This was my first cross-cultural training workshop for this process control firm that had recently been acquired by two new parent companies, one German and one French. The language classes offered by the company were helpful to a point, but cultural differences were causing insurmountable problems, leading to mutual distrust, project delays, and rapid attrition. […]
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The new employee roaming empty halls eager to find someone – anyone—to talk to The CEO who publicly boasts about inclusion before dismantling the DEI team The employee whose manager cancels their 1:1 meetings The team whose members constantly can’t agree on their primary communications channel The remote worker who’s always left out of important
Creating, Restoring Lost Connections in a Hybrid World Read More »
“Our meetings have gone off the rails. No one seems to know how to rein in the loudmouths or to get the quiet people talking. Pretty much everyone leaves our meetings feeling frustrated, mad and really deflated. We need help!” If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. I get emails and posts like this almost
Stop Letting Bad Behavior Derail Your Next Meeting Read More »
Admit it. You’ve done your share of commiserating about some perfectly awful meetings you’ve had to endure. In fact, you’ve been such a vocal critic of poorly-run meetings that your manager anoints you as the perfect person to facilitate a do-or-die budget planning session with your team, group VP, CFO and a few other high-level decision-makers. If
Overcome the Worst Facilitation Fears of Introverts (and Everyone Else) Read More »
If I ask you whether my presentation that I’ve labored over for weeks was any good, your slight nod after a long hesitation tells me that I pretty much bombed, despite your verbal assurance that “it was fine, really.” I really can’t tell if you are trying to spare my feelings or if you have
Bracing for Giving (and Getting) Difficult Feedback When You Can’t See Eye to Eye Read More »
“If you don’t work at the Mothership, you’ll never get ahead. That’s how I see it.” The “Mothership” in this case was the gleaming new HQ building outside of Boston where hundreds of corporate staff members for this growing software company came to work each day. The HQ campus had everything an employee could ever
Why advancement, growth and visibility shouldn’t depend on work location Read More »
This is one of a series of Field Spotlights where I share experiences, tips and observations from company leaders who are fully immersed in the transformation to hybrid. “In the last few years, we’ve acquired three other companies whose products complement ours. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve had to integrate certain operations without being able to
How a Growing Pharma Blends Asynch, Real-time Communications to Boost Productivity Read More »
“Employees tell us that we’re not doing a great job when it comes to creating an inclusive workplace. Is this something you can help us with?” (Chief Human Resources Officer) “What does inclusive mean in this context, and why is it important to people?” (Us) “I suppose they mean they want us to treat everyone
If you really want to be inclusive, here’s how to walk the talk Read More »
“Why did we have to wait until our weekly team meeting to discover that three people couldn’t deliver on time? If we’d known earlier, maybe we could have done something about it. Now we’re looking at a two-week delay, minimum. We have to find a better way to communicate important stuff outside of our team
Practical Steps for Creating a Team Communications Map that Everyone Embraces Read More »
“Let’s go around the room and have everyone share a fun fact.” You cringe as you wait your turn, wondering which fact you can use that: You have not already used the dozens of times someone has asked this same question Is intriguing but not intimate Is interesting but not shocking You’re just glad you
Create a Sense of Community with Questions That Connect Read More »
For this edition of Communique, I invited my long-time colleague, the senior talent management professional of an international healthcare company, to reflect on why 2022 has been so messy and to advise leaders about how they can best stabilize, motivate energize and retain their top talent as we all prepare for yet another year of turbulence. Many
Leadership Tips for Retaining Top Talent During a Time of Turbulence Read More »
July can be a great time to reflect on how far we’ve come and the progress we’ve made during the first six months of the year. For this Communique, I’m reporting on trends I’m seeing in terms when it comes to how well (or not) organizations are making the move to a remote/hybrid world. Spoiler alert: While
Everyone’s Feeling Stressed, and Here’s Why Read More »
Like many of you, I was gutted when I heard the news about the massacre at Robb Elementary School this week. My mind went completely numb. I had trouble putting one step in front of the other. I could find no words to convey my horror, anger and profound sadness. Despite the number of school
We Really, Really Need to Talk Read More »
In announcing a new hybrid work policy, the senior leaders of this mid-sized financial services company promised that “all people, regardless of work location, will be treated equitably.” All 250+ headquarters employees were offered some degree of flexibility, with the details to be hammered out with supervisors. About one-third of the employees opted to return
Maintaining True Equity in a Virtual/Hybrid World Read More »
“When the dust finally settles…” “As soon as we get back to normal…” When we hear comments like these from our wishful-thinking clients, we tell them that try as they might, there’s no going back. There’s no such thing as “normal” anymore (and we’re pretty sure there won’t ever be anything resembling a static workplace
When There’s No Going Back, Decide How to Move Forward Read More »
When Sue confessed to being anxious about the impending project deadline, her manager dismissed her concerns, assuring her that he just knew that Sue would find a way to pull through – she always did! John was still having a hard time putting one foot in front of another six months after a painful break-up.
