| DECEMBER 14, 2011 Wed | |||
| The Right Way to Issue a Company Apology | |||
When your company messes up, avoid the half-hearted, half-baked apology. Instead craft a clear, strategic message that explains what went wrong and how you're rectifying the situation. Here are three tips for doing that:
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| DECEMBER 15, 2011 Thu |
| Workers Without Windows Compensate with Plants |
| Workers without windows in their cubes or offices were 5 times more likely to bring plants and 3 times more likely to bring pictures of nature into their work spaces than their window-endowed colleagues, according to a study led by Tina Bringslimark of Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Employees use plants and nature images to compensate for the lack of an outdoor view, the researchers say. |
| Source: Adaptation to Windowlessness: Do Office Workers Compensate for a Lack of Visual Access to the Outdoors? |
| JANUARY 19, 2012 | |||
| Set Goals Before Meeting With Your Mentor | |||
| Knowing what you want from a mentoring relationship is critical. Before you sit down with your mentor for the first time, decide what you hope to learn. Ask yourself what you want in work and life. Which assets will help you get there? Identify the strengths that will best serve you. Then, honestly examine the roadblocks, challenges, or weaknesses that are slowing you down. Once you do that you're ready to articulate your goals and share them with your mentor. Keep it to no more than five goals, so they don't detract from what your mentor has to offer. | |||
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| JANUARY 20, 2012 Friday |
| Be More Credible by Stating Your Promise in Fine-Grained Numbers |
| Research participants predicted that a battery touted to last up to "two hours" would function for just 89 minutes, but they believed, on average, that a battery with life up to "120 minutes" would last 106 minutes, say doctoral candidate Y. Charles Zhang and Norbert Schwarz of the University of Michigan. Consumers are more likely to believe that a company or product will deliver on its promise when the promise is conveyed in fine-grained rather than coarse units, the researchers say. |
| Source: How and Why 1 Year Differs from 365 Days: A Conversational Logic Analysis of Inferences from the Granularity of Quantitative Expressions |
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| MAY 9, 2012 |
| The Presence of Happy People Appears to Raise Suicide Risk |
| Countries and U.S. states with higher happiness levels tend to have higher suicide rates, says a team of researchers led by Mary C. Daly of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. For example, Utah is ranked number 1 in life satisfaction but has the ninth-highest suicide rate, whereas New York, ranked 45th in satisfaction, has the lowest suicide rate in the U.S. Unhappy people may become suicidally distressed by others' contentment, the researchers suggest. |
| Source: Dark contrasts: The paradox of high rates of suicide in happy places |
Wed 20 Sept 2023
Write a Corporate Purpose Statement That Inspires
A well-crafted corporate purpose statement is impactful on two fronts: It articulates your organization’s mission and aspirations to external stakeholders and sends a signal to your employees about what the company stands for. As a leader, how can you write a corporate purpose statement that’s actually believable, authentic, and inspiring (without vague, grandiose platitudes)?
(1) First, tie your organization to a broader societal context. Explicitly reference the societal or environmental problems the organization seeks to address or alleviate—and how your products or services advance the common good in that specific context.
(2) Remember to be specific and realistic. Lofty goals like “improving the world” may be laudable, but people will ask: How, exactly? Be detailed about the impact you hope to have, and who or what will benefit as a result.
(3) It’s also essential that your purpose statement be authentic; your stakeholders—both internal and external—will be quick to notice a mismatch between your stated purpose and the realities of your organization’s impact, leading to lower employee motivation and customer trust.
(4) Finally, be clear, concise, and engaging. A purpose statement is one of the most important pieces of writing your organization will publish. Craft it with intention and care.
This tip is adapted from “What Makes a Great Corporate Purpose Statement,” by Catherine Bailey et al.
Thu 21 Sept 2023
Show New Hires You Take Mental Health Seriously
Mental health is an increasingly pressing priority for new workers—and as an employer, you need to be prepared to offer support. Here’s how to show new hires you value mental health:
(1) Integrate mental health into recruiting, hiring, and onboarding.
When recruiting, create an employee well-being statement that clearly defines what mental health means to your organization. In job postings, be transparent about the mental health resources you offer, and include in-depth guides for navigating mental health benefits in onboarding materials (especially for incoming people managers).
(2) Create a sustainable, mentally healthy work culture.
This entails being upfront about workplace norms—both “hard norms” like roles, timelines, and deadlines and “soft norms” around urgency, responsiveness, and how people communicate. It also means establishing collaborative, flexible expectations around when, where, and how people work.
