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HBR Idea Cast: The Hidden Toll of Microstress

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HBR Idea Cast: The Hidden Toll of Microstress

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Microstresses are small moments of stress that seem manageable on their own - think a vague, worrying text from your teen flashing on your phone while you're in a meeting, the appearance of a colleague who always wants to vent to you, or having to tell your team that the project you've all been grinding out extra hours on is no longer a priority. But these microstresses aren't as harmless as they seem. Because they're so small and brief, they don't trigger the normal stress response in our brains to help us cope; instead, microstress embeds itself in our minds and accrues over time. The long-term impact of this buildup is debilitating: It saps our energy, damages our physical and emotional health, and contributes to a decline in our overall well-being. But once you understand the science behind microstress and where it comes from, you can fight back. Fresh research will teach you how to recognize and manage microstress's most common forms.

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Microstresses are small moments of stress that seem manageable on their own - think a vague, worrying text from your teen flashing on your phone while you're in a meeting, the appearance of a colleague who always wants to vent to you, or having to tell your team that the project you've all been grinding out extra hours on is no longer a priority.

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Fast Company: Employees Said They'd Work Harder If Recognized. These Are the Types of Recognition They Want.

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Fast Company: Employees Said They'd Work Harder If Recognized. These Are the Types of Recognition They Want.

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HBR: The Little Things That Affect Our Work Relationships

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HBR: The Little Things That Affect Our Work Relationships

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Relationships with our coworkers are incredibly important, but we tend to think about them in the wrong way: We categorize them as either good or bad, and we think they will always stay the same. As a result, we don't try to fix the ones that have soured, and we take those that seem healthy for granted. In reality, most relationships are a mixed bag, and they ebb and flow. And if you look closely, you'll see that they're made up of a series of "micromoves" - small actions that seem inconsequential in the moment but affect how we relate to one another. Each new micromove can shift the direction of a relationship. In this article, two professors explain how to use micromoves to build the work relationships you want, instead of just settling for the ones you have.

One afternoon a manager we'll call Kassie sent an email to her teammate, Harrison, explaining why she hadn't included him in a meeting with a group of company executives earlier that day. She and Harrison got along well, and she wanted to make sure he wasn't offended. Two days later the email still hadn't been returned. This small incident made Kassie question their relationship. Why the sudden rudeness - was Harrison actually upset? Were they really on "good" terms? How should she act the next time they crossed paths? Harrison, meanwhile, had "write Kassie back" on his to-do list but had just been too busy to get around to it. He had no idea that his slow response concerned Kassie.

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The Little Things That Affect Our Work Relationships

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Relationships with our coworkers are incredibly important, but we tend to think about them in the wrong way: We categorize them as either good or bad, and we think they will always stay the same. As a result, we don't try to fix the ones that have soured, and we take those that seem healthy for granted.

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Successful virtual gatherings require more than just an invitee list and a video call link. As facilitators we've spent decades using tools that can really make a difference here. These tools are completely accessible to anyone who is planning to host any kind of gathering (whether it's a work social, a team meeting, a retrospective, or a strategy session).

Check-ins encourage folks to show up authentically. A check-in gives everyone a chance to speak before getting to the heart of the gathering, helping them transition mentally and emotionally from their previous activity. It can also act as a primer for the level of engagement you'll want or need in the gathering.

Whether we are aware of it or not, and particularly at the start of relationships and events, we are all instinctively concerned with what others think of us. We ask unspoken questions like 'Am I safe?', 'Am I included?', and 'Am I respected and valued?'.

A well designed check-in creates the psychological safety needed to have the best possible version of a conversation.

There are tons of good questions that can help people make deeper connections with each other. You can use these questions as meeting-openers or make them part of a virtual coffee / lunch session. They are a great way to communicate to participants that their perspective matters.

Your choice of question will often contain some subtext - a somewhat hidden message to the group. For example, asking a question like 'If you could give one piece of advice to our CEO, what would it be?', might signal encouragement to dig into real issues that may not usually be discussed.

Prior to the question, you might also offer a bridging phrase that puts your check-in in context. For example, 'The focus of our meeting today is to explore our shared passion for video games, so I thought we'd start with a check-in relating to that.'

When you decide to use a check-in, it's a great idea to have a visual reference so people can remember the question as they answer it (whether they do so in the main space or in breakout conversations). For example, consider writing the question in the text chat or displaying it on their screen in some other way.

Check-in questions fall roughly into three categories...

1. Fun & Inconsequential (Favorite cereal?)

2. Personal & Connected (Which would you rather hear first, good news or bad news?)

3. Deep & Valuable (What kind of leadership qualities are most important to you?)

The right questions for the right people at the right time are at the heart of a healthy group process. DOROTHY STRACHAN

Here are some things to consider when choosing a check-in...

Group size: If it's a large group, you probably don't want to skew into personal questions unless the check-in will be done in breakout rooms. Sharing personal thoughts in a large meeting requires people to be more vulnerable than they would be in a smaller meeting.

Group familiarity: Is this a close knit team that works together day-to-day or a collection of folks who have only met once or twice? Are there any new people in the group? If familiarity is high, try some more challenging / provocative questions.

Duration: How long is the gathering scheduled for? Check-ins should generally be proportional to the duration of the gathering overall.

Purpose: How can the check-in connect with and support the central purpose of the gathering? What are you gathering for? Is it an important or contentious meeting? Is it a casual hang-out session? Think about the tone of the question(s) in connection with the meeting. Imagine you're having a meeting about an important legal matter. It would be pretty weird to use the breakfast cereal check-in here.

Here's a bank of questions in each conversation starter category for you to experiment with...

1. What's your favorite afternoon snack?

2. Outside of work, what activity makes you lose track of time?

3. What's the last book or article you read that you really enjoyed?

4. What's your favorite kitchen tool or gadget?

5. If you could meet with anyone in the world - who would you choose and why?

6. Which song or musician are you listening to a lot right now?

7. If you had all the time and skills you needed to write a book, what would you write about?

8. What's one strange or amusing thing you used to believe as a child?

9. What's one TV show you think your whole team should watch? Why?

10. If your current mood was a song title, what would it be?

1. What recent team accomplishment brings you the most joy? Why?

2. How do you switch off at the end of the week?

3. What's one small moment of success you experienced recently?

4. Which meeting at work do you most enjoy and why?

5. What small things are you especially grateful for?

6. How do you handle changes to your daily routine?

7. Where do you find inspiration for your life and work?

8. What's something you've learned in the past month?

9. What's a part of your job you particularly enjoy?

10. What's your favorite charitable or non-profit organization? Why?

1. How do you identify or notice the signals when you're stressed?

2. How do you like to receive feedback?

3. What would be helpful for your teammates to know about the way you communicate?

4. Is anything causing you stress right now - what is it?

5. Which leadership traits matter most to you?

6. What's a valuable piece of feedback you've received from a colleague?

7. What's one thing that most people don't know about you?

8. Think of a time when feedback felt like a gift. Why did it feel that way?

9. What's an area of your life in which you wish you were spending more time?

10. Describe a real-life situation where you stood up for someone or something

You may consider adding the words 'And why?' to the end of a question to get a little bit more depth from your participants. Just be aware that this will naturally extend the time needed for the check-in.

1. What was the last team decision that felt like it took too long? Why did it take so long?

2. How do you think our organization can be more adaptable to change?

3. What's something you find challenging about working in this team or company?

In some situations you might decide to give two or three check-in questions and invite each person to choose the one they will answer. Our experience is that one question keeps the group more focused and connected. That said, one scenario in which you might offer such a choice is when you send the group into breakouts. Since you won't be there to facilitate, having the choice gives them a little more flexibility and comfort.

Red means "I'm overwhelmed, stressed, upset or generally having a tough time."

Orange means "Things aren't ideal but I'm coping."

Green means "I'm feeling good about things."

As a bonus, here are a few extra questions that work well with team retrospectives and reflection style sessions...

Ask each person to share whether they are feeling red, orange or green in the current moment. It's easy to do in the text chat or verbally, wherever you're gathering. It's a great way to prepare everyone for the conversation...

You can either simply have people share their color in the text chat or ask them for a sentence (verbally or otherwise) describing why they picked it. If you choose verbal sharing, as each person finishes, they should name the person who will go next.

It's important to recognize both that all feelings are valid and that this isn't a session to fix or address anyone's reds / oranges. That said, if someone signals red, it's a great idea to follow up with them afterwards to make sure they have the support they need.

Bringing awareness to team members' feelings in this way can help to neutralize negative feelings (by giving the feelings less power) and foster greater empathy amongst the team.

People disproportionately remember the last few minutes of a meeting so it's a shame that so many meeting owners squander that focus with logistical comments about 'the date for the next meeting' and such like. Don't fall into this trap. Instead, close with a little bit of ceremony, style and finesse by using a check-out.

Check-outs are a quick way of polling people for reflections on a session. They bring a sense of closure to the gathering and help people transition (mentally and emotionally) out of the conversation. A check-out might focus on what has occurred in the gathering or what is to come next for the group.

Where possible, participants are then invited to stand up.

One-by-one, they each name something they are grateful for or one word that summarizes how they feel about the gathering. Just remember that the goal is closing versus opening up. You might say "'Please share one word that captures how you are feeling/what you are thinking as we close for today."

At the same time they symbolically throw an imaginary log onto the fire.

Each person who completes a turn names the next contributor until everyone has had the opportunity to participate.

Our favorite check-out, which has the bonus of being very quick, is the one-word check-out. To make it a bit more fun, we like to use a virtual campfire.

To prepare, each person opens a campfire on their screen...

Building connections and relationships in groups is not difficult but it does require some up front thought. Hopefully this article has given you the what, why and how. Now it's time to put check-ins and check-outs into action. 🙌

If you'd like to go one step further and fostering a greater sense of connection with your teams, we have a delightful and practical workshop called Create User Manuals. We'll help your team connect through play and structured conversation, delivering a tangible output.

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Elevating Virtual Gatherings with Proven Facilitation Tools

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PeopleStorming: A Tool for Getting Clearer Expectations

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PeopleStorming: A Tool for Getting Clearer Expectations

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Whenever you dig into unhealthy conflict in the workplace, you'll invariably discover mismatched expectations. Whether accusations are flying explicitly or a team is navigating bubbling resentments, some voice is saying "how could you have done X?" and a counter-voice is saying "why on earth would you ever have expected something else?"

The problem is that, often, teams aren't deliberate about managing their shared expectations. We all have a tendency to fall into the "that's obvious" trap because we assume others will think the way we do. We convince ourselves that everyone 'should' already be aligned. Then we discover we were wrong about this by inadvertently driving into a brick wall.

Motivated by these kinds of situations, we're often asked to work with teams to help them establish their common mission, goals and ways of working. We (and others before us) call this 'team chartering'.

We encourage teams to measure the success chartering based on how well in-sync everyone's expectations are when they've completed it. In other words, the fewer surprises, misunderstandings and misalignments that occur in the subsequent months, the more successful the chartering exercises were.

Our chartering process typically involves exercises and outputs that fall into a few familiar buckets...

Something around the mission, strategy and success measures for the team:

Something around the roles and accountabilities on the team:

Something around the processes and norms on the team:

Even if your team has a charter, it still can't be specific enough to cover every commitment team members will make to each other and it likely has even less coverage of commitments made to people outside the team.

For a person making commitments (a 'provider') to other people ('customers') there is a technique that we particularly like. The provider will ask the customers to imagine what it would look like to receive...

Deficient work - work that has important gaps or that fails to meet important dates - work that would disappoint them

Adequate work - work that checks all the boxes and gets the job done, competently if not spectacularly - work that would satisfy them

Great work - work that covers all the bases and squeezes all the extra value possible out of the problem space - work that would delight them

These three anchors form a spectrum that gives the provider a much more grounded sense of what the customers expect. This 'full color picture' often helps the provider to ask more detailed / useful questions to further tune their own thinking right from the outset. Further, it gives all parties a historical anchor to refer back to if they start to discover their expectations drifting (reducing unhealthy conflict).

Think about a relationship you have with a colleague where expectations have become mismatched in the past. Now think about a current commitment you have made to them...

Lay the groundwork for a safe, collaborative conversation that fosters openness and curiosity.

Introduce the idea to them that you want to better-manage expectations for this work.

Ask them to give you a three-point grading (as above) imagining the circumstances in which they'd be (respectively) disappointed, satisfied or delighted.

Ask clarifying questions around anything you hear that you find surprising.

Write down the graded scale for yourself (their answers plus your clarifications) and share it with them.

Once the work is delivered, take a look at the scale together and use it to talk about the results of the work.

A recent client said our chartering was "like having a loving marriage counselor for your leadership team!". If your team could benefit from a greater sense of alignment and cohesion, please reach out about our team chartering program.

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A Tool For Getting Clearer Expectations 🏆

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Whenever you dig into unhealthy conflict in the workplace, you'll invariably discover mismatched expectations. Whether accusations are flying explicitly or a team is navigating bubbling resentments, some voice is saying "how could you have done X?" and a counter-voice is saying "why on earth would you ever have expected something else?"

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McKinsey: Investing in Middle Managers Pays Off - Literally

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McKinsey: Investing in Middle Managers Pays Off - Literally

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Middle management. It's far from the most cherished slice of an organization these days, since many companies stopped meaningfully investing in this group decades ago. And the job itself can be tough. McKinsey recently conducted a survey of middle managers that revealed how often they find themselves mired in administrative tasks rather than focusing on the work that makes an organization run: nurturing talent.

Despite these obstacles, the role remains one of the most important in any company. Top-performing middle managers create strong relationships that enhance team performance and drive effective operations. They help turn an organization's vision and strategic goals into reality, and they are on the front lines of the competition for talent. Middle managers are an integral part of organizational health, which years of McKinsey research shows is linked to strong performance.

In a new analysis, we found that strong middle managers aren't just nice to have for all the reasons we note; they are a business imperative. Organizations with top-performing managers yield multiple times the total shareholder returns (TSR) of those with average or below-average managers over a period of five years (see sidebar, "Our Methodology").

