People like to be valued. Surveying stakeholders is a great way to increase participation and get buy-in — especially when a big change is coming. When you ask for their input, you acknowledge the importance of their work, you acknowledge their ideas, and their opinions. You’ll see the big picture — the whole problem — not just what you can see from your own perspective.

Get an insight

As the saying goes, “The only constant in life is change.” It’s no different in business. But getting stakeholder buy-in is especially important when things are changing.

When people have long tenure or there’s great…

The Intellectual Response

The workplace is full of triggers for anger. They include emotional pressure, complex relationships, diverse communication styles, and high-stakes risks and rewards.

Workplace anger is a normal and healthy reaction when circumstances are unjust, personal rights aren’t respected, promises are broken, or expectations aren’t met.

When people work together conflicts are inevitable, because we all have different emotional makeups, biases, business styles, expectations, and cultural norms.

While many people are good at recognizing what makes coworkers angry, they often fail to cope with their own triggers. This can lead to inappropriate behavior like outbursts, overreactions, misplaced blame, or excessive self-criticism.

…

Although most meetings follow a natural progression from beginning to end, you still need to maximize your time during each phase so you can meet the objectives of the meeting.

You can make the most of the time scheduled for each meeting if you know what should go on during the three phases of a meeting. The three phases are the beginning, the middle, and the end.

The beginning

The bulk of your time should be spent carrying out the meeting objectives, so keep time spent on the beginning phase to a minimum.

During this phase, you normally do three things to…

Creating an Efficient Physical Environment

There is a direct relationship between the physical organization of your office and your productivity. If you do not make the most of your workspace, you will not get the most out of your time.

The size of your office, and the level of luxury in its furnishings, does not correlate directly, or inevitably, on your performance. So what does?

Three elements of physical organization

The three elements of the physical organization of your work space that have a positive or negative impact on your use of time are

• tidiness,
• comfort, and
• structure.

Tidiness

Only have the files and papers that you’re actually using on your…

Successful organizations are aware that their workforce is their biggest asset. Engaged employees who feel a sense of belonging to their company produce better results and are more likely to “go the extra mile” for their company.

Creating an engaging new hire experience is what onboarding is all about. If new hires are engaged in their early days with a company, they’ll feel more confident they’ve made the right choice of employer. Many company introductions take the form of a one-way dialog. However, onboarding involves much more.

As well as policies, employees learn how their job contributes to the overall…

Productive telecommuting

With the strenuous demands of modern living, many people dream of more flexibility in their jobs — the kind that allows them to take care of their various responsibilities while still working and earning a paycheck.

With technological advances, companies are becoming increasingly open to flexible work arrangements.

In fact, many employees now work from home or other remote locations instead of performing all their work duties at the office. They stay in contact with managers and colleagues via e-mail, telephone, videoconferencing, or other technology.

This arrangement is known as telecommuting.

Telecommuting enables an employee to work some or even…

What is talent management?

Most people agree that employees are vital to a company’s success. But it’s not enough to say that people are important. Organizations need to be designed and managed in ways that optimize the attraction, retention, and performance of talented individuals.

This approach is strategic in that it involves making decisions about how to manage human capital in a way that takes into account the organization’s needs.

So the decisions you make about employees — whether in hiring, developing, or retaining them — will shape your organization’s competencies and its ultimate success.

That’s where talent management comes in.

Talent management is…

You may have heard the expression, “If it wasn’t a challenge, it wouldn’t be an opportunity.” Challenges — problems — they’re a fact of business, a fact of life. But they’re more. Solving problems in the workplace, making the right business decisions — that’s what creates the opportunity for success.

How do you begin to identify the root cause of a problem?

The first step in solving a problem is to understand the scope — and its likely impact. You need to understand who is affected by the problem and who can do something about it. These are the stakeholders, and you begin by talking to them.

Let’s say you’re the supervisor…