(3) Make mental health support accessible and intuitive.
During employees’ onboarding, hold learning sessions and Q&As with your benefits team and publish simple how-to guides on your intranet detailing how to navigate and weigh different benefit options. Train managers on mental health first aid and consider subsidizing tools for developing healthy behaviors, such as meditation apps, coaching solutions, sleep tools, and gym memberships.
This tip is adapted from “Show New Hires You Take Mental Health Seriously,” by Bernie Wong et al.
Tue 19 Sept 2023
Examine Your Team’s Culture of Busyness
Too many teams overvalue busyness, fostering cultures of long work hours, meeting overload, and chronic multitasking. But our obsession with staying busy is misguided—and it can actually come at the expense of productivity. Here’s how to reverse the destructive trend.
(1) Reward output, not just activity.
Recognize and promote employees who work efficiently and produce the highest-quality work—not just those who log the most hours.
(2) Eliminate low-value work and foster deep work.
Conduct an audit on your team to determine how much time per week they spend on shallow tasks versus the time they spend deeply focused on high-value tasks. If the results are skewed toward low-value work, help them reprioritize, delegate, and eliminate the busy work that’s getting in the way of real productivity.
(3) Nudge people off the clock.
If you want your employees to truly thrive, you need to allow time for their minds to wander. Encourage them to sign off earlier, work less on weekends, and (crucially) actually use their allotted vacation time.
(4) Model the right behavior.
The boldest leaders aren’t those who burn the midnight oil; they’re the ones who set the norm by taking a pause. When you show that your own busyness isn’t a prerequisite for success, others are more likely to follow suit.
This tip is adapted from “Beware a Culture of Busyness,” by Adam Waytz
Thu 31 Aug 2023
Get the Most Out of Your Sponsorship Relationship
In the best sponsorship relationships, sponsees adopt a proactive stance, taking initiative and making clear what they need from their career sponsor. Here are some steps you can take to be more direct with a senior colleague who’s invested in your growth.
(1) Start by developing a personal impact statement. This is a short document in which you outline your role, highlight your strengths, quantify your accomplishments, note distinctive character traits, and describe your purpose and proudest moments. Putting this information on paper will help your sponsor better understand your value and advocate for you.
(2) Then point to specific ways they can support you. You might even construct your own dream development plan—listing any new skills you want to learn, projects you want to take on, or people you’d like to meet in the organization—and bring it to your sponsor for feedback.
(3) Finally, work with your sponsor to expand your comfort zone. Name your big-picture goals, even if they seem unrealistic or risky. Ask your sponsor what it would take to achieve them, breaking them down into smaller, less-intimidating goals that you can start tackling in the short term.
This tip is adapted from “How to Strengthen Your Relationship with a Career Sponsor,” by Rachel Simmons
Friday 01 Sept 2023
Deciding Whether to Disclose Your Chronic Illness at Work
Sixty percent of Americans are managing at least one chronic health condition, and this number is projected to increase with the rise of long Covid. Deciding whether to disclose your own condition can feel fraught, because traits often associated with leadership (think strength, decisiveness, and resilience) may appear to be at odds with the personal vulnerability that comes with living with a chronic illness.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself before making the decision to disclose:
(1) Where am I situated in my current understanding of the diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of my condition?
(2) How safe do I feel to disclose my illness?
(3) To what extent is my health impairing my ability to do my job?
(4) What kind of accommodations would support me to continue to work effectively, or do I need to seriously reconsider my capacity to continue in this role?
This tip is adapted from “Research: When Leaders Disclose a Chronic Illness at Work,” by Peter Ghin and Mladen Adamovic
Tue 05 Sept 2023
Stop Overvaluing Overwork
Many of us glorify overwork, immersing ourselves entirely in our jobs and compulsively moving from one responsibility to another. But this kind of relationship with work is unsustainable. How can you interrupt your tendency to push yourself too hard?
(1) Reflect and acknowledge.
You can’t change what you don’t notice. Ask yourself: How clear and focused is my mind when I’ve been working long and continuous hours? How fatigued am I? What’s the impact on my mood? And what’s the cost to others in my life?
(2) Listen to your body.
We’re at our best when we work for no more than 90 minutes at a time and then take a rest. The body is the most reliable barometer of whether you need to renew and refuel. Pay attention to the signals it’s sending your brain.
(3) Focus on sleep and exercise.
