Joanne Kaldy

You’ve probably heard about quiet quitting, and you're likely experiencing it in your organization – those employees who do what they need to do and nothing more, people always looking for shortcuts, and workers who’ve given up on innovation and engagement. These four strategies can help address this phenomenon and boost productivity:

• Try to find out why. Don’t assume that workers are just being lazy or don’t care about their jobs. Talk to them, find out what motivates them, and look for projects or activities they can get excited about.
• Reset your own expectations. Consider if you’re holding unnecessary meetings or promoting unnecessary tasks or busy work. At the same time, perhaps people you perceive as quiet quitting have just decided to pursue a work-life balance.
• Ask about their long-term goals. What do your people want to accomplish for their career and their life? Help them envision how you can help them reach their goals.
• Check … [Read more...] about (FEATURED BRIEF) 4 Leadership Strategies To Address ‘Quiet Quitting’

Dealing with a difficult colleague can be exhausting and time-consuming, so don’t waste your time on unproductive tactics such as:

• Sucking it up. Suppressing your emotions isn’t healthy or helpful. Find a safe space to share your feelings and a way to express your concerns to the difficult colleague in a constructive way.
• Fighting fire with fire. Responding to rudeness or disrespect in kind is likely to encourage the person to continue with their bad behavior.
• Spreading the word. It can be tempting to send a group email to tell others about the person’s bad behavior. However, that rarely inspires better behavior. In fact, it is more likely to make the person defensive.
• Hoping the problem person will just go away. Even it it appears promising that the person might leave, don’t put all your eggs in that basket. Strategize solutions that assume you will continue to be working with the person.

In one recent survey, over 80% of organizations said they have experienced some sort of cybersecurity breach. Increasingly, companies are asking: Should we invest in both cybersecurity controls and cyber-insurance? And to what degree?   To answer these questions for your organization, consider creating a cyber risk management plan. This includes 5 steps:

1. Creating and aligning a risk philosophy, identifying your operations and financial goals, and determining your risk tolerance. Use this information to set some risk management goals.
2. Understand your critical risks and devise a risk-impact assessment to quantify your exposure.
3. Estimate risk costs, prioritize cost remediation initiatives, a create a roadmap for implementation.
4. Generate risk financing options. Plan to spend enough to mitigate the worst possible cyber risks.
5. Minimize ongoing risks and the costs to address them.

Over a third (36%) of employees in a recent survey said they would give up $5,000 per year in salary to be happier at work. In another study, only 21% of employees report feeling engaged at work. These numbers suggest the need to create meaningful motivation if you want to attract and keep the best workers:

• Be a source of positive energy. Communicate in positive ways that encourage innovation and creative problem-solving.
• Allow mistakes. Remove the fear that keeps people from taking chances and sharing ideas for new and better ways to do things. Enable staff to learn from their mistakes and devise ways to prevent future errors.
• Keep people busy and productive. Avoid busy work but provide opportunities and tasks that are meaningful, challenging, and enable people to use their skills and talents. Remember that people feel more motivated when they are encouraged to be creative, solve problems, and have the freedom to make their own … [Read more...] about (9/20) Mark This Week as Time to Think About Happiness at Work

What innovative, surprising things are employers doing and saying these days? Here’s a brief roundup:

• One employer is giving workers a 10% pay raise when they quit. The only catch is that have to be out the door in three months. The employer, Jon Franko of Gorilla, a marketing company, said the increase allows workers to pursue something different while staying engaged with the company while they’re still there. He said he would even welcome them back if they want to return.
• According to a new national survey, 33% of workers are still worried about COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. This is only slightly lower than the 36% who expressed concerns about the virus nearly a year ago. Additionally, 26% of workers said they expect the infection to increase a great deal and 43% believe infections will rise by a moderate amount this winter.
• Nearly three-quarters (70%) of neurodiverse employees have ongoing mental health issues, according to new research, … [Read more...] about (9/19) Boss Gives Quitters a 10% Pay Rise; Staff Are Still Worried About Catching Covid-19

