Entrepreneur Jessica Rovello tells us how she came up with an innovative way to solve a routine problem in her business.
Most employees dread those long, boring staff meetings -- but not at Arkadium.
In fact, at this developer of online flash-based games, the 35 employees at the New York office look forward to the Monday meetings. They are eager to see what will happen this week, perhaps the conference table will be used for...
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The nervous tick and quivering voice some of your new managers develop doesn't have to send them to additional sessions with their therapist (or you, for that matter).
A new book provides guidance on helping them relax the easy way. Given the current economic climate, it's no wonder more new managers are arriving to their posts with high anxiety. Katharine Giacalone, a human resources and training development specialist for the last 25 years, says she increasingly encounters clients who are
promoting employees to managers overnight due to the shift in the economy. This phenomenon gives an unfortunate new meaning to "do more with less," she notes. Many of these newly-promoted managers, Giacalone points out, are left overwhelmed, unprepared, and wondering, "What do I do now?!" Giacalone's first book,...
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Work with its deadlines and financial pressures is tense enough on its own without adding the emotional issues of its decision-makers.
There's a book you may want to pass along to your managers to help them keep emotions in check when making professional decisions. Joseph Cardillo, author of "Can I Have Your Attention?: How to Think Fast, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Concentration," says "Emotions are prioritizers. If we learn to tap into what our
emotions are telling us, we can use their raw power towards our goal instead of against it." Here are the author's top five tips for keeping your emotions in check and making the right decisions at work:...
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In their fourth collaborative article, Incentive columnists Ley Borlo (Mad About Incentives) and Joshua Klapow (Science Behind Incentives) look at figuring out the right value of an incentive reward from the perspectives of general industry dictum and the behavioral sciences.
Mad About Incentives: How do you determine the right value of an incentive?
I have had clients ask me this question or variations of it for years. It was a fun one to answer because it allowed us to expound on everything we thought we knew about what it took to motivate people. And I haven’t met one salesperson in this industry that didn’t see himself or herself as an expert. For the industry disciples
of the behavior model, that client question was answered with a degree of expertise, followed by a lengthy question and answer session. For others it was answered with pat formulas that allowed for mathematical answers given with much authority. When the question is answered from the perspective of...
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HR professionals are often in the position of having to say "no" to employees. Don't make that negative perception worse with the nonverbal cues you may be inadvertently giving off.
Experts say that's a particular problem with women in business. But these are the habits that can hold you back professionally regardless of gender. All it takes is a single nonverbal tic to send a negative message, no matter how brilliant your ideas or rigorous your work ethic. “Many of us have no idea that our nonverbal cues are
making an impact,” says Carey O’Donnell, president of Carey O’Donnell Public Relations Group. “There are thousands of microexpressions, and people are reading these, even if they are only subconsciously translating these cues.” You have just four minutes to make a first impression, and, according to a widely cited study by
UCLA professor Albert Mehrabian, body language accounts for 55% of that impression (38% comes from tone of voice; the remaining 7% from our actual words). Five other negative microexpressions common to women:...
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Do your managers “play favorites” with certain employees?
Most managers would probably say “no,” but people often harbor unconscious perceptions that can influence day-to-day decision-making and job reviews of the employees they manage. Studies on performance reviews show that several factors unrelated to employee performance can impact evaluations conducted by managers.
Such favoritism—or even perceived favoritism—can lower employee morale and lead to discrimination lawsuits. That’s one reason it’s important to help your organization's managers learn to recognize nonperformance-related perceptions that can unintentionally impact evaluations—for better or worse...
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For his new book, communications coach Carmine Gallo watched hours of Jobs' keynotes. Here he identifies the five elements of every presentation by the Apple CEO.
The Apple music event of Sept. 9, 2009, marked the return of the world's greatest corporate storyteller. For more than three decades, Apple (AAPL) co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has raised product launches to an art form. In my new book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any
Audience, I reveal the techniques that Jobs uses to create and deliver mind-blowing keynote presentations. Steve Jobs does not sell computers; he sells...
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Rosabeth Moss Kanter on what managers can learn from Ted Kennedy's extraordinary career in the Senate.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose loss America is mourning, was no darling of the traditional big business community. He fought for the little guy, for children, for the poor and disadvantaged, sometimes against establishments and elites. But as a leader, he was greatly admired across the political spectrum. Even those who
disagreed with his politics can draw inspiration from his life. From knowing and observing him, I choose four leadership lessons I hope executives will take to heart...
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Those who are innately confident and self-directed routinely outperform co-workers, regardless of their backgrounds.
There are two kinds of employees. Some believe they can make things happen, and the others believe that things happen to them. The first group believes that the outcome of their life and career is more or less in their own hands, and they wouldn't have it any other way. The other group takes more of a Forrest Gump approach: They sit
around and wait for a bus to take them somewhere. This distinguishing feature is captured by something called a "core self-evaluation." After more than a decade of research, psychologist Tim Judge has discovered that virtually all superstar
employees—from rainmakers in the field to line workers on the floor all the way to big guns in the boardroom—have one thing in common:...