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“My team has gotten a lot tighter since the start of the pandemic,” my client Zoe recently told me. “Our weekly meetings are super-productive, and we’re constantly Slack-chatting back and forth throughout the week. In fact, since we went remote, we’ve learned more about each other’s lives than we probably ever could have if we
Restoring Lost Connections in a Virtual World Read More »
Be honest. Would you speak up in any of these situations? Your manager tells you that the 45-year-old employee you recommended for the next leadership development cohort isn’t the right fit because they’re looking for “a different demographic.” The only person of color on your team is frequently praised as being “really articulate,” a phrase rarely, if ever,
Speaking up against microaggressions: Why it’s worth the risk Read More »
“When I mentioned that I had to spend most of the weekend – again – working to meet these impossible project deadlines, my boss simply thanked me for my efforts and moved on. How could he not see how utterly depleted I feel? He’s never once asked if I’m okay.” “My manager asked me to
Active listening: Your influential superpower in a virtual world Read More »
Laura hasn’t gotten much sleep ever since she announced that all employees returning to the office next month must show proof of vaccination. A CEO of a mid-sized environmental engineering services firm, Laura had spent days vetting this decision with her corporate counsel, ensuring that such a mandate was legal. (It is, according to the
One of my daughters graduated from college this past weekend, and I wanted to celebrate the happy occasion in a big way. (Well, maybe not so big that people would feel uncomfortable being around so many others!) For many of us, this would be the first social gathering we’d be attending since the “before days,” and I
Emerging from a COVID Cocoon Without a Playbook Read More »
When news of Covid hit about eight months ago (or was it eight years ago?) many of us thought we’d be back to “normal” within a few months. Workers would be returning to offices, groups could meet again in person, and conferences and events scheduled for 2021 could go on as planned. But of course, we were
Virtual Strategic Planning: The Silver Lining Read More »
This is the second in a two-part series about healthy virtual conversations, where we discuss the four discussion disciplines: Integrity, Courtesy, Inclusion and Translation. By Nancy Settle-Murphy and Kate Pugh Until several months ago, this global Sales and Marketing group was regarded as a model of a truly high-performing hybrid team, the kind others aspired
Ever been in a virtual meeting when someone completely dominates the conversation, refusing to pause long enough for anyone else to say a word? Or when someone steers the conversation down an achingly long path that’s completely off-topic? Or when a person is so distracted that they keep asking to repeat the question? And of
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“Look, we need to let people know ASAP when and how we can expect to return to the office. Your team is already 10 days late giving us your recommendations. You’d better figure out why you haven’t been able to move forward. Have your proposed options on my desk by Monday. Drop everything else until
Healthy Conversations Can Bring Virtual Teams Back To Life Read More »
What have you learned about your organization’s culture over the last few months that may not have been obvious before? What policies or behaviors have shined a light on the values and beliefs of your leadership team? How do employees feel about working for your organization today, compared to the time before Covid? These are
What Have You Learned About Your Culture During the Covid Crisis? Read More »
You’re trying to pay attention to your third video meeting in a row, where your colleague is making an impassioned case for getting the team much-needed resources. Despite the fact that you’re desperate for this request to be approved, you’re struggling to focus. In part, it’s because you didn’t bother to review the documents she sent so
Virtual Meetings: Why Bother Showing Up If You’re Not Really Present? Read More »
A client who’s raved about my work for years has unceremoniously stopped answering my emails. A prospective client who has promised to move forward with my proposal has suddenly cut off all communication. A colleague I’ve known for years seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Yup, I’ve been ghosted, and I’ll
Ghosting Can Come Back to Haunt You – Here’s Why, and How to Avoid It Read More »
There we were. A roomful of mostly white adults from my upper middle-class, fairly liberal Massachusetts town, gathered together in our earnest desire to discover how to be better allies to people of color. Tensions grew as the facilitators led us into uncomfortable conversations designed to help us uncover our hidden biases, layer by layer.
Unconscious Bias: Just Because You Can’t See It, Others (Almost Certainly) Can Read More »
The kids in our high school were shattered when news spread last month that a popular senior took his own life. Everyday life for these kids screeched to a halt as they struggled to process how such a tragedy could have happened to one of their own. This was the first time many experienced the
Why Conversations Sometimes Feel Impossible and How to Bring Them Back Read More »
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