Survey after survey suggests that workers are suffering from anxiety, stress, and other mental health issues. Some of this is attributed to overwork and the inability to take time off. Consider these stories:

• In one study, nearly half of U.S. workers said they’re not taking vacations and cite expense and workload as key factors. One of the study authors stressed that “employees really need time to disconnect from work, especially as we continue to see high burnout levels.”
• Paid leave can reduce mortality rates, concluded one study. The authors suggested that mortality, particularly from suicide, homicide, and alcohol-related issues, could be reduced by more than 5% in large metropolitan areas if a 40-hour annual paid sick leave mandate was adopted.
• Instituting a companywide ‘week of rest’ requires advance planning but could boost morale and reduce stress and burnout.
• According to one report, frontline workers often feel like they can’t … [Read more...] about (9/16) 7 Stories on the Importance of Vacation

While leadership has been focused on the pandemic, staffing shortages, and other issues, cybercriminals have continued to be active and causing problems for organizations. Now is a good time to take three key steps to protect against cybercrime:

1. Create a comprehensive plan. Make sure cybersecurity measures are part of everyday routines and tasks. Review your plan regularly and if there is a cyberattack on your organization or employees.
2. Prioritize investments in cybersecurity. Work with your IT team to determine what you need for a trustworthy security framework. Invest in in firewalls, as well as threat-monitoring and endpoint protections tools.
3. Take time to train employees, and retrain workers every time you upgrade, change, or add technology. Make sure they know red flags to watch for and report and are comfortable telling someone if they fall victim to a scam.

How do you engage and connect with frontline workers when you don’t have the luxury of communicating with them via traditional means? Consider these three steps:

• Make sure from the start workers understand how they are paid and rewarded, know their benefits and have access to them, have clarity about their schedules and how to cover/change a shift, know health and safety guidelines, and have access to equipment and training to feel safe at work.
• Leverage the “Ikea Effect,” the idea that people place a higher value on things they help build. Seek input from workers on solutions and innovations. Follow up, let them know when their ideas are used, and recognize their contributions.
• Meet people where they are. For instance, use ‘walk-arounds’ and stand-up meetings to discuss issues, seek input, and share information.

“People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This quote from author John C. Maxwell is the essence of empathetic leadership, which is more important than ever to business success.   Empathetic leaders encourage trust and promote employee engagement and input. Team members feel empowered to contribute ideas and suggestions and to be innovative. Are you an empathetic leader? Consider these qualities:

• They walk the walk and present themselves honestly and without pretense.
• Transparent communicators and decision-makers. Empathetic leaders believe in open dialogue, active listening, and backing up their words with action.
• Ability to empower and develop others. They realize that each person brings a unique set of skills, capabilities, and experiences to the table; and they focus on harnessing these and using them to benefit both the employee and the company.
• Embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion … [Read more...] about (9/13) In Search of Empathetic Leaders

Emotions aren’t necessarily a bad thing in decision-making. However, it is important to channel and manage feelings to avoid reactive choices. Use this four -step approach:

1. Identify the decisions you need to make. Don’t get distracted or overwhelmed. Precisely determine the specific (or primary) issue you want/need to address.
2. Identify your feelings about the decision you have to make. Consider the dominant emotion you have. Anger? Fear? Hope? Putting a name to your feelings helps you keep them from driving your decisions. Instead, you can confront your feelings before you make a decision.
3. Visualize your success and how it feels. Think about how it would feel to make a successful decision. Will you be relieved or proud? What will it mean to those impacted by what you decision? How will it affect your relationships? Imagining a successful conclusion can give you to confidence to focus on and weigh the facts at hand.
4. Apply emotional … [Read more...] about (9/12) Emotions Aren’t the Enemy of Good Decision-Making