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“The Suddenly Remote Playbook,” a Comprehensive Guide for Working Remotely by Toptal

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“The Suddenly Remote Playbook,” a Comprehensive Guide for Working Remotely by Toptal

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I chanced upon this useful playbook when I was researching freelancing platforms and finding out how HR can leverage to complement our existing workforce.
Being a global remote company, Toptal would be in a good position to share how they manage their globally distributed workforce. This Playbook offers learnings across all areas of the remote work experience, from Slack best practices and Zoom etiquette to advice for managers of remote teams and, critically, how to create a culture and work environment built on trust.
Hope you find this playbook interesting. The future workplace is so different and exciting, yet apprehensive at the same time. #freelancing #toptal

https://www.toptal.com/remote-work-playbook

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Introduction

We blinked, and suddenly, the future of work materialized.

The COVID-19 pandemic circling the world transformed the gradual advance of remote work into a stampede, compelling millions of people to abandon the office and go home. From Google, Apple, and Microsoft to Chevron, AT&T, and Spotify, the list of companies embracing remote grew and grew.

This has been an extraordinary moment for remote work. Entire populations have been forced to work from home, proving remote infrastructure viable on a massive scale. Now, companies of all sizes ask: "How do you do distributed work the right way? How do you run a remote operation with the most efficiency?"

Toptal knows the answer firsthand.

For years, Toptal has had the world's largest fully distributed workforce. With our network of top talent and core team members, Toptal has spent a decade pioneering what it means to be a totally remote company. The lessons learned-about technology, productivity, culture, and simply making it work when there is no office at all-serve as a roadmap for both companies and workers finding themselves in this suddenly remote work environment.

Prompted by urgent need and requests, we are going to share how we do it. This Playbook offers learnings across all areas of the remote work experience, from Slack best practices and Zoom etiquette to advice for managers of remote teams and, critically, how to create a culture and work environment built on trust.

Toptal's experience can help organizations struggling with a challenging new reality and those planning for the future. Companies cannot bear the risk of not doing business for months, quarters, or years. By preparing for future pandemics or other major disruptions, companies will transition, quite naturally, away from the office and toward the distributed workforce.

Furthermore, we have taken time to interview several of our leadership team members for this Playbook and have included them throughout different sections. These podcasts provide you an inside look directly from the team members who work at Toptal.

We hope that you enjoy gaining insight into Toptal and are able to apply the knowledge that you learn here to build a successful remote organization of your own.

-Taso Du Val, CEO, Toptal

The Toptal Playbook for Remote Work:

Part 1. "People: Building and Sustaining a Strong Remote Team" describes the human resource work of a distributed company, from recruiting, hiring, and onboarding to goal setting, mentoring, and career development.

Part 2. "Culture: Creating a Values-based Culture" explores the techniques needed to build and sustain a strong culture in a remote environment.

Part 3. "Productivity: The Path to Effective Remote Work" answers key questions about getting work done at home, holding meaningful meetings, and enabling self-management through metrics.

Part 4. "Security & Support: Staying Secure and Making IT Work" addresses Toptal's perspective on security and IT support for remote teams.

Part 5. "Tools: Software for an Asynchronous and Organized Workplace" provides details and examples of the best daily tools to use and how to make the most of them when working remotely.

Part 6. "Common Problems: Getting Ahead of Pitfalls While Working Remote" explores how to anticipate and avoid potential difficulties for remote organizations and workers.

Our people define our company. Being fully remote doesn't change that fundamental philosophy. If anything, it strengthens it by challenging us to constantly innovate how we motivate, teach, and evaluate our team members.

Michelle Labbe, Toptal's VP of People

People are the most important element of any company, remote or not. Toptal's robust People Framework, as we call it, ensures our fully remote workforce thrives.

This chapter explores our People Framework and the differences and opportunities in managing the full range of human resources work within a distributed company. We share the journey of building and sustaining a strong remote team, from recruiting and onboarding to our learning and development programs and our approach to performance management. We conclude by explaining how we visualize our organizational structure and why it is so important to do so as a fully remote company.

Recruitment

Our People Framework naturally begins with recruitment. In this section, we highlight some important factors to consider when recruiting for a fully remote company, including how (and where) to source for talent, how to write job descriptions, and the heightened importance of cultural compatibility when hiring for a remote workforce.

Sourcing Talent

In traditional recruitment practices, talent pools are often limited to the geographic locale where the company has a physical presence. Herein lies the biggest difference (and opportunity) when recruiting for a fully distributed team-the talent pool is virtually limitless. At Toptal, we can hire the ideal candidate for any role, regardless of where they live, giving us a significant competitive advantage.

We post most of our jobs in multiple countries to ensure that we target the best candidate-period. Hiring globally also allows us to attract very diverse individuals with a wide variety of experiences.

Michelle Labbe, Toptal's VP of People

While it is exciting to tap into a more expansive talent pool, there are some key factors to consider for your sourcing strategy.

First, consider what requirements are a necessity for a candidate to work remotely. Do you have specific language fluency requirements? Are there time zone constraints that might rule out certain parts of the world?

For example, Toptal has two minimum requirements for the first stage of recruiting:

Candidates must speak, write, read, and understand English fluently.

With few exceptions, work hours must overlap with US Eastern time at some point during the working day. Thus, team members who live in other timezones need to be comfortable working either earlier in the morning or later at night.

Second, consider your job posting strategy. While a remote working environment allows you to post jobs globally, it is important to understand the differences in each platform. At Toptal, our deployment strategy remains consistent even if some job boards do not offer an option to post for "Remote." To solve that limitation, we publish roles multiple times across different locations to find our ideal candidates. While each platform is unique, this technique generally works well.

