“Dim lights are producing dimwits” – Joel Soler, American psychologist Do you find a dimly-lit workspace preferable to a brightly-lit office? Some people do. Perhaps you find it calming and relaxing; or maybe the setting makes you feel comfortable at a…
Productivity
Don’t Fight the Robots, Embrace Them
We’ve all heard doom and gloom reports of the coming AI revolution. Some forecasters predict a very grim future indeed: Robots take over and humans find themselves unceremoniously kicked to the curb, suddenly unable to provide for themselves and their…
For More Productive Meetings, Do a Mindset Check-In First
“Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. “ — Bruce Lee We live in a distracted society. Having focus is a scarce currency. No surprise distractions are taking a toll…
Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect. Deliberate Practice Does
“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” – Malcolm Gladwell, Canadian writer and journalist. Per the classic joke, we all know how to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice. More recently, Malcolm Gladwell has distilled the concept of…
4 Ways Companies Can Combat Tech Addiction
Technology addiction is damaging our personal and work lives. Studies suggest people are increasingly unhappy with their use of screen time and social media. The endless refresh cycle of major apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, etc. are highly addictive…
Make Monday a Holiday? In So Many Ways, It Mostly Is
Are you ready for Monday? Have you reminded the troops about the company’s sick leave policy? The rules about showing up late for work? Have you given up? Probably a good idea, because you can’t win. The day after the…
Monday is Not Going To Be Just Another Day at the Office
In 1966, Sen. George Aiken urged President Lyndon Johnson to acknowledge the reality of the burgeoning Vietnam War. It was, to put it mildly, not going well. Sen. Aiken, a flinty Vermonter who eschewed brutal partisanship, had an elegant solution:…
You Can’t Say ‘Yes’ to Everything
It is fundamentally impossible for one person to “do it all.” At some point, you are going to need to learn how to say “no” when your bosses or co-workers want to dump more work into your lap. Saying “yes”…
HR 101: Automate Those Repetitive Tasks and Save Time
A human resources manager holds a vital position within their company, as their role directly affects the lives of employees in significant ways. In a large company, a manager may direct activities in a specialized area, but in small to…
The Case For Making Onboarding a Yearlong Experience
The onboarding process is often a disjointed set of events that is partially owned by different areas of HR and the business, leaving the new employee feeling discouraged and frustrated. With partial-process owners across talent acquisition, HR business partners, HRIS…
How to Improve the ROI of Your Staff Meetings
Ray, our COO many years ago, used to start meetings with 10-15 minutes of chit-chat. While his intention was to promote socializing, the effect was late-arrivers, difficulty in focusing at the start of serious discussion, and low energy throughout the…
The Looming Showdown: Privacy, Wellness and Productivity
Shortly after purchasing my first Fitbit, I noticed a change in my airport travel routine. Instead of looking for moving sidewalks or a comfy seat, I walked all over the airport during layovers for no reason other than to amass…
Get Your Employees to Work Less and Be More Productive
“They work hard and aren’t afraid to put in extra hours, blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish their goals.” This is how many company leaders would describe their top employees. However, these extra, hard-worked hours actually become overwhelming and are…
Boost Productivity With Fidget Spinners and These 4 Other Ideas
Are you looking to improve employee productivity in your organization? If so, you’ve probably done a lot of research and realized that this performance management consideration is a dynamic field. With every day that goes by, there appear new and…
We’re Spending More Time Online, But Doing What?
As I’ve written in the past, Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends report is a treasure trove of data that most HR professionals miss. That’s because the report isn’t about HR trends, it’s about internet trends. But almost any way you…
A 12-Step Program For Retaining Your Diverse Workforce
Most firms have no idea that they have a revolving door that is bleeding diversity talent, because unexplainably, they don’t measure and report diversity turnover and the cost. But what if your executives knew that diversity turnover was off the…
This Small Company Is Making “20% Time” Work
Founder Michael Dubakov noticed that his employees were bored, so he came up with an unusual plan of action. Back in 2013, the employees at TargetProcess, a project management software company located in New York, had a problem. It wasn’t…
Why Happiness Doesn’t Matter
Happy customers drive profits. There’s no doubt about that. But does the same apply to companies? Do happy employees matter as much as we like to think? With every passing day, we seem to be bombarded with more headlines saying…
Being a ‘Selfless Giver’ Can Be Bad for You
Recognize This! – Givers find energy when they give in self-protective and personally meaningful ways, and when they are recognized and reminded of how their contributions matter. It’s not just about giving and taking anymore. Recent research by Adam Grant…
Guess Who Wastes Time at Work
I’m not a big fan of over-generalizing the characteristics of the different generations in the workforce. It’s just too easy to say “Millennials are entitled;” “Baby Boomers aren’t good with social media;” or “Gen Xers are lazy.” Too easy, and…