Renewing your energy through sleep and exercise is critical. Prioritize getting enough sleep every night to feel fully rested, and try to commit to at least 20 to 30 minutes of brisk exercise during the day.
(4) Pursue a non-work activity that brings you joy.
This could be a sport, a hobby, or a creative project. Whatever you decide to do, schedule it at designated times each week—and stick to the schedule.
This tip is adapted from “Why We Glorify Overwork and Refuse to Rest,” by Tony Schwartz and Eric Severson
Wed 06 Sept 2023
Keep Collaboration Tools from Sinking Your Team’s Productivity
Are collaboration tools overwhelming your employees? If they’re constantly bouncing between pings on apps like Slack and Teams, comments on shared documents, and notifications from an array of platforms and portals, it’s time for you to intervene.
(1) Start by tackling the root cause of collaboration overload. Do an audit of your team’s tool stack, eliminating redundant and inefficient technologies and platforms.
(2) Then provide purposeful constraints. Set clear guidelines for when employees should use specific tools. This will make expectations clear, saving everyone time and energy second-guessing where to communicate—and switching back-and-forth between channels. For example, perhaps you mandate that Slack should only be used for time-sensitive communications requiring a quick response, or that project workflows should be centralized on one platform. It’s also crucial to encourage employees to use features like “do not disturb” and turn off notifications when they need to do deep-focus work and regain control over their attention.
(3) And finally, empower your people to reflect on their collaboration habits and raise concerns early and often.
This tip is adapted from “Are Collaboration Tools Overwhelming Your Team?,” by Rebecca Hinds et al.
Thu 07 Sept 2023
How to Ask Your Boss to Be Your Career Sponsor
Having a sponsor—a senior colleague who’s invested in your growth and career progression—can help you get ahead in your career. And while finding a sponsor may feel overwhelming, you don’t have to overthink it. Start with a senior leader who knows your work and track record better than anyone: your manager. Here’s how to turn your boss into your sponsor. First, build credibility and trust. You can do this in three ways: performing your tasks with excellence, taking initiative to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities, and actively seeking feedback to improve. Over time, the credibility you build will earn you the right to make the ask. When you do ask them to be your sponsor, simply be honest about what you want. During a one-on-one meeting, ask them whether they’d be willing to be your sponsor and help you grow within the organization. You may also want to include a specific action item that you think would be helpful to your career progression. And if they agree, stay proactive by updating them on your progress, accomplishments, and goals. Remember: Your achievements are also a reflection of your manager’s leadership. Don’t forget to show them gratitude for their investment in you.
This tip is adapted from “Turn Your Boss into a Sponsor,” by Jovina Ang
Monday 18 Sept 2023
When You Need a Break...After a Bad Vacation
Time off doesn’t always go as planned. So, what can you do when you come back to work more exhausted than when you left—especially when everyone assumes you’re well rested and recharged?
(1) First, take stock of your health and energy. It’s possible that you’ve veered away from your healthy routines, maybe skipping physical activity, indulging more than you typically do in your daily life, or spending more time around challenging family dynamics. When you return, assess your sleep, movement, interpersonal connections, time spent outdoors, and relaxation, and determine what you need.
(2) Then ease back into work. Resist the temptation to dive into work headfirst by building in a day of transition and recovery before returning to normal. You might even extend your auto-response by a day or two.
(3) Be sure to reflect on the positives of your vacation and reframe and learn from the negatives. Even a bad vacation might have had some highlights—savor those. And use the lowlights to clarify what you need from future time off.
(4) Finally, take the opportunity to start fresh and set new habits and routines. Your return is a great time to establish practices that further enhance your energy and productivity, like exercising, setting new goals, or writing in a journal each night.
This tip is adapted from “When Your Vacation Wasn’t Exactly Relaxing,” by Noémie Le Pertel
Friday 15 Sept 2023
4 Key Freedoms All Employees Need to Thrive
As a leader, you need to create the conditions for workers of all identities to flourish. This requires cultivating these four essential freedoms—and ensuring everyone has equal access to them:
(1) Freedom to be authentic.
Set and uphold nondiscrimination policies and establish programs to overcome biases in hiring, promotion, work opportunities, and day-to-day interactions. Foster a culture of allyship through education and relationship building, both within and across identity groups.
(2) Freedom to become our best selves.
Overcome the praise deficits often faced by marginalized groups by offering equal access to development programs that recognize and focus on people’s strengths. And build a culture that encourages positive, objective, constructive feedback.
(3) Freedom to step back.
