Working with a difficult person (and, often, more than one) is as expected in the workplace as attending pointless meetings. We’ve all desperately tried to get a colleague tobehave better, like the one who complains every time a change is announced, or who nitpicks at every detail in your presentation, or who completely withdraws when given […]
You Need Both the Steak AND the Sizzle
Recently we read a most interesting account (on a wonderful site called Futility Closet) of an experiment conducted in 1970 at the University of Southern California School of Medicine that proved that, if the speaker is enthusiastic and displays engaging body language, the audience will give him/her a high approval rating, even if what she/he […]
3 Words That Really Work to Motivate Your Employees
When you think about your annual physical exam, you may be worried that your doctor is going to criticize your choices (like eating too much steak and not enough salad), deliver disappointing news, or find something frightening. Those are the kinds of concerns that prevent people from reaching out to their physician for help. But feeling judged, […]
3 Ways to Get More Positive Feedback From Your Boss
Most of us think about feedback as negative: being told by our manager that we’ve fallen short of a goal, or that our work processes need work, or that a behavior needs to change. And yes, negative feedback delivered thoughtfully and constructively, is critical to helping us make progress. Let’s not overlook the importance of receiving […]
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are (We See You Hiding Behind that Lectern)
We were amused to read in the Albuquerque Journal that the new governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan-Grisham (described as “diminutive” by the Journal), joked in her inaugural speech that one of her first acts as governor would be to order all lecterns in New Mexico to be lowered. This got us thinking about how […]
3 Things That Women Say Yes to that Undermine their Impact at Work
Most of us hope that our colleagues and bosses see us as helpful. Helping in the workplace has been recognized as an important and desirable organizational behavior for decades, from both an interpersonal relationship perspective as well as a business productivity perspective. When we’re helpful, we contribute positively to the social and emotional fabric of the company, as well as to […]
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Pitching an Idea to Your Boss
From ride-sharing to co-working spaces, and from Netflix to 3D printers, all of these were, at some point, brand new ideas. And each of them had a person (or people) behind the idea who saw the business potential in turning their idea into reality. But generating cutting-edge concepts isn’t just good for the business — it’s […]
3 Things to Do Immediately After an Argument at Work
Author and business leader Margaret Heffernan once remarked, “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” Nevertheless, many of us would rather not engage in conflict, argument or debate (and maybe even avoid human interaction altogether). We work hard to minimize interpersonal tension, avoid disagreements, and even stay quiet in the face of differences of opinion […]
Why the Most Successful Leaders Don’t Care About Being Liked
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be liked at work. According to Tim Sanders, author of The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life’s Dreams when your colleagues, direct reports and bosses like you, you have a better chance of getting promoted, being assigned special projects that interest you, having people go above and beyond for […]
Staying Calm All the Time Can Actually Hurt Your Career. Here’s Why
When we think about effective leaders, many of us picture someone who is calm, cool, and collected under stressful conditions. We envision someone who is reliably even-keeled in the best of times and the worst of times, who can assuage anxiety with a placid demeanor during change and transition and is unruffled when others are in a frenzy. But […]
In a Sales Slump? Here’s 1 Simple Mindset Shift to Get You Out of It
When it comes to evaluating success for salespeople, it’s often focused on one thing: the win. Asking for the customer’s business and getting a quick and enthusiastic “yes!” seems, at times, to be the only thing that counts. This mindset, and the aggressive behavior that it drives, comes at a cost. According to HubSpot research, only 17 percent of salespeople consider themselves “pushy” […]