This strong link to shareholder returns reflects the monetary value at stake-and reveals the immense opportunity organizations and leaders have to invest in middle managers. Focusing on this group's role becomes even more pressing in volatile times that require both resilience and shifts in organizational operating models. A 2023 report by the McKinsey Global Institute found that companies that invest in their human capital yield more consistent earnings through times of crisis.

In this article, we look at which manager behaviors are most closely correlated with an organization's financial performance, and we explore five actions organizations can take to support the development of these behaviors among middle managers and create a distinctive advantage for this group.

Stronger managers, higher value

To understand how middle managers can affect financial performance, we first isolated the impact of high-performing manager behaviors. Of the nearly 40 practices measured in McKinsey's Organizational Health Index, there are 11 that relate directly to manager behaviors:

creative and entrepreneurial: supports innovation and creativity

open and trusting: encourages honesty, transparency, and candid dialogue

operationally disciplined: emphasizes productivity and efficiency

authoritative: focuses on hierarchy to get things done

challenging: encourages people to do more than they thought possible

consultative: empowers employees through communication and delegation

supportive: builds a positive environment characterized by team harmony

inspirational: encourages through guidance and recognition

employee involvement: engages people on the direction of the organization

personal ownership: drives individual accountability and responsibility

talent development: provides coaching for knowledge and skills

We then mapped out the organizations with top-quartile managers-that is, those whose managers perform these 11 practices more frequently than 75 percent of other organizations in the sample. The data show that organizations in the top quartile realize from three to 21 times greater TSR over five years compared with those whose managers are in the other three quartiles (Exhibit 1).

This suggests a direct correlation between strong middle managers and better bottom-line performance. CEOs and other C-suite leaders who are surprised by the magnitude of this effect could consider the decades of organizational research finding that managers are one of the biggest factors-if not the biggest-in employees' experiences and satisfaction at work. Strong managers can truly revolutionize the way employees show up to work, how they perform, and how the organization performs as a whole.

Our analysis also found that consistency matters. Organizations with high manager "cohesion," where managers within and across business units behave similarly, have almost twice the organizational-health score of those with low manager cohesion. When managers march to the beat of the same drum, everyone wins (Exhibit 2).

However, managers do not wake up and automatically know what great looks like, nor do they learn through osmosis. Instead, managers exhibit these behaviors when multiple factors are present: they have clear expectations, are given targeted training, understand why their actions matter, see inspiring leaders behaving similarly, and have support systems in place such as structure, role design, and rewards.

When any number of these factors are in place, strong managers can reduce attrition, support talent acquisition, and buoy employee well-being and psychological safety, which are all extremely important and meaningful outcomes, particularly as the battle for talent wages on. And yet, according to our recent manager survey, only 20 percent of respondents strongly agree that their organizations help them to be successful people managers.

Five steps to help strengthen middle-manager performance

Creating the right atmosphere for middle managers to be the "force multipliers" they are meant to be is not a trivial endeavor. What actions can leaders and organizations take to create more top-performing managers and, in turn, increase the value they bring? Unleashing the power of the middle starts with organizational structure and role design. While this may seem surprising, the rationale is simple. We cannot expect managers to start acting as inspirational leaders and strategic thinkers if they are constantly juggling competing demands and simply do not have the time to step back and think big. Once managers are set up for success structurally, capability building, improvements in experience, and accountability mechanisms can follow.

Creating the right atmosphere for middle managers to be the "force multipliers" they are meant to be is not a trivial endeavor.

Step 1: Optimize the organization's 'spans'

In organizational design, many companies focus on finding the right "spans" -the magic number of employees a manager can oversee to achieve optimal effectiveness and efficiency. There are two common challenges to this approach. Overly large spans create a massive strain on managers' time, leaving them with little opportunity to give meaningful coaching or spend sufficient time on strategy. Too-small spans indicate areas where talented experts are "rewarded" with people leadership responsibilities (even if they did not want them to begin with) that take them away from the individual-contributor work they would prefer to continue doing.

By systematically reviewing an organization's structure, leaders can identify where their managers are not set up to succeed and create value. One biotech start-up went through this process and found that over half of its managers had three or fewer direct reports. The company optimized its structure by creating healthier manager spans and transitioning some people managers into expert roles that were better suited to their strengths and aspirations. These shifts improved the efficiency of more than 200 teams, with no reduction in head count.

Step 2: Reset manager roles

Middle managers may have a reputation for being bureaucratic, but in reality they aren't so much the cause of bureaucracy as a barometer for it. In our recent manager survey, nearly half of respondents said bureaucracy was the most negative aspect of their jobs. Managers' roles should be reset with this in mind. Leaders and organizations can conduct a thorough review of manager roles (using, for example, focus groups and calendar analysis) and categorize management tasks based on whether they add value or not. Then they can look for ways to automate rote tasks, ban unnecessary meetings, and eliminate as much bureaucratic work as possible-for instance, administering forms, complex approvals, and reports that are not necessary for people development and safety.

Middle managers may have a reputation for being bureaucratic, but in reality they aren't so much the cause of bureaucracy as a barometer for it.

This is where emerging technologies like generative AI can help. One multinational financial- services company, for instance, is using ChatGPT to assist its employees with finding information in the company's massive knowledge and insights system. And a US utility company has deployed an AI-supported scheduling system in its service centers. In both cases, seemingly small moves are making a big difference in helping managers focus on supporting their people and investing in strategy.

Step 3: Pivot to capability building

Once the organization has given managers a fighting chance of spending time on what matters, it can define what great looks like, clearly communicate the vision, and provide any related upskilling. Above, we shared 11 manager behaviors that, combined, are linked to greater financial performance. However, it is unlikely that companies will want to focus on all 11 at one time, since taking on too much at once can lead to frustration and failure.

Business strategy and values together are the first lens through which to prioritize these manager behaviors. The focus should be on which practices allow the organization to best unleash business impact and live up to its commitments to employees, stakeholders, and society. A baseline assessment of the current frequency of these behaviors can then draw attention to the areas that have the greatest opportunity to improve. For instance, organizations focused on flawless execution may want to prioritize operational discipline, challenging leadership, and personal ownership to deliver on their business strategy, whereas those looking to innovate could prioritize managers that encourage their teams to be creative, entrepreneurial, open, and trusting.

Once leaders identify priority behaviors and managerial groups (that is, managers who create outsize business value and have the greatest opportunity to improve), they can take the next step of building customized learning journeys to close gaps.

One global consumer giant embarked on an end-to-end manager capability-building program by first defining an integrated vision for its talent and business strategies. It then clarified and communicated to managers the concrete behaviors and expectations for which they would be held accountable. Finally, it rolled out customized learning journeys catered to managerial job level, from front line to just below senior leadership. With these moves, the consumer company built a robust management and leadership pipeline to stave off some of the negative effects of the Great Attrition.

Step 4: Drill down into manager experience

Research shows that middle managers are the most burned-out job level across organizations, and that there is a huge purpose gap, particularly between frontline managers and executives. Given the vitality of middle managers to organizational success, their workplace experiences should be ruthlessly protected and prioritized.

Given the vitality of middle managers to organizational success, their workplace experiences should be ruthlessly protected and prioritized.

The first three actions we've outlined should meaningfully enhance important elements of the manager experience, such as balance and well-being, but additional pieces warrant attention.

Increase purpose. The middle-manager role requires a rebrand. First, encourage employees to see the role as a destination, rather than a waystation for bigger and better things. Removing the stigma and highlighting all the benefits of the role can help drive feelings of purpose. Second, ensure the connection between the manager role and multiple sources of meaning is crystal clear, including the organization's overall purpose.

Foster inclusion. In 2022, for every 100 men promoted to managerial roles, only 87 women, and 82 women of color, were promoted. Women and people of color remain underrepresented in managerial roles, and organizations could do more to prioritize their inclusion. Programs to facilitate the mentorship, apprenticeship, and sponsorship of managers, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, can have a meaningful impact on their experience in the role.

Offer development opportunities. There is plenty to keep managers feeling engaged and "comfortably stretched." Whether taking on larger, more complex teams, managing a team with different skills aimed at a new outcome, or providing mobility to manage in a new location, opportunities to grow abound within the middle-manager role. Indeed, managers are excited about these opportunities: our research shows that increased responsibility and the opportunity to learn are valued more highly than job perks.

Step 5: Build in accountability mechanisms

The final step is to build accountability mechanisms to help reinforce what great looks like and to give middle managers continuous progress updates on how they are doing. The greatest formal mechanism is an organization's performance management system, from goal setting to continuous feedback, performance review, and consequence management. There should be a tight connection between what leaders want managers to do with respect to thinking strategically and coaching others and how they are rewarded.

One global bank clarified the manager behaviors that supported its new business strategy, provided capability building for these practices, and then embedded them into its performance management system. Managers were required to set goals linked to the behaviors at the beginning of the year, and a feedback framework was instituted for peers and direct reports to weigh in as well.

The bank also launched a yearly pulse survey that asked direct reports to assess their managers on the critical behaviors. Survey results are displayed through a transparent, digital dashboard so that all managers can see one another's results-creating a sense of robust competition. Managers are encouraged to use their results to guide conversations with their teams about what is going well and how they can meaningfully improve. The bank saw its organizational health skyrocket from the third to first quartile in just two years, in part because of the clear accountability mechanisms it built for managers.

Companies can no longer afford to overlook their middle managers, who are key contributors to both organizational health and financial performance. Our new research shows that it pays to actively invest in managerial ranks by taking five steps to strengthen managers' performance. Leaders, take note: top performers will not only be better equipped to nurture the talent that is the foundation of a healthy workplace but could also help back that investment by directly adding to the bottom line as measured by TSR. That's a win-win.

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Investing in middle managers pays off-literally

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New research shows that middle manager behaviors closely correlate with an organization's financial performance. Here's how to set managers up for success.

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WSJ: Performance Reviews Will Bite This Year. Be Ready.

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WSJ: Performance Reviews Will Bite This Year. Be Ready.

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FastCompany: Tips From a CEO on How to Improve Your Leadership

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FastCompany: Tips From a CEO on How to Improve Your Leadership

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Pete Carroll's 'three-ring circus' Seahawks team meetings

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The Athletic: Pete Carroll's Seahawks Team Meetings

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The Athletic: Pete Carroll's Seahawks Team Meetings

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Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is 72, the oldest coach in the NFL, with a Super Bowl trophy and the 17th-most wins (165) in NFL history. His team meetings are also a bit ... unorthodox.
Jermaine Kearse (wide receiver): Honestly, the team meetings were a sh- ton of fun.

Malcolm Smith (linebacker): His team meetings are honestly what I think sets him apart from other coaches.

Chad Brown (former NFL linebacker and coaching intern): Absolutely, without a doubt, the best team meetings of any team I was on as a coach or a player.

Luke Willson (tight end): I get drafted and come here for rookie minicamp with no idea what to expect. It's dead silent in the team meeting room. There are a bunch of rookies who don't even have free-agent contracts, a couple drafted guys and a couple of undrafted free agents. He just storms in the room and goes: "Alright, alright, let's get this thing started right." He's like, "OK, kickers, get up! Who are the kickers here?" We had a couple kickers, and he has them do a basketball shootout, and he goes, "Whoever wins gets to stay; whoever doesn't gets cut." He's totally kidding and I'm just laughing. The next thing we know, we're shooting basketballs, he's got a couple of YouTube videos and we go out to practice and music is blaring the whole time and he's dancing around.

Ben Malcolmson (Carroll's chief of staff): Barnum and Bailey's three-ring circus here.

Willson: I was like, "Dude ... this guy is kind of crazy."

Justin Britt (center): He would do what he called "the safe place." Everyone had a bullsh- story about them and none of it was true, but if you didn't know, it seemed believable.

Uchenna Nwosu (outside linebacker): He tells all these stories other guys went through ... selling the hell out that story, making it sound really good and believable.

Britt: He had people believe that my mom had this anger towards me and resented me because of how large my head was at birth. I had to play along with that for like four years.

Golden Tate (wide receiver): One team meeting he gets up there and says: "Hey, we've got this new Gatorade. Why don't you guys make sure you try one out before practice? They're supposed to hydrate you really well. We don't want you out here pulling anything."

Shaquem Griffin (linebacker): Pete Carroll is just in a land of his own.

Tate: We would open up the cooler and this fake snake would pop out. We'd all jump and some of us would scream. He had a camera in there. Of course, the next day in the team meeting, he selected all the good ones and premiered it to the entire team.

Britt: He would have a set amount of time in the day allocated to just having pure fun.

Malcolmson: He hosted scooter races in the coaches' offices. There was a loop that he set up, and he would do timed scooter races.

Brown: I was excited every day to go to work because, what is Pete going to do today? What fun thing is going to happen?

Britt: By the time we got to the serious stuff, we were all like: "I'm awake, I'm ready, my senses are right. Let's go."

Brown: I've never been in a football environment like that.

Tate: He was a jokester. He was a serious jokester.

Malcolmson: Pete told our video crew: "Hey, if anyone trips (at practice) during a drill or a route, if they fall down, you've got to edit it and slice it with sniper footage."

Kearse: Everybody would be talking, and then the lights would just go down low.

Malcolmson: It would cut to dramatic music and a sniper scene in a movie.

K.J. Wright (linebacker): Like "American Sniper" or something. It would be like: "I have an eye on him. I'm locked on the target."

Malcolmson: It's like a minute-long buildup, and everyone is like: "Oh no, who's gonna get got?"

Wright: And then the sniper would shoot, the guy would fall at practice and blood would splash out. It was the funniest sh- ever.

Nick Bellore (fullback:) He had a surgery on his leg or his knee. He came back to the team meeting right after he got it done.

Tyler Mabry (tight end): He's driving on the golf cart at practice, and then I don't know if he had a cane, but he's walking, then he threw it down and started running.

Bellore: He just came sprinting in like you'd see a professional wrestler going into the ring.

Mabry: Like this man just got saved by Jesus.

Bellore: He sprinted down and then went and changed direction, and everyone was going nuts and he ran a pro agility (test). It was literally like he was doing a combine workout. I've never laughed that hard in a meeting.

Britt: Every new player that comes there goes: "Don't go somewhere else. This is the best place." And it truly was.