Increase diversity on your team to take the spotlight off of members of traditionally underrepresented groups. And offer flexibility benefits, such as the ability to choose one’s own schedule, and encourage managers to trust employees to calibrate or pull back on the days they need to.
(4) Freedom to fail.
Establish a culture of psychological safety in which failure is destigmatized and smart risks are rewarded—and apply antidiscrimination and antibias efforts to the idea of failure to ensure that no one gets unfairly punished for falling short.
This tip is adapted from “Where Does DEI Go from Here?,” by Laura Morgan Roberts
Thursday 14 Sept 2023
Networking When You’re a Senior Leader
Networking for a job can feel increasingly difficult as you move up the ranks. As a senior leader, why does career networking feel so uncomfortable—and how can you overcome the challenges?
(1) Start by acknowledging that your success might have led to a reluctance to ask for help. It’s natural to value self-reliance or to want to uphold an image of strength. But reaching out to your contacts doesn’t have to feel like an admission of weakness.
(2) Start by making a list of all your valuable contacts, then ease into the process by contacting the ones you trust and know well. While it may feel tempting to be secretive about your situation or aspirations, obfuscating the truth will only lead to more stress and a less-fruitful connection. So, if you’ve been let go or are looking for a new opportunity, just say that.
(3) And remember: Regardless of your seniority, networking is a long-term process that won’t lead to fast results. Be patient and stay humble as you go through the process.
This tip is adapted from “The Challenges of Networking as an Executive,” by Herminia Ibarra and Spish Rurak
Wed 13 Sept 2023
Understand Your Approach to Collaboration !
Creativity isn’t a characteristic that you either have or don’t !
We all possess it, and each of us approaches creative collaboration in a certain way.
Understanding your own approach, Self Knowledge can give you the freedom to be yourself, play to your strengths, acknowledge your development areas, and partner with creative opposites who are unlike you but will complement your thinking style, greatly improving your work.
Here’s how to take stock of your creative type. The next time you’re in a brainstorm or a team meeting, pay attention to when and how you contribute.
(a) Are you often one of the first people to speak, pitching novel ideas and generating starting points in conversation? If so, consider yourself an " inventor ".
(b) If, on the other hand, you tend to shape, refine, and build on other people’s ideas, then you’re more of an " Editor " .
These labels are imperfect, and they shouldn’t feel restrictive. But they can help you develop more self-awareness and position yourself—and your team—for more successful collaboration.
This tip is adapted from “What Is Your Creative Type?,” by Gina Fong and Vin Reed
Tue 12 September 2023
Ease Back into Work After Your Vacation
After taking a vacation, it can be tempting to overwork to try to make up for “lost” time, get back up to speed, or relieve team members of the extra work they were covering for you. Whatever your motivation, resist that urge. Boomeranging from one extreme to the other can increase your stress and actually undermine your ability to catch up. Here are some strategies to help you ease back into your routine.
(1) First, shift your mindset about rest and recovery.
Rather than treating time off as a last resort only after you’re depleted and unproductive, or as a special reward when your to-do list is finally done, take a cue from top athletes and think about recovery as an essential element of performance.
(2) Then create buffers upon your return, like setting a no-meeting policy on your first day back, or waiting a few days before working on any high-stress assignments. It’s also important to give yourself permission to say no to new requests.
(3) Remember, you don’t owe anyone anything just because you took time off. Take this as an opportunity to refresh your work boundaries—and reflect on whether your employer respects them.
This tip is adapted from “Stop Overworking After Vacation,” by Darin Rowell and Kandi Wiens
Monday 11 Sept 2023
Negotiating When the Salary Range Is Wide
Pay transparency empowers you with information about what kind of compensation is possible. But how should you negotiate for yourself when a pay range is exceptionally wide?
(1) First, do your research to better understand where you might land within the company’s stated range. Visit job search websites and databases, such as Glassdoor, Ladders, and Salary.com, and talk to recruiters and industry colleagues. Take a good, hard look at your experience and qualifications and be honest about your work history. (2) Then build a strong argument for the salary you think you deserve.
Make sure you frame your story in terms of the business, focusing on yours and the employer’s mutual interests. Don’t doubt yourself even if the number you land on feels out of reach or is a significant bump from your current salary—if you think you’re worth it, make a strong, rational case.
(3) Finally, remember that you can’t negotiate indefinitely; companies usually have a clear process and don’t want a drawn-out back-and-forth, so at a certain point, you may need to meet somewhere in the middle.
