Culture

In her pioneering work in 1999, Amy Edmondson identified the concept of Psychological Safety - a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.  She discovered that the best-functioning teams are the ones where people feel safe to speak up - to make mistakes, to own up, to share ideas and offer opinions.  Since then, organisations such as Google have done their own studies whose findings support this, showing that this one factor could make the biggest difference in how a team and an organisation performs.

I was talking to a friend the other day and, as usual, asked how it was all going. She said it'd been busy at work, very busy in fact and for all the right reasons, but it had meant that she’d had to put an out of office on her Email to say that she may be a while responding and for people to phone if it was important. One such person, who had been waiting and chasing for a response, cheekily found a slot in her diary and chanced their arm for a chat. She accepted.

Social media is littered with beautiful photos of happy people doing wonderful things. The pursuit of happiness has become a catchcry. Success is measured by popularity, beauty and material wealth. Thank goodness for the creation of selfie filters to tweak the imperfections!

The temptation in coaching follows a similar rhythm. Work out who you need to influence most, ensure you have the right corporate look, the outfit, the grooming, the physique. Create inspirational goals. Go on a values-driven journey to enable a happier, more successful life.…

We have never stopped evolving and we must never!

In my last few pieces, I have written about the slave trade, conscious capitalism and how we have to do better in the world today.  A review of history shows us so clearly how we as a race/species have evolved over the past thousands of years.  Not all of our progress has been good, wars, genocide, extinction of species, pollution etc. But we have also made progress by reducing infant mortality, expanding human rights,  education, life expectancy, technology etc.

Intentional conversations are based on conscious design of the purpose, with forethought given to context and timing. Planned to happen in a setting and way, that is purposeful. In sharp contrast, Make It an Intentional Conversation share how 'unintentional' conversations can run off the rails.

We have talked about being of service in prior posts, today I want to take it a step further and talk about seeing the system.  For our techie friends, we don’t mean computer systems or apps, we are talking about the dynamics at play, the situational system.  Perhaps an example will help.

It’s not about you.  Suppose your boss shuts down your idea.  You don’t understand why your boss shut it down. 

• Maybe your boss is too stupid to recognize your great idea.  

• Maybe you didn’t communicate it effectively.  

I’ve been receiving a series of emails lately from a highly regarded organization with the subject line “How to Be Human at Work.”

My first thought was, "Funny. Aren’t we being human all the time?"

For most of us it's not that we’re being inhuman at work, but I understand the point.

As a business communication platform, we understand that a major deterrent to IM at work is the widespread belief that it leads to increased interruptions and decreased productivity.

When used correctly, instant messaging platforms in the workplace can be an effective communication tool for employees — particularly for those with multiple international offices and dispersed workforces.

Listed below are a few reasons to support our claim.

Benefits of instant messaging at the workplace

It keeps your inbox relevant

Organisations creating numerous standalone strategies supporting value realisation, is as counterproductive as musicians in a conductor-less orchestra, only having their individual sheet music.

Do organisations need a Digital Strategy?

In Don’t Draft a Digital Strategy Just Because Everyone Else Is, Ken Favaro argues that