Malcolmson: For the New York Super Bowl, that was the first year our free-throw shooting contest really took off. We started to do it during almost every team meeting, and there was an in-season tournament. It really became part of the culture.

Kearse: We had a whole NCAA-style bracket with defense on one side and offense on the other side.

Malcolmson: That was Pete's request when we went out to New York for the week before the Super Bowl: "Make sure there is a basketball hoop." We landed on a Sunday night the week before the Super Bowl. By the time we got to the hotel, it was probably 9 or 10 at night. I was like, "I've got to go figure out this basketball hoop because we have a team meeting first thing in the morning at the Giants' facility."

Brown: There was always a genuine team-building purpose with everything.

Malcolmson: I borrowed a car, went to Walmart in a suburban New Jersey town, got a full-scale basketball hoop, one of those ones where you pour sand or water in the base, then drove to the Giants' facility. By this point, it's probably midnight, and I ended up finishing building the hoop at 3 a.m.

Chris Carlisle (strength coach): Tom Coughlin was the coach at the time, and all the Giants people were like: "What are you doing? No, you can't bring that in. This is a meeting room. This is like church."

Willson: I was nervous. I'm a rookie. We're eight days out from the f-ing Super Bowl. Pete comes in, wheels in a f-ing basketball goal and is like: "I don't give a sh- that it's the Super Bowl, we're doing the same thing we've always done, boys. In fact, we're going to have an All-Star tournament with the best shooters of the year, and we're doing Round 1 today.

Malcolmson: Just one of those crazy Pete things.

Willson: All the stress, everything - it just disappeared. It was like: "Alright, f- it, who gives a sh-? We're in New York. It's the same thing as home."

Malcolmson: One camp, we did full introductions before the basketball shoot-off. Tyler Lockett came out in the dark to the Chicago Bulls' intro music, with lasers and a fog machine in the team meeting room. We had a confetti machine and a trophy presentation. It was so dumb but so fun.

Kearse: Yeah, it was fun, but subliminally it was building a competitive edge. Even the rebounders took it serious.

Smith: That program has consistently been competitive because he knows how to get the most out of his players from an emotional standpoint.

DeeJay Dallas (running back): The night-before meetings are his favorite...

Malcolmson: He would want the worst conference room at the hotel on Saturday night. We had about 100 people, and he would try to find the dingiest, smallest room at the hotel.

Bellore: There's literally no room for any extra person. That's unique to here.

Malcolmson: Every time the hotel would be like: "We have this nice big ballroom." And every time he'd be like: "No, no, I want this side conference room."

Smith: He pays so much attention to the energy of rooms.

Carlisle: On the road, he'd come down to the weight room and go: "I just need to be around the players. I need to get that energy. I need to feel the team again."

Bellore: He's right there, and we're all in there together.

Dallas: He came in there, shirt unbuttoned, he was already fired up. He gets to talking, and he threw a chair - boom, it hit the wall. The chair is stuck in the wall. I was like, "Goddamn! He fired up."

Artie Burns (cornerback): For a guy like that to have that much energy, it makes you want to play for him.

Dallas: He's like, "F- it, we're already fired up, we don't need no meeting!" And we got out of our meeting.

Jordyn Brooks (linebacker): It gets pretty wild sometimes.

Phil Haynes (offensive lineman): We always get really hype before a special teams meeting, but he got really, really excited and jumped through a whiteboard.

DeShawn Shead (former cornerback, current DBs coach): Out of nowhere he got up - boom.

Wright: He literally does a full-on cartwheel into it.

Riq Woolen (cornerback): But the whiteboard flipped over, and he flipped over with it.

Haynes: I was like, "My God." We all checked to make sure he was OK, then we started cheering.

Woolen: Good ol' Pete got right up, and he was like, "That was nothing."

Malcolmson: The funny thing is, the whiteboard didn't really serve any purpose. But it was always in the same spot I think as a prop for whenever Pete decided to go tackle it.

Julian Love (safety): I got called on (recently). It was cool. His message for that (meeting) was, "I'm not out there by myself. I don't have to win the game for us. I don't have to do anything that's out of my control. Everyone has my back to get this done." I felt that the next day. After the game, he said it again like, "J Love, I told you we had your back."

Jason Peters (offensive line): He gives you himself. He's speaking from the heart. That's different from anywhere else I've been.

Drew Lock (quarterback): The way he tells stories, commands the room, my mouth was open the whole time, like, "I can't believe I'm here listening to him give a pregame speech about a game we're about to play tomorrow."

Willson: We were playing a big game, and there was a bunch of media hype. He calls up Tyler Lockett and he has a chair. He's like: "Do me a favor. Just stand on this." He's like: "Do you think you can just lift one leg up?" Lockett looks at him and lifts the leg up. He has him do all this stuff: "Do a spin, do a counter spin." I'm like, "What the f- is going on?" Then he's like: "OK, serious question. Was any of that hard?" Lockett's like, "No, not at all."

Malcolmson: Then he's like: "What if I put this on the Empire State Building? Would you be able to do it then?" Of course, the answer is no way. He's like: "But nothing's different, nothing's changed. It's all just your surroundings."

Willson: You've got to picture this is Pete Carroll's voice, so it's way more animated, and he's like, "Tomorrow, we're just playing f-ing football. Field's the same size, football's the same size, plays are the same. F- all this nonsense about what happens if the Seahawks lose. Go out and rip it."

Britt: The motivational person he is, it's unmatched.

Shead: Pete got the most juice of any coach, anybody in America.

Griffin: There's nobody like him.

Wright: The guy's a legend.

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Nic Antaya, Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

"The Football 100," the definitive ranking of the NFL's best 100 players of all time, is on sale now. Order it here.

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Pete Carroll's 'three-ring circus' Seahawks team meetings

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From Super Bowl basketball shootouts to throwing chairs and cartwheeling into whiteboards, there's "nobody like" the 72-year-old Carroll.

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During his former career as a kidnapping and extortion negotiator, the author handled sensitive cases all over the world. Through his experiences, observations, and conversations with other experts in the field, he developed a deep understanding of what works and what doesn't in high-stakes negotiations. Now he advises executives and corporations about what he calls the level-five mindset, which involves deep listening to better understand and interpret a counterpart's self-perception and perspective. He offers eight tools to both ensure and demonstrate that mindset: minimal encouragers, open questions, reflecting back, emotional labeling, paraphrasing, "I" statements, effective pauses, and summarizing. Using them, he writes, will "boost your capacity for empathy, your ability to find common ground, and your chances of gaining your counterpart's cooperation."

Pirates have kidnapped six crew members off a ship operating in the Gulf of Guinea, near the west coast of Africa. The corporate owner of the vessel and employer of the victims has called me in from England to help negotiate their release. My first step is to calm everyone down. We can't navigate this situation from a place of agitation and high stress. My second is to choose someone from the corporate crisis team whom I trust to interact with the bad guys-a person who can communicate in the right language and dialect, who seems emotionally stable and resilient, and who, most important, will be able to listen to and connect with the people holding his colleagues. I quickly decide on John.

A version of this article appeared in the March-April 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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During his former career as a kidnapping and extortion negotiator, the author handled sensitive cases all over the world. Through his experiences, observations, and conversations with other experts in the field, he developed a deep understanding of what works and what doesn't in high-stakes negotiations.

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HBR: Got a Radical Idea at Work? Find a Partner

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HBR: Got a Radical Idea at Work? Find a Partner

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The story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries underpinning the mRNA vaccines against Covid-19, holds lessons for others who are pursuing radical ideas. Drawing on their interview with Karikó and those of others with Weissman and her, the authors extrapolate lessons on why pairs can be more effective in pursuing seemingly wild ideas and how to find someone to take the journey with you.

Imagine you have an unorthodox idea - one that challenges the dominant assumptions in your organization and industry. How do you develop it? Moving forward alone is hard. On the other hand, you are unlikely to attract or be provided with a large team to pursue an idea that most see as crazy. Our research suggests that such radical thinkers thrive in a unique organizational setting by finding one other individual to work with - by operating in pairs.

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Got a Radical Idea at Work? Find a Partner.

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The story of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, the winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries underpinning the mRNA vaccines against Covid-19, holds lessons for others who are pursuing radical ideas.

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Strategic courage in an age of volatility

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McKinsey: Strategic Courage In An Age of Volatility

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McKinsey: Strategic Courage In An Age of Volatility

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Strategic courage in an age of volatility

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In this article, we explore how organizational ambidexterity can help manage volatility when it comes to business insights, commitments, and execution.

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Business today is largely run by teams and populated by authority-averse baby boomers and Generation Xers. That makes persuasion more important than ever as a managerial tool. But contrary to popular belief, the author asserts, persuasion is not the same as selling an idea or convincing opponents to see things your way. It is instead a process of learning from others and negotiating a shared solution. To that end, persuasion consists of four essential elements: establishing credibility, framing to find common ground, providing vivid evidence, and connecting emotionally. Credibility grows, the author says, out of two sources: expertise and relationships. The former is a function of product or process knowledge and the latter a history of listening to and working in the best interest of others. But even if a persuader's credibility is high, his position must make sense-even more, it must appeal-to the audience. Therefore, a persuader must frame his position to illuminate its benefits to everyone who will feel its impact. Persuasion then becomes a matter of presenting evidence-but not just ordinary charts and spreadsheets. The author says the most effective persuaders use vivid-even over-the-top-stories, metaphors, and examples to make their positions come alive. Finally, good persuaders have the ability to accurately sense and respond to their audience's emotional state. Sometimes, that means they have to suppress their own emotions; at other times, they must intensify them. Persuasion can be a force for enormous good in an organization, but people must understand it for what it is: an often painstaking process that requires insight, planning, and compromise.

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Business today is largely run by teams and populated by authority-averse baby boomers and Generation Xers. That makes persuasion more important than ever as a managerial tool. But contrary to popular belief, the author asserts, persuasion is not the same as selling an idea or convincing opponents to see things your way.

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FastCompany: Competing For Talent Begins With Learning & Development

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FastCompany: Competing For Talent Begins With Learning & Development

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TED: Talks to Get You Through the Work Week

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TED: Talks to Get You Through the Work Week

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

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Talks to help you get through the work week | TED Talks

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We spend so much of our time at work, how can we make it better? These TED Talks will give you jolt of motivation to help you start the week off right.

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AI Adoption: The Benefits of Upskilling vs. Hiring - Spiceworks

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Spiceworks: Unlocking Growth Through Strategic Upskilling Initiatives & AI

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Spiceworks: Unlocking Growth Through Strategic Upskilling Initiatives & AI

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Explore the comprehensive insights shared by Gautam Tambay, co-founder and CEO of Springboard, and discover the key strategies for driving efficiency and productivity in the workplace through upskilling in the age of AI.

We're witnessing a sweeping and permanent transformation in the way employees work and companies deploy human capital. The blistering pace of the development of AI and other revolutionary technologies has made the modern workplace more skills-based than ever, and intensifying global competition is accelerating this transition. HR teams have to be proactive about preparing their employees (and organizations) for this new era of work. One of the most effective ways is by shifting their focus from hiring to upskilling.

At a time when a well-trained workforce is the key to fully leveraging some of the most powerful technology ever developed, companies must prioritize training employees in the critical skills that fuel productivity. Workforce training is too often presented as a way for companies to "keep up" with technological change. However, L&D is more than a tool for mitigating the disruptions companies face in the AI age - it's a strategic imperative. Robust L&D programs can help companies become leaders in AI adoption, allowing them to unleash their workforce's creative potential.

AI offers innumerable benefits, from drastic efficiency gains (with automated workflows, for instance) to virtual assistance that can improve customer experiences. Despite all the anxiety AI has sparked among employees who fear job displacement and disruption, many are also excited about the opportunities it presents - like boosts to creativity and the elimination of tedious work.

The AI Age Will Be an Era of Upskilling

For many years, one of the most persistent problems HR teams have confronted is the gap between the skills employees need and the skills they possess. According to Wiley's Closing The Skill Gap report, this divide is growing - 55 % of hiring managers and HR professionals said their company had a skills gap in 2021. Still, this proportion spiked to 69 % the following year. This gap threatens to become a chasm as companies increasingly adopt AI, and formerly critical skills are made obsolete by automation and other technologies.

A 2023 Microsoft's Work Trend Index Annual Report found that 82 % of company leaders say "employees will need new skills to be prepared for the growth of AI." The World Economic Forum reports Opens a new window that nearly three-quarters of companies expect to adopt AI and anticipate that this will lead to high churn. Employers believe 60 % of workers will require training by 2027, while they estimate that 44 % of skills will be disrupted over a similar period.

This process of disruption and re-skilling is continuous. In the Wiley report, 600 HR professionals found that 47 % believe technical skills are only usable for two years or less, while another 35 % believe the shelf life of these skills is three to four years. Given the relentless pace of innovation, this is no surprise - but it's a stark reminder that L&D needs to be an integral part of any company's long-term human capital and business strategy.

See more: The State of AI in the Enterprise 2023: How is AI Affecting Jobs?

Why Many Companies Are Upskilling Rather Than Hiring

Companies Know L&D is only becoming more essential, as it won't be possible to deploy technology like AI effectively without a capable workforce. As HR teams refine their L&D programs and move toward a culture that embraces technological innovation, they will have more flexibility in allocating human capital within the organization. When HR professionals were asked how their companies handle skills gaps, 65 % said they upskill/re-skill current employees - compared to 48 % who hire new candidates and 41 % who hire contract workers (respondents could choose more than one option).

The cost of replacing employees is extremely high, as companies must dedicate resources to finding, recruiting, onboarding, and training new employees. Gallup reports that the cost of replacing an employee tends to range from one-half to twice an employee's salary. When companies invest in their employees through upskilling, they can avoid these costs, increase engagement, and improve retention. Because turnover can lead to everything from product failure to decreased profitability, L&D can save companies from much more than the direct costs of job losses and new hires.

The World Economic Forum reports that the two most common workforce strategies for pursuing business goals are automating processes and "investing in learning and on-the-job training" - mutually reinforcing strategies. Employees appreciate these investments, eager to improve their job security and prospects by building up their skills. Almost say they're "ready to learn new skills or re-train to remain employable in the future." While nearly half of employees are worried that AI will threaten their jobs, a significant proportion say they would be comfortable using the technology for a wide range of tasks - from finding the answers they need (86 %) to formulating ideas (76 %).