This tip is adapted from “How to Negotiate Your Salary in the Age of Pay Transparency Laws,” by Rebecca Knight
Friday 08 September 2023
Moving Forward After a Coworker Undermines You
Have you ever felt undermined by a colleague in a meeting? It can be difficult to know how to cope when your coworker interrupts you, makes a snide remark, or shoots down your idea in front of others. Here are some strategies that can help you move forward productively.
(1) Consider your own behavior.
Ask yourself: Am I creating tension on the team—unintentionally? What can I do to set a positive tone in team meetings? How can I be a more encouraging and supportive colleague?
(2) Model how to reframe feedback.
One way to influence an overly negative colleague is to model constructive criticism. Follow any critical comment with “but” or “and” statements. For example, you might say: “This project timeline is risky and may miss the original deadline—but if we build in the proper contingencies, we should still be on target to accomplish our goals.”
(3) Check in with your manager.
Gauge your boss’s perspective on the team’s dynamics to make sure your interpretation is accurate.
(4) Seek internal validation.
Being criticized can lead you to feel insecure or defensive. And while it’s natural to seek validation from others when your confidence is shaken, it’s also important to validate yourself. You can do this by learning new skills, attending conferences, volunteering to help others, or taking on a stretch goal that will push you out of your comfort zone.
This tip is adapted from “When a Coworker Undermines You in a Meeting,” by Susan Peppercorn
Monday 04 Sept 2023
Design Your Workday to Boost Your Energy
Is your meeting schedule draining your energy? Research shows meetings can keep you from taking small breaks throughout the day (like a short walk or a casual conversation) to restore your energy. Here’s how to make your schedule work for you—not against you.
(1) First, focus on the relative proportion of meeting time to individual work time on a specific day, not just the total hours spent in meetings. A reasonable balance between meetings and individual tasks allows for essential breaks and energy replenishment throughout the day.
(2) Next, pair high-pressure meetings with low-pressure tasks (or vice versa) instead of packing all your intense work into a single day (or time of day).
(3) Finally, adopt a more holistic approach to your workday schedule. Before putting a meeting on your calendar, ask yourself: How will this scheduling decision impact the rest of my workday? Will it lead to back-to-back high-pressure meetings or tasks in a single day? When else could I do this meeting or task to create a more even distribution of meetings, individual work, and breaks?
This tip is adapted from “Arrange Your Meeting Schedule to Boost Your Energy,” by Chen Zhang et al.
Wed 30 Aug 2023
Learn the Basics of Mental-Health First Aid
More people than ever are experiencing issues such as anxiety and depression at work. If an employee comes to you showing signs of emotional distress, here are some steps you can take to manage the conversation.
(1) Acknowledge.
Simply recognize your employee’s distress. Your acknowledgment of how they’re feeling will validate their emotions and increase their own awareness of their mood. Then, ask them to reflect on their emotional, physical, mental, and behavioral states at work, emphasizing that this reflection can happen privately and doesn’t need to be shared with you.
(2) Respond.
Your job isn’t to provide therapy or counseling. But you can learn to apply therapeutic relationship skills. The most important of these is empathy, which can help a person in distress feel less alone, more understood, and unjudged.
(3) Present strategies.
One tool that can help change behavior is cognitive reframing, a process that can help replace unhelpful thoughts with a more realistic and balanced view of a situation. Another is behavioral activation, a tool that spurs change by increasing opportunities to experience joy.
(4)
Don’t overstep. Mental-health first aid is often only the first step in an employee’s mental health journey. Be prepared to direct them to professional mental health services and resources your organization offers.
This tip is adapted from “Helping an Employee in Distress,” by Kiran Bhatti and Thomas Roulet
Tue 29 Aug 2023
When You’ve Lost Trust in an Employee
Leaders who don’t trust their employees are often more anxious, hesitant to delegate, and prone to micromanaging. A lack of trust can also diminish innovation, morale, and team performance.
Here are five steps to take if you’re in the uncomfortable position of not trusting one of your employees.
(1) First, separate facts from assumptions and focus on specific problematic behaviors. What exactly did this person do or not do that has led to your distrust?
(2) Next, make a list of the areas in which you do trust your employee, and consider how you might incrementally build on these areas in low-risk ways.
(3) Focus on clear and frequent communication—checking in regularly one-on-one—as you delegate and add to their responsibilities.
(4) It’s crucial to provide feedback on the behaviors that are leading to your distrust. Be specific; is it their competency, consistency, or character that’s degrading your trust? Ask for their feedback too, and honestly reflect on what you might be doing (or not doing) to contribute to the situation.