Third, choosing specific locations for your job search can also help maximize your chances of finding the best candidates. Are there specific cities or regions with a larger pool of talent for a particular skill set? Are there geographic areas where salary market rates are cost-prohibitive for your budget? At Toptal, we have established a baseline of compensation bands based on multiple geographies and other attributes, enabling us to strategically filter our search footprint to only those markets that meet established budgets. This has taken us many years to perfect, though we encourage companies to do the same.

The virtually limitless pool of talent available for a distributed workforce can be intoxicating, but it is also important to responsibly put appropriate parameters on your search strategy in order to maximize effectiveness.

Job Descriptions

Much like in an in-office environment, remote job descriptions should clearly outline the role, how the team member will fit into the organization, expectations, and what they will learn on the job. When creating job descriptions for a remote position, providing some additional detail allows prospective candidates to better visualize what the team might look like, thus helping to assist their decision-making process to apply, or not.

For example, we always include a "Who Will You Work With" section in the job description. We have found that providing this specific type of detail helps candidates recognize the high level of talent that permeates our company and sends an early signal to candidates about our transparent business practices. This is particularly important in a remote environment where potential candidates can see real, credible people who are working at the company before they apply, reinforcing that a fully remote company is as equally serious as a company with an office.

Interviewing Remotely

Conducting remote interviews for a qualified pool of candidates shares many similarities with how interviews are conducted in an office environment. Qualifications, confidence levels, conversation skills, etc. are all still essential characteristics of what constitutes an effective interview.

While the subject matter remains consistent in these two situations, our Toptal executives (many of whom have worked at Fortune 500 companies) have observed that the process for conducting remote interviews can be far more productive and revealing than in-person interviews.

At Toptal, we conduct interviews through Zoom, our preferred web conferencing platform, and the process itself is remarkably similar to live, in-person interviews. Candidates display the same mannerisms and body language cues, so observing how comfortable candidates appear on a webcam is a great indicator of how quickly they will adapt to our work culture. Using Zoom also allows us to swiftly interview and assess candidates, reducing the length of the process from weeks to days. With the best talent often in demand, being responsive and decisive during rapid recruiting helps us secure the perfect hire.

As part of our interview process, we require most candidates to complete a comprehensive, unique assessment in order to ascertain their ability to perform similar work to what would be expected as a new hire to Toptal. Candidates are assigned the assessment and must present their response back to us on a Zoom video conference. By allowing candidates to present their work to us, it assures authenticity and provides a forum for them to demonstrate their presentation skills. We place a considerable amount of weight on the assessment portion of the interview process and believe that it results in hiring candidates with a higher likelihood to be successful in their role.

Finally, it is essential that all interviewers are given remote-specific interview training to ensure they are putting forward the best, most accurate reflection of our company. First impressions still matter, even in a remote environment. Our interviewers are required to complete a thorough online course for interviewer training, be trained on our Applicant Tracking System called Lever, and shadow interviews before they speak to candidates.

In sum, both the subject matter and the fundamental evaluation criteria for conducting interviews is quite similar between remote and in-person experiences. What differs is that remote interviewing carries the added benefit of accelerating the overall process.

Cultural Fit

Many companies include a candidate's cultural fit as part of their evaluation criteria. As a fully remote company, we place added emphasis on this crucial component and dedicate the last round of interviews entirely to assessing a candidate's cultural fit. This ensures we not only hire the most talented people but those that believe in our cultural values and working style.

Culture ambassadors who exemplify the Toptal cultural leadership qualities are handpicked by the executive team to conduct these interviews. While all interviewers will assess culture as part of their assessment, culture ambassadors ask and answer specific questions solely related to our cultural attributes. A culture assessment is one of a myriad of ways we ensure a strong culture permeates every aspect of our company.

In total, an effective recruitment process for remote organizations must include a highly strategic approach to managing the near limitless candidate pool, an understanding of the specific tactics needed to conduct interviews remotely, and an increased emphasis on a candidate's cultural fit.

Onboarding

The second phase of our People Framework focuses on the onboarding process for newly hired team members.

Onboarding new hires in a remote environment may feel daunting, but it actually has a lot in common with the experience found in an in-office situation. Just as you would in an office environment, it is essential to cultivate a sense of community and culture from the outset so team members feel connected immediately. Surprisingly, nearly all team members at Toptal cite our onboarding process to be the best experience they have had in their careers. We often attribute our onboarding process as notable because our learning and onboarding materials are all easily shared in digital form, giving new hires a very straightforward experience.

We worked hard to ensure that remote onboarding is a smooth transition into Toptal. All team members get the full picture of who we are, how we work, and all the resources available to ensure success from their first day. Nearly all new team members say our process is the best they've experienced.

Michelle Labbe, Toptal's VP of People

At Toptal, we group start dates every two weeks so new hires feel a camaraderie with their "start group." On the first day, we invite all new team members to a Zoom video conference for introductions to each other and the People team. We then pair new team members with a "TopPal" as a go-to resource beyond their immediate manager who can teach them more about the organization, cross-functional work, and processes.

We have also found it effective to introduce new hires to online groups dedicated to newcomers so that they can immediately begin creating connections out of the shared experience of starting on the same day. Within Toptal, we rely heavily on Slack, our main communication platform, to enable this.

Interactive training tools can also provide self-directed onboarding resources in an easy and effective way to educate new team members on a company-wide compulsory subject matter. We use Lessonly as our learning management system. This system allows us to include our required compliance training, company and department information, tools and technology training, and more. Our anti-harassment training vendor, WILL Interactive, also provides learning that is more appealing than the basic in-office class.

Once all new hires complete the company-wide onboarding curriculum, each team within Toptal creates an onboarding plan customized with learning paths aligned to each role and an explanation of expectations for the first weeks and months on the job.