Companies will continue to build out their L&D programs because there's no other way to adapt to the technological and economic changes that are reconstituting the modern workplace. As these programs improve and employees demand them, upskilling will be increasingly critical for navigating the AI era.

A New Approach to Human Capital

CNBC reported almost 48 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 - a record high that was only topped when more than 50 million quit the following year. Although the "Great Resignation" is over, we're still in a tight labor market - there are significantly more open positions than potential employees searching for work. Companies are also confronting an aging workforce that is retiring faster than young people are entering, as well as the skills gaps mentioned above.

Beyond these immediate labor market constraints, HR teams are reconsidering elements of the workplace that have long been taken for granted - such as the job-focused conception of work. Deloitte's 2023 Global Human Capital Trends Survey found that 93 % of business and HR leaders say it's important or very important to move "away from a focus on jobs." These respondents believe companies should orient their human capital strategies around instead, as this provides the flexibility necessary to quickly adapt to the rapid development of technological advancements, like AI.

There are other benefits to a skills-based approach. Ninety-three % of companies are worried about employee retention, and "providing learning opportunities" is the number one way they're working to improve it. An employee in the same role has a 56 % chance of staying with a company after two years - a proportion that jumps to 75 % for employees who've made an internal move.

Disruption is a fact of life for modern workforces. As the nature of work goes through the most profound changes companies and employees have experienced in a very long time, companies must invest in their people to stay ahead.

What AI-related upskilling do you want to learn this year? Let us know on Facebook Opens a new window , , and LinkedIn Opens a new window . We'd love to hear from you!

Image Source: Shutterstock

MORE ON UPSKILLING

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AI Adoption: The Benefits of Upskilling vs. Hiring - Spiceworks

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Gautam Tambay, CEO of Springboard, discusses in detail why AI adoption plays a pivotal role in upskilling for the future of work.

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NeuroScience News: Playful People Are At An Advantage

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NeuroScience News: Playful People Are At An Advantage

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Source: MLU.
Adults can positively utilise their inclination towards playfulness in many situations. They are good at observing, can easily see things from new perspectives, and can turn monotonous tasks into something interesting. At the same time, playfulness should not be equated with humour. Instead we need a new vocabulary to describe it, write psychologists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in the current issue of the international journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Unlike research on playfulness in children, little research has been conducted on playfulness in adults. "Models of childhood playfulness have often been transferred to adults. This results in the loss of many aspects including those related to romantic relationships or intellectual performance," explains Dr René Proyer from the Institute of Psychology at MLU. Playful people are able to reinterpret situations in their lives so that they experience them as entertaining or are able to reduce stress levels.

Proyer investigated this phenomenon in adults in many studies and surveys of around 3,000 people. He found that playfulness has an overlap, but no redundancy with the big five personality traits frequently used to describe personality. These include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability. "Playfulness is an independent personality trait that shares certain aspects with these five global dimensions but which cannot be interchanged," explains Proyer. The study also shows that people who describe themselves as playful are also viewed by others as such. Furthermore, playful people act out their propensity in many day-to-day situations.

The psychologist has identified four basic types of playful adults: "There are people who like to fool around with friends and acquaintances. We describe this as other-directed playfulness. By contrast, light-heartedly playful people regard their whole life as a type of game," says Proyer. Another category includes people who like to play with thoughts and ideas - this describes intellectual playfulness. These people are able to turn monotonous tasks into something interesting. The psychologist describes the final group as being whimsically playful. "These people tend to be interested in strange and unusual things and are amused by small day-to-day observations."

The studies reveal that playfulness in adults is expressed in very different ways and should be regarded as a positive trait. However, it has more negative connotations in the German-speaking world; playful people are sometimes not taken seriously or are seen as unreliable. Unjustly so, as Proyer relates: "When looking for solutions to complex problems, they can easily change perspectives. This allows them to find unusual and novel solutions."

The current study also provides incentives for other areas of research, such as evolutionary psychology. Even though playfulness has no direct advantage for survival, it could play an important role when choosing partners and in romantic relationships. The psychologists from Halle will be devoting their energies to this topic in the coming months.

About this psychology research article

Source: Tom Leonhardt - MLU
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for "A new structural model for the study of adult playfulness: Assessment and exploration of an understudied individual differences variable" by René T. Proyer in Personality and Individual Differences. Published online December 14 2016 doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.011

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title="MLA"]MLU "Playful People Are At An Advantage." NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 11 January 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-playful-people-5918/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title="APA"]MLU (2017, January 11). Playful People Are At An Advantage. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved January 11, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-playful-people-5918/[/cbtab][cbtab title="Chicago"]MLU "Playful People Are At An Advantage." https://neurosciencenews.com/stress-playful-people-5918/ (accessed January 11, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]
Abstract A new structural model for the study of adult playfulness: Assessment and exploration of an understudied individual differences variable
Adult playfulness is an understudied personality trait. A new 28-item questionnaire (the OLIW) is proposed that assesses four basic components; namely, Other-directed, Lighthearted, Intellectual, and Whimsical playfulness. Study 1 provides support for the factorial validity in an Exploratory (N = 628) and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N = 1168). Item- and scale-statistics were satisfactory. Correlations in the expected range with other playfulness questionnaires provide support for the convergent validity of the scale; there was between 3 and 30% shared variance with the big five personality traits. Test-retest reliabilities were between 0.67 and 0.87 for one-week, two-week, one-month, and three-month intervals (N = 200; using a reduced set of 12 items). Study 2 found convergence between self- and peer-reports in the expected range (i.e., 44-0.57). Participants in Study 3 (N = 295) collected daily behavior ratings for 14 days for Play, Aggression, Exhibitionism, and Impulsivity, and completed respective trait measures on day one. The OLIW demonstrated correlations between 0.29 and 0.36 for the aggregated behavior ratings, which was in the expected range. Overall, the findings for the psychometrics, reliability (internal consistency, test-retest), and validity (factorial, convergent, discriminant) are satisfactory and further use of the OLIW is encouraged.

"A new structural model for the study of adult playfulness: Assessment and exploration of an understudied individual differences variable" by René T. Proyer in Personality and Individual Differences. Published online December 14 2016 doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.011

Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.

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Playful People Are At An Advantage - Neuroscience News

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Playful adults are better able to reinterpret situations and reduce stress in their lives, a new study reports.

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FastCompany: 4 Big Morale-Busting Communication Mistakes Leaders Should Stop Making

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FastCompany: 4 Big Morale-Busting Communication Mistakes Leaders Should Stop Making

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NME:  Nintendo CEO’s Refusal to Layoff Staff Goes Viral Following Industry-Wide Cuts

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NME:  Nintendo CEO’s Refusal to Layoff Staff Goes Viral Following Industry-Wide Cuts

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Following a large number of layoffs across the gaming sector, fans have been sharing the outlook of former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.

Iwata was president of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015 and oversaw both the Nintendo DS and the Wii.

However, he was also CEO during the turbulent Wii U era of Nintendo, which was considered a flop by many. Following the failure, he took a 50 per cent pay cut while other executives reduced their salaries by 20 per cent.

Speaking about the decision in 2013, Iwata said: "If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease. I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world."

"At Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo's business in the long run," he added.

For absolutely no reason at all,

I am remembering the time the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata cut his own salary by 50% and all of the board members cut their pay by 20% so they wouldn't have to lay off anyone when things were looking bad for the company pic.twitter.com/pnVuEt5wTW

- Alex M-O | Wishlist Rune Fencer Illyia on Steam! (@AMO_Crate) January 26, 2024

And that outlook is currently being praised across social media. "Satoru Iwata being mentioned a lot right now shows you how badly the industry is crying out for someone, anyone on the executive level to actually give a damn about the staff being ground up at a rapidly increasing rate," wrote one fan.

"Video game executives should be shamed off the streets. Booed loudly at every opportunity. Makes me think of the example set by the apparently unimitable Satoru Iwata, cutting his own executive grade wages before pushing ground level workers out the door," added another.

"How about instead of firing 500+ people you cut some fuckin millions from the top positions and save some jobs," said a third.

Satoru Iwata (god bless him) took a 50% pay cut after WiiU's poor sales TO NOT LAY OFF WORKERS and you can't tell me that the higher ups of Riot couldn't do the same and still earn a good salary? pic.twitter.com/xWBl52IkzN

- PunyPenguin // Princess of Harmony is Coming! (@PunyPunyPenguin) January 23, 2024

It comes after 1900 members of Activision Blizzard, Xbox and ZeniMax staff were laid off yesterday (January 25), just months after Microsoft's £57billion acquisition was approved, while Riot Games laid off over 500 members of staff and cancelled development on all League Of Legends spin-off titles earlier this week.

According to reports, Xbox boss Phil Spencer is paid an annual salary of $10million (£7.8million) while former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick earnt an average of $77,306 (£56,310) an hour in 2022.

In other news, tickets have gone on sale for You Meet In Malta, an immersive festival that will celebrate tabletop role-playing games.

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Nintendo CEO's refusal to layoff staff goes viral following industry-wide cuts

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Following a large number of lay-offs across the gaming sector, fans have been sharing the outlook of former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata

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Ted: It's Time for Infectious Generosity

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Ted: It's Time for Infectious Generosity

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Chris Anderson: It’s time for infectious generosity. Here’s how | TED Talk

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What would happen to humanity if generosity went viral? Sharing transformative stories from around the world, head of TED Chris Anderson outlines why the time has come for the internet to realize its power to supercharge small acts of kindness, changing lives at a scale never experienced before. Learn how to cultivate a generous mindset — with or without giving money — and get inspired with tools to amplify your impact. “Be brave. Give what you can, and then be absolutely amazed at what happens next,” Anderson says.

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Getting to Yes, And Podcast | Warriors, Rebels, & Saints

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Getting to Yes, And Podcast | Warriors, Rebels, & Saints

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Second City Works | ‘Getting to Yes, And’ Podcast — Warriors, Rebels & Saints

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Guest: Moshik Temkin | Kelly looks at leadership through the lens of history with Moshik Temkin, a professor at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. His new book is titled, “Warriors, Rebels & Saints.”

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Getting to Yes, And Podcast | Evolutionary Intelligence

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Getting to Yes, And Podcast | Evolutionary Intelligence

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Second City Works | ‘Getting to Yes, And’ Podcast — Evolutionary Intelligence

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Guest: W. Russell Neuman | Kelly talks to W. Russell Neuman, a specialist in new media and digital education at NYU - whose career has also taken him to MIT and the White House - to discuss his new book “Evolutionary Intelligence: How Technology Will Make Us Smarter.”

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Forbes: 13 ‘Right’ Ways For Leaders To Set Expectations With Employees

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Forbes: 13 ‘Right’ Ways For Leaders To Set Expectations With Employees

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If leaders want employees to maximize productivity, get projects completed on time and accurately, and help the business thrive, they must ensure that every team member understands exactly what is expected of them. However, setting clear expectations is sometimes easier said than done within a busy organization, and there are "right" ways and "wrong" ways to do so.

Whether they're unintentionally unclear, expect too much, or come across as micromanaging, a lot can go wrong when a leader tries to clarify for employees what is going to be expected of them in their roles. Below, members of Forbes Coaches Council weigh in to discuss 13 "right" ways to set expectations with employees.

Members of Forbes Coaches Council share smart ways for leaders to set expectations with their employees.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. Provide Clarity, Context And Alignment
Setting expectations is critical in leadership, and research shows many executives are missing the mark on this key element. When setting expectations with employees, it is important to give context. Knowing the "why" and how they play an integral role in the bigger picture not only creates buy-in but also allows for greater commitment to the work, to the team and to reaching the goal. Clarity, context and alignment are key. - Jackie Insinger, Insinger Insights
2. Speak In Plain Words That Uplift
Feedback sessions are so important, and the manner of the conversation is critical for ensuring alignment between the messaging that is meant to be delivered versus the messaging that is perceived. If it is perceived incorrectly, employees stumble. Communicate in language and words that are not easily misjudged or confused by speaking plainly while also being mindful about using words that uplift rather than subvert. Allow for pauses and opportunities for Q&A. - Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory
3. Ask Rather Than Tell
How would you feel if you didn't have clarity around what was expected of you? How committed would you be to meeting an expectation that you co-created versus an expectation that was thrust upon you? How would you feel if your manager trusted you to make these sorts of decisions? Leaders who adopt a coaching approach and ask rather than tell will get more buy-in and commitment from their people. - Jim Livingstone, Northpoint
4. Understand What Success Looks Like
The right way to set expectations with employees is to understand what success looks like for them. Then, align that vision with the expectations of their management and job responsibility. High performance can be achieved with constant communication and feedback amongst the parties as long as all stakeholders have a common denominator of achieving high performance and meeting a shared goal. - Michelle Perchuk, MTV Coaching

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
5. Be Open About What Expectations Are, And Why
The "right" way to set expectations with employees is to be open about what those expectations are, and why. Tell the employee how the expectation helps the leader be a better leader to the employee and team. Most times, employees appreciate expectations if they understand the reasoning behind the expectation and how it helps them. - Brandy Mabra, Savvy Clover Coaching & Consulting
6. Ensure That Expectations Are Attainable
The best way to set expectations for employees is to make the goals reachable. Expectations have to be attainable and in alignment with the mission and vision of the company in order to be beneficial. Once in alignment and attainable, ensure they are able to be reverse-engineered to achieve daily wins. These daily wins can be mutually beneficial to all parties involved. - Jon Dwoskin, The Jon Dwoskin Experience
7. Include Employees In The Expectation-Setting Process
Make it a partnership. Including the employee in the expectation-setting process is a great way to ensure commitment versus compliance. Are they clear on the expectations of the role? What are their ideas for achieving the expectations? How would they measure their performance? Throughout the process, you are building their confidence and can encourage them to set the bar higher to achieve even more. - Kimberly Svoboda, Aspiration Catalyst®
8. Ask About Employees' Personal Goals
Start by asking what the employee's personal goals are. Would they like a great bonus? A raise? A promotion? An opportunity to develop professionally? Talk to them about how meeting your expectations serves their short- and long-term career goals and how you can support them in achieving them. Let them know that their personal success is as important to you as the success of the company. - Steve McIntosh, CareerPoint.com
9. Communicate The Vision Clearly And Simply
Clearly and simply communicate the organization's vision and team goals. Break that down further to explain what each employee's role is within the team and how that funnels into team goals. Ask the employees and get their opinions on what they can deliver and what they might find challenging. Explain what other support is available to help them deliver. - Rittu Sinha, The Balanced Bandwagon
10. Explain And Prioritize KPIs From Day One
The right way to set expectations with employees is to explain the key performance indicators in their interview and prioritize them beginning on day one. Evaluate their performance weekly with positive feedback and include constructive ways to improve. Never explode when things don't turn out the way you want; own your leadership flaws. - Jacquelyn Van Tuyl, Jacquelyn Van Tuyl International
11. Invite An Honest Conversation
While having an honest conversation can be frightening, it's also what prevents problems from building into untenable pressures. People tend to avoid giving what seems like negative feedback; therefore, expectations can come across sharply or as vague instructions. Being up front with employees about everything, including what you don't know, as well ownership of responsibilities, builds both respect and trust. - Jay Rai, www.jayrai.com
12. Set The Tone With A Positive Frame Of Mind
As a leader, it is critical for you to set the tone when holding these discussions with your employees. First, ensure you are in a positive frame of mind as the leader and engage your team with a curious mindset. Second, there need to be commitments set after each meeting so that you can continue to move things forward with your team and they can continue to develop toward their full potential. - Bryan Powell, Executive Coaching Space
13. Trust People To Meet Expectations
Combine the expectations with a genuine belief that the person or team can and will accomplish what is expected, and that you, the leader, will always be available to help pave the way. Make sure they know they are not in it alone. - John Lowe, Ty Boyd, Inc.

