You can tell a lot about people based on how they manage their time. The ones who are notoriously late are the same people who are consistently a dollar short. They possess neither a mastery of time nor money. Oftentimes,…
Productivity
The Secret to Productivity May Be Air Conditioning
Call them dinosaur-brains or Neanderthals, there are people in every business who live to make us miserable. They aren’t necessarily actively toxic, but some are so rude, bureaucratic, and/or annoying, your automatic response may be to disengage from them and your work….
Put Away the Phone. Leave the Office and Start Meeting the People Who Do the Work
Note: The following is an excerpt from the author’s new book, When Leadership Improves, Everyone Wins. Realize that as leaders, we are signal senders. What signal does it send to our people when we stay on the executive floor or…
Is Happiness the Secret to Engagement?
Note: This article is part of an occasional series dedicated to exploring the contribution of human capital assets (people!) to the valuation of a business. Welcome to The New ROI: Return on Individuals. Previous articles in the series can be found here. ∼∼∼∼∼ “A little girl…
The Productivity Advice HR Professionals Should Ignore
Google “productivity advice,” and you’ll see thousands of articles offering tips on how to get more done in a day at the office. Almost every single one of them recommends only checking email at predetermined times to prevent incoming messages…
Being Smart Isn’t Enough to Succeed
Note: This article is part of an occasional series dedicated to exploring the contribution of human capital assets (people!) to the valuation of a business. Welcome to The New ROI: Return on Individuals. Previous articles in the series can be found here. ∼∼∼∼∼ Why do some…
Sometimes You Need to Eat the Frog Later
We’ve all heard or read that it’s best to jump on your toughest tasks early in your work shift, using as a guide this famous aphorism: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen…
If Your Office Is Dim, So Are You
“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…
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…