using on-line platforms. We will see what we can harness from each other that helps us move from “adaptive” mode to “creative” mode.  

Ken Cameron of Corporate Culture Shift is one facilitator practitioner among us actively exploring creative solutions. He will lead our session of idea sharing and discovery using some of the tools in his new, on-line tool kit.  He’ll be accompanied by Philip Cox of PlanNET who is still trying to adapt, but asking questions.   

Meet some of our amazing clients

Do you prefer to learn on your own?

Start right now by ordering your copy of our new book, I Need to F***ing Talk to You: The Art of Managing Difficult Conversations. It outlines all the techniques we use in our I Need to F***ing Talk To You workshops so you can tackle the ordinary immediately.

$25 | Available now on Amazon