Create Authentic Connections with Virtual Team Members

In this Nano Tool for Leaders, scientists from the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative provide eight steps to enhance online collaboration at work.

Is Your Workplace Biased Against Introverts?

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?

3 Ways to Clearly Communicate Your Company’s Strategy

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.

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

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?

The big power of small goals

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.

Some employees are destroying value. Others are building it. Do you know the difference?

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.

How To Make Better Decisions

Understanding how and why people think the way they do will help you with everything from customer service to evaluating mergers and strategic initiatives. Takeaways from a life of study.

Your Strategy Needs a Story

Business strategy is usually born of a highly rational process, grounded in facts and analysis. Storytelling, often associated with fiction and entertainment, may seem like the antithesis of strategy. But the two are not incompatible. A clever strategy on paper is only the starting point for engaging those who will implement it. Strategies must also be communicated and understood — and they must motivate action. … [ Read more ]

Stairway to digital excellence

Organizations that follow a progression of steps to achieve excellence in digital delivery may see improvements in effectiveness, productivity, and performance, as well as significant increases in speed.

4 Common Types of Team Conflict — and How to Resolve Them

Managers spend 20% of their time on average managing team conflict. Over the past three decades, the authors have studied thousands of team conflicts around the world and have identified four common patterns of team conflict.

The Six Dimensions of Winning Teams

Teams with clear goals, values, rules, roles and processes, backed by full individual commitment, are primed for peak performance.

3 Management Myths That Derail Startups

In their work with more than 10,000 startup leaders across 70 countries, the authors identify three common management myths among startup leaders looking to grow their companies: the myth of scaling without hierarchy, the myth of structural harmony, and the myth of sustained heroics.

The Illusion Of Alignment: Why Your Strategy Execution Is Failing

You may have communicated your must-win strategic goals ad nauseum, but without shared context—or the common understanding of what matters, why it matters and how the pieces fit together—your leadership team will be clueless.

Three Things All New Managers Should Be Doing

New managers typically receive no training for their new role. Wharton’s Peter Cappelli discusses three common struggles and how to avoid them.

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

Many companies are quick to reduce headcount when economic headwinds appear, but they risk weakening their businesses. A case study explores the hidden costs of layoffs.

4 Reasons Why Managers Fail

Gartner research has found that managers today are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they can effectively manage — and they’re starting to buckle under the pressure: 54% are suffering from work-induced stress and fatigue, and 44% are struggling to provide personalized support to their direct reports. Ultimately, one in five managers said they would prefer not being people managers given a choice. Further analysis … [ Read more ]

Marshall Goldsmith: Powering Up Positivity

Looking for a quick way to give your team a productivity boost? Start by eliminating negativity.

Flawed Feedback: The Problem with Peer Reviews

People leverage 360-degree feedback systems and peer evaluations for personal gain.