Is our collective love affair with Zoom coming to an end? We've all experienced or heard of Zoom fatigue, but maybe there is more to the story. A new report by Columbia Business School suggests that people come up with fewer collaborative ideas on Zoom than in person. Researchers blame this on the fact that with Zoom, you’re essentially forced to look at [...]
Yet another gift the pandemic has given us: a new acronym to incorporate into our lexicon. Move over WFH, welcome in RTO. RTO stands for “return to office,” as the zinger I just read: “There’s a growing sense that RTO isn’t working.” For a lot of the companies I interface with, RTO does, in fact, seem to be working, and quite well. But [...]
“Tim, I hear you.” You might consider yourself a good listener, but what KIND of a listener are you? Harvard Business Review breaks listening down into four distinct personalities: 🔹 Analytical listeners analyze the problem inherent in what they’re hearing 🔹 Relational listeners aim to build connection on an emotional level 🔹 Critical listeners assess content for reliability 🔹 Task-focused listeners try to solve the problem as [...]
Power casual. Business comfort. Workleisure. Business Florida. All terms floating around to describe how people are dressing for work these days — when they actually go into an office, that is. Perhaps it’s the year-plus spent working from home in sweats, but people aren’t nearly as likely to don fancy shoes and starched cuffs anymore. This isn’t just a trend reflected in the meeting [...]
Everything seems to be getting radically more expensive these days, and that includes talent. The competition for the brightest and most creative minds is so intense that, according to Inc. magazine, the past two years have driven up pay by 20%. For smaller companies that don’t have that kind of wiggle room in their hiring budgets, it can feel impossible to compete. But [...]
There’s a psychological concept called “foot-in-the-door technique” that says if you want to get someone to do something big, first ask them to do something small. For instance, if you want to shift an employee’s job description fairly dramatically, first take a toe-dip by asking them to take on a new type of project as just one aspect of their day to day. [...]
It used to be considered very tacky to talk about money. No one really knew what anyone else was getting paid. This worked to the advantage of HR departments, of course. But that’s changed. One study sponsored by Bankrate found that 40% of Millennials and 42% of Gen Z workers have shared their compensation with a coworker or a colleague. For Baby Boomers, [...]
Here’s one way to look at the upheaval of the last few years: as a giant, worldwide corporate experiment in changing how we work. The New York Times conducted a recent poll of 700 people to find out why they do or don’t prefer working from home. Some of the most popular answers: 🔹 COVID safety 🔹 More sunlight and fresh air on a daily [...]
Want to support your employees in being more creative and productive? Adjust the thermostat. One study showed that workplace productivity fluctuates wildly depending on office temperature. Being too hot makes you sleepy and sluggish. Too cold and, according to one Cornell study, people make more errors. The ideal temp? Just under 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Interestingly enough, the idea of “perfect office temperature” has [...]
“Tim, am I a good fit for that role and company?” When I’m having a conversation with a job seeker about an upcoming role, I love this question because it shows me that the candidate cares about getting not just any job but the RIGHT job. Likewise, when hiring managers interview you for a role, they want to sense that you’re invested in [...]