By utilizing digital tools and creating the operational mechanisms to foster an immediate sense of inclusion and camaraderie, onboarding new team members in a remote environment can be easy, effective, and inspiring.

Learning & Development

Learning and development is the third phase of our People Framework. Below, we spotlight how we have created learning and development tools for our remote team members.

Investing in education tools for our team members demonstrates our commitment to building a culture of learning and development. It is a tangible way for us to demonstrate our cultural values while also deepening the abilities of both our individual team members and the organization as a whole. This also contributes to our team members' achievement of their career goals, which allows them to advance in their career at Toptal. Our programs include classroom learning, video courses, and interactive tools.

At Toptal, all team members have full access to Udemy, a curated online collection of more than 100,000 video courses from industry experts. This allows our team members to fill in gaps in their skill set or pursue a new topic outside of their key role and can be taken at their own pace and in their free time. The idea is to enable, not prescribe.

We also use Lessonly for additional training by building customized classes to address specific topics, tailored with deadlines or tests at the end to ensure accountability. This is a good way for our senior leaders to identify skill gaps in the team and build tailored training to address them. These classes also allow team members to learn and develop their skills regardless of location or time zone. Two specific examples of training courses we use to address specific skill gaps include our Writers Academy and our Technical Academies.

Digitally enabling continued education allows us more opportunity to customize how and when our team members can elevate their overall skill sets. Additionally, we have created a special course for manager training, recognizing the importance of leading by example.

Manager Training

In order to ensure the growth of our managers and assist them with remote management, we have created a bespoke training path in Lessonly. All new manager hires, or newly promoted managers, are required to take all training classes within 30 days of starting their position. Examples of required classes include The Art of Giving Feedback, Effective One-on-one's, and Managing Remote Teams. All classes include specific resources and guidelines designed for managing remote team members. To supplement their training, we have also developed an internal site with templates and articles dedicated to their success as a manager.

At Toptal, we understand the importance of offering all our team members opportunities to continue expanding their skill sets and refining their management skills. These investments have a direct impact on both individual and team performance.

Performance Management

The fourth phase of our People Framework focuses on performance management. In this section, we spotlight our best practices for managing the performance of a remote workforce.

For a distributed team, a successful approach to performance management requires methodical organization, transparency, and accountability. Frequent and detailed feedback throughout the entire process is essential, from goal-setting to performance reviews and ultimately setting action items.

Individual Goal-Setting

At the outset of the performance management process, each team member establishes goals for the coming year, allowing everyone in the organization to understand a given team member's aspirations. Everything throughout the review process is maintained electronically within Top Team, our in-house software built specifically for remote teams, to promote insight and transparency across the entire organization.

Self-Assessments, Peer, and Manager Reviews

Reviews in a remote environment are remarkably similar to those in an in-office environment; they simply require a bit more reliance on software and technology to make the process equally, if not more, effective. Beyond our more formal annual cadence, our managers incorporate mid-year check-ins on action items (items that each team member commits to improving relative to a subpar performance review) and conduct routine/weekly one-on-ones to discuss progress and challenges.

At Toptal, we believe that frequent and detailed feedback is absolutely essential in mitigating challenges that can arise in a remote environment. In addition to self-assessments as part of the review process, we emphasize and incorporate peer and manager reviews that focus on soft skills such as communication, a critical skill for working remotely. We subscribe to the idea of confrontation over conflict, and consistent proactive communication is key to ensuring that holds true.

Self-assessments, peer, and manager reviews all utilize a tool in Top Team that allow us to capture ratings for each team member, in addition to more detailed comments in relation to their review. To ensure relevancy, each role within Toptal has its own unique attributes that are used in the reviews.

All of these reviews are then consolidated into a dashboard and shared directly with the team member in the spirit of transparency. With this input, the team member then sets their own individual action items.

Action Items

Once the review process is complete, we then ask each team member to develop specific action items to address the feedback received from peers and managers. This is also stored within Top Team.

At Toptal, we place enormous emphasis on our performance management process, as it is one of the most tangible ways we can demonstrate the premium we place on personal accountability. For a remote workforce, consistent, frequent and transparent feedback are the characteristics needed to mitigate any challenges that can arise throughout the performance management process, from the initial peer review all the way to setting a personal action plan.

Career Development

The last stage of our People Framework focuses on career development. As with any company, a wealth of resources should be available to enable team members to achieve their full potential.

Over the last decade, Toptal has continuously refined the process of enabling career development in a fully remote environment. Below are our most rewarding career development tools.

Mentorship Program

Toptal's mentorship program provides opportunities for both mentor and mentee to grow by sharing knowledge, skills, communication, and experiences. Selected based on their time and level at Toptal, our mentors provide career advice to the mentee in the areas of job challenges, career planning, industry knowledge, relationships, skills and role expectations. Any team member that has been with Toptal for more than 3 months may select a mentor.

In order to have a successful mentoring relationship, mentees should possess a genuine interest in professional and personal growth. In addition, they should be open to feedback and coaching and willing to take risks.

Mentors and mentees typically meet monthly or bi-monthly, with the mentee driving the agenda and timing of the meetings. As a mentee, the team member should engage in open communication with the mentor, drive the development of the relationship expectations, and effectively utilize the mentor's time.

Our mentorship program gives mentors the opportunity to grow by teaching, while mentees develop through feedback, coaching, and invaluable learning.

Career Maps

Similar to an in-office environment, remote companies must also have tools that give clarity toward career advancement. Top Team's career maps provide a clear roadmap for every function in the company, including an outline for each role and a promotion path. Publicly displaying these maps for every department builds transparency across the organization.