(5)And finally, ask yourself if the breach of trust is repairable. If it isn’t, it might be time to part ways.
This tip is adapted from “What to Do When You Don’t Trust Your Employee,” by Dina Denham Smith
Monday 21 Aug 2023
Speak with Confidence When You’re Put on the Spot
To be a truly impactful leader, you need to master the art of spontaneous speaking. This means not just delivering your carefully crafted keynote, but nailing the Q&A and small talk afterward, or making memorable off-the-cuff toasts and speeches.
And contrary to popular assumptions, you don’t need to be an inherently charming extrovert to communicate effectively when put on the spot. Here’s how to build the muscle.
(1) First, avoid predictable default responses, which prevent you from connecting with others in more genuine, appropriate, creative, and productive ways. Instead, invoke analogies or shared references that can help you engage your listeners.
For example, when you’re asked to make a public introduction, don’t just list the roles on the person’s résumé—tell a story about how they added value to the team.
(2) To take some pressure off yourself, remember that you don’t need to be the star of the show. Listeners are more apt to trust and approve of you when you speak like a human being rather than an actor or a robot.
(3) And finally, don’t underestimate the power of listening.
Give yourself space to process the information. Paraphrasing or asking open-ended follow-up questions can help confirm your understanding and provide extra time to think about your response.
This tip is adapted from “How to Shine When You’re Put on the Spot,” by Matt Abrahams
Friday 18 Aug 2023
Be Proactive About Your Career Development
Some people enter the workforce thinking their manager is responsible for their career development, but that strategy is rarely successful. Instead of waiting for your boss to bring it up, take your career-development conversation into your own hands.
(1) Start with self-reflection.
Develop a clear understanding of where you are right now, where you want to be in a few years, and what long-term success ultimately means to you.
(2) Once you’ve reflected on your trajectory, request a meeting with your manager (and be sure not to fold this conversation into your routine check-in).
During the meeting, talk about your self-reflection, ask for their feedback, and express your desire to discuss your career development.
(3) Finally, after the meeting, draft a forward-looking plan that outlines next steps, including new skills you’d like to acquire, projects you’ve agreed to take on, and stakeholders you’d like to begin building relationships with. Once you’ve outlined your goals and milestones, set up some time to review your plan with your manager, and check in periodically to ensure you stay on track.
This tip is adapted from “How to Talk to Your Boss about Your Career Development,” by Antoinette Oglethorpe
Tue 22 Aug 2023
How to Advocate for the Resources Your Team Needs
One of your biggest responsibilities as a leader is to advocate for your team when they need more resources, whether that’s additional personnel, tools, or budget.
(1) To make the case, start by demonstrating to decision-makers that what you’re asking for isn’t a nice-to-have, but a strategic investment that will yield tangible benefits for the organization. Put together a data-driven proposal that quantifies the investment’s impact, then connect the dots between that impact and the organization’s strategic vision. This shows your commitment to the big picture and reinforces that you’re a strategic thinker.
(2) Make sure your request is specific (for example, “We need more staff to handle our workload” could be reframed as “We could hire two junior stylists at starting salaries and develop them over time”). And if you’ve had success with similar requests in the past, emphasize those.
(3) Finally, highlight the cost of inaction.
Underscoring what’s at stake will help your leaders understand the broader implications of their decisions—and it demonstrates that you’re proactively looking out for the organization’s best interests.
This tip is adapted from “Making the Case for the Resources Your Team Needs,” by Melody Wilding
Wed 23 Aug 2023
Encourage Your Employees at Every Level to Speak Up
When employees at every level speak up, they circulate knowledge, expand creativity, and prevent collective tunnel vision. Here are three steps you can take to empower your employees to use their voice.
(1) Prioritize unconditional inclusion.
If you want your employees to feel confident to speak up, they must first feel a sense of acceptance based on their fixed, intrinsic worth. In other words, make it clear that everyone’s voice matters, regardless of their seniority or direct impact on the organization’s bottom line.
(2) Give people permission to disagree.
Groupthink can undermine your team’s ability to come up with truly innovative ideas. Encourage people at every level to speak up if they disagree with a consensus, rather than simply falling in line.
(3) Commend employees who speak up—even if you don’t adopt their ideas.
As a leader, you can’t say yes to every idea your employees raise. But you can make it clear that you hear them and are grateful for their input.
