The Right Way to Hold People Accountable
by Peter Bregman John was doing his best to be calm, but his frustration was palpable. Jeanine was explaining that there was little chance her group was going to make the numbers for this quarter. “Honestly?” she said. “The numbers weren’t realistic to begin with. It was really unlikely that we were going to make them.”…
How to Handle Negative Feedback
by Dick Grote There’s no shortage of advice about how to react to negative feedback. When criticism arrives unexpectedly, remembering how you should react to it is tricky. Getting caught up in the heat of the moment can overwhelm our best intentions. Think through the reaction you want to have now, so that you’ll be…
Horrible HR Policies to Nuke in 2015
by Liz Ryan How can it be that no one thought to abolish an old law prohibiting women from changing their hair style without their husband’s permission? We need to learn this lesson: it’s easier to enact rules than to remove them, even years after our old rules have ceased to serve us. We do…
This Is Why December Is The Best Month To Find A Job
by Mary Eileen Williams As a job-seeker, does December bring about thoughts of kicking back, relaxing and taking a long winter’s nap? If so, you are not alone. Hiring drops dramatically during the holidays and the majority of people looking for work adopt the attitude that they will take these weeks off and then gear…
Time to Scrap Performance Appraisals?
by Josh Bersin Times have changed. More and more companies have decided to radically change (read “scrap” or “re-engineer”) their performance appraisal process. Last week at our research conference we spoke with Adobe, Juniper, Kelly Services, and a variety of other companies who have decided to do away with traditional performance ratings and dramatically change…
5 Simple Ways to Harness the Power of Gratitude at Work
by Harvey Deutschendorf We all know the good feelings that come with being acknowledged for something that we did. Those feelings result in wanting to do well and we continue to look for ways to give our best effort. While we often have no problems thanking our family, friends, and those around us, a study…
Beware the Phantom Job Listing
Jobs Go Unadvertised as Managers Rely on Their Own Contacts. By LAUREN WEBER and LESLIE KWOH John Nottingham says he was planning to hire a new design manager eventually. But when he heard a talented fellow alumnus of his design school was looking for a job, he wasted no time: He created an opening and…
When Working at an Imperfect Company Makes Perfect Sense
by Lou Adler Time is Your Most Valuable Asset. Use it Wisely. Is working at a troubled company advisable? Troubled meaning heading into bankruptcy, having a deserved bad reputation, struggling to survive, or going through a turnaround. The answer: it all depends. If you want something safe and secure, it’s probably best to avoid it….
The Top Complaints from Employees About Their Leaders
by Lou Solomon If you’re the kind of boss who fails to make genuine connections with your direct reports, take heed: 91% of employees say communication issues can drag executives down, according to results from our new Interact/Harris Poll, which was conducted online with roughly 1,000 U.S. workers. In the survey, employees called out the kind…
The Remedy for Unproductive Busyness
by Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats Raise your hand if you feel busy. Keep it up, still, if you think the busyness is hurting your productivity. If your hand is still up, then you should keep on reading. It’s very easy to succumb to the temptation of staying busy even when it is counterproductive: It…
Bill George: The hierarchical leader is out. The empowering leader is in.
by Alan Murray The former Medtronic CEO and management expert discusses the profound shift in priorities among successful business leaders working today. Bill George was CEO of Medtronic from 1991 to 2001 and, during that time, grew the company’s market value from $1 billion to $60 billion. He has since become one of the nation’s…
10 Reasons Why People Who Read a Lot Are More Likely To Be Good Leaders
by Casey Imafidon Reading is currently on a global decline. The statistics and polls behind this pattern are frightening because the shortage of readers means there will be a shortage of leaders. There is no disputing it: reading offers you the platform to become a leader. Famous leaders from Steve Jobs to Elon Musk engage…
15 Dumb Things That Absolutely Don’t Predict Job Success
by Lou Adler For the past 40 years I’ve been working with hiring managers, recruiters and candidates on all types of jobs from camp counselors to senior executives. Part of this has been tracking the results of their hiring decisions including what happens to people who didn’t get hired for a dumb reason at company…
5 Signs It’s Time for a New Job
by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic Regardless of your age, background, or accomplishments, you have probably fantasized about the possibility of a new career at some point in your life – those who haven’t are the exception. LinkedIn reports that of its 313 million members, 25% are active job seekers, while 60% can be considered passive job seekers –…
How to Override Your Default Reactions in Tough Moments
by Lee Newman “It’s 9:00 a.m., you’re across the table from a colleague who doesn’t like you or the changes you’re proposing, she’s pushing all your hot-buttons and resisting your efforts to get her to support the change. What’s your typical reaction?” I recently posed this question to a group of executives. About two thirds…
Why Employees Are Lonelier Than Ever
by Maeghan Ouimet Music might be good for productivity, but headphones may be doing more harm than good for your team. According to a Harvard Business Review report, most young people in the workforce wear headphones–and as a result, cut themselves off from their surrounding environment. Anne Kreamer, author of the book It’s Always Personal:…
Bring Courtesy Back to the Workplace
by Ron Ashkenas Respect towards others should be standard behavior in the workplace, regardless of role, rank, or reputation. But as companies have become more virtual, global, and stressed out, this assumption can break down unless we focus on it more explicitly. Let me explain. In the not-too-distant past, the majority of work was conducted…
Are You Proud of How You’re Spending Your Time?
by Elizabeth Grace Saunders When you feel like you’re just one e-mail away from failure at work, it can seem ludicrous to take your eyes off of what you believe absolutely needs to get done to consider what you might regret in the future. The amount of demands coming at you feels so crushing and…