People-Centric Solutions

When an organization faces a disaster or misses an opportunity, hindsight reveals all the signs were there, but those who saw, did not feel comfortable sharing what they knew. The responsibility lies with the organization’s leader, who must create a culture in which people feel safe and empowered to report emerging difficulties or suggest a change of course. Too many leaders fail at this essential task. As a result, their followers often feel frustrated, powerless and unwilling to surface impending issues.

Today's expected workplace is "virtual." Employees can work from anywhere. All too often, however, leaders have a mindset that if they don't see you in the office, then you aren't working. This makes leveraging a virtual workplace very difficult, and employees today expect this as part of the benefits of working with a company. Leaders should focus on actual results and not physical presence.

The big reset during the pandemic is this movement towards human-centered leadership, human-centered management, and valuing employees as assets, not just labor and expense…and that means empowerment, development and investment

We need to keep our work lives ordered. But how many creative experiences do we exclude when we’re mentally and physically restrained? Tight restraints might feel comfortable and secure, but they can limit the scope of an employee’s creative flow, eventually leading to job burnout—creativity’s poison. A successful company and unrestrained employees work in tandem as twins—not enemies. 

hile some might prefer to remain anonymous and secretive behind the keyboard, cultivating and leveraging your personal brand can be an incredibly effective tool in any entrepreneur’s arsenal. Personal branding isn’t just for vanity, as the growth of an entire company can hinge directly upon how much - or little - you show up.

Much modern adult stress comes via the workplace. Psychologically speaking, there are many things about work that reliably trigger stress in the brain, things that we’re less likely to encounter outside of work.

For instance, the human brain likes a sense of control, of autonomy. When we feel we have control over things that affect us, we tend to feel better, more reassured. Most jobs involve adhering to a strict schedule, however, or taking instructions from someone more senior.

• 86 percent of employers said mental health, stress and burnout were still a priority.
• 49 percent, however, had not formally articulated a well-being strategy for their workforce.
• 26 percent had adopted a well-being strategy.

Micromanagers make it very difficult for you to demonstrate creativity on the job. They are always hanging over your shoulders, barking last-minute additions to a project that is already 80 percent complete. This could make employees behave in certain ways, such as being irrational, depressed, and demoralized.

Micromanagement refers to a show of unrelenting dominance at the workplace, usually by a boss over their subordinates. It's a problem that has led to the loss of employee potential, creativity, and confidence. In extreme cases, it breeds distrust amongst colleagues.

Becoming the best leader possible—a boundless leader—is an inside job. There’s a limit to improving leadership by simply updating ideas or skills, especially in this digital age. The biggest variable in leadership—our biggest leverage—is how we show up in mind, heart, and body. Can we remain curious and in flow, despite the stream of ever-changing demands and global conditions?

Whether you’re giving a presentation virtually or in person or to a group of one or one hundred, there are a few things that you can do to set yourself up for success. These five tips will help you make your next presentation your best one yet.

#innovation #management #humanresources #digitalmarketing #technology #creativity #future

As humans, we are biased for empathy. Empathy is the natural human instinct of recognizing another’s emotions and using this awareness as a catalyst for forging bonds. As a leader, it’s important to empathize with your people, to understand their perspective, and to be able to put yourselves in their shoes.

• Find a time management strategy that works for you, like planning out each day ahead of time and organizing your schedule around when you work best.
• Use to-do lists and distraction lists to organize what you need to get done and what might throw you off track.
• Improve your time management skills by working in sprints to make the most of your productive hours. 

Becoming a manager for the first time is an exciting yet nerve-wracking career milestone. First, a celebration is in order. Next, the work begins. Managing a team requires trial and error, and there is nothing quite like learning through practice. You’re going to need to embrace a whole new set of habits to go with your new role.

Here are five ways to turn an unfocused, lackluster team into one that is full of ideas, productive, and consistently achieves the results you desire

There are many ways to express "no" in Japanese culture, and saying the word "no" is not one of them

International evidence is clear that having women at the decision-making table improves environmental outcomes. A study of the European Parliament showed that women elected to Parliaments around the world are more likely to support environmental legislation than men. But women make up only 31% of the House of Representatives and 33% of our federal Cabinet. The upcoming federal election is a chance to reflect on who should be representing and leading our nation at this crucial time. 

Many things were transformed by the pandemic, but chief among them was consumer behavior. People altered not only how and where they shopped, but also what they bought, why they bought it, who advised them on the purchase, and how it made them feel

how can brands successfully get closer to their customers to create products or services that truly address their needs? From working with hundreds of consumers every day, here's what we've learned about getting them to open up and share some of the most intimate details of their lives.

Executives were nearly three times more likely than non-executives to say they want to return to the office full time, according to Slack’s Future Forum Pulse survey. The report found that while nearly 80 percent of knowledge workers want flexibility in where they work — citing benefits ranging from work-life balance to lower anxiety at work and a better sense of belonging — their employers think that the arrangement will lead to a variety of ills, diminishing the company’s collaboration, creativity, and culture. These concerns track with another recent report from Northeastern University that found that more than half of C-suite executives were concerned about their workforce’s ability to be creative and innovative in a primarily remote work environment.

“Sympathy is typically defined by feelings of pity for another person, without really understanding what it’s like to be in their situation,” CCL noted on its website. “Empathy, on the other hand, refers to the capacity or ability to imagine oneself in the situation of another, experiencing the emotions, ideas, or opinions of that person. Empathy in the workplace is often more productive and supportive.”

Most people tend to be fairly confident in their empathy skills. Heck, some are actual empaths — people who are naturally hyper-sensitive to the feelings of others.

But regardless of your sensitivity level, there’s nothing wrong with a crash course in empathy to reap the benefits for all.

Forty years ago, Tom gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received. He said, "Warren, you can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow." It's such an easy way of putting it. You haven't missed the opportunity. Just forget about it for a day. If you feel the same way tomorrow, tell them then -- but don't spout off in a moment of anger.

Elmore, who worked alongside famous leadership coach John C. Maxwell for 20 years and has helped corporate executives, educators, professional athletes and ministry leaders for decades, told The Christian Post in a recent interview that COVID-19 was the “great accelerator.”
It was during the lockdowns that Elmore says it became clear to him that “the only way leaders are going to be able to navigate successfully — not just survive but thrive — would be to develop some social and emotional skills that, before today, we didn’t need as much.”

The 2018 Grant Thornton-Oxford Economics study found that what executives perceive to be most important to employees does not always align with what employees think is most important. For example, 57% of executives in the study believed a pleasing workplace environment was critical to employee loyalty, whereas only 36% of employees said the same.