This tip is adapted from “Building a Culture Where Employees Feel Free to Speak Up,” by Timothy R. Clark
Thu 24 Aug 2023
Keeping Your Team Motivated When Times Are Tough at Your Company
It’s natural for people to feel distracted and lose their drive amid cost-cutting, layoffs, and general uncertainty. And while eliminating every ounce of your team’s anxiety is unrealistic, you can foster an engaging and supportive environment that keeps your team on track when times are tough. Here’s how.
(1) Show you can talk about hard things.
There’s value in working through hard things together. Hold honest conversations about difficult topics to help build trust, especially during hard times.
(2) Get creative about motivating people.
If promotions and raises are off the table, it can be hard to keep people engaged and incentivized to give their full effort. Ask your employees directly: What would motivate you over the next year? And how can I support you?
(3) Help your team stay focused.
Devote more attention to one-on-one check-ins. Making more time for your people on a weekly and even daily basis will help them feel more connected.
(4) Watch out for burnout.
Doing more with less can take a toll on you and your team, leading to overwork and exhaustion. Using paid time off and flexible scheduling can help, but it’s also important to take a broader approach by building an empathetic, psychologically safe culture that supports everyone.
This tip is adapted from “Keep Your Team on Track Amid Cost-Cutting, Layoffs, and Uncertainty,” by Rebecca Knight
Friday 25 Aug 2023
A Simple Formula for Making a Great Pitch
Even if you don’t have “marketing” or “sales” in your job title, to be an effective communicator, you need to know how to pitch your ideas, concepts, and perspectives. Here’s a four-step template to help you craft a concise, relevant, and persuasive pitch—without using any strong-arm tactics or gimmicks.
(1) “What if you could…” Paint a picture of what your product, service, or idea makes possible.
(2) “So that…” Connect your vision to a goal that’s meaningful and relevant to the listener.
(3) “For example…” Elaborate on your vision, making things concrete and illustrating use cases.
(4) “And that’s not all…” Demonstrate the potential of the idea by describing how it could grow and develop in the future.
This tip is adapted from “How to Make a Compelling Pitch,” by Matt Abrahams
Boost Your Visibility at Work
It takes more than hard work to grow in your role and build credibility—the impacts of your efforts also need to be visible to others. Here are some ways to boost your visibility at work.
(1) Consistently deliver quality work.
It may seem obvious, but be visible for the right reason: Doing good work. When people can count on quality work from you, you’ll earn a reputation as a reliable, trustworthy, needed member of the team, all of which leads to more visibility.
(2) Know what’s top of mind for key stakeholders.
When you demonstrate that you have a skillset that aligns with what the organization values most, leaders and decision-makers will be more likely to pay attention to you and your work.
(3)Speak up in meetings.
Remember, humility doesn’t equal silence. If you’re normally someone who doesn’t talk in meetings, start speaking up or following up immediately afterward with the meeting host. Claim the space you deserve.
(4) Be kind and pleasant to work with.
People want to collaborate with thoughtful, good people. Be the person your coworkers enjoy being around and having on their team. Establishing yourself as an approachable, collaborative, and inclusive colleague will boost your visibility—and could even help brand you as an emerging leader.
This tip is adapted from “How to Become More Visible at Work,” by Nicole D. Smith and Angela Cheng-Cimini
Tue 15 Aug 2023
Should You Take That Issue to HR?
Working in a toxic environment can rapidly erode your feelings about your job—and deciding whether to speak up about it can be downright intimidating. When is it time to go to HR? And how can you prepare yourself for the conversation? Here are three questions to ask yourself before officially reporting an issue.
(1) Have I documented what happened?
If you plan to report an incident to HR, you’ll need detailed records to clearly outline your claims. Be sure to document the following: what was said or done, the date and time of the incident, and whether there were any witnesses.
(2) What’s my objective?
Define a specific goal before communicating with HR. For example, your colleague might need professional development training to address their behavior. Or, if there’s an ongoing performance issue, HR may work with their manager to create a performance improvement plan (PIP).
(3) Is what I’m experiencing illegal?
HR departments have a responsibility to ensure that companies adhere to employment laws and regulations. An employer also has a legal obligation to investigate any good-faith complaint of harassment; discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, or other protected status; or retaliation for reporting an issue.
This tip is adapted from “When Should You Take a Problem to HR?,” by Octavia Goredema
wed 16 Aug 2023
What True Flexibility at Work Looks Like
Radically flexible work is about making work fit people, not the other way around. To achieve true flexibility on your team, you first need to recognize that it can’t be a temporary fix or a privilege reserved for a select few. Instead, you need to engrain the principles of flexibility into your team’s culture. This requires two types of alignment.
