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Want People Back in the Office? Deal with the Meeting and Email Burden
To strengthen our teams, cultures, and communities, we need people back in the office more often. But it’s not a reasonable request unless leaders are willing to address the meetings and email that are suffocating productivity and spilling over into personal time.
We Should be Fighting for Community
In my previous post, I made the case that we’re thoroughly messing up the effort to get employees to return to the office. Managers are arguing that remote work hurts productivity when there are now plenty of data to show that productivity doesn’t decline (and might...
The Return to Office Fight is About Control not Productivity
I’ve been thinking about how companies and managers are pitching return-to-office and I think we’re getting it wrong and creating unnecessary friction in the process. Here’s what people are saying and what they’re really thinking.
How to Tell if Your Work Conflict is Healthy
Healthy conflict that supports effective decision-making comes in the form of productive tension. Unfortunately, most conflict in teams emerges as either pressure or friction. Here’s how to tell the difference.
How to respond to someone venting
Emotions are running high, and you’re probably on the receiving end of a lot of venting lately. Here’s how to avoid the mistakes that erode accountability and instead help your colleague find a path through the emotions.
How to Get Leaders Focused on Growth
Is your company growing faster than your leaders? Do you need to inspire them to keep up without creating defensiveness? Try the 3 Questions Framework
What to Do When Your Boss Won’t Take No for an Answer
Ruthlessly prioritizing and enforcing boundaries is important to productivity, but what if your boss won’t take “no” for an answer? Five steps to reduce the impact of having to do too much.
5 Ways to Say No
While you might argue that the word NO is a full sentence, I don’t recommend using it that way if you want to promote good team dynamics or ensure a strong reputation. Here are five ways to say “no” to contribute to a happier, healthier, and more productive team.
Are You Saying Yes Too Often?
Before you can get a handle on your workload and find opportunities to say NO to the obligations that are slowing you down, you need to understand why you’ve been saying yes.
Is it time to start saying “no?”
Saying “yes” to too many things erodes trust, reduces the quality of your work, and burns you out. To launch this year’s NOvember campaign, here’s an audit you can do to identify your greatest opportunities to say, “NO!”
Using Personality Assessments with Your Team
Teams often use assessment tools like the Hogan or DiSC to promote insight among individuals. Unfortunately, these tools can be misused and hinder rather than help. Here’s a charter you can use to encourage team members to use personality and style tools wisely.
Different Approaches to Decision-making Cause Friction
Individual differences in decision-making style can be a significant source of friction among teammates. Beyond that, they can also lead to processes that significantly over- or under-engineer solutions. Here’s how to approach decision-making to optimize the tension and minimize the friction.