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Council Post: 13 'Right' Ways For Leaders To Set Expectations With Employees

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Setting clear expectations is sometimes easier said than done within a busy organization, and there are "right" and "wrong" ways to do so.

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Benchmarks & Trends, Celebrating, Employee Experience, Employee Recognition, Talent Management, Thanking
A culture of recognition develops engaged and loyal employees. Making employee appreciation integral to your workplace culture can be achieved through meaningful and intentional practices.
Employee recognition has long been a cornerstone of effective management. But today, as the competition for talent escalates, the ways organizations show that they value their employees have become more important than ever.

Creating a recognition program is a start-so if you don't have one, that's a good first step!-but great companies go further, constantly reevaluating the ways they reward employees and considering the role recognition plays in their company culture. As companies grow, this becomes even more of a challenge, and leaders must rethink the way they add value to the employee recognition experience.

What is employee recognition?

Employee recognition refers to all the ways an organization shows its appreciation for employees' contributions. It can take many forms and may or may not involve monetary compensation. Companies recognize employees for things like:

Achievements

Exhibiting desired behaviors

Going above and beyond expectations

Milestones such as tenure

Why employee recognition matters

From a very early age, we crave recognition from parents, teachers and friends. So strong is our desire for positive affirmation, particularly during developmental periods, that we can even perceive a neutral reaction as a negative one.

This continues to hold true as we move into the workplace. Employee recognition helps to:

Retain top talent

Increase employee engagement

Encourage high performance

There's something invigorating about a workplace where recognition is more than just an end-of-year event. With over 700,000 survey respondents echoing this sentiment, it's hard to argue against the data.

Our 2023 discretionary effort study found that when each employee stands an equal chance at getting a gold star for their efforts, they are 2.2 times more likely to flex their discretionary muscles and go above and beyond their regular duties.

How management recognition fuels extra effort

The story doesn't end there. The study's spotlight also fell upon those at the helm-our much-respected management. It turns out, a genuine 'thank you' from those in the corner offices can ignite a 69% increase in the likelihood of employees bringing their extra effort to the work floor.

Great Place To Work-Certified ™ company has also studied workplace dynamics and the role management plays in shaping them. They've examined employee engagement in-depth and unearthed valuable ways managers can tailor their workplaces to spur it on.

An employee survey included the question, "What is the most important thing that your manager or company currently does that would cause you to produce great work?"

Respondents answered in their own words, providing a variety of responses, but a clear pattern emerged. 37% of respondents said that more personal recognition would encourage them to produce better work more often.

Recognition emerges as a top motivator

While other themes like autonomy and inspiration surfaced, recognition was the most common theme that emerged from responses. The study showed that affirmation, feedback and reward are most effective for motivating employees to do their best work.

See the complete results in the chart below:

By narrowing in on several statements in Great Place To Work® Trust Index™ survey that measure how much employees feel recognized at work, we were able to see the impact of recognition culture on employee experience.

Great Place To Work analyzed 1.7 million employee survey responses gathered between 2018 and 2020 across small, mid-sized and large companies.

Recognition makes employees feel promotions are fair, spurs innovation and extra effort

After comparing the overall experience of employees who received recognition to those who don't, we found that recognition was strongly tied to several elements of positive company culture.

Compared to those who do not consistently feel recognized at work, people who do feel recognized at work are:

-  2.6x more likely to think that promotions are fair

-  2.2x more likely to drive innovation and bring new ideas forward

- 2.0x more likely to say people here are willing to go above and beyond

Employee appreciation is linked to higher job satisfaction

In the same Trust Index™ survey, when asked what makes their workplace "great," employees who responded positively to survey questions measuring recognition say that they are "incredibly lucky," "enjoy hanging" and that the company has "excellent integrity," "uplifting environment" and some mentioned their "career success."

Employees who don't feel recognized also struggle to describe what makes their workplace great

Conversely, employees who don't feel recognized at work responded to the same question with phrases such as "plays favoritism" and "popularity contest," indicating there isn't much that makes their workplace great. The only positive theme was "match benefits."

When asked what would make their company better, the employees who  felt unrecognized responded with phrases that indicated feelings of unfair treatment and a manipulative work environment. Words such as "rampant favoritism," "scare tactics," "stop eliminating," and "job tomorrow" were most common among the "unrecognized" group.

Employee Recognition Trends in 2023

Democratize recognition

Being recognized by one's peers can be just as meaningful as recognition that comes from the top down. It also:

Increases the number of opportunities for employees to receive recognition by widening the pool of potential recognizers

Reinforces desired behaviors without resorting to explicit, top-down direction

At software company Atlassian, the Kudos program enables team members to recognize their coworkers' hard work and achievements. An employee might receive Kudos when going above and beyond, or after completing a long project. Kudos can be accompanied by gifts ranging from gift cards to books to wine. Last year, Atlassians awarded nearly 56,000 Kudos.

Law firm Alston & Bird LLP uses its quarterly newsletter to share the ways that team members are engaging with the surrounding community.

Ally Financial's "I am an Ally" award program invites team members to nominate colleagues for their contributions and impact, whether their work affects customers, internal teams, or specific individuals. Internal feedback has shown the popularity of this program and its impact on employee motivation.

By putting the power to recognize in everyone's hands, you can create a sustainable, authentic source of employee recognition.

Celebrate major achievements - but don't forget the small wins

You might find that it's easier to recognize employees in some departments or roles than in others. This might be because their work is closely related to a major company initiative or KPI, or because what they produce is more visible than the work done in other departments.

It's great to celebrate these big wins! Just don't forget about celebrating those smaller or less obvious successes, too.

Recognizing employees whose work doesn't naturally call attention to itself can help reinforce their sense of purpose at work, a key driver of employee retention.

Hilcorp Energy Company recently recognized the importance of celebrating small successes. The oil and gas producer already had a "Big Wins" program that regularly celebrated successes in both the office and the field. But while this program created a lot of employee recognition opportunities, Hilcorp leadership realized that it was overlooking critical successes that weren't necessarily as large or flashy as the Big Wins. So the company changed the program to "Hilcorp Win" and began celebrating a mix of large and small victories.

Wegmans Food Markets recognizes stores and employees for their contributions to the company winning awards, generating customer compliments, and living the company's values, but they also make a point to highlight achievements that might otherwise fly under the radar. Wegmans recognizes stores for having the highest recycling rate, the fewest workplace safety claims, and the best food safety assessments.

When designing or updating your employee recognition program, consider what critical but easy-to-overlook areas of your organization you can make a note to celebrate.

How to create a meaningful employee recognition culture: 5 keys to meaningful employee recognition programs

Many Great Place To Work® clients, even those with strong company cultures, face challenges when it comes to team and individual employee recognition.

While there is no universal program for every organization, all managers can use these five key elements of meaningful employee recognition.

1. Be specific, be relevant

Recognition is more meaningful when tied to a specific accomplishment or business objective. When recognizing employees, explaining what the recognition is for help employees relate the recognition to their behavior. This encourages continued strong performance.

Authentic appreciation is also tailored to the individual. Which of the  five languages of appreciation in the workplace you choose to express should depend on what people prefer.

2. Be timely

Recognition that arrives months after the fact isn't nearly as meaningful as recognition received promptly.

The longer it takes for managers to recognize employees, the less likely employees will see the affirmations as authentic. Make employee recognition a priority and have formal recognition systems in place so you can strike while the iron is hot.

3. Recognition comes in many shapes and sizes

There is a great deal of  research that indicates people are motivated by more than just cold hard cash. It is also important to note that everyone has their own preference or style when it comes to giving and receiving appreciation.

Get a clearer picture of the primary  language of appreciation (in a work setting) of every individual. Then, recognize them accordingly.

Beyond a bonus or a raise, consider customized gifts, taking them out for dinner or other acts that show employees their reward is personalized to them.

4. Little things go a long way

While it's crucial to recognize major accomplishments, don't overlook the power of the everyday thank-you to motivate employees.

Writing handwritten notes, or using the intranet to promote the good behaviors of individuals, can help instill a regular culture of employee recognition. These thank-yous and shout-outs don't have to come from managers alone; some employees may find recognition more motivating when it comes from their peers rather than from leadership.

5. Connect to the bigger picture

Recognition helps employees see that their company values them and their contributions to the success of their team and the company overall.

This is particularly key when organizations grow or change. It helps employees build a sense of security in their value to the company, motivating them to continue great work.

Regularly share news about how the company is striving to reach the mission, and explain how individual employee goals relate to that vision.

Organizations on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list excel in employee recognition.

Here are some examples of how these winning organizations recognize and reward their employees in meaningful ways:

Examples of employee recognition

1. Make it easy for managers to celebrate employees

Global hotel chain  Hilton provides managers an annual Recognition Calendar that features 365 no- and low-cost, easy-to-implement ideas for thanking employees.

The calendar includes reminders and tips for enterprise-wide, brand and department recognition programs; appreciation best practices; important dates like International Housekeeping Week; and recognition quotes to share with employees.

It also allows users to add employee service anniversaries and local events. Users can download a print-friendly PDF or import an Outlook-friendly file into their personal calendars.

2. Make recognition a red-alert event

When clients of professional services firm Crowe respond to a satisfaction survey with the names of individuals who have gone above and beyond during projects, the survey generates a "Recognize Alert."

Crowe takes Recognize Alerts one step further with its Pay It Forward program. Individuals who were recognized can "pay it forward" to other colleagues who played important roles in serving clients but weren't mentioned in the survey response.

Crowe shares the names of both Recognize Alert and Pay It Forward recipients in Crowe Newswire On Demand so others can learn from their examples and the individuals feel appreciated.

3. Meaningful gestures of gratitude

Health care system  Texas Health Resources recognizes employees' milestone years of service at five-year increments.

At every milestone, honorees receive a beautiful customized celebratory yearbook. Each yearbook opens with a personalized congratulatory message of appreciation from the CEO. Inside, the honoree finds messages of thanks and appreciation from their manager and coworkers, as well as photos of the employee at work with their team, having fun and contributing to the mission.

Recognition is absolutely essential in a great workplace, and it doesn't need to be complicated or expensive.

Ask your employees what type of recognition is most meaningful to them. You may be surprised to find how much simple, genuine expressions of thankfulness inspire them to do their best.

Do you know if your employees feel appreciated?

We designed an employee survey - based on 30+ years of studying employee experience - to measure and track levels of employee recognition, trust, innovation, and more. Contact us about it today.

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Employee recognition is central to a thriving company culture. Here are tips for creating a successful culture of recognition!

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The best leaders are those who continue learning and growing. Leadership and management training are now mainstream ideas, with nearly 500 million search results on Google. Frequently, we hold workshops for all levels of leaders - emerging leaders, established leaders, and leaders in transition. Improv has a lot to offer.

"Yes, and" is perhaps one of the most practical and direct applications of improv in leadership and professional skills. It's also commonly misunderstood. Many people think "yes, and" means you have to agree with everything, go along with everyone, and there's absolutely no room for conflict. Incorrect! "Yes, and" is a powerful leadership tool because it allows for affirmation and collaboration: two major traits in today's leaders. So how do we incorporate "yes, and" into our professional lives?
Affirmation: The "Yes"
Saying "yes" isn't always about agreeing with someone. This is the idea I find most students struggle with in improv class. They think they have to agree with everything that's happening in a conversation or situation, or that they have to say yes to every idea. While there are merits to having a "yes" mentality, if you end up saying yes to everything, you end up with a dilution of energy and motivation as well as a lack of focus.

The "yes" in "yes, and" that can be implemented on a daily basis is centered around an affirmation of a thought or feeling.

Often times, when I'm coaching developing leaders on conflict, we act out a situation where an employee is very upset and asking for something that just isn't possible - like a raise, different hours, or a new job. The key to keeping the situation from being confrontational is to actively listen to that person and affirm his or her feelings. Say the conversation starts with an employee saying, "I need to make more money," and a raise isn't possible. If you say, "We can't do that," your employee feels shut down, angry, and most likely unappreciated. Not the best communication situation.

Now, flip the situation, and affirm their statement with, "Yes, I hear that you need to make more money." By repeating what they just said, you've affirmed that person and showed that you are listening to their needs.

But the "yes" isn't quite enough - it needs "and" to be truly effective communication.
The Addition: The "And"
"And" is a pretty simple thing to understand. It joins two or more things together. With the above example of an employee asking for more money, your response could be, "Yes, I hear that you need to make more money, but that's not possible." You've taken their feeling, affirmed it, and then shot it down by elevating the second part of that statement.

