Month: August 2024

If you’re serious about retaining the people on your team (as you should be), consider conducting “stay” interviews. These are discussions where you ask loyal employees key questions to understand how engaged they are. The information you gather can help you tackle common retention issues. Here are four questions to try:

  • What’s your frame of mind today? No matter what the response is — positive or negative — don’t negate their experience or move too quickly to solving a problem. Just listen, thank them for being honest, and ask for more information before moving toward a solution.
  • Who do you feel connected to at work? Based on their response, explore what you can do to help them deepen those connections. Perhaps people from different departments can work on a company-wide event, a cross-division initiative, or take part in virtual discussion groups.
  • What do you want to learn that will excite you and help you grow? This question signals that you care about their development and want to help them achieve their aspirations.
  • What barriers can I remove for you to help you do your job better? Then brainstorm with your colleague how you can be most helpful. Ensuring people can do their jobs well is just as important as praise and rewards.

Intuition is frequently dismissed as mystical or unreliable. In reality, it’s one of the most powerful decision-making tools at your disposal. Here are a few ways to learn to go with your gut:

  • Distinguish your gut feeling from fear. Ask yourself: Am I tempted to make this decision to avoid a threat, rejection, or punishment? Or do I feel excited, at ease, and content with the choice at hand?
  • Practice. Find small ways to take quick, decisive actions. Raise your hand and speak up in a meeting without censoring yourself. Choose an outfit that calls to you without weighing too many variables. By starting small, you mitigate feelings of overwhelm and can gradually step your way up to larger, higher pressure decisions with greater self-trust.
  • Try the snap judgment test. On a piece of paper, write a question you’re struggling with, such as, “Will accepting the promotion make me happy?” Then write “yes or no” below the question and walk away. After a few hours, or the next morning, come back to the paper and immediately circle the answer that feels right to you.
  • Fall back on your values. The next time you find yourself unable to make a decision, ask yourself, “Which action brings me closer to my core values?” You can avoid mental loops by aligning your choices with what most matters to you.

Reflection — looking back on your day (without bias or regret) to contemplate your behavior and its consequences — helps develop your emotional intelligence. If you want to build a regular habit of reflecting, keep a journal. Whenever you are surprised or frustrated, pause and note the feeling. Then, as soon as you are able — perhaps for fifteen minutes at the end of each workday — jot down what happened. Try to identify the “why” behind the emotion. What about the event triggered these feelings in you? Did things not go your way? Did you make a mistake? Next, set an hour aside each week to review your notes. Block out the time on your calendar and take an honest and rigorous look at where you’ve been mentally and emotionally. Finally, don’t just re-read your journal entry; add to it. In retrospect, are there things about the situation that you’re able to see differently? Press yourself. What went wrong? Were your initial observations correct or do they reveal something else that may have been going on, something you couldn’t see in the heat of the moment? Try to think of yourself as a neutral observer. And go easy on yourself. Reflection can be ego-bruising. Always remember that excellence is achieved by stumbling, standing up, dusting yourself off, then stumbling again. If you study those stumbles, you’re much less likely to stumble the same way again.

When giving a presentation, your most important responsibility is to establish trust with your audience. How can you do this? Focus on four key areas.

  • Competency. Demonstrate expert knowledge of your topic by sharing current trends in your industry and by using specific anecdotes.
  • Clarity. Clear communication lets expertise shine through. Identify the goal of your presentation in advance and use a clear structure with logical transitions to achieve that goal. Then, read your presentation out loud and refine as needed.
  • Compassion. Speak directly to your audience’s needs, highlight what’s relevant to them, and make them feel heard and understood.
  • Connection. Weave personal examples into your presentation — particularly examples that demonstrate vulnerability and transparency — to connect emotionally with your audience.

