Communication

How to counsel employees who have personal problems

07/31/2024

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Beyond the punchline: Create a culture of appropriate humor

07/24/2024

When used correctly, humor can lighten the mood, build relationships and even increase job satisfaction. However, it’s essential to strike the right balance to avoid potential pitfalls. Here are some key strategies for fostering an environment where humor is appropriate and beneficial.

The 10 most-detested business clichés of 2024

06/12/2024

Business buzzwords come and go. Employees wish these 10 corporate clichés would vanish, according to outplacement firm Careerminds.com, which commissioned a poll of 3,000 workers. Pass them around to your managers, spread the word and erase them from your vocabulary.

How to manage a culturally diverse team

05/24/2024

It is important for managers to foster an inclusive environment where every team member feels valued, respected and empowered to contribute their unique talents.

Ease workplace conflict with 3 simple steps

05/15/2024

In every person, the natural reaction to conflict is based on biology: When confronted with danger, our innate biological response is to either attack or run away—the famous “fight or flight” syndrome. In the workplace, neither fight nor flight behaviors are likely to result in solving the problem. Instead, use these three strategies to help you move from conflict to resolution.

Proceed with caution when regulating the virtual water cooler

05/15/2024

Just because your employees work remotely doesn’t mean you’re free of the old-fashioned gossip, squabbles and office politics that have always been a hazard of in-person work environments. In fact, telework may have actually intensified the risks for employers.

Is HR your ‘manager complaint department’?

04/05/2024

Stop doing your managers’ dirty work! Teach bosses who instinctively turn to HR to, instead, seek solutions on their own. Here are four tips to make this happen.

5 essential questions to ask your employees

03/20/2024

Don’t wait until you spot performance problems or the telltale signs of disenchantment. Take time to regularly sit down with workers to ask questions that get to the heart of their role with the company. Here are five essential questions to ask, as suggested by Susan Scott, author of Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time.

Why successful managers make 360 communication their top priority

03/08/2024

Unlike one-way communication, where information only flows from the top down or bottom up, 360 communication fosters open, transparent communication between peers, superiors, subordinates, clients and other stakeholders. It involves communication that flows vertically, from top to bottom and vice versa, and horizontally among peers and across departments.

5 ways to eliminate incivility among team members

01/12/2024

Ever feel like some of your employees slept through that elementary school presentation on the Golden Rule? It might be up to you to reteach it—and fast.