In conclusion, we recommend that you institute a similar People Framework approach that places an increased emphasis on culture, trust, and transparency. In our experience, these are the three key elements that guide our human resource practices and are embedded into our recruiting and onboarding practices, our continuing education and career development programming, and our performance management processes.

Organizational Structure

In addition to how we have customized our People Framework to accommodate our fully remote way of working, we also have a unique way of visualizing our organizational structure and making it useful for team members to maneuver through our virtual environment.

The absence of physical proximity demands a vivid organizational chart to help distributed team members identify with their peers and collaborate effectively. In a distributed company, there must be a clear structure and purpose for each team/department. It is important to know who is responsible for what and have the ability to identify stakeholders. Easy access to real-time organizational structures helps team members identify the right person for the needed task or project, speeds up accountability discussions, and saves time.

Top Team is an invaluable resource allowing all team members to access our organizational structure and member profiles. Additionally, Top Team includes geographic maps, making it easy to know how to plan for collaborative projects where people might be in different timezones. Maps also help team members meet up with others located near them for socializing and volunteering, helping further foster team-building at a local level.

Top Team also enables anyone at the company to have visibility to all Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Clear and transparent OKRs, which complement our organizational chart, are critical to providing ownership to the entire organization.

To create total accountability, we require specific objectives, key results, and a single owner for each and every key result. By doing this, we avoid ownership gaps with regard to company goals. This is good practice for any company, but absolutely essential for a fully distributed team.

We cover our OKR processes in much more detail in Part 3 of this guide, which details how our team achieves productivity and efficiency in a fully remote environment.

In total, Top Team is an invaluable resource to help our team members clearly understand our organizational structure and act as a centralized repository for all of the company's OKRs. As such, it is a critical tool for detailing ownership and accountability in the company.

Concluding Thoughts

While some HR and People professionals have found building a remote team challenging, we have created an efficient system, leveraging integrations and technology, to thrive as a fully distributed team.

Over the past decade, we have built and developed tools and processes that offer an array of advantages not found in an office setting. Our recruiting process capitalizes upon a virtually limitless talent pool unbounded by geography, and our technology allows for rapid video interviews that accelerate the hiring process to secure the best talent.

Our new hires experience a meaningful onboarding process, introducing them not only to tools but to a community of distributed colleagues. Their path to continuous learning and career development is supported by remote-oriented online training tools and a digital performance management system.

Our Top Team system ensures a strong alignment of our organizational structure to company goals. It provides for a high level of transparency, which has become a foundational element of our strong culture at Toptal.

We have proved, through countless years of feedback from Toptal team members, that our working environment from an HR and People perspective is far superior to even some of the most notable Fortune 100s. We've received this feedback firsthand from an overwhelming number of Toptal team members, and we are confident you can create similar success by taking away the most relevant parts of this section and implementing them into your own company.

Values are the foundation for determining your culture. Once your values are determined, getting alignment on them is no different within an in-office environment vs. a remote environment.

Taso Du Val, CEO of Toptal

At Toptal, we work hard to ensure that our values are clear, known, and reflected in our actions. They guide everything from how we conduct our interviews to how we interact with each other on a daily basis. Values affect culture directly, and they permeate throughout our company.

In this chapter, we discuss the need for creating a strong culture within a fully remote company, the journey we took to accomplish this, and how we maintain it.

Why Culture Matters

It is an undisputed fact that a well-defined and meticulously cultivated culture is a core component to the long-term success of a company. This has been validated in surveys conducted with CEOs and researched by the top business schools in the world. Time and time again, the results prove that a corporate culture can improve productivity, creativity, value, and growth.

Why Culture Matters Even More for Remote Work

If upholding culture is an important component of any company's business success, it is of heightened importance for fully distributed teams. Understanding the differences between how to create and maintain a vibrant culture in a remote work environment vs. an office-based environment is essential and cannot be underestimated.

When creating a culture in an office-based environment, companies have the luxury of leaning into shared experiences and physical spaces. These seemingly small details and observations-how an office is designed, the style of clothes people wear, or the way in which co-workers huddle to discuss the latest binge-worthy Netflix show-have an outsized importance when aggregated together and often form the foundation for a company's culture. In Schein's Culture Model, this is referred to as an organization's "artifacts and behaviors," and they form a large portion of the culture within companies with a physical presence.

As a fully distributed company, Toptal can not rely on many of these shared experiences and physical spaces to help define our culture. In this respect, Schein's model must evolve to compensate for the absence of these "surface" elements. For us, this means having a culture that puts much more emphasis on our values, and a commitment from every team member to understand and uphold them. Everyday, our culture is expressed in what we believe (our values) and demonstrated in how we behave (our actions). These concepts are inextricably linked at Toptal.

Creating a Values-based Culture

At Toptal, we have spent a tremendous amount of time on how to best articulate our values. This was not an exercise we took lightly, as we recognize these values impact every action and behavior within our company, and help the entire organization make decisions and act with authority.

As noted in Part 1, our values have a large impact on our hiring strategy, attracting those that share our values and repelling those that do not. We know our values will not appeal to everyone, and that is fine. The direct nature of our values is one of the reasons why our culture is strong and why our team members are so unified.

Our criteria for selecting the values that we adhere to were made in spite of being remote, as value should always be chosen based on what you and those who you work with believe in. We asked ourselves three questions:

1. What values are most important to ensure our success as a company?

2. What values will help us achieve our mission to be the greatest talent company in the world?

3. How do we create and maintain culture in a fully remote environment?

Our values are codified into a list of 10 core principles, which-as with so many other aspects of our company-we share with absolute transparency by placing them prominently on our website. To read more about our cultural values, you can visit Toptal's culture page.