 

  • Check in with your employees individually. Talk to each person on your team to get a sense of who is affected — and how. Ask if there’s anything they need or any way you can support them. A simple question at the beginning of a one-on-one meeting such as, “Have you been following the news? Do you know anyone impacted?” can reveal an unexpected connection that someone might not have thought they could share.
  • Make space to address the news during a meeting. You might start your weekly huddle by saying, “I’d like to take a quick minute to acknowledge what’s happening. I’ve certainly been distracted and concerned by it. Who else feels the same way?” Your goal is to be compassionate and understanding, not to wade into politics, put people on the spot, or force anyone to speak.
  • Give people the opportunity to take action. Research ways to help that are in line with your organization’s values and provide credible sources for employees to get involved. If possible, let them use a portion of their working hours for volunteer activities.
Groupthink — when a team reaches a quick agreement on a solution with little discussion or deliberation — is one of the surest ways to stifle innovation. How can you help your team steer clear of this trap and keep fresh ideas alive? First, it’s imperative that everyone knows it’s OK, and even encouraged, to challenge the status quo. People have a tendency to believe that existing solutions must be good. But when one person expresses discomfort or skepticism, it opens the door for others to do the same. So give your team members early opportunities to reveal how they really view the problem at hand. Next, adopt a placeholder solution. This doesn’t have to be a final answer. It simply has to function as a transitional placeholder. Knowing that there’s a backup plan will relieve some of the pressure people feel to sell their idea. Finally, celebrate any progress toward final agreement. Part of the reason that groupthink occurs is that it feels good to agree. Rather than rushing the process though, highlight moments of progress in the discussion. This will build morale and momentum and will help your employees feel better about working toward a creative, outside-the-box solution.

If you’re having trouble staying focused at work, you might benefit from a technique called “body doubling” where you work alongside someone else, either in person or even virtually. Here’s how to get started. Block off time for you and a colleague (or colleagues) to work simultaneously. You don’t have to be working on the same task. In fact, you don’t even need to be working on anything related at all. The idea is simply to work alongside a peer, at the same time. Next, establish some guidelines to make this a positive experience for everyone. Consider: Is it OK to ask one another for advice, help, resources, or even a pep-talk if needed? Should you mention when you notice your peer losing focus? When will there be breaks? Are you working silently or is polite chatting permitted? Before you begin your session, share what you each intend to accomplish and how you hope to feel by the end of the time block. Then, at the end of the session, share what you accomplished, what went well, and what didn’t. Finally, thank each other for being present, and decide if and when to do this again.

As a manager, you need to be equipped to handle emotional conversations with your employees — especially these days. Here’s how to be supportive when someone shares that they’re going through a tough situation or challenge. First, validate their experience. This can be as simple as acknowledgement — for example, “I can see why this is exhausting.” You’re not only saying “I see you,” you’re also saying “I believe you,” which can make someone feel less alone. Give your colleague the chance to elaborate if they want to. Try coming from a place of curiosity; for example, you can say “Tell me more about that.” And you might then ask, “How can I best support you right now?” or “What would be helpful right now?” This will give them the opportunity to name what they need. If they are unable to do so — or if they’re afraid to — you can give them some options. For example, you can ask “Would X be helpful?” Offering a specific way to support them can make it easier for someone to say yes to accepting help. Finally, thank the person for coming to you. You might say, “I can see this has been hard. Thank you for trusting me with this information.” This signals to both you and them that conversations like this are important and reinforces a sense of safety for future conversations. It’s no longer enough for managers to provide the tools and resources for your team to function — you also need to create psychological safety for them to thrive.

Starting out in a new job can feel awkward. Even if you have effective onboarding, you might not be sure what to say, who to talk to, or how to figure out what you need to know. And you’re not alone; most people feel uncomfortable the first few days, weeks, or even months at a new gig. Here are some ways to ease into the transition. Make an effort to get to know your new colleagues — even if you’re anxious about making a first impression. Chances are you’re overthinking how they’re perceiving you in the early days (in other words, they’re not judging you as harshly as you think). Be proactive about getting together with colleagues for coffee or one-on-one meetings to find common ground. A few solid relationships can make your new workplace start to feel like home. Also, focus on learning the organization’s language. See if a colleague can put together a cheat sheet for you of commonly used acronyms and phrases used around the company, and ask permission to reach out when a new phrase comes up that you don’t know. And crucially, remember that it takes time to get adjusted to a new environment and that everyone else was new at one point too. The more you put yourself out there and invest early in relationships, even if it’s awkward, the sooner you’ll feel like you’ve been there forever.