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The things coworkers do that irk you at the office also lower your productivity. Steven DeMaio explains how to manage the annoyance.
Whether you work full-time, part-time, or for yourself, you probably have a nagging little Chihuahua that lies under your desk, behind your computer monitor, or maybe right in your lap. He's not a real dog, but he sits up to bark pretty often and has the potential to reduce your productivity or even ruin your whole day. I'm talking
about your #1 Pet Peeve—the thing that, despite your normally measured approach to all things professional, just irks you to the core. Considerate person that you are, you suffer privately with the little guy and clean up his mess all over your brain before your colleagues can catch a whiff. Of course,...
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The call to come in means you're close, but you don't have that offer yet. Bolster your chances by avoiding these job-interview pitfalls.
Landing a job interview means you actually have a decent chance of getting the job: You've been selected from probably hundreds of applicants to be one of the half-dozen serious contenders for the position. It's surprising how often hiring managers have a hard time finding a keeper among the six. One told me recently, "I
find myself thinking, 'Please God, let one of these people hit the mark.'" Way too many job seekers fall victim to easily avoided situations like the 10 job-interview killers listed below. Any of these sound familiar?...
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Strategizing and keeping your reactions in check is the easiest route to winning workplace disagreements.
An idea is tossed around at a brainstorming meeting. The group seems to really go for it, although one woman disagrees. But rather than speaking up, she sits in stony silence. Is she shy? Possibly. Or maybe she has no opinion on the topic. In this case, though, she's not chiming in because in the past, when she's suggested an
alternate point of view, someone always bats it down--and the group moves on. Paralyzed, the woman sinks back in her chair, dying to say something but feeling resentful of everyone in the room. The problem isn't exclusive to female professionals, of course. But women do tend to be more self-conscious in group
settings. Women are also more likely to take criticism personally. Those two elements--sensitivity and self-consciousness--can make it very hard for professional women to disagree in a respectful manner. There's nothing wrong with disagreement in the workplace, so long as it's...
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Overwork benefits nobody.
Judging from all the responses I received to my recent column "Get Rid of Jackass Clients," far too many executives have customers who exhaust them and sap their productivity. Stress and inefficiency are everywhere. That's why you should implement the No BlackBerry Rule. How often do you hear colleagues and friends say
they're working like crazy? I hear it constantly, especially now, in the current difficult economy. So many executives are clawing to keep their jobs or fighting for their share of dwindling bonus pools. They complain to the world about their sleepless nights, burning the midnight oil. They wear their haggard eyes and lonely
spouses as badges of honor. [They even sleep with their BlackBerrys, so they can respond to e-mails from 12 time zones away. Do they really need to be so busy?...]
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So-called "soft skills" have taken a much higher profile in recent decades, especially since emotional intelligence has been shown to be a key indicator for identifying top performers. Yet some personality types still have a tough time grasping the value of soft skills, let alone the skills themselves.
The workplace continues to see "bully bosses" rising into senior management positions, relying on intimidation to get short-term results instead of building solid organizations with the help of good interpersonal skills. For example, one senior manager I know gets great results, but his command and control approach
pushes and manipulates people. A quick look at the bottom line for his team is impressive, but when considering other factors, such as turnover and average levels of productivity, his numbers start to lose their glamour. Some people use intimidation to climb the corporate ladder, but what they don't realize is that such
results aren't long-lasting. Intimidated people are more obedient than engaged, which creates a wonderful ego stroke for the manager, but no compelling drive toward unity or internal strength for the company. What are the obstacles?...
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Paying is passé. Use these 10 free software programs instead. Free
is a lovely word; unfortunately, it's often followed by a disappointing product. We have found 10 great free apps that will help you run your business. Some are so good, you might even be willing to (shudder) spend money on them. -- Mark Spoonauer...
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Concern Over Swine Flu Grows, Prompting a Hard Look at the Hygiene Hot Spots During the Day.
They lurk on the kitchen sponge, your computer keyboard and the dirty laundry. Flush the toilet and they become airborne. Strangers leave them behind on airplanes, gas pumps, shopping carts, coffeeshop counters and elevator buttons. Your desktop, office microwave handles, and the exercise bike at the gym are covered with them.
Don't even think about the toys at day-care centers or the kids' playground equipment. Germs—the microscopic bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa that can cause disease—cling to the most common surfaces and then hitch a ride on our hands. As swine flu spreads from person to person around the world, it is most often being
transmitted by coughing or sneezing, but it can also infect people who touch something with flu virus on it and then touch their mouth or nose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns. And like an unwelcome house guest, a flu virus can hang around for days. [Still, I wanted to know where in my home, office and
wider world I should most forcefully brandish my disinfectant wipes and hand-sanitizer. My calls to experts turned up some surprising culprits:...]
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