Tag Archives: Employee Engagement

Posted on

Lead with Vision in Group Knowledge Flow Sessions

Businessman Showing Cards

Photo Credit: StockImages

#44 Lead with Vision in Group Knowledge Flow Sessions

A knowledge flow session is a meeting that allows leaders to both inform and listen to members of their teams. Begin by sharing your Vision, i.e. your thoughts about what actions need to be done, by whom, and when each action needs to be completed. We call this “putting your cards on the table.”

In the coming weeks, I will share more helpful tips for facilitating knowledge flow sessions.

This is the forty-fourth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Connect by Holding Frequent Knowledge Flow Sessions

office meeting

#43 Hold Knowledge Flow Sessions Frequently

When new employees arrive they should participate in a Knowledge Flow Session on your organization’s history, mission, values and broad strategy. Major initiatives and annual plans should be communicated in Knowledge Flow Sessions with the number of participants small enough for conversations to occur.

Team Knowledge Flow Sessions should occur frequently to keep the team aligned and accountable (one organization we know calls their weekly operational Knowledge Flow Session the “Sweat the Details” meeting).

As plans change, consider holding Knowledge Flow Sessions to keep everyone in the loop.

This is the forty-third post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Leaders: Know Your Direct Reports’ Career Experiences and Aspirations

Sign that says Your Career with an arrow pointing right

 #42 Know Your Direct Reports’ Career Experiences/Aspirations

Ask your direct reports about their prior work experiences, and what they liked and didn’t like about those experiences. Ask them about their career aspirations and how you can help them make progress toward those aspirations. Write down what you learn and identify specific actions you can take to help them. These actions may include job or project assignments, coaching or mentoring, or training.

This is the forty-second post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Connect by Celebrating Team Successes

Office workers celebrating

#41 Celebrate Team Successes

When your team accomplishes a major goal, celebrate as a group with a party, meal, or outing. Ask people for suggestions about how to celebrate. If you can afford it, invite them to bring a significant other to join in the celebration. If your team includes remote employees, include them by scheduling the celebration the next time they visit the office or providing them with a gift card to a nice restaurant in their area.

This is the forty-first post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

7 Best Practices to Boost Employee Engagement

Smiling Group of Professionals

 

As seen on Fox Business and SmartBlog on Leadership.

What separates the best leaders from the rest when it comes to employee engagement?

Our research shows the best leaders communicate an inspiring vision and live it, value people and give them a voice. Here are seven of the 100+ best practices that leaders can use to engage people.

Posted on

Leadership Advice: Ask, Don’t Order

Question Mark

#40 Ask, Don’t Order

When you want someone to do something, ask him/her, don’t order him/her to do it. Asking creates partnership while ordering reinforces hierarchy. Partnerships connect people to the process whereas emphasizing hierarchy by ordering them is disconnecting. By taking this approach, people are far more likely to trust you when you do need to issue orders in emergency situations.

This is the fortieth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

New Approach to Reduce Dysfunctional Behavior at Work

Untangling the Mind Book CoverAs seen on Fox Business and SmartBlog on Leadership.

Is your boss or a co-worker increasingly irritable, angry, withdrawn or acting in a predatory manner?  Or are you noticing that behavior in yourself? With rising demands in today’s workplace, emotional and behavioral disorders have soared.  In Untangling the Mind: Why We Behave the Way We Do, Ted George, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington School of Medicine and neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health, helps us understand America’s surge in emotional and behavioral disorders, including those we see in the workplace.  Grasping “why” we instinctively react in certain ways is the first step in affecting change. 

Posted on

Maintain Connections…Even When You Disagree

Angry Business Man

#37 Safeguard Relational Connections

Don’t nuke people who disagree with you. If you disagree with someone, say so but do it in a respectful manner. You might even begin your response with “I may be wrong but is it possible that…?” or “It’s just one person’s opinion, and I may be wrong, but I wonder if it could be that….”

If you offended or hurt someone’s feelings, apologize. If someone apologizes to you, give him/her the benefit of the doubt and forgive him/her.

This is the thirty-seventh post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Connect Through Skip Level Meetings

Businessman Conducting a Meeting with His Staff

#36 Hold “Skip Level” Meetings

Hold “skip level” meetings where you meet with the people who report to one of your direct reports. In the skip level meeting, the leader should encourage attendees to share their ideas and opinions about how to improve the business.

To preserve connection with your direct reports, make sure you communicate that you will be hosting these meetings with their teams on a regular basis so they don’t feel that they are being audited. Keep the focus of the meetings on giving people a voice to share ideas for how to improve the business, and debrief with your direct reports so they are in the loop on the feedback shared.

This is the thirty-sixth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.