3567 Posts Found

If we look at the distance between that minimum standard and how we actually want to interact with one another—with trust, kindness, respect, love, and care—there’s a very big gap. Laws can only do so much. You can’t legislate kindness; I can’t order you to treat me with respect. What this means for organizations is that policies are essential, but it’s also important to create … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jessica Nordell | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior

Extroverts are more likely to express their passion outwardly, giving them a leg up when it comes to raises and promotions, according to research by Jon Jachimowicz. Introverts are just as motivated and excited about their work, but show it differently. How can managers challenge their assumptions?

Content: Article | Authors: Ben Rand, Jon Jachimowicz | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

What I’ve found is that it’s not necessarily the way you ask for feedback that matters. It’s how you show up when you receive that feedback that increases your chances of getting high-quality insights.

Content: Quotation | Author: Nate Stewart | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

For all the communication around strategy, we know that leaders at many companies don’t provide the necessary context for employees to understand what the words and sentences in a strategy statement actually mean. What can leaders do to help employees understand enough context to understand a strategy? In this article, the authors offer three ideas.

Content: Article | Authors: Andrew MacLennan, Constantinos C. Markides | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior, Strategy

Power is not something like a bottle of water that gets used up the more you drink it. It’s something that gets created the more effectively you use it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Breaking rules has many advantages. The first advantage of breaking the rules is that it catches people by surprise. […] The rules are made by those already in power. If you’re already in power, follow the rules. If you’re not, make your own.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Power / Authority

No one is hired to win a popularity contest—you’re hired to get things done. You’re hired to make things happen, so when you show up to lead a group of people, those people want many things from you. What they don’t necessarily want from you is your authentic self.

What they need from you is inspiration. They need energy, even if you’re not feeling energetic that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

We know that educational credentials help predict salary. We know that gender and race help predict salary, even though they shouldn’t. We know that years of service, or seniority, helps predict salary, and there’s some evidence to suggest that years of service is one of the more important predictors of salary.

Gender, race, years of service, and educational credentials all have nothing to do with performance. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Compensation, Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

I would define power as the ability to get things done your way in contested situations.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

The classic psychological rule is often misapplied. But when understood correctly, it can radically improve your EQ.

Content: Article | Author: Jessica Stillman | Source: Inc. Magazine | Subjects: Communication, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Your strategy can change from time to time, the businesses that you are in can change from time to time. Technology changes from time to time. But your culture and the way you work and therefore your ability to attract and motivate talent—and then to apply that to different, new problems—is what’s sustainable.

Content: Quotation | Author: Andy Penn | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

Skilled middle managers foster collaboration, inspire employees, and link important functions at companies. An analysis of more than 35 million job postings by Letian Zhang paints a counterintuitive picture of today’s midlevel manager. Could these roles provide an innovation edge?

Content: Article | Authors: Ben Rand, Letian Zhang | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

The truth about culture is that the only way you can change it is by changing the way individuals work with one another. If you can change that, then you will find the culture has changed.

Content: Quotation | Author: Roger L. Martin | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Culture, Organizational Behavior

Too much performance feedback is of the “do good and avoid evil” variety. That may sound harmless, but overly general feedback increases feelings of defensiveness, rather than openness to behavior change, because it involves broad judgments and invites counterpunching rather than discussion.

Content: Quotation | Author: Frank V. Cespedes | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior

For interpersonal [feedback], I’m a big fan of a simple formula: “When you A, I feel B, because C, and what I’d really like is D.” Specific behavior, specific emotion, specific cognition, specific alternative behavior.  And I think a variant can be used for delivering performance feedback as well: “When you A, it causes B, because C. One thing to try could be D.” Specific … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Matt Wallaert | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Communication, Management, Organizational Behavior

Employees who are disciplined about setting daily goals not only accomplish more but also feel better about their work. Here are three ways that managers can make daily goal-setting a habit.

Content: Article | Author: Nele Van Buggenhout | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Training & Development

Show people what they are losing by not doing something, and help them realize that even if the moment-to-moment costs are harder to create change, even over a short period of time, the cost of inaction is higher than the cost of action.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jonah Berger | Source: First Round Review | Subjects: Change Management, Management, Organizational Behavior

The strategy, purpose, and values discussions—what Kevin Sharer, the former CEO of Amgen, calls a company’s “social architecture”—have often felt like separate exercises, but they now need to work in concert. “If you don’t have a social architecture that’s solid, well-accepted, and can be operationalized against the most important decisions you make, that’s leadership’s fault,” said Sharer.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Adam Bryant, Kevin Sharer | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Decision Making, Goals, Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Strategy, Values

More than half of employees report being relatively unproductive at work. New research into six types of employees shows how companies can re-engage workers while amplifying the impact of star performers.

Content: Article | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Angelika Reich, Bill Schaninger, Marino Mugayar-Baldocchi | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Organizational Behavior

Decision makers can satisfice either by finding optimum solutions for a simplified world, or by finding satisfactory solutions for a more realistic world.

Content: Quotation | Author: Herbert Simon | Source: Management and Business Review (MBR) | Subjects: Decision Making, Organizational Behavior