The word "but" is a huge block in conversation. I was once working at a leadership institute, teaching this exact concept, when one of the faculty members quite literally jumped in with a story of a meeting that was halted with a "but." He couldn't quite put into words why the conversation shut down, though after talking about the "but," he realized that was the reason for the dead stop. When we hear "but," we think the conversation and ideation session is over and minds are made up.

Let's head back to that conversation with an employee about pay. This time, you've responded with "Yes, I hear that you need to make more money, and that's not possible right now." The "and" opens a conversation instead of shutting it down. You could also add, "Let's talk about it," and have a conversation about the why. That, of course, opens up more communication, so be ready!
The Collaboration Of Ideas: The "Yes, And"
"Yes, and" is also effectively used in creative brainstorming conversations. Instead of having a series of stand-alone ideas, "yes, and" can lead to collaborative ideas within groups. An easy way to practice this is by using a simple tangible product - I usually use a cupcake in development sessions. After pitching my idea for a cupcake, another person will affirm my idea, then add a creative "and" to it. Another person affirms, then adds another creative "and" to that idea. It might sound something like:

Person A: I have an idea for a new cupcake.

Person B: Yes, and that cupcake will have amazing icing.

Person C: Yes, and that icing will be all natural.

Person D: Yes, and those all-natural flavors will also have all of your daily vitamins.

And so on. While this example is basic in order to express the concept, the idea can be applied in any meeting - co-workers will have to listen to one another in order to add information, and by repeating information, you're ensuring that people truly listen to one another. By modeling this behavior and transparently expressing it as a communication strategy, true collaboration can happen.

"Yes, and" aside, it's always important to actively listen to conversations and pay attention to the words you speak. A "Yes, and" can easily be written off just as much as a "but" if the intention behind the words is lacking. Yes, and those active listening skills!

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These two powerful words can change the tenor of your work conversations.

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Forbes: Seven Ways to Create a Culture of Accountability

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Forbes: Seven Ways to Create a Culture of Accountability

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Founder and Chief Culture Officer of Ideal Outcomes, Inc. Author of "Culture Spark: 5 Steps to Ignite and Sustain Organizational Growth."
If projects don't get finished on time or are not finished at all; are handled in a slipshod, unsatisfactory manner; or lead to a lot of finger-pointing among employees, there's often one root cause: a lack of accountability.
Set clear expectations.
It's a serious problem. One study of more than 5,400 upper-level managers found that accountability was their single most neglected behavior and that 46% failed to perform in this critical area.

The responsibility for accountability falls squarely on the shoulders of managers if they want to keep on top of project development. Here are seven ways I have found helpful and can allow leaders to create a culture of accountability in order to enhance their performance management.

It's essential that the desired outcome is crystal clear from day one. Employees need to be aware of the required steps to reach that goal and how performance will be measured. Discuss this directly with each individual to ensure there is full understanding - and put it in writing to reinforce that understanding.
Get mutual agreement.
A workplace accountability study by Partners in Leadership and announced in a press release found a "startling absence of clearly defined objectives." The study also discovered 85% of employees weren't even sure what their organizations are trying to achieve.

If no one knows the destination, no one is going to get there. The more clearly that managers outline expectations upfront, the less time will be wasted later reiterating and clarifying or, worse still, arguing about the lack of progress.
Provide support.
The road to achieving expectations is best traveled when there's a partnership between managers and employees. Establish realistic targets and get a commitment to attain them so members of your team have ownership.
Monitor progress.
One way to do this is by showing employees how their involvement contributes to the company's big picture success as well as their personal benefit through a rewards and recognition program. If you give the employee the opportunity to come up with their own solutions, you share the responsibility and increase the likelihood of a positive outcome.
Give feedback.
Don't just set the employee loose without providing the tools that they need to accomplish their tasks. Accountability is a two-way street, and providing support is the manager's side of the bargain. Make sure that they have all of the resources that they need, including the ability to reach out to you for answers to any stumbling blocks.
Analyze effectiveness.
As projects develop, it's important to track progress so that you can course-correct as necessary during a time when it is easier to implement changes. This is where specific short-term goals, as well as a specific ultimate goal, are valuable. For instance, instead of simply telling someone they need to step up their number of customer service calls, tell them they need to interact with at least 200 people.

Let your employees know what they're doing right as well as what they're doing wrong each step of the way. Objective feedback opens the door for action-oriented discussions that get results. Feedback develops people who are accountable, boosts motivation and generates productivity. It's essential. Without it, employees can easily veer off track.
Be compassionate.
Review how you have handled the process to check how successful you have been. It's fundamental for long-term success to make sure you have the right methods in place. It's also a great way to keep you accountable.

One way to keep yourself accountable is to acknowledge any mistakes you have made. If you explain what you did wrong and how you corrected the situation, you will instill trust in your leadership.

Finally, while holding people accountable frequently means putting their feet to the fire, you shouldn't burn them in the process.

The Covid-19 pandemic has stretched and stressed everyone to the max and, along the way, often led to a more understanding and compassionate workplace. You can maintain that environment by talking through the challenges of a project, helping them appreciate how they've grown as a result and emphasizing that you're always available to help them.

Accountability is vital for a company's growth. If you don't hold employees accountable you create a culture of mediocrity. Adopting a policy in which - in partnership - everyone on the team strives to meet stated goals creates instead a positive, rewarding culture in which everyone is proud of the part they play.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

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seven ways to create a culture of accountability

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Council Post: Seven Ways To Create A Culture Of Accountability

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The responsibility for accountability falls squarely on the shoulders of managers if they want to keep on top of project development.

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The Brainy Business | A More Beautiful Question

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The Brainy Business | A More Beautiful Question

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200. A More Beautiful Question with Warren Berger

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Listen to this episode from The Brainy Business on Spotify. Today I am very excited to introduce you to Warren Berger. If you know me at all, you probably know what a big deal this is for me. Warren wrote my very favorite book, A More Beautiful Question.

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Webcast: Upskill Your Workforce to Navigate Difficult Conversations | Exclusive Live Webcast

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Free Webinar: Franklin Covey| Navigating Difficult Conversations 

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Free Webinar: Franklin Covey| Navigating Difficult Conversations 

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Help your workforce shift from the tension of difficult conversations to making progress on important issues.

According to a recent study, 65% of people worry about how the other person will react to having a difficult conversation. It's common for people to avoid difficult conversations or handle them poorly because they feel unprepared or afraid to address challenging issues.

While avoiding difficult conversations may lead to temporary relief, the true underlying issues persist, eventually building into larger problems. Growth happens in effectively addressing challenging issues-both for individuals and organizations.

During this 60-minute complimentary webcast, learn how your workforce can:

Set a clear and collaborative tone from the start of the conversation.

Notice emotions in themselves and others that may impact the conversation.

Respond to emotional reactions in the moment to keep the conversation productive.

Register today to help your people become better equipped with the mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets needed to navigate difficult conversations.

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Webcast: Upskill Your Workforce to Navigate Difficult Conversations | Exclusive Live Webcast

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Register today to help your people become better equipped with the mindsets, skillsets, and toolsets needed to navigate difficult conversations.

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How loyalty died in the American workplace

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Business Insider: How Loyalty Died in the American Workplace

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Business Insider: How Loyalty Died in the American Workplace

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In the two years I've been writing about Americans' changing relationship to work, there's one theme that's come up over and over again: loyalty. Whether my stories are about quiet quitting, or job-hopping, or leveraging a job offer from a competitor to force your boss to give you a raise, readers seem to divide into two groups. On one side are the bosses and tenured employees, the boomers and Gen Xers. Kids these days, they gripe. Do they have no loyalty? On the other side are the younger rank-and-file employees, the millennials and Gen Zers, who feel equally aggrieved. Why should I be loyal to my company when my company isn't loyal to me?

I knew it would happen again the other month, when I was reporting on white-collar workers who secretly juggle multiple full-time jobs. Overemployment, as the phenomenon is known, violates society's implicit norms of loyalty to one's employer more flagrantly than anything else I've encountered. But when I asked these overemployed professionals whether they felt bad that they were essentially cheating on their bosses, they were unapologetic. "My parents told me, 'Don't switch companies, grow in one company, be loyal to one company, and they'll be loyal to you,'" one guy told me. "That may have been true in their days, but it definitely isn't today anymore."

After the story's publication, I decided to dig deeper into the concept of loyalty. Where did this norm come from? Is it true that loyalty no longer pays? Was there a time when it did? And why does everybody get so fired up about it? At the moment, there's an overwhelming sense that work - and the underlying relationship between employers and employees - is fundamentally broken. Some people chalk it up to the discontents of the return-to-office wars. But I think the anger runs much deeper. Neither employers nor employees feel they're getting what they expect from the other.

It turns out there's a whole body of research around these questions. It focuses on what organizational psychologists call the psychological contract - the set of things that employees and employers believe they owe each other and are owed in return. Many of these beliefs are societal in scope. Others emerge from personal experiences on the job. But for the psychological contract to hold up, you need both mutuality (both parties have a shared understanding of expectations) and reciprocity (both parties believe they're getting a fair deal). Do that, and you generate the kind of trust and loyalty that leads to high productivity and low turnover. Fail to do that and - well, that's where we find ourselves right now. A world in which the psychological contract is profoundly broken.

There was a time when the psychological contract between employers and employees seemed unbreakable. In the three decades following World War II, as Rick Wartzman documents in his book "The End of Loyalty," a booming economy made American companies rich. Companies, in turn, shared that wealth with employees, both through hefty raises and through an extraordinary expansion of benefits. Companies began providing health insurance, which used to be a rare perk. They introduced profit-sharing programs and pension plans. They offered managers extensive training, along with opportunities to climb the corporate ladder. Kodak, which had an 18-hole golf course and a 300,000-square-foot recreation center for employees, sponsored everything from picnics and baseball games to bridge and badminton. "Kodak justified its considerable spending on these pursuits," Wartzman writes, "as good for employer and employee alike."

But the biggest perk of all was a sense of security. Blue-collar workers faced seasonal layoffs, but it was customary for companies to recall those workers when business picked up. Companies like Kodak went even further, delaying the implementation of new technology until it could figure out how to retrain and transfer any workers who would be displaced. And for white-collar professionals, layoffs and firings were rare. "You might not advance as far as you hoped," Wartzman writes of managers at GE during the 1950s. "You might be shoved to another part of the company where, it was perceived, you could do less harm. But you had to mess up pretty badly to get tossed out completely." Surveys, Wartzman found, showed that "nearly 100 percent" of managers thought their employers offered good job security - and that three-quarters felt "good" or "very good" about their organizations.

That feeling persisted for several decades. "When I was teaching in the 1970s and in the early 1980s, that notion of job security as a fundamental feature of employment was taken for granted," says Denise Rousseau, the academic who coined the concept of the psychological contract. Today, disillusioned workers might assume that the norm of workplace loyalty was nothing but a capitalistic ruse, a way for companies to exploit their employees. But it's not hard to see why so many workers and managers felt a genuine commitment to their companies during the decades of American prosperity. Their employers were good to them, so it made sense for them to be good to their employers.

What changed was globalization. Threatened by overseas competition, American businesses began exporting jobs and "downsizing" their domestic workforces. A new management philosophy was born - one that was neither mutual nor reciprocal. "They don't treat people relationally," says Rousseau, who's a professor of organizational behavior and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. "They treat people transactionally and as fungible, as easily substituted one to the next." One by one, long-established incentives for employee loyalty fell by the wayside. Companies replaced pensions with 401(k)s, forced employees to shoulder a greater share of healthcare premiums, scrapped supplemental health insurance for retirees, and started relying on external hires rather than training and promoting from within. Even worse, during the Great Resignation, employers effectively employees for their loyalty, offering sky-high salaries to attract job candidates while neglecting their existing staff. As I reported in 2022, veteran employees received salaries that were 7% lower, on average, than new hires.

Still, employees were slow to shed the expectation of loyalty. The unspoken reality is that many of us still feel we should be loyal to our bosses. Why else does the prospect of, say, shopping around for job offers feel a little icky? Even if we know that layoffs happen to other people, we don't really think they'll happen to us. Instead, we cling to the belief that there's reciprocity in the workplace - that we'll be taken care of as long as we do what our employer asks of us.

One person who believed this was a guy I'll call Mark. He always met his deadlines and his performance goals, and his clients loved his work. But in 2016, his company laid him off after it decided to pursue a new business model. What added insult to injury was that the company kept the one employee Mark managed - someone he had suggested hiring - because her salary was cheaper. His boss apologized, telling him that the layoffs had nothing to do with him. It was just business.

"I felt betrayed," Mark told me. "I thought it was unfair. I did everything I was expected to do." But then he had an epiphany - that employers no longer shared his expectation of loyalty. "I kind of grew up and realized it's just how things are," he said. "You can do everything and people could still fire you for no reason at all." Now, he understands the new norm: "I'm always expecting that every job I have, I could be fired tomorrow."

This disillusionment is what academics call a psychological-contract violation. When the contract holds, good things happen. But when it breaks, people find a way to even the scales. They make sure they're not putting in more than they're going to get. They resolve to never get burned again. For Mark, this meant accepting freelance gigs on top of his full-time job, and then taking on multiple full-time jobs at once. Today, he juggles three full-time roles and a few freelance clients. When it comes to loyalty, he's an employer's worst nightmare - because he has none.

Others have adapted in different ways. Maybe they refuse to sacrifice their nights and weekends to meet a deadline. Or they switch jobs every few months, in search of a higher paycheck. Or they use employee training programs at work to load up on professional certifications, as a way to increase their appeal to other employers.

"By not being loyal to employees," Rousseau says, "organizations have failed to realize that they're not going to get loyalty in return."

Many employers have responded to the loss of loyalty not by trying to repair the psychological contract, but by cracking down on anyone they view as a traitor. Some have enacted unofficial policies to never hire back a former employee. Others are using surveillance software to track employee keystrokes in an effort to catch workers who are coasting on company time. Most egregiously, a few are even suing quitters using contract clauses known, ironically, as - training repayment agreement provisions that require workers who leave a job before a specified date to reimburse their employer for training costs.

