From the archives —”The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge”—Thomas Berger In our fast-paced world of virtual meetings and overly packed calendars, communication for most managers involves an endless rut of “report and update” meetings. In these meetings, each party is responsible for reporting out updates on their progress, results, issues, etc. One by one, each person delivers prepared status updates that may or may not be the exact same updates they delivered a week ago. The meetings are usually so packed with updates (or the façade of new information) that, in the interest … Read More
20 Things to Ask Your Employees Today
Executives across the world are facing difficult decisions regarding the future of work. Many organizations are still operating with a 100% remote workforce, while others have chosen a hybrid model that allows a small percentage of workers back in the office. To plan for the next stage in the “return to normal,” organizations are engaging their employees for feedback. They’re asking individuals to share their preferences for working remotely full-time, working from the office full-time, or a hybrid model. While it’s important to gather data and plan the workspace strategically, there are much broader perspectives that should be captured immediately and … Read More
You Can’t Make Them Stay
From our archives: Employers are always seeking out ways to predict human behavior. Which candidate will excel? Which comp plan will improve retention and drive the biggest results? Which employees will remain engaged? Which employees will burn out? Which employees are high risk? Which employees are planning to leave? An HR technology vendor recently pitched their latest employee retention product to me. They believe they can predict (with alarming certainty) which of your employees are a flight risk. The algorithm they use to arrive at this conclusion is complex and expansive, but one key factor is the most predictive of … Read More
The Case for Book Clubs
The most successful leaders share a few common activities. They often report getting up earlier than most people (5am is a common start time), they exercise daily, and they read constantly. These habits are often shared as secret ingredients for their success. In particular, executives believe that reading frequently helps exercise their brain in unique ways while helping them broaden their perspective. Additionally, it helps support the creative thinking and problem-solving processes they need to address today’s complex, ambiguous problems. Essentially, if you’ve read enough books, then someone, somewhere has shared how they addressed the problem you’re currently trying to … Read More
Resilience: The 21st Century Workplace Skill
From our archives: Many of us grew up learning the 3 R’s throughout our education (reading, writing, and arithmetic). However, as technology changed and the needs of the workforce became more complex, educators realized the true skills necessary for success had changed as well. For the past decade, educators have been focused on teaching the four C’s that have been deemed 21st Century Workforce Skills. The 4 C’s necessary for workforce readiness are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Many organizations report that, despite higher education’s focus on the 4C’s, new graduates still lack basic proficiency in these areas.
Unlock Relationships Through Validation
Although there are some substantial individual differences in our need for rewards and recognition, all humans need (and deserve) to feel seen, heard, and understood. Some individuals need more acknowledgement than others, but at a minimum we never want to feel invisible (or worse—disregarded). This is particularly challenging for leaders in a year where intact in-person teams have now become virtual teams often working on a flexible schedule. While we need to be intentional about staying connected with our team members, we can unlock a stronger relationship by placing a high priority on validation.