Do These Three Things – BEFORE Crisis Strikes

Accidents. Judgment errors. Cyber attacks. Nothing tests your organization quite like a crisis. And unfortunately, no business is immune. Regardless of your location, size or industry, your company WILL be forced to deal with major problems. So consider this question: If disaster were to strike today, how prepared is your organization to handle it? Not…

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Three Reasons Your Employees Should Shadow One Another

Want to make your work teams more nimble? Protect your organization from essential knowledge loss? Create happier, more engaged employees? Have them regularly shadow one another. Job shadowing is a proven development tool that affords both employers and employees a wide range of benefits. If you don’t have a formal program in place already, here…

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How to Get Employees to Change Direction

In the workplace, why are people so resistant to change? Here are three key reasons: An “If it isn’t broke, why fix it?” mentality. People are naturally comfortable with the knowledge and skills they possess, as well as the ways they perform work. This provides them with a sense of competency, and change forces them…

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Build a Digital Fortress: How to Keep Your Business Data Safe from Hackers

Think your business is too small or unimportant to attract a hacker’s attention? Think again. As large employers improve data security with sophisticated (and yes, expensive) systems, cybercriminals are “moving down the proverbial food chain” and targeting small and mid-sized businesses more frequently. Even worse, these guys have effectively automated web hacking, using malicious bots…

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How to Communicate More Effectively with Your Boss

You need to talk to your boss. Does the proposition excite you, or make you break out in a cold sweat? If you and your boss have vastly different communication styles, even the most mundane work conversations can be stressful. When you’re worried about how to phrase things properly, or how your boss will interpret…

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Fresh Strategies for Creative Problem Solving

Dead ends. Blank pages. Mental blocks. The struggle to solve problems is all too real. Sometimes, inspiration is in short supply. Other times, you may have plenty of great ideas – but no process for seeing them through. What’s a savvy business professional to do? Get creative! Creative problem solving is much more than brainstorming;…

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Supercharge the Efficiency of Your Small Team

Is bigger really better? When it comes to work teams…not so much. This Forbes.com article presents a wealth of research which suggests that smaller teams are better than larger ones when it comes to: Engagement. 42% of employees working at companies with 10 or fewer employees were engaged at work, compared with just 30% of…

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Stop Hiring Clones!

Want to make your business stronger? More agile? More resilient? Stop hiring clones! Scientific research provides support for the very real (and troubling) tendency managers have to select candidates who are similar to themselves in terms of leisure activities, social markers and personal tastes. Even when companies have high levels of demographic diversity, they still…

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Want to Drive Innovation? Make Sure You Have the Right Keys

Autonomous vehicles. Wearable pain-relief technology. Eye-tracking software that controls computers. They’re all real. And for the smart risk-takers who have driven their success, they’re extremely profitable. Why doesn’t every company develop game-changing products like these guys? Mostly because they don’t understand these keys to driving innovation: Challenge the status quo. Instead of shying away from…

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How to Prevent Negativity from Creeping into Your Corporate Culture

Debbie Downers. Negative Nellys. Haters. Most organizations have them. But whatever you call them, one thing is certain: workplace negativity is like a disease. Let it creep into your corporate culture, and it will rapidly fuel disengagement, distrust, turnover, diminished productivity – and sheer misery (who wants to work in an environment like that?). Your…

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