Last year, I reported that the unprecedented rise in remote work was prompting employers to further shred the psychological contract, opting to hire contractors, temps, and part-timers over full-time employees. Work from home, in fact, has played a major role in disrupting the traditional bond between employers and employees. Being away from the office prompts employees to emotionally distance themselves from their jobs - and makes it easier for employers to ignore their needs. "I do hear this from companies," says Nick Bloom, a professor at Stanford University who's an expert on remote work. "The more remote someone is, the more transactional it feels."

What we have now is a vicious cycle of broken promises. The result is a workplace that none of us wants: one where no one feels they owe anyone anything.

What we have now is a vicious cycle of broken promises - companies cutting back on benefits and job security, workers cutting back on hours and effort. The result is a workplace that none of us wants: one where no one feels they owe anyone anything.

But there is another way. "There's a pretty large set of progressive companies that have realized the old times aren't coming back," says Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at University College London. "They say: 'Whoever caused it doesn't really matter as a business. We just need to operate effectively.' And that doesn't mean taking the non-trusting path." As in any relationship, the key to rebuilding trust is to stop fighting over who started the problem and start focusing on fixing it.

One example: Klotz studies "alumni programs" that employers have set up to stay in touch with and offer networking opportunities to former staff. The programs aren't selfless - they arise out of a recognition that former employees sometimes turn into clients and customers, a situation that's common in management consulting. Former employees also represent a ready talent pool in the event they decide to come back. Some organizations are so friendly to their quitters, Klotz says, that a quarter of their workforce consists of boomerangs. Alumni programs represent a small but meaningful way of restoring the psychological contract with employees. Employers recognize that they can't guarantee to keep employees around forever - but they can tell those who leave that they're always welcome back. It's not lifetime employment, but it encourages a lifelong relationship.

I've been thinking about other ways employers and employees could renegotiate the terms of their frayed relationship. It's hard to imagine any company promising total job security these days. But they could be more up front when the business sours and offer voluntary buyouts before they resort to layoffs. They could offer meaningful opportunities for learning and development, not the canned training videos that no one watches. They could consider internal candidates for new openings before they look elsewhere, and conduct regular salary reviews to make sure they're not penalizing their veterans for sticking around.

In return, employees could give their bosses a new kind of loyalty. I'm not talking about returning to the old hustle-culture model that required workers to sacrifice everything for the company. But the new loyalty would recognize that employees have to uphold their end of the bargain. That includes things like stepping up when the business needs it, being a creative and productive member of the team, and riding out temporary waves of discontent instead of jumping ship at the first hint of trouble.

Ultimately, though, the psychological contract can't be reduced to a simple ledger - a cool, calculated weighing of what we as employees give on one side, and what we get on the other. "It's not tit for tat," Rousseau says. "It's more, 'the way you've treated me and the things you've asked of me' creates beliefs about how we should relate to each other in the future, because of the obligations we feel party to." In other words, mutuality and reciprocity create trust - and trust generates loyalty.

Consider Mark, the guy who started juggling three full-time jobs after he was laid off. Given his disillusionment, I assumed he'd give each of his employers the bare minimum - aiming for a threshold of "meets expectations," but rejecting any pressure to go above and beyond. Not necessarily so, he tells me. It depends, he says, on how his bosses at each of his companies treat him.

"If somebody respects me as a person, if they show me that they value the work that I do, if they show me that the work that I do has impact, then I'm going to go the extra mile for them," he says. "I'm not going to give it the 80% I would usually give for a company I'm working for. I'm going to give them 90 or 100%."

It surprised me that someone who's so flagrantly breaking the traditional rules of loyalty - secretly working three full-time jobs! - could still be motivated to give it his all. It surprised me even more that the salary he earns from each of his jobs has very little to do with that calculus. Ultimately, we're social creatures, and as in any relationship - even in one like work, which at its most basic terms is an exchange of labor for money - the most disillusioned of us still seek something more than a financial transaction. We want to be seen as people, not as line items - and employers can take the first step to repairing the psychological contract by recognizing that simple truth. And if they do it fully and faithfully enough, maybe we can begin to forge a healthier workplace dynamic - one in which loyalty, and the benefits that accompany it, flows both ways.
is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

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How loyalty died in the American workplace

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Why work feels so broken right now - and how it can be repaired

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Gallup: How Effective Feedback Fuels Performance

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Gallup: How Effective Feedback Fuels Performance

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by Denise McLain and Bailey Nelson

Story Highlights

Employees who receive regular feedback are more engaged

Effective feedback is timely and relevant

Great managers use feedback to create a development-focused culture

"How am I doing?" "Did that go well?" "What could I do differently next time?"
Employees are hungry for feedback from their leaders, managers and peers. They want to gain insights that advance their abilities and future potential. And more than ever, feedback is pivotal for engaging employees: Gallup data show that when employees strongly agree they received "meaningful feedback" in the past week, they are almost four times more likely than other employees to be engaged.

Bar graph showing that when employees strongly agree they received "meaningful feedback" in the past week, they are almost four times more likely than other employees to be engaged.

Yet with business moving at warp speed, it's tempting to move on to the next task or objective after a client presentation or a busy shift. But meaningful feedback doesn't hinder performance -- it fuels it.

The operative word here is meaningful: Not all feedback is equal. In Gallup's experience with clients, feedback is often a lengthy employee-manager discussion that requires pre-work for managers to rate the employee's performance over recent months. In today's fast-paced world, this scenario is impractical, ineffective and difficult to execute.

A more meaningful -- and approachable -- way to give feedback is quickly and frequently, which is why organizations might find it helpful to rebrand their approach to "Fast Feedback."

The Fast Feedback approach makes giving feedback easier and more straightforward for managers, who often find the activity intimidating and overwhelming. When feedback is easy and commonplace, everyone can feel at ease and walk away knowing what and how to improve. And as Fast Feedback becomes part of the norm, a culture of meaningful feedback -- the ultimate goal -- will emerge.

The benefits of a culture of meaningful feedback are numerous. A work environment where feedback is fast and frequent:

Supports agility: Fast Feedback energizes employees and enables teams to make real-time, on-the-fly performance adjustments that create a competitive edge.

Inspires excellence: Employees are 3.6 times more likely to strongly agree that they are motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily (vs. annual) feedback.

Retains talent: Employees today are looking for purpose-driven work and a manager who acknowledges and accelerates their progress.

In our experience, many organizations know continuous feedback is best but struggle with activating the ongoing behaviors needed to achieve it at scale. So, they stick to traditional approaches (like annual reviews) in which managers delay feedback until they find the "right time."

Leaders can address this problem by cultivating a culture where feedback is frequently and effectively exchanged. Our work with clients reveals the smartest first step: empowering your managers to give inspiring feedback.

The Manager's Central Role in a Feedback Culture

Managers who continually listen, ask questions, gain context and promote dialogue have progressed to a coaching mindset. These best-in-class managers use ongoing conversations to deliver energizing feedback that celebrates successes and calibrates performance.

How Managers Can Give Meaningful and Fast Feedback

Based on Gallup's science, here's what distinguishes feedback that's time-consuming from Fast Feedback that drives outcomes.

Meaningful feedback is frequent.
Effective feedback has an expiration date. Feedback should be a common occurrence -- for most jobs, a few times per week. People remember their most recent experiences best, so feedback is most valuable when it occurs immediately after an action.

Managers should maintain an ongoing dialogue with employees -- using conversations that offer timely, in-the-moment feedback that's inspiring, instructive and actionable. For example, a manager might conclude a team meeting with a comment about how much they appreciated the team coming to the meeting with well-thought-out ideas on the new initiative. The manager's comment highlights the benefits of the team's preparation and suggests strategies for making the next meeting even more efficient.

Best-in-class managers use ongoing conversations to deliver energizing feedback that celebrates successes and calibrates performance.

The best managers also prioritize active listening, making feedback a two-way street rather than simply declaring their subjective observations. When a manager asks an employee about their perspective, the employee is more likely to own their part, become an outstanding collaborator and do what's best for the organization.

Meaningful feedback is focused.
Ineffective feedback is vague and doesn't inform change. For instance, ranking all team members on the same general measures won't capture each individual's unique strengths and day-to-day work.

The best managers individualize feedback to employees' natural talents and performance needs. They ensure feedback is relevant to the individual's contributions and the organization's purpose -- showing employees how their day-to-day efforts influence the big picture.

When feedback is focused, it feels fair and authentic to employees because it's reflective of their contributions and within their ability to control. And by clarifying expectations, managers help employees aim their efforts toward the right goals and KPIs.

Meaningful feedback is future-oriented.
Harping on an employee's prior blunders is anything but motivating. Managers can inspire growth by emphasizing the current moment and what's ahead -- recognizing employees' accomplishments and removing roadblocks for tomorrow. What can we do to get even better? How can we prepare for the future? What did you learn from this phase?

That's not to say managers shouldn't acknowledge the past: Reflection facilitates learning. Top talent workers aren't looking only for "feel-good" feedback -- they want to be pushed to be their best.

The best managers individualize feedback to employees' natural talents and performance needs.

Managers can address shortcomings in a constructive manner by focusing on discernable behaviors rather than employees' characteristics. They must keep employee development as their goal.

Here's an example:

Unhelpful feedback: "That client presentation you gave last quarter really hurt us ... honestly, I'm not sure we can recover the relationship."

Meaningful feedback (right after the presentation or later that day): "How do you think the presentation went? I noticed that the client had a few questions that seemed to indicate they were not following along. What can we do next time to overcome that?"

Leaders Need to Create a Development-Focused, Performance-Oriented Culture

Here are three actions leaders should take today to create an atmosphere in which meaningful feedback resounds:
1. Transform your managers into coaches.
Coaching is a unique skill set that managers need to cultivate. Fortunately, the right manager development demystifies coaching and evolves a manager's mindset -- giving them exactly what they need to become coaching aficionados who provide excellent feedback.
2. Adjust your management practices and performance metrics.
It's time to abandon annual reviews in favor of the five coaching conversations that are scientifically shown to improve performance. Leaders should assess their current performance management approach, then implement the necessary changes to shift to feedback-rich performance development.
3. Become a feedback evangelist.
In a development-focused work culture, feedback isn't a one-way, top-down event. Individuals, managers and leaders should all give and receive feedback -- showing appreciation for one another's efforts through an honest, open, ongoing dialogue. Peer-to-peer feedback strengthens relationships and cross-departmental collaboration.

Leaders should take the first step: Model the behaviors you want your managers to display by sharing "Fast Feedback" with them. Help your managers provide meaningful feedback by prioritizing manager development. Then watch as your feedback culture accelerates workplace productivity and engagement.

Build a development-focused culture that values feedback.

Subscribe to the Gallup at Work newsletter to get our latest insights and advice delivered to your inbox.

Discover what your organizational culture means to your employees and customers.

Learn more about the impact engaged employees have on an organization.

Author(s)

Denise McLain is a Senior Strategic Consultant and Practice Expert at Gallup.
Iseult Morgan contributed to this article.

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Employees crave feedback, and they don't need a special occasion to hear it. Learn how to give meaningful feedback in a few minutes.

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The Knowledge Project: Warren Berger | Improving the Questions You Ask

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The Knowledge Project: Warren Berger | Improving the Questions You Ask

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#26 Warren Berger: Improving The Questions You Ask

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Listen to this episode from The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish on Spotify. The quality of your outcome depends on the quality of your questions. Through asking the right questions we can spark innovation and creativity, gain deeper knowledge in the topics that are most important to us, and propel us forward in our personal and professional pursuits.

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MasterClass: George Stephanopolous | Ask the Right Questions

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MasterClass: George Stephanopolous | Ask the Right Questions

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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Don't second-guess what "distracts" you, says actor-producer Yara Shahidi; that's your curiosity coming through. The star of hit shows like "black-ish" and "grown-ish" tells how she learned to spot clues to her own future - and how you can, too.

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Book of Beautiful Questions - Question Index

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Book of Beautiful Questions - Question Index

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FastCompany: 4 Types of Clutter The Stops You From Achieving Your Purpose

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FastCompany: 4 Types of Clutter The Stops You From Achieving Your Purpose

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4 types of clutter that stop you from achieving your purpose

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Not all clutter is physical. But all types can impact your ability to be productive.

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NYTimes: The Beauty of a ‘Walk and Talk’

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NYTimes: The Beauty of a ‘Walk and Talk’

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Taking a stroll with someone is a wonderful way to strengthen your social connections.

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HBR: Using “Digital Academies” to Close the Skills Gap

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HBR: Using “Digital Academies” to Close the Skills Gap

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"Digital academies" are among the most successful approaches to closing the digital skills gap. These initiatives are specific to the company's culture and narrative, are highly experiential and considerate of organizational team dynamics, and reach across the enterprise. Using DuPont's digital academy as a model, companies should design their own internal upskilling programs to serve broad employee segments, include experiential elements, encourage continuous engagement, and prioritize flexibility.

Today, the problem most companies face in executing their digital transformation is not access to technologies but a shortage of workers with digital and data science skills. The demand is growing faster than the supply. In other words, recruitment can only get your company so far. To get the rest of the way, companies need to commit to training and upskilling, giving employees opportunities to learn about technologies - and room to experiment (and fail) with them.

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Using "Digital Academies" to Close the Skills Gap

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"Digital academies" are among the most successful approaches to closing the digital skills gap. These initiatives are specific to the company's culture and narrative, are highly experiential and considerate of organizational team dynamics, and reach across the enterprise.

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The Open Interview Index is a question bank of useful questions to leverage when interviewing so that you can get strong signal on the state of company culture and whether it's likely to be a good match for what you're looking for.

How to use this Interview Index

‍ Greetings from Open Org 👋

We've curated and pulled together some of the most spicy 🌶️, authentic and hard-hitting questions we can find to help you in your search for your next role.

Why? Open Org spends our time working with companies to be more open & transparent.

But we have a long way to go, and part of that mission includes equipping candidates & applicants with the right questions they can take to employers to also encourage some deeper level of transparency in the hiring process.