How to Demonstrate Values in a Remote Environment

In any company, an individual's behaviors should be a reflection of the company's values. In a remote environment, demonstrating these behaviors is no different than what you would experience in an in-office environment, though they materialize differently. As a result, we've amassed a variety of ways our values get demonstrated in our everyday actions-everything from how we communicate and collaborate with each other to the software and tools we use to how we encourage constant feedback loops.

Since so many of our daily interactions are primarily via Slack channels and Zoom meetings, we have specific expectations for how team members communicate and collaborate with each other, including guidelines for meeting management and communication etiquette. Given that our values determine what actions we reward and punish, we will certainly make a fuss if team members come to meetings late or unprepared, we see typos in a Slack channel, catch someone with an unmuted mic on a Zoom call, or behave in ways that reflect opposition to our values.

Our values also influence the types of software and tools we choose to use, ensuring we are constantly optimizing for clarity, productivity, and feedback loops. For example, Top Team allows each team member to see how their peers have reviewed them as part of our annual performance review process, aligning with our values of being direct and transparent. Praising people who criticize initiatives in a public Slack channel reinforces one of our cultural values of being challenging. Configuring the right frameworks and tools to consistently reinforce culturally acceptable norms is a huge step in the right direction, though often overlooked by many companies.

Each team member's actions and behaviors are easily visible in a remote environment where everyone is using the same methods to communicate and collaborate, making it easy to recognize when things are going good or bad relative to the company's values. On the occasions where course correcting is needed, it becomes easy to manage, and on the occasions where team members are going the extra mile to reinforce the culture, exemplifying those actions to the rest of the team becomes easier than ever.

Our values are demonstrated through every team member's daily actions and influence everything from how we collaborate with each other to the types of software and tools we choose to use. To help us sustain this strong culture over time and geographies, we have also created mechanisms to enable continuous feedback loops and programs that encourage team-building and social interaction.

Sustaining Culture Through Feedback Loops

It might seem like a challenge to get a sense of the overall mood and collective happiness of the company when everyone is remote, though in reality, it is quite simple. At Toptal, we have created ways for teams to continuously give and get feedback, allowing us to know each team member's eNPS and individual happiness scores.

Taking the Team's Pulse

At the company-wide level, we use our Pulse Surveys tool Polly, sent via Slack, to monitor the overall hapiness of our organziation as well as our employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), a measurement of team member loyalty. These surveys are not optional or anonymous (by not making them anonymous it's yet another action we've taken to ensure transparency is a value we adhere to, even if it may make some individuals reticent), which allows team leaders to follow up if necessary. For the company-wide survey, we only ask two questions: "How do you rate your happiness at work?" and "Would you recommend this organization to others to work?"

By assessing the happiness of the entire company as a whole, and by individual and team, we are able to pinpoint areas of improvement before they turn into larger issues. Additionally, specific teams can send out surveys to assess their own general vibe and morale-something observed readily in an in-person environment, though sometimes not as obvious in a remote one.

Additionally, feedback opportunities occur when our People team conducts check-ins with each new team member. They begin as weekly connects and then move to once a month, 100-day, 200-day, one-year intervals, before transitioning to a cadence tied to the team members' anniversary dates to obtain feedback and other ideas.

I can't pop into an office and ask how someone is doing, but I can easily hop on Zoom and immediately get a sense of how that person is doing. Different method, same outcome.

Michelle Labbe, Toptal's VP of People

In short, feedback loops are key to sustaining a strong culture in a remote environment by giving us immediate, transparent line of sight into the overall health and happiness of our team members.

Sustaining Culture Through Engagement

In addition to a reliance on our daily behaviors to set the cultural tone for the company and our ability to keep a constant pulse of the overall mood of the company, we also employ several tools to sustain a vibrant culture through company-wide initiatives such as our All-Hands meetings, our Culture Committee, interest-based Slack channels, and remote volunteering opportunities.

Company-wide Meetings

Our monthly "All Hands" company meetings give everyone insight into how the company is performing in regards to goals, initiatives, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and other areas. In addition to these senior leadership team presentions, the Q&A and Shout Out sections allow for, and encourage, all members to participate in recognizing their colleagues for their outstanding accomplishments. The meetings improve the overall energy of the company and build people up as they recognize helpful contributions from others.

Culture Committee

A culture committee is an effective way to create a constant pipeline of fresh ways to engage team members. Our culture committee, known as TopCulture, regularly meets to brainstorm and develop programs, actions, and events that support Toptal's mission, purpose, and values. An example of a recently launched program is our "30 for 30" challenge where teams commit to exercising for 30 minutes each day, for 30 days - and compete against other internal teams.

The committee was purpose-built to be a group of cross-functional team members to ensure a diversity of thoughts and opinions. Members are role models who embody Toptal's core values and love where they work. They act as liaisons between the committee and their teams, keeping a pulse, providing accountability and encouragement, and gathering feedback to bring back to the group.

Slack Channels

At Toptal, we use Slack to help foster connections and camaraderie among team members. We have created channels around interests such as pet lovers, gardening, cooking, book clubs, fantasy football leagues, fitness challenges-almost any interest you can imagine. Of course, there are professional channels too, to discuss interests like programming, cryptocurrency, open source, game development, or fintech.

In addition to these interest-based Slack channels, we also use a Slack-integrated app called "Donut" to create virtual "donut and coffee" meetings that encourage connections among people who do not work together on a daily basis. Every few weeks, Donut pairs new coworkers randomly so they can connect and chat about life, work, their backgrounds, or anything else that comes to mind.

Both our interest-based Slack channels as well as our "Donut" app are easy and effective ways to forge more social connectivity within our fully remote team.

Remote Volunteer Opportunities

Providing a way of giving back is a meaningful way that companies allow their team members to share their time and talent for causes that matter to them. Enabling and encouraging this generosity of spirit also positively impacts team morale, thus contributing to the overall health and strength of a company's culture.

