W. Brad Johnson and David G. Smith tackle becoming courageous watchdogs for equity, dignity, respect and fairness in the workplace. They share the essential need for active confrontation of other men for sexism, bias, harassment and all inappropriate behavior. Public allyship, they say, may be the toughest part of male allyship. Allyship is hard work. Excellent allies have … [Read more...]
Family commitments, bosses and work
Not all bosses understand when family commitments need to be balanced with work schedules and priorities. Rebecca Knight shares ideas to help mitigate the tensions when bosses are indifferent. Getting your boss to understand and support your needs comes down to clear, honest and frequent communication. If you’re willing to initiate that dialogue, you’re more likely to get … [Read more...]
Stop zoning out in Zoom meetings
It is possible animal health pros are feeling Zoom-call fatigue. Sarah Gershman reminds us that being a participant requires focusing skills that are as important as it for call leaders to keep things directed. She explains how the Ringelmann Effect <link> is magnified on conference calls. The bigger the group, the less responsibility each individual feels to ensure … [Read more...]
Don’t skip that vacation
Rebecca Zucker reminds us of the reasons and benefits of taking time away from our daily work. The pandemic has changed many plans, but vacation benefits remain clear whatever you do: Improved productivity Lower Stress Better overall mental health Spurs greater creativity Source: Harvard Business Review, August 11, 2020. Link. Plans may look different than … [Read more...]
Whoops! That was a faux pas.
It was just a throwaway remark. You didn’t mean to offend. But now a colleague has indicated what was said was hurtful. So how should you respond after committing a microaggression? First, make sure the other person feels heard. Follow your colleague’s lead in the conversation; be curious and empathetic. Offer a sincere apology that expresses gratitude for their … [Read more...]
Working after a bad night’s sleep
Get more sleep! We hear this often and it is good advice. There are days, however, when we work after getting too little sleep or a night of poor-quality sleep. Christopher M. Barnes discusses what to do to get through the day with a sleep shortage. Research indicates that sleep deprivation is most harmful to novel tasks, or those which require creativity and … [Read more...]
Read this BEFORE you head out on vacation
Scott Edinger compares returning from vacation to a space shuttle on reentry. With the right preparation before a flight, the friction on reentry can be managed well with the right angles. Metaphors aside, he offers good counsel that may be more relevant now than in 2012. Source: Harvard Business Review, June 27, 2012. Link. Clear the decks Allow yourself to check … [Read more...]
Myths that stop people for asking for help at work
Comfortably and confidently asking for help requires refuting misperceptions that have been uncovered in research. These are myths likely to have been heightened as a result of the ongoing pandemic adjustments. Asking for help makes you look bad If I do ask for help, I’ll be rejected Even if someone agrees to help, they won’t enjoy doing so Source: Harvard … [Read more...]
Burnout and what to do about it
Burnout is real. It is difficult to reckon with because it is hard to know where the dividing line is between normal stress and a larger problem. Kat Boogaard shares signs of burnout and ways to deal with it. Burnout tends to be when you just don’t have any good days, and it goes on for a long period of time” - Alice Domar, PhD, director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body … [Read more...]
Check the tone of your message before hitting send
Did you just send THAT? When we are working remotely and stress levels are high, it’s easy to miscommunicate. Even well-intentioned messages can be misconstrued. The authors share tips for avoiding digital misnomers. Source: Harvard Business Review, March 27, 2020. Link. Most digital miscommunication happens because we don’t have access to the non-verbal cues, including … [Read more...]
Crisis management and leadership
Addressing the urgent needs of the present is the work of management. You need to make immediate choices and allocate resources. The pace is fast, and actions are decisive. Leading, by contrast, involves guiding people to the best possible eventual outcome over this arc of time. Your focus needs to be on what is likely to come next and readying to meet it. Source: Harvard … [Read more...]
Leading and working through a pandemic
HBR is publishing daily articles and resources on how to manage yourself, your team, and your company through the coronavirus crisis. The resources are provided at a dedicated Coronavirus Special Coverage page < link >. HBR opened access for these resources to all visitors, so this content can be easily shared with your own teams, colleagues and network. Source: … [Read more...]
The leadership tightrope
Throughout history there has always been a widely accepted (at the time) leadership style, as well as new (at the time) leadership style. The most successful leaders were flexible enough to balance their approach between the two. This article nicely describes the tension between traditional leadership and the emerging model with vast applications in today animal health … [Read more...]
Keep work out of personal social media posts
There is a growing trend where carelessly made social media posts cause a furor in the workplace while harming the organization’s interest or reputation. Iffy posts also cost people their jobs. Source: Harvard Business Review, January 17, 2020. Link. The authors share simple safeguards you can follow to stay out of trouble: Don’t tag your company in your personal posts … [Read more...]
Talents don’t always mean performance
No matter how talented someone might be, there is no guarantee that their talents will translate into top performance. The science of human potential has generally illustrated that an individual’s overarching competence cannot be fully understood unless we also account for their emotional make-up, preferences, and dispositions. Source: Harvard Business Review, March 18, … [Read more...]