(1) Aligning what people do with their strengths. When people do what they’re best at, they’re more creative and innovative. An analysis of multiple studies indicates that job satisfaction, engagement, well-being, and performance are all correlated to working with one’s strengths. As a leader, it’s your job to provide people with equal access to tools and opportunities that match their unique abilities.
(2) Aligning how people work (including where and at what hours) with their needs.
Data from around the world indicates that flexible work benefits work-life balance, productivity, and organizational outcomes—a true “win-win.” To achieve this “how” alignment, create a culture of psychological safety and open communication. This will allow you and your employees to work together in ways that complement team members’ diverse needs and preferences.
This tip is adapted from “The Radical Promise of Truly Flexible Work,” by Ludmila N. Praslova
Thu 17 Aug 2023
How to Get Follow-Through When You Make a Request
Making requests of other people—the kinds that elicit real responses, not noncommittal ones like “sounds good” or “that should work”—doesn’t come naturally to most of us. Maybe you need something from a junior colleague in another department, or perhaps you need to ask a direct report to do some work that’s slightly outside of their job description. How can you make your ask in a way that ensures follow-through? Break down your request into four elements.
(1) What do you want, and what would success look like?
Be detailed about your expectations and spell out exactly what would constitute a “good job.”
(2) Who do you want it from?
Choose a specific person. When you make a request to a team or a group of people, it’s possible that each person will assume someone else will do the work.
(3) When do you need it done by?
Attach a timeline to your request. Specificity will set crystal-clear expectations with your colleague, which will in turn save time and energy that you might otherwise spend checking your inbox and following up.
(4) Why is it important?
Be clear about what’s behind your ask. By contextualizing your request, you’ll improve the chances that it lands gently—without diluting your power.
This tip is adapted from “Mastering the Art of the Request,” by Rae Ringel
Friday 11 Aug 2023
Communicate Directly—Not Rudely - 4 tips
Direct communication is an important work skill—especially for a manager. Being clear about what you want and need from people (and why) makes everything more efficient. But if you’re too harsh, you can end up doing more harm than good. Here’s how to toe the line between being direct and veering into rudeness.
(1) When delivering feedback, focus on facts.
Remove your emotions from the conversation, and instead give the person honest, concrete evidence about their performance. Your goal is to help them grow, not to vent.
(2) When expressing an opinion, use “I” statements.
Avoid making accusations or casting blame, which will put your employee on the defensive. Instead of calling them out and pointing fingers, call them in by expressing your experience of their behavior.
(3) Turn a hard “no” into a soft “no.”
As a direct person, your instinct may be to unambiguously reject an inessential work request that comes in when you just don’t have the bandwidth to take it on. But if you’re too blunt, you risk being perceived as someone who doesn’t want to collaborate or help out. Instead, find the compassion to offer an alternative that works better for you and your schedule, or kindly explain why it’s impossible for you to take on.
(4) When making a request, be considerate, not commanding.
There’s nothing wrong with giving clear, direct instructions and assignments. Just remember to be reasonable, express gratitude, and offer support if your employee needs it.
This tip is adapted from “How to Be Direct Without Being Rude,” by Yasmina Khelifi and Irina Cozma
Monday 14 Aug 2023
When Your Coworker Is Sabotaging You
If you have a colleague who seems set on undermining you—or worse, sabotaging you—it can be difficult to know how to ask your manager for support. Here’s how to advocate for yourself.
(1) First, make the business impact clear to your boss.
It will help if you can tie the problems with your coworker to concrete business results. Articulate how they’re damaging the team’s performance in a way that your boss will care about and provide plenty of evidence to back up your claims. But do your best not to complain. Make clear that you’re not acting out of jealousy or vindictiveness, but in an effort to create a good working relationship with your colleague—not to throw them under the bus.
(2) Instead, propose solutions.
For example, if one of the main issues is that your coworker is stealing credit for your ideas, you might propose to your boss that the three of you agree ahead of time on how credit will be allocated. If your manager is unwilling to get involved or give direct feedback to the difficult colleague, you can simply ask for their advice on how to navigate the situation.
(3) Finally, if you suspect the issue is too significant for your boss to manage, consider going to HR. (More on that in tomorrow’s Management Tip of the Day.)
This tip is adapted from “Getting Along: My Coworker Is Sabotaging Me — and My Boss Won’t Help,” by Amy Gallo