Working remotely creates unique opportunities for how to empower team members to contribute to their local communities. In lieu of company-wide volunteer days that are a typical part of an in-office experience, we encourage our team members to give back at an individual or local level, where their particular skill sets can be most useful.

One such program that we created at Toptal is called TopVolunteer, which connects NGOs, charities, and other nonprofit organizations to our team members to help give back to those in need. This has been incredibly successful and has provided core team members and talent in our network with high-quality opportunities to give back.

An example of an initiative under this program is when Lora Pleško, a Toptal designer in Zagreb, Croatia (in conjunction with Are You Syrious, an NGO dedicated to helping the refugees and humanitarian work), hosted weekly workshops to teach the children of asylum seekers how to code. This empowered the children to develop the tools to begin a sustainable career that can support their families through turbulent times.

Another example is when Francisco Clariá, a Toptal developer in Córdoba, created Arduino weather stations for kitesurfing communities around Argentina. Local rescue stations now depend on these weather reports, which help give them more advance notice when dangerous weather is approaching.

Activities and forums that encourage engagement and build camaraderie, be it a Slack channel dedicated to food lovers or our monthly All Hands meeting, are ways that we actively sustain our strong and vibrant culture.

Concluding Thoughts

An ability to establish and sustain a strong culture is one of the most important elements of a company, fully distributed or not.

Establishing a strong culture for Toptal demands an unwavering commitment to determine what values matter most to us, how to articulate those values with clarity and precision, and how to reinforce them consistently.

For us, our values have become the glue that holds our fully remote organization together. They permeate through every single facet of our company, from the way we communicate and collaborate to how we evaluate our individual and collective performance.

We have made great progress overcoming distance and the reliance on in-person interactions to build a strong culture, creating a sense of cohesion and unity for the entire team at Toptal. Our cultural values set the foundation for creating people and technology frameworks targeted toward driving strong connections among our team members.

Working remotely allows me to work when I am most productive, letting me achieve my goals in the way that is best for me.

Mike Dowhan, Toptal's VP of SMB Sales

Multiple studies have shown that individuals who work remotely are more productive than their on-premise counterparts. At Toptal, we recognize that productivity requires clear goals, strong alignment, and proper accountability throughout our organization. When these three elements are working together, a highly productive team can be expected.

In this chapter, we explore some of the elements that go into making remote work productive at Toptal. This includes creating a culture that respects a healthy work-life balance, assuring that virtual meetings run efficiently, embracing the benefits of asynchronous work, requiring strategic alignment throughout the organization, and establishing the right work environment.

Sustaining a Healthy Work-life Balance

At Toptal, team members will generally not need pushing from management to encourage productivity. While this may very well happen, many of our team members are focused on clear goals, with a prolonged focus on accomplishing them.

When a member of our team experiences burnout, however, they do not go from productive to unproductive. They go from productive to anti-productive, making mistakes that cost precious resources. This risk is amplified in a remote environment, where it is easier to overwork and harder to gauge the well-being of teammates.

We encourage team members to be vocal about their workload. Finding additional hands for a big project is always preferable to burnout. We also recommend taking regular breaks and snoozing Slack notifications in the hours before sleep. Advocating for habits like these can help new remote workers find their footing.

To keep our team members productive and to avoid burnout, we also frequently remind team members that our Discretionary Time Off (DTO) policy exists to be used at their discretion. Flexibility is woven throughout the policy, to the point that making a time off request is as easy as sending a Slack message.

We recognize that working from home can also create challenges that can impact the overall health and wellness of team members. Some solutions that can be employed to help avoid this pitfall are discussed in Part 6: Common Problems.

Sustaining a healthy work-life balance is one of many building blocks that enable productivity to flourish at Toptal.

Holding Meetings That Matter

Another building block to enabling productivity is enabling meetings to be purposeful, actionable, and punctual. This is especially true at Toptal, where there are hundreds of fully remote team members throughout the world and no time to waste on unproductive meetings.

Our use of Zoom video conferencing software creates a virtual conference room where our team members can connect across the globe, while Google G Suite allows us to share and collaborate on documents and presentations in "real time." We can share screens, comment in "chat areas," and even record the meetings for future reference or for those who may be absent. In Chapter 5, we expand on our best practices for using both Zoom and Google G Suite, as well as a plethora of other tools that aid in our overall productivity.

Over time, we have been able to identify eight best practices to optimize meetings for utmost productivity.

1. When planning our meetings, we are cognizant of timezones and require flexibility with meeting times. Sometimes, a team member needs to wake up very early or have a meeting later in the evening, depending on the optimal time for everyone. For recurring meetings, our teams often create rotating schedules so the burden of joining during off hours is shared by everyone.

2. Before our meetings, the meeting owner creates an agenda and shares it ahead of time in a document link contained within the meeting invite itself. The agenda clearly defines the meeting's purpose, thus allowing the meeting participants to prepare ahead of time, preventing wasted time in the beginning of the meeting.

3. We have a strict video-on rule for all our meetings. This not only makes the meeting more "real," it also promotes attentiveness since team members are less likely to multitask if they are on video. We have noticed our camera-on rule also reduces the "Sorry, I need you to repeat that" moment that is common on many conference calls.

4. We require our team members to mute notifications while engaged in a video meeting, allowing everyone to avoid distractions.

5. We ask that all team members set the appropriate, respectful tone on calls. Interruptions and overtalking are as inconsiderate and disrespectful on our Zoom calls as they are when sitting in a conference room.

6. We make sure that clear action items are discussed and agreed-upon at the end of the meeting. A summary of the action items is then sent via Slack to all meeting participants.

