Collaboration

How to Intervene When a Manager Is Gaslighting Their Employees

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 11:52:56 -0500

“We missed you at the leadership team meeting,” our executive vice president messaged me. “Your manager shared an excellent proposal. He said you weren’t available to present. Look forward to connecting soon.” In our last one-on-one meeting, my manager had enthusiastically said that I, of course, should...

Closing the agile achievement gap

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 10:18:09 -0500

Here’s an agile cautionary tale: a certain US-based bank wanted to be faster on its feet, transform end-to-end customer experiences, and gain an edge over newer, nimbler fintech competitors. So, naturally, it turned to the agile playbook—the set of practices derived from software development to bring...

How employers can help as workers' mental health bottoms out

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:08:32 -0500

Amid all-time lows in mental health, employers are finding a new mandate to step up efforts to help struggling employees. “After two-plus years of pandemic ambiguity, employee burnout is emerging as the next widespread health crisis, while employers pour more resources and attention into...

10 Failproof Employee Engagement Ideas

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 12:48:36 -0500

No matter your specific business, if your employees aren’t engaged, your customers won’t be either and that is going to negatively impact productivity and your bottom line. Employees who are happy and excited about the work they’re doing have an infectious energy that makes people...

How to Build Trust More Quickly With New Employees

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 11:34:09 -0500

Whether you’re replacing talent because of the great resignation, or your team is growing fast because of your remarkable success, you know how vital it is to build trust quickly. Until there’s real trust, everything is harder and slower. And, who has time for that? As David Horsager of the Trust Institute reminds us...

Making distinctions reduces conflict

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 11:30:55 -0500

Part of leadership is managing conflict, but you can’t manage what you don’t understand, and what you don’t understand leads to ineffective decision-making. Building the critical skill of making distinctions helps leaders make better decisions and manage conflicts. Here are three distinctions every leader needs to understand...

How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 10:34:20 -0500

In virtually every decision they make, executives today consider some kind of forecast. Sound predictions of demands and trends are no longer luxury items, but a necessity, if managers are to cope with seasonality, sudden changes in demand levels, price-cutting maneuvers of the competition, strikes, and large swings of the economy. Forecasting can help...

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:26:10 -0500

We’re approaching year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no clear end in sight. During this time, companies have had to make difficult decisions about whether employees should work from home, wear masks in the office, and get vaccinated and tested. Many companies that took a financial hit also struggled with...

Collaboration vs. Competition: What Drives High-Performance Companies?

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:11:10 -0500

We’ve been taught to compete in business and life since we were young. But could a collaborative approach yield better results? I attended a public school in Southern Rhode Island through 6th grade. We were taught that there was only one answer and only one way to solve a problem. We were told the answers lay in the back of our books, but...

Want to make an impact? Change your questioning habits.

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:06:58 -0500

“Asking questions keeps people engaged, which is paramount when you are trying to influence someone’s thinking or behavior.” That’s the conclusion of a ten-year-old Harvard Business Review article by Chris Musselwhite and Tammie Plouffe. But the idea that leaders can have more impact by asking the right questions is much older. As early as...

Bankrupt and Facing a $100 million Lawsuit, This Entrepreneur Learned the Power of Grit

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 16:26:39 -0500

There’s a moment during a long distance run when the body begins to beg for mercy. It’s then, as the muscle cramps and exhaustion take hold, that runners have a choice to make: quit or keep going. For Chuck Goetschel, an extreme runner and serial entrepreneur, that “hitting the wall” feeling has become an integral part of his success both on and off the racetrack...

Pat Lencioni: 'Get The Right People On The Bus'

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 15:47:45 -0500

Patrick Lencioni is co-founder of The Table Group consultancy, a contributing editor for Chief Executive and bestselling author of several classics, most notably The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. At our recent Leadership Summit, Lencioni conceded that...

Strategies to help employees and teams thrive post-pandemic

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 11:14:04 -0500

The last 18+ months have taught us many things including how critical wellbeing and resiliency are not only for individual employees but to organizations and businesses. The stress, isolation, and shift for many employees to work remotely due to the pandemic has taken its toll. Nearly half of...

How Important Are Allies in The Workplace?

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:58:28 -0500

When we look to build diverse and inclusive workplaces, we sometimes forget to harness one of the biggest forces of change and inclusion: allyships. Let’s start with a definition. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines allyship as “supportive association with another person or group … specifically...

How the Pandemic Has Changed Corporate Leadership and How to Re-engage Your Employees

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 18:45:24 -0500

Individuals were forced to abruptly change their lifestyles, quite literally overnight, due to COVID-19. The uncertain future resulted in fear and trepidation, which extended far beyond the household level. Corporations and organizations have struggled to survive amid...

Can Our Parenting Struggles Make Us Better Leaders?

