Explainers

Explainers

Five Simple Ways to Empower Your Team

Empowering employees is positively correlated with their job satisfaction. Keep your team motivated and happy by giving them independence along with encouragement and guidance.

1 min read June 21, 2016

Explainers

To Be a Great Leader, Avoid These Three Mindsets

One of the defining qualities of a leader is the ability to adopt a reasonable, flexible, and humble mindset on a daily basis. Learn how to react to common leadership traps so you can maintain a level outlook.

1 min read June 20, 2016

Explainers

The Five Characteristics of Highly Innovative Companies

To be a market leader, constantly improve your product through testing and keeping in touch with your consumer.

1 min read June 15, 2016

Explainers

How to Navigate Your First Week on the Job

It’s challenging to strike a balance between being humble and showing initiative. As a new hire, you have a lot to learn and much to prove. Above all else, practice deep listening skills during your first week on the job and you’ll be up to speed in no time. And while these tips for starting a new job are particularly relevant for Millennials entering the workforce for the first time, we believe these skills are relevant for everyone starting a new job.

2 min read June 8, 2016

Explainers

When a Leader Should Leave

To lead effectively, you must be able to assess your fit-for-role among a larger context, both of the business and of the people around you.

3 min read June 5, 2016

Explainers

A Practical Guide to PTO, Summer Fridays, and Flex Schedules

Company values and team needs should inform a vacation policy. For companies with scrappy budgets, take time to ask teams what they really need to feel rejuvenated and prevent burnout. Ultimately, though, vacation days and flexible schedules come down to one thing: trust. Do you trust your employees to work hard when they are at work? If something goes wrong, can you rely on them to respond quickly? Working towards that culture takes time, so take one step: try out a new policy with a small group of employees, or for a short period of time.

2 min read May 31, 2016

Explainers

How to Manage Four Types of “Difficult” Coworkers

If you want your team to do their best work, first make the effort to better understand them, and then offer support based off of what they need. As Blount says “Have some tolerance for troublemaking. Otherwise, you might end up with a homogenous organization that a single virus could knock out.”

5 min read May 30, 2016

Explainers

How to Recruit to Increase Cultural Diversity

While hiring top level talent away from another company is the “easiest” way to incorporate diversity at the upper echelons of a firm, it’s also the most competitive. Instead, take a long-term approach and grow your own talent by hiring from a diverse pool and training rookies so that they are ready to move into leadership in two to five years. While this requires a greater commitment, it means your talent will see you as a partner in their career path, not just another soulless corporate entity.

2 min read May 20, 2016

Explainers

How to Get Your Team Members to Pull Their Weight

Set clear and direct goals and distribute ownership so that team members feel like they are making an impact on that end goal.

1 min read May 10, 2016

Explainers

How to Deliver Bad News in a Good Way

Sugarcoating a problem can be just as damaging to your team’s progress as bluntly pointing them out. Instead, empower your team to solve problems together and keeping moving forward.

1 min read April 29, 2016

Explainers

How to Be a “Super Boss”

In the end, the difference between celebrated CEOs and their failed peers boils down to something quite simple: successful CEOs have the confidence that allows them to enjoy other big personalities. Look for ways to support and recognize your team.

1 min read April 20, 2016

Explainers

When and How to Use Different Interviewing Formats

A longer vetting process gives candidates more exposure to company culture and ways of working. Use a variety of interviews as a toolkit for assessing your team’s needs and finding the right person to serve them.

3 min read April 14, 2016

Explainers

The Five Reasons Big Companies Fail to Change

Despite vast resources, power, and potential, any large organization can fall behind in an evolving marketplace. Take a deeper look at your company’s existing processes to ensure that everything is intentional (not just habitual) and seek out ways to introduce safe-to-fail experiments to maintain an innovative edge.

1 min read April 8, 2016

Explainers

How Long Does Organizational Change Take?

The deadline for any organizational change can feel like “yesterday.” We took a look at notable turnarounds to help you compare to the challenges you and your teams may be facing.

1 min read March 28, 2016

Explainers

Avoid the Strategy of the Month Club

As a leader faced with uncertainty and questions, it’s all too easy to be lured into the latest management fad. But if you bounce your team from one business book to another, you’ll confuse and exhaust them.

1 min read March 15, 2016

Explainers

Eight Questions Every Head of Innovation Should Ask Themselves Weekly

Don’t forget that transformation is a marathon, not a sprint: if you can answer even one of these questions affirmatively every day, you’re making good progress.

2 min read February 13, 2016

Explainers

Stepping Up as a Leader when the Team Has No Direction

Leading a group of individuals who prefer making their own decisions can be the true test of a new leader, but hard work and a positive attitude can win them over.

1 min read February 11, 2016

Explainers

Plan Your Week Based on Energy & Engagement

While we’d all like to think that we’re highly productive all of the time, the reality is that our energy and focus waxes and wanes throughout the week. By planning ahead, you can save your best time for your most important work.

1 min read February 5, 2016

Explainers

Five Ground Rules for Effective Meetings

Meetings aren’t holding you back from getting work done—ineffective meetings are. Implementing simple meeting rules every time your team gathers will help your company achieve a healthy and effective meeting culture.

1 min read February 4, 2016

Explainers

Balancing Risk in the Budget Planning Process

It’s essential to review how your budget is allocated based on risk. All too often, it’s easy for innovation to be caught between optimization and disruption, when that work should be focused on disruption and delegating optimization to other teams.

2 min read February 3, 2016