Crispin (Page 16)

In: Culture, Effective Communication, Human Capital, Leadership

Article from LinkedIn by Natalie MacDonald, Published 21st May 2020 On this episode of the LinkedIn Video Together In Business, Insurtech founder Ben Webster, Inspiring Rare Birds CEO Jo Burston and COSBOA chief Peter Strong join Natalie to talk about managing and supporting teams during the crisis. Together they covered: Tools for maintaining and building culture How to approach letting people go The benefits of honest and transparent communication, and making teams feel like part of the conversation How to talk to workers about heading back to the office Skip straight to watching the video on the link below. https://www.linkedin.com/video/embed/live/urn:li:activity:6669054004816818176 Originally published here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/food-thought-leadership-crisis-times-natalie-macdonald/Continue Reading

In: Change, Culture, Teams, Working From Home

Article from Gallup by Jim Harter, published 1st May 2020 This article focuses on three key areas In three weeks, the percentage of US remote workers jumped from 31% to 62% Returning employees will be influenced by many factors Your remote work policies and decisions will affect employee engagement A key Gallup Research finding has been that more than half those surveyed would prefer to continue working remotely as much as possible once restrictions are lifted. There is a complex relationship between ‘remote work’ and ’employee engagement’. Employers with remote work options have the highest employee engagement. “This does not mean that high or low engagement is guaranteed in any situation. The right approach to performance development is key to optimising the employee experience, performance and wellbeing, in all situations.” https://www.gallup.com/workplace/309620/coronavirus-change-next-normal-workplace.aspxContinue Reading

In: Culture, Effective Communication, Resilience, Working From Home

Article from Inc. By Suzanne Lucas. Published 12th May 2020 “Working from home can cause a different kind of burnout. One where you don’t know when work begins and ends, and where you never really have any time off. You’re always at the office, so therefore you are always working.” This article provides some practical advice for managers on how to be supportive. It’s almost never an emergency, so don’t play that card unless it really is. Maintain an office like schedule – make it clear what expectations are and that employees are not expected to respond to messages at all hours day and night. Communicate frequently to keep everyone up to date – its much less stressful to know what is going on than to sit and wonder what is coming next. Read the whole article here: https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/your-work-from-home-employees-are-burning-out-you-can-help.htmlContinue Reading

In: Change, Collaboration Technology, Effective Communication, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Article from HBR by Mark Mortensen & Constance Noonan Hadley, Published May 22, 2020 Before CoVID-19 there was no playbook on how to transition a team to 100% virtual (in a matter of days), no one has ever done anything like this before. Yet this year its been done by companies all over the world and some found their Business Continuity Planning (BCP) had some gaps, some teams and individuals have found the transition easy and successful other found it extremely hard. This article points out that Teamwork has Gotten Harder – having a sense of the connectedness across teams is crucial. “Teams that have unclear missions, inconsistent social norms, low common identity, unclear roles and unstable membership – are recipe for team disasters.” The result a lack of productivity, low levels of engagement and frustration. Mark & Constance offer some guidance. Start with Triage – identify the critical teamContinue Reading

In: Change, Culture, Resilience

Scott Eblin of the Eblin Group talks about what it means going into the next phase, how we live and work in in the new CoVID-19 world. Its a phase of transition as we get used to what is next to come the new normal. He talks about three ways help lead your organisation to transition into phase 2 and be prepared for the new normal. Firstly change agenda’s from “To Do” to “What If?” – its about giving your team the mental space to re-imagine the why, what and how of work in your company. Next “Cast a Broader Net” – no one has all the answers right now, reimagining what the future looks like is going to require that you consult widely with partners, customers and other experts inside and outside your company. Finally he refers to “Gather Data and Run Small Tests” this is a world ofContinue Reading

Three Star

In: Leadership

Wally Brock writes on the blog Three Star Leadership that life as a leader brings plenty of ups and downs and a journal is a useful tool that can help you bring it all together. Get a Little Better Every Day – its a record of your leadership life chronicle your events at the end of the day and your journal helps you learn from previous experience. Stay Focused on Your Goals – Goals help concentrate your energy and set your priorities, set yourself a list of what you want to achieve each day. Learn to get better at managing your own priorities. Reflect – a journal lets you capture your thoughts, use them to help you go back and learn about yourself. Think Things Through – write your problems down – it helps you clarify your thinking before you share it with others Analyse Trade-offs – use the BenjaminContinue Reading

In: Change, Culture, Human Capital, Working From Home

Increasing organisational resilience in the face of CoVID-19. A perspectives piece from Deloitte providing insights for organisations to explore new ways of working. The Deloitte team describe a series of actions that organisations can take to enable resilience and maintain virtual business operations. Firstly respond to the virus. This requires two approaches, a Human Centred Response and a Organisational Preparedness response.Human Centred is to engage with stakeholders creating tailored solutions that meet specific needs of each impacted group. Promote virtual work, use tools that support collaboration productivity and culture continuity. Own the narrative through strong and consistent communication. Increase support for help desks, that help those with different levels of digital fluency. Drive customer communications, create or enhance customer support channels to manage and overcome potential temporary disruptions. Organisational Preparedness (or Crisis Management) should Institute a Central Response Team, Monitor Regulatory and Health Updates, Assess Market and Financial Impacts andContinue Reading

In: Culture, Human Capital

Sara G. Miller wrote this article for the Scientific American in 2016, right after the second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. During that debate Trump stood very close up behind Clinton while she was speaking, Sara writes about the psychology of what happens. It turns out we lack control over our emotions when someone gets too close, its an automatic, instinctual brain response and it comes from a more primal basic survival mechanism that we share with all sorts of animals from insects to monkeys. Sara explains a model of personal space bubbles (first identified by American Anthropologist Edward Hall) that describes the space around a person. The first bubble is considered ‘intimate space’ its about 46cms from the body – and its normally reserved for the people we are closest to (family and friends). The second space that is about 1m is ‘personal space’ for friendsContinue Reading

In: Culture, Effective Communication

Michael Hyatt writes about the problem with poor communicators and how it impacts teams. He puts forward five key learnings that are easy to apply Firstly – Determine to be the solution: Make sure that you are championing clear communication in your workplace. Secondly – Externalise your thinking: Often we communicate enough, we assume that others know what we are thinking and what we know, be aware of the gap between your understanding and the team’s. Third – Push for clarity: Are you sure your message is clear, have you checked how others might receive the message and considered the appropriate wording to best land your message. Fourth – Confirm understanding: You have not communicated until you know that the other person has understood what you were saying, use follow up questions to be sure that you have a shared understanding. Fifth – Over communicate: People forget what you haveContinue Reading

fear to return to the office

In: Leadership, Teams, Working From Home

No matter what governments might think, you cannot just open the economy by press release and policy. Citizens need to feel safe in going about their usual day to day activities and its possible that many people including your employees are not there yet. In this article from Inc.com Magazine Managing Editor, Lindsay Blake talks to Peter Newell (CEO of Innovation and Problem Solving company BMNT) about how leaders might tackle this challenge. You can’t manage people’s fears but you can support them. Everyone’s situation and individual concerns and fears are different. Go deep on what returning to work looks like and all of its ramifications. Understand how people get to work including the implications of public transport. How will your company handle face to face meetings? What about employees with children that need to be monitored for home schooling? Directly address the stress your employees are going through. HaveContinue Reading