Research: Why we’re motivated by discounts and surcharges
Alicea Lieberman and Kristen Duke discuss research on the structure of an incentive as either a surcharge or a discount. Incentives can be used to shape people’s behavior. Their research suggests that these tools can be effective, not only in changing one-time behaviors, but also in shaping social norms. Source: Harvard Business Review, February 13, 2020 <link> . . . … [Read more...]
Approach accountability issues with curiosity, not blame
Melissa Raffoni says a “lack of accountability” is rarely intentional. More often, it’s the result of an underlying issue, such as unclear roles and responsibilities, limited resources, a poor strategy, or unrealistic goals. She offers ways to turn situations around beginning with self-assessment. Source: Harvard Business Review, February 10, 2020. Link. Commit to setting … [Read more...]
Me. Me. Me. Stop talking so much about yourself.
The temptation to always talk about ourselves hurts our conversations and over inflates our egos, writes Tim Denning. He shares what happens when you stop talking about yourself. Source: The Medium, January 29, 2020. Link. There is something to be said about being interested in people. Here are a few of the benefits according to Denning. People feel you’re interested in … [Read more...]
The 50-plus crowd is not dead yet!
Bill Murray’s Jeep ad during Super Bowl LIV may be an exception to marketers’ assumptions that 50-somethings are desperate for companionship, struggle with health decline and ruminate on their own deaths. When people in the 50-plus demographic are shown in ads, they’re sometimes presented in a negative light, says Vaughn Ensley. Portrayals of those over 50 are negative 28 … [Read more...]
How great listeners actually act
Most people describe a great listener as someone who is like a sponge and accurately absorbs what you are saying, Instead, the authors have found that good listeners are like trampolines. They are someone you can bounce ideas off of. Rather than absorbing your ideas and energy, they amplify, energize and clarify your thinking. Source: Harvard Business Review, July 2016. Link … [Read more...]
The young don’t hold a monopoly on career potential
Women get hit harder than men when it comes to age discrimination. Mika Brzezinski and Ginny Brzezinski discuss age bias and the challenges women encounter. They call for a change in narrative and to reimagine the possibilities of mid- to late-career reinvention. Source: LinkedIn, January 10, 2020. Link. Ageism and particularly gendered ageism may be illegal, but it is hard … [Read more...]
2020: back to work we go
A new year, a new decade and new opportunities ahead. It’s not easy to get back in the swing of things, shares Art Markman. If you’re feeling sluggish and unmotivated, you’re not alone. To snap back into work mode, he recommends the following: Focus forward Get specific Make the right social comparisons Source: Harvard Business Review, January 3, 2020. Link. Treat … [Read more...]
Being a working parent changes as children grow
Much of the discussion around working parents focuses on the needs of new mothers. It is as if the challenges of integrating work and parenthood evaporate once a child enters school. NOT! Children need continuing care and parental support as they move from grade school to middle school and into high school. As their independence grows, they may need less supervision, but their … [Read more...]
Women at work podcast series
Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo and Nicole Torres are into season 4 of the Women at Work podcast series featuring conversations about the workplace, and women’s place in it. The list of topics from previous seasons is impressive. Transcripts are also available. Source: Women at Work, HBR. Link. INSIGHTS: Topics such as competing, being a working parent, issues with eldercare, … [Read more...]
Things that make employees quit
Losing an employee is costly, writes Jon Christiansen. He says the reasons people quit are deeply rooted and complex. He offers eight common leadership mistakes that help explain the “why”: Setting inconsistent goals or expectations Having too many process constraints Wasting your resources Putting people in the wrong roles Assigning boring, or overly easy, … [Read more...]
People want their employers to talk about mental health
Mental health conditions affect more than 200 million workdays each year, yet mental health remains a taboo subject. About 60 percent of employees have never spoken to anyone at work about their mental health status. Mental health is becoming the next frontier of diversity and inclusion, and employees want their companies to address it. Source: Harvard Business Review, … [Read more...]
Feeling in control can help prevent burnout
There are lots of reasons people feel burned out at work, writes Elizabeth Grace Saunders, a time management coach. An overstuffed to-do list, tasks that seem meaningless or a lack of connection with others are easily identified. If you don’t have autonomy in your job or a say in the decisions that affect your professional life, it can take a toll on your well-being. One of … [Read more...]
Discussing what “ethical” and “unethical” look like
It’s a slippery slope when you begin to rationalize actions and tell yourself and others, “This is an exceptional situation,” or, “We have to bend the rules a little to get things done here,” writes Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg. No matter how principled you are, you must recognize that, over time, the bearings of your moral compass will shift toward the culture of your … [Read more...]
Set up new hires for success
Too often we hire a new employee and then satisfied, rush to catch up with what we left undone. But, research shows being systematic in onboarding brings new employees up to speed 50 percent faster. This means they can more quickly and efficiently contribute to achieving desired goals. Effective onboarding also dramatically reduces failure rates and increases employee … [Read more...]
Opinion – Getting work done while dealing with being human, part 2
Last week, we started a series about getting work done. Beyond all the advice, processes and systems is a human element that is challenged by our VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world. Any mom or dad can find meeting parenting demands often seems in direct conflict with raising kids. On the other end of too busy is not busy enough. As you’ll see, there are … [Read more...]