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 16:58:10 -0500

I’m not just a professor and business consultant; I’m also a parent to two kids. As I’ve often mused, the challenges leaders face at home and at work aren’t necessarily all that different. In particular...

6 Ways To Build Trust In A Hybrid Team

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 16:47:30 -0500

The virtual team bandwagon has been well and truly gathering speed prior to COVID-19. Even before the pandemic sent us all back home to work, 85% of us have at some time worked in a virtual team and almost 20% of us spent our working day interacting with other virtual teams. Building trust is harder in a virtual world but...

The Power of Collective Intelligence

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 16:22:33 -0500

Lessons from an ant colony. When we think about organisations – groups of people all moving towards a single goal – usually we think about a hierarchy. Hierarchies are our most common organisational experience, from our families with parents in charge, to schools with teachers as the boss of the room, and...

4 Ways to Motivate Your Remote Employees

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 03:00:00 -0400

The option for remote work is growing in popularity: it’s estimated that 3.9 million Americans work remotely, and that number is expected to continue to rise to...

9 Best Practices To Master The New Performance Review

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 -0500

Grab your slate chalkboard and jot this down: “The old performance management model is dead.” But of course you don’t own a slate chalkboard, because its time has come and gone. And just as it no longer makes sense to use an antiquated method to take notes...

Too Much Togetherness? The Downside Of Workplace Collaboration

Mon, 13 Nov 2017 09:06:24 -0500

The mere mention of keeping up with overflowing email, constant meetings, and time-sucking conference calls makes many of us groan and roll our eyes. How did we all get so busy? A major culprit is the sharp rise in cross-functional collaboration over the past several years. Today...

Apple, Microsoft Patch iOS 11 Email Flaw

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 10:51:52 -0400

A flaw in iOS 11 that left some users of Microsoft email unable to send messages has been fixed, the companies said. Email accounts hosted by Microsoft on Outlook.com, Office 365, or an Exchange Server 2016 running on Windows Server 2016 were affected by the software glitch. Some users of mobile devices running iOS 11 have been receiving error messages that read:...

Building Trust Remotely

Wed, 27 Sep 2017 08:38:18 -0400

Trust is one of the biggest challenges to working remotely. Do you trust that your people are working hard and smart or do you try to micromanage them? Does your boss leave you alone enough to get your work done but not so much that you suspect she forgets you exist? You work hard, but will the rest of the team have your back and meet their commitments?...

How To Ask For A Recommendation That Will Actually Help Your Career

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 11:00:43 -0400

Asking for a recommendation can feel kind of awkward: After all, you are essentially asking someone to sing your praises. But even in an age where it's easy to self-promote online, recommendations from experts in your field who specify your contributions are incredibly valuable when you're looking for a job. Of course,...

Amazon Just Made Shopping At Whole Foods Cheaper - Here's Exactly How Much You'll Save On Each Item

Mon, 28 Aug 2017 15:36:31 -0400

Whole Foods just got less expensive. On Monday, the day that Amazon's $13.7 billion acquisition of the grocer went through, prices on certain Whole Foods items immediately dropped. "Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices on a selection of best-selling staples across its stores, with much more to come," the companies said in a press release on Thursday. In the release,...

9 Best Practices To Master The New Performance Review

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 07:12:32 -0400

Grab your slate chalkboard and jot this down: "The old performance management model is dead." But of course you don't own a slate chalkboard, because its time has come and gone. And just as it no longer makes sense to...

A Recipe For Employee Motivation

Mon, 22 May 2017 09:17:43 -0400

Employee absenteeism is a problem for companies everywhere. When employees are away from the office, for good reasons or not, the cost has been measured at somewhere around 4 percent of the world's GDP. Absences lead to delayed work, colleagues take on more and projects are hampered, thus...

Some Solo Workers Are Feeling Singled Out

Thu, 18 May 2017 09:18:42 -0400

To attract and retain top employees, many organizations strive to create a family-friendly atmosphere. Child care considerations, job-sharing plans and flexible work options are among the perks employers have implemented to build family oriented workplaces. Studies show that such practices often result in...

3 Entrepreneurs Share How They Got a VC to Say 'Yes'

Fri, 28 Apr 2017 12:01:02 -0400

Elan Zivotofsky is not your typical investor. Rather than just choose where his own firm's money goes, he makes decisions that also influence thousands of smaller investors. That's because he oversees investments at OurCrowd, an innovative digital equity crowdfunding platform that's part Kickstarter, part venture capital firm. First,...

Manufacturing: Collaborating For The Future

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 06:15:24 -0400

Today, manufacturers' customers have constantly evolving requirements, and collaboration is vital to keeping pace with their needs. It provides a way to bring together critical skills, market knowledge, technologies and infrastructure to provide the products and solutions, as well as ongoing innovations that customers want. Thus,...