7. If a meeting is no longer necessary, we cancel and notify the participants as soon as possible. Likewise, we will always end our meetings early if there is nothing to discuss. This is not only common decency but one more way to demonstrate how much we value our collective time.

8. We use a Slack integration to evaluate a meeting once it has ended. Right after a meeting ends, each meeting participant is automatically sent a notification to rate the meeting. Doing so ensures we are continually improving our meetings and holding meeting owners accountable for using everyone's time wisely.

For a fully distributed team, productive and efficient meeting management is not a suggestion, but rather a requirement. Applying our best practices to video conference calls makes sure every call is purposeful, actionable, and efficient.

The Benefits of Asynchronous Work

Our productivity can increase even more when we combine the concepts of efficient meeting management with the ability to work asynchronously.

Constant, or synchronous communication, requires in-person conversations, phone calls, video chats, and real-time collaboration apps. With asynchronous communication, a team member provides information, and the recipient sees and responds in their own time. Working this way helps maximize productivity when team members are located in very different timezones. Imagine "passing the baton" in the evening and waking up to a completed project in the morning.

We have seen increased productivity in our teams when this kind of asynchronous approach is appropriate for the required tasks. In particular, our engineers find great efficiency working this way and are encouraged to be as independent as possible.

You can learn more about Toptal's tools for asynchronous work in Part 5: Tools

Accountability and Alignment

Toptal also maximizes productivity by using metrics to instill accountability and goal setting to ensure alignment.

Accountability Through Metrics

From a business performance standpoint, we develop KPIs and construct dashboards that provide both leadership and individual contributors insight into daily, weekly, monthly, and ongoing performance.

We achieve additional productivity gains through the use of our operational issues system. This system comprises key operational metrics and established thresholds that are constantly monitored. Issues are detected based on performance indicators that exceed particular tolerance levels-before they become serious problems. This early warning and alert system instills accountability by creating alerts that are escalated to appropriate leaders for resolution, documentation, and recording. Systems like these can be developed for any organization to provide oversight without having the physical presence of a manager watching over team members at their desks.

Alignment in a Remote Environment - OKRs

Productivity can be at its peak if there is a strong alignment of goals across the entire company. In a remote work environment, it is especially important to ensure that everyone, wherever they are located, is aligned to the same objectives.

This is the reason that we place so much emphasis on our OKR processes. If functions and teams work on agreed-upon initiatives that drive measurable outcomes, it not only strengthens collaboration and trust but ensures that everyone is putting forth effort to work on what will drive the highest return on effort.

At Toptal, we have adopted a formal process for establishing company and function/team level OKRs, and align through an "annual alignment meeting" with all executives. Integral to the development of our OKRs is that each and every one be connected to a measurable KPI. This ensures that our teams employ their resources in a manner that is tied to company objectives and it establishes performance expectations tied to measurable key results and outcomes.

We further cascade the OKRs down to the individual level to ensure that everyone in the company is focused on the right things and is productive in the use of their time. Additionally, any key dependencies are also noted and "accepted" when others are crucial to achieving the desired outcomes.

As transparency is a core component to our culture, everyone in the company has visibility to all OKRs across the company, and we instill accountability through quarterly reviews with each of our function-level executives.

At Toptal, there is a deep connection between our productivity levels and the work we do to instill accountability and alignment. Our KPIs and OKRs are essential tools to monitor and optimize our performance at the company, function, and individual levels.

The Basics of a Remote Work Setup

The productivity gains we amass from efficient meetings, asynchronous work, accountability, and alignment can only truly be realized when our team members can work in a remote environment conducive to focused work.

While our remote team members have the flexibility to work from anywhere, they are often involved in highly sophisticated technical projects that require prolonged focus.

Establishing a true "office" environment is among the common sense tips for being productive while working from home. We have found at Toptal that our remote team members can be the most productive if their work environment includes workspaces where they can spread out, organize materials and devices, and concentrate. For many, that means working from home, where distractions are limited and they can create a designated place for work.

Making a home office resemble the look and feel of a work office lessens the temptation to "multitask" in front of the TV. A dedicated space in your home also makes it much easier to keep your work-related items in one space, reducing anxiety about losing important documents and reducing clutter elsewhere in your home.

A recent survey of our leadership team outlined some easy but effective tips to establish a workspace optimized for productivity:

Secure a dedicated workspace or desk for daily use and avoid high-traffic areas to keep distractions at bay.

Ensure that your space has a strong wifi connection to avoid unnecessary interruptions and embarrassing (and often annoying) technological glitches.

Block out background noise that can distract both you and those you might be talking to on a video conference.

Have a comfortable chair that supports your posture and psychologically cues a "working" mentality.

Ensure ample lighting to keep your eyes healthy and to aid the clarity of your appearance on video conference calls.

Ensure you have the essentials: hardware such as a laptop, large screen monitor, printer, webcam, and proper headphones with a microphone.

Having a dedicated space in the home to work from is a fairly common piece of advice, but its importance in driving productivity cannot be overlooked.

Concluding Thoughts

Productivity requires clear goals, strong alignment, and proper accountability throughout any organization. A highly productive team can be expected when these three elements are working together.

To enable productivity to be achieved in a remote environment, we believe it is important to encourage a dedicated working space in the home, create rules that enable efficient meetings, and require clear and transparent accountability.

Being productive while working from home is not without its challenges. We have found that creating a dedicated area minimizes distractions and helps separate work from life's other demands, enabling our team members to achieve their goals as productively as possible.

To keep meetings productive, we have established rules for our video conferences that allow participants to prepare ahead of time, avoid being distracted while in the meeting, and offer feedback that helps continually optimize for increased efficiencies.

