by Kristine Kern
Despite their reputation as a huge time-suck, meetings are the laboratories of real, measurable teamwork. To reclaim productivity at your organization, try these strategies for making meetings meaningful again.
Meetings are a major pain point for many of my clients striving to achieve organizational health. The remedy, however, is not fewer meetings; it’s more regular and specific ones. Sounds fun, right? Let me explain. Continue reading
by Sigal Barsade and Olivia (Mandy) O’Neill
“Love” is a not word you often hear uttered in office hallways or conference rooms. And yet, it has a strong influence on workplace outcomes. The more love co-workers feel at work, the more engaged they are. (Note: Here we’re talking about “companionate love” which is far less intense than romantic love. Companionate love is based on warmth, affection, and connection rather than passion). It may not be surprising that those who perceive greater affection and caring from their colleagues perform better, but few managers focus on building an emotional culture. That’s a mistake. Continue reading
By Stephanie Shaw
Onboarding, or organizational socialization, is a topic that can seem somewhat daunting for companies to embrace. Going beyond the simple employee orientation, onboarding ensures that new hires feel welcome and prepared, while giving them the confidence, trust and freedom to succeed in their new position. Most companies have some form of onboarding practice, but it is often regarded as tactical, rather than a strategic endeavor in the talent management process.
The Aberdeen Group, an organization that conducts business research, found in 2013 that companies are interested in re-evaluating their onboarding strategies. They found the top reasons for revamping onboarding practices were to improve new hire productivity (68 percent), engagement (67 percent) and retention (51 percent). Aberdeen also found that 90 percent of organizations believe that new employees make a decision on whether to stay at a company within the first year. This means employers need to make a great first impression and have a full year to make sure their top talent stays. Continue reading
The fictional Congressman Underwood may be ruthless, but he’s effective. Here’s how to steal some of his tactics.
This is probably the morale you take away from the protagonist of the wildly successful Netflix series, House of Cards, an overly ambitious, power hungry and manipulative congressman from South Carolina named Francis Underwood (played beautifully by Kevin Spacey). While mostly cliché, the show does a fantastically addictive job dramatizing the congressman’s accession to power on Capitol Hill as he maneuvers through the sea of egos and ambitions of fellow politicians. And while the congressman regularly employs a number of questionably unethical and immoral power grabs, he is remarkably effective in their execution. Continue reading
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How to hone your vocal delivery to mesmerize your audience with confidence, style and passion.
In the last article on Passion when we communicate, we discussed Facial Expression.
Here I would like to share with you the vital role that your Voice plays in conveying passion.
When many of my clients first come to me they ask why they don’t seem to be able to capture the attention of their audience when they are speaking in a meeting or delivering a presentation. They feel disillusioned that people are gazing out the window or looking down at the floor. Of course part of the reason for that could be that they have not assessed what their audience needs to hear, i.e. the message needs to be accurate and relevant, so that it strikes a chord. However, once that aspect is covered you absolutely need to deliver your message with confidence, style and passion. The voice plays a crucial role in conveying those three qualities. Continue reading