👉You can filter the below questions based on the 'probes on' tags by hovering over the top of the table and hitting 'filter' in the top right

👉We've included a quick 'why ask' section in case you need some clarity on the purpose of the question

Some high level guidance on general Red Flags (🚩) & Green Flags (🟢) to be aware of when asking these questions...

🚩 Vague or Fluffy answers to these questions should be probed on further. If your gut tells you it's vague and hasn't hit the mark, the follow up and, dig deeper and ask for an example

🚩 Defensive answers, or refusal to answer should be a flag on how open & transparent this business is, and whether there are some deeper issues associated with the topic you asked about

🚩 Inability to answer could be a signal that the interviewer doesn't know because the information isn't shared with them. This could signal poor communication or transparency internally.

🟢 Clear, concise ability to answer in depth, including any follow up questions you pose

🟢 Able to comfortably answer questions you ask without suggesting that 'they aren't sure' or 'you'd need to ask someone else' - This signals some positive levels of communication and transparency

🟢 Honesty, and preparedness to talk about failings, flaws, and imperfections within the business. They share where improvements could be made, what they don't do well, and harsh realities

‍

‍ Please Note: This is intended to be open-source, so we welcome contributions to this if you feel you have valuable questions to add! Please add them in as a comment.

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The Open Interview Index is a question bank of useful questions to leverage when interviewing so that you can get strong signal on the state of company culture and whether it's likely to be a good match for what you're looking for.

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HBR: How to Create Your "Year in Review"

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HBR: How to Create Your "Year in Review"

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While the reality of work can feel especially overwhelming at the end of the year, reflection is the key to doing things differently in the year to come. Taking the time to pause and review your year increases your self-awareness and provides insights to improve. The authors present three steps to conduct your own learning “year in review.”

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WSJ: What’s the Best Time to Eat Dinner? Here’s the Math

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WSJ: What’s the Best Time to Eat Dinner? Here’s the Math

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WSJ: The  Reason the Office Isn't Fun Anymore

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WSJ: The  Reason the Office Isn't Fun Anymore

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NYTimes: Robots Learn, Chatbots Visualize: How 2024 Will Be A.I.'s 'Leap Forward'

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NYTimes: Robots Learn, Chatbots Visualize: How 2024 Will Be A.I.'s 'Leap Forward'

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Robots Learn, Chatbots Visualize: How 2024 Will Be A.I.’s ‘Leap Forward’

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A.I. is set to advance at a rapid rate, becoming more powerful and spreading into the physical world.

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The Strategist: This Absurd Desk Timer Is the Only Reason I Get Anything Done

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The Strategist: This Absurd Desk Timer Is the Only Reason I Get Anything Done

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Attention span? No thanks, haven't seen it in years. Let's blame phones and screens, though I guess I could blame my unwillingness to do anything about it.

Until now. In an attempt to reclaim my focus so that I could continue to do things like work for a living, I ordered every imaginable timer off Amazon. There were some cuties in the mix, and some with interfaces so bizarre and alienating I couldn't even figure them out.

Only one stood out to become an important part of my life.

The Mooas Dodecagon Mini Timer has, as advertised, 12 faces. You press the power button until it beeps if you want the timer to beep; press that button 'til it buzzes if you want it to buzz. Then you put the number of minutes you want to time face up(there are 11 options, ranging from one to 90 minutes), and it sits there. Timing you.

Judging. Watching. Waiting. Maybe supporting! It has a little blue light when it's timing, and that light is saying, "Yes, you can. You can answer one more email! You can write one more paragraph! This too shall pass!"

Timers, people who similarly struggle will know, are a key of the Pomodoro technique. (The "technique" is that you write for 25 minutes and then you fuck off for five minutes, then you do it again.) Naturally, one side of this cute li'l polygon is for 25-minute intervals.

The thing is, it works. Some days I can do anything for five minutes, some days I can do anything for an hour. That's between me and my timer.

The Mooas Dodecagon is also cute. As a total desk queen (ask me about my unhinged split keyboard!), it fits right in with my aesthetic absurdity. It also comes in blue and orange, and if the timer seems appealing,this company makes a lot of other weird, cheap, cute stuff.

Does it have spyware, like TikTok or the U.S. government? Maybe! Do I care? I don't - and now, our time is up.
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.

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This Absurd Desk Timer Is the Only Reason I Get Anything Done

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'New York' editor Choire Sicha reviews the $25 timer, the Mooas Dodecagon Time Ball Timer, he bought on Amazon that he now uses daily to keep himself on track.

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MasterClass: Enact a Learning Mindset for Innovation

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MasterClass: Enact a Learning Mindset for Innovation

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MasterClass | Rosalind Brewer Teaches Business Innovation

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Businesswoman Rosalind Brewer teaches her approach to change on @MasterClass. Learn how to gain buy-in from your team, innovate from within, and remain true to your values.

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MasterClass: Taking Charge of Your Creative Destiny | Metallica

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MasterClass: Taking Charge of Your Creative Destiny | Metallica

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Metallica gives parting advice on how to embrace the challenge in your journey, harness collaborative energy, and take risks as you keep an eye on the possibilities just around the corner.

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Ted: Why the Secret to Success is Setting the Right Goals

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Ted: Why the Secret to Success is Setting the Right Goals

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John Doerr: Why the secret to success is setting the right goals

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Our leaders and institutions are failing us, but it's not always because they're bad or unethical, says venture capitalist John Doerr -- often, it's simply because they're leading us toward the wrong objectives.

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The New Way We Work Podcast: How to Make Performance Reviews Less Tedious & More Useful

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The New Way We Work Podcast: How to Make Performance Reviews Less Tedious & More Useful

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How to make performance reviews less tedious and more useful

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Listen to this episode from The New Way We Work on Spotify. The end of the year brings a lot of office traditions: holiday parties, year-end bonuses if you're lucky, and often performance reviews.

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The New Way We Work Podcast: Science-based Ways to Help Boost EI at Work

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The New Way We Work Podcast: Science-based Ways to Help Boost EI at Work

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Science-based ways to help boost emotional intelligence at work

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Forbes: 3 Ways Managers Can Use A.I. to Supercharge Their Teams

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Forbes: 3 Ways Managers Can Use A.I. to Supercharge Their Teams

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Managers must evolve from supervisor to coach in the age of AI.
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​​In the United States alone, the McKinsey Global Institute estimated that 12 million jobs will be lost to AI by 2030. It is no wonder that so many people are questioning their future careers and pondering what it will take to be successful.

Yet AI can also help create novel business ventures, which generate even more employment opportunities and a demand for unique skills. Job roles are being transformed, and that demands a reevaluation of a manager's responsibilities. In the age of AI, managers must evolve from supervisor to coach, helping their teams learn, explore, and navigate AI-driven opportunities and stay successful.

When no one is quite sure of the right playbook, the AI-powered workplace calls for a more supportive leadership approach. Managers must now help others navigate a world where job roles are fluid, skill demands constantly evolving, and employee well-being and adaptability take center stage. Fortunately, science offers evidenced based strategies for managers to hone their leadership skills and coach their teams in the age of AI.

Embrace Your Own Vulnerability As A Strength

Showing vulnerability isn't a sign of weakness. Research in 2023 by Harvard professor Amy Edmonson showed that when managers are open about their own challenges and learning processes, it fosters trust and a culture of continuous learning. In the AI era, where everyone is learning together and experts are few and far between, faking it is not the answer. Admitting you don't know invites input, which leads to more engaged and cohesive teams. Team members feel that everyone is on the same boat, and become comfortable sharing their ideas and feedback.

Focus On Questions, Not Answers

Managers are often expected to have all the answers. However, in the evolving AI landscape, managers should instead focus on stimulating critical thinking amongst the team and encouraging self-discovery in individual team members. Practicing Socratic questioning encourages team members to explore solutions, fostering innovation and adaptability. It shifts the role of the manager from a solution-provider to a facilitator of learning.

Lean Into What We Don't Know Or Don't Do Well

We often advise others to leverage their strengths, however this is a failed strategy for a world where AI strengths are scarce. The talents that helped people get here, will not help them get there. By overusing our strengths, we are at risk of the "too much of a good thing effect" and become prone to poor performance and an inability to adapt to change. By conducting an honest, on-the-table assessment of team talents (using data-driven tools, like scientific personality surveys), or conducting project post-mortems, will pinpoint areas for investment and training. Managers can then follow this up with a practical set of start, stop, and keep doing actions to keep the coaching process clear, accountable, and actionable.

For a practical example, look no further than Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, who told the Wall Street Journal in 2019 that his organization "must transition from a group of 'know-it-all's to a group of 'learn-it-all's'." Fast-forward five years, Microsoft is now leading the AI revolution. Their agile, future-focused approach is the result of a culture whereby managers model a growth mindset and are invested in coaching their employees to forge new paths.

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3 Ways Managers Can Use AI To Supercharge Their Teams

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In the age of AI, managers must evolve from supervisor to coach, helping their teams learn, explore, and navigate AI-driven opportunities and stay successful.

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To be successful, CEOs must articulate a compelling vision, align people around it, and motivate them to execute it. But there’s one thing that can make or break them: how they respond in real time to unforeseen events. On average, addressing unexpected issues—which range from fluctuations in stock price, to just-discovered product flaws, to major accidents and crises—consumes 36% of a CEO’s time. That’s a big proportion, and not all those problems merit a leader’s attention. To help CEOs understand which ones they truly need to focus on, Nohria, the former dean of Harvard Business School, has created a framework that sorts events into four categories—normal noise, clarion calls, whisper warnings, and siren songs—and offers guidance on how leaders should handle each type.

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Over the past decade, as a result of the pandemic, political and economic instability, social movements such as Black Lives Matter, and changing workplace technologies, what people expect from leaders has changed.

Executive presence (EP) is typically perceived as consisting of three elements in descending order of importance: gravitas, skillful communication, and the "right" appearance. The author's new research shows that while confidence and decisiveness are still paramount for gravitas, pedigree has become less central, and new weight is given to inclusiveness and respect for others. On the communication front, superior speaking skills and the ability to command a room still lead the list of desirable attributes, but comfort on Zoom, a "listen to learn" orientation, and authenticity are on the rise. Projecting authenticity is also key to the appearance component of EP; so are dressing for the "new normal," having an online image, and showing up in person.

This article offers a playbook for developing six attributes that increasingly factor into executive presence, citing the examples of a dozen leaders who have cracked the code.

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Over the past decade, as a result of the pandemic, political and economic instability, social movements such as Black Lives Matter, and changing workplace technologies, what people expect from leaders has changed. Executive presence (EP) is typically perceived as consisting of three elements in descending order of importance: gravitas, skillful communication, and the "right" appearance.

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HBR: How to Raise a Difficult Issue in a 1:1 With Your Boss

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HBR: How to Raise a Difficult Issue in a 1:1 With Your Boss

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Raising a potentially emotional topic to your manager can be difficult - you don't know how they will react or whether you will be judged or punished in some way. Based on the science of conflict resolution, dissent, upward communication, and the authors' own research on one-on-one meetings, they share a clear process for raising these issues with your manager. It involves first recognizing the importance of one-on-ones to you, the direct report; then clearly understanding the core need you are trying to address. Then it's a process of picking your battles carefully, preparing yourself, starting well, executing with composure, curiosity, and a willingness to adapt, and finally wrapping up while maintaining momentum.

Gordon was stewing. He needed to share something with his manager about an ongoing conflict between himself and another team member, Ellen, but he was uncertain how to do it. Although he got along well with his boss, he was nervous about how she might respond. He committed to raising the issue at his next one-on-one meeting, but the meeting came and went and he failed to get up the courage to do it - and then he felt bringing it up at a later date would be odd. Gordon was not only stewing, he was pretty miserable and discontented, which took a toll on his engagement and productivity at work.

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How to Raise a Difficult Issue in a One-on-One with Your Boss

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Raising a potentially emotional topic to your manager can be difficult - you don't know how they will react or whether you will be judged or punished in some way. Based on the science of conflict resolution, dissent, upward communication, and the authors' own research on one-on-one meetings, they share a clear process for raising these issues with your manager.

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Multicultural teams offer a number of advantages to international firms, including deep knowledge of different product markets, culturally sensitive customer service, and 24-hour work rotations. But those advantages may be outweighed by problems stemming from cultural differences, which can seriously impair the effectiveness of a team or even bring it to a stalemate. How can managers best cope with culture-based challenges?

The authors conducted in-depth interviews with managers and members of multicultural teams from all over the world. Drawing on their extensive research on dispute resolution and teamwork and those interviews, they identify four problem categories that can create barriers to a team's success: direct versus indirect communication, trouble with accents and fluency, differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority, and conflicting norms for decision making. If a manager-or a team member-can pinpoint the root cause of the problem, he or she is likelier to select an appropriate strategy for solving it.

The most successful teams and managers, the authors found, dealt with multicultural challenges in one of four ways: adaptation (acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them), structural intervention (changing the shape or makeup of the team), managerial intervention (setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager), and exit (removing a team member when other options have failed). Which strategy is best depends on the particular circumstances-and each has potential complications. In general, though, managers who intervene early and set norms; teams and managers who try to engage everyone on the team; and teams that can see challenges as stemming from culture, not personality, succeed in solving culture-based problems with good humor and creativity. They are the likeliest to harvest the benefits inherent in multicultural teams.

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Multicultural teams offer a number of advantages to international firms, including deep knowledge of different product markets, culturally sensitive customer service, and 24-hour work rotations. But those advantages may be outweighed by problems stemming from cultural differences, which can seriously impair the effectiveness of a team or even bring it to a stalemate.

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FastCompany: The Ulimate Guide to What Middle Managers Need in Order to Excel

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FastCompany: The Ulimate Guide to What Middle Managers Need in Order to Excel

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FastCompany: Asking These Types of Questions Will Make You Look Smarter

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FastCompany: Asking These Types of Questions Will Make You Look Smarter

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FastCompany: How to Train Your Brain to Become More Curious

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FastCompany: How to Train Your Brain to Become More Curious

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FastCompany: The Science of Miscommunication at Work

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FastCompany: The Science of Miscommunication at Work

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On the latest episode of ‘The New Way We Work,’ Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic explains why we have such difficulty being understood at work.