How to Leverage Listening for Smoother Relationships

Bottom Line Up Front: Listening only happens when others feel heard, and how well we listen is based on our intention while the other person is talking. Many of us often enter conversations with the intention of multi-tasking or judging what we hear. I call these Distracted Listening and Defensive Listening, and neither are helpfulContinueContinue reading “How to Leverage Listening for Smoother Relationships”

The Forgiveness Ritual for Lightening the Load

Whether we’re lightening our load by forgiving ourselves or someone else, the practice of forgiveness can be a powerful way to reclaim our energy and brain space. Try this technique the next time you want to practice forgiveness but you’re having a tough time letting go.

How Change Comm Can Strengthen Relationships

Our brains tend to automatically classify transitions as “high-risk” because of the likelihood that we might lose something as a result. However, these high-stakes situations present the ideal opportunity to lift engagement by strengthening relationships between employees and leaders. Using change communication to create an emotionally healthy environment allows employees to focus more of theirContinueContinue reading “How Change Comm Can Strengthen Relationships”

5 Expectations of Today’s High-Impact Employees

As life priorities continue to recalibrate in the wake of the pandemic, today’s employees are looking for work experiences that satisfy five essential human needs: 1 – Achieving GROWTHImproving their skills and making progress in their occupations and careers(Note: this does not always mean promotions) 2 – Having an IMPACTMaking a difference in meaningful waysContinueContinue reading “5 Expectations of Today’s High-Impact Employees”

5 Signs of Burnout Leaders Might Miss

These burnout indicators can result from the emotional exhaustion typically caused by a strained relationship between employees and their leaders. Lack of accountability or ownership Having a bad attitude Decrease in work quality Sudden withdrawal or silence Increase in sick days and call-offs They tend to diminish as leaders and other decision-makers become more intentionalContinueContinue reading “5 Signs of Burnout Leaders Might Miss”

2 Tips for Pain-Free Performance Reviews

Is your stomach in knots dreading these conversations? Your employees probably feel the same way, but these meetings don’t have to keep anyone up at night. Use these tips to turn traditionally tough conversations into opportunities to strengthen relationships between leaders and employees. Tip #1 for pain-free performance reviews: Give perfect scores to the employeesContinueContinue reading “2 Tips for Pain-Free Performance Reviews”

Should We Be Saying “I Love You” at Work? 

My client swiftly angled her laptop toward me with an urgent command of “read this!”  Just above the email signature block displaying the sender’s name, title, and company logo was the most unexpected sign-off phrase:   “Love you!”  It was an email from an executive at a consulting firm. It was sent to a client weContinueContinue reading “Should We Be Saying “I Love You” at Work? “

Running on Empty: Why Employee Burnout Remains a Major Challenge for Most Businesses

As leaders scramble to close staffing gaps and prevent rising resignations, burnout continues to be among the top reasons employees are languishing in their roles or leaving them. Although attention to burnout and wellbeing has intensified since the start of the pandemic, it was a major problem many companies were trying to tackle long beforeContinueContinue reading “Running on Empty: Why Employee Burnout Remains a Major Challenge for Most Businesses”

Measuring the Business Impact of Your Internal Communication Program

Successful organizations measure internal communication programs using strategic business goals. Thanks to a growing number of tools and resources, communicators have access to more data than ever before, yet it can still be difficult to determine if the right things are being measured. To get an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of an internal communicationContinueContinue reading “Measuring the Business Impact of Your Internal Communication Program”

Meaningful Experiences Shape Attitudes

Interactions that reach employees on an emotional level can accelerate engagement. High-performance cultures do not get that way by chance. They are built strategically and methodically through well-choreographed experiences that cultivate employee engagement. Every experience that employees have with their company contributes to their beliefs about the organization. These beliefs influence how they think andContinueContinue reading “Meaningful Experiences Shape Attitudes”