Knowing that accountability and productivity work hand in hand, we have adopted a formal process for establishing OKRs at a company, function, and individual level, monitor them regularly, and make them all visible to everyone in the company. Our company is most productive when all team members are connected by shared, clear goals and are then rewarded by achieving those goals.

Security compliance for a fully distributed team must be based on mitigating the specific risks that arise from working remotely. An essential component to this is providing the entire company with clear, detailed policies that protect and secure every team member's devices and data, no matter where they happen to be working.

Ismael Peinado, Toptal's Chief Technology Officer

Every company needs to establish strict security protocols to ensure their systems are protected from outside intrusion. Accomplishing this task with a fully remote team requires a keen understanding of the potential sources of risk that arise from this distributed way of working and determining the best tools and tactics to mitigate those risks.

In an office setting, the strategic approach to providing security is built upon a model that concentrates protection centrally. This arises from the very nature of working within a contained environment, where there are a limited number of IP addresses to oversee. On the other hand, a remote workforce has no centralized environment to act as a focal point for protection. Instead, fully remote companies must construct virtual barriers to defend themselves against outside attacks.

Over the years, Toptal has developed the tools and techniques to keep our fully remote team and our data secure using these virtual barriers. This chapter describes the specific policies we employ to achieve this essential function and begins by describing the key responsibilities of our Security Operations Team.

Security Operations Team

Our overarching approach to security is based on a framework that ensures each team member's security adheres to well-defined, centralized policies. These policies are created by our Security Operations Team who are ultimately accountable for the health and security of the entire organization, but the distributed nature of our workforce also demands added responsibilities for each individual team member. To ensure our team members are empowered to act responsibly, the Security Operations Team provides tools and detailed guidance for our security framework:

Establish company-wide security policies and optimize when needed.

Build and maintain attack vectors and remediations database.

Create and distribute security training across the company.

Maintain a toolset to periodically execute security audits for all products and teams.

Manage and triage security incidents.

Improve coverage and effectiveness of security controls.

Security Policies & Procedures

In this section, we detail the various policies and procedures we employ to secure our services and documents as well as our access control and encryption policies.

Securing Cloud Services

Unlike a physical office environment that needs to secure an internal network, remote companies like Toptal focus on securing numerous tools and systems that reside in the cloud. Traditional firewalls for office networks are thus replaced by cloud service providers.

Both cloud-based applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications form the backbone of our company, facilitating our remote working capabilities and collaboration across the globe.

Through a security lens, the advantages of using cloud services are many:

No single point of failure.

Managed security of all services.

Multiple levels of redundancy.

No hardware maintenance.

No need for network firewalls or network Account Control Lists (ACLs).

Ensuring our secure use of these cloud-based services is of utmost importance. To accomplish this, Toptal employs the two-step verification offered by our SaaS and cloud service providers to provide extra security against hacking. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an additional layer of security used when logging into websites or apps. In addition to providing a username and password, team members need to provide another form of authentication. This second form of authentication is preferably executed through Google Authenticator or through a mobile phone text message.

Two-factor authentication is enforced for all Toptal-related accounts that support 2FA: Google, GitHub, LastPass, Slack, etc. At Toptal, we do not allow any confidential information to be shared digitally without using 2FA, including any password recovery codes.

Additionally, we use LastPass for all our password management needs, as it securely stores team members' passwords, streamlines logins, and allows for convenient password-sharing amongst teams. LastPass also allows our IT Operations team to control usage policies and simplify user management, two features that are especially important for a remote organization.

Finally, we have specific security measures for Zoom, one of our most heavily used communication tools. To secure a Zoom call, we require that meeting passwords be enabled within Zoom's settings. By doing so, a new, unique link can be generated for each meeting that includes a password embedded within that link. Embedding the password within the link makes it significantly more secure from outside intruders when compared to the more commonly-used 9-digit Zoom meeting ID.

Securely Sharing Documents

All our documents at Toptal are shared internally via Google Drive, Google's document platform and cloud storage solution, in large part because of the ability to easily and securely distribute content. Using two-factor authentication, Google Drive allows team members to share documents with any other team member safely and securely. Viewing, editing, and commenting restrictions can also be set at the shared drive, document, or folder levels.

For an even more secure way of managing access controls, Toptal uses Single Sign-on (SSO). SSO uses a trusted third-party system to authenticate and relies on its authentication data when providing access to the tool. The advantages of using SSO are twofold:

Improves security by reducing the number of passwords needed to be remembered.

Improves productivity by accelerating access to every asset stored in Google Drive.

Securing all of our cloud-based tools and services is essential for our ability to conduct our business. Two-factor authentication adds another layer of confidence to our use of these services and is especially important in the context of our heavy reliance on Google Drive for all our document sharing.

Access Control Policy

Since we store all our tools and services in the cloud, it is impossible to physically limit access to them as you can in an office environment. Thus, access controls are audited regularly, and we have automated the processes for account creation and termination for all our tools. For our most critical servers, access can only be granted through a VPN.

We manage access controls using three teams:

1. IT Operations is responsible for providing account access and permissions changes to all Toptal team members for all internal services.

2. The Security Operations team regularly audits all the accounts and Account Control Lists and reports security breaches or non-compliant accounts/access in accordance with our security and access control policies.

3. The Compliance team processes all audit reports and assesses what actions need to be taken to ensure compliance in accordance with our policies.

We utilize a formal user access provisioning process to assign or revoke access rights for all user types to all systems and services. By implementing authentication mechanisms, in conjunction with unique IDs, we can verify user legitimacy. To ensure proper user authentication management for all team members on all system components, user authentication mechanisms need to be compliant with all the other applicable policies and procedures.

Our access control policies are very robust and specific, given the need to manage everything virtually. The following four sections detail those policies.

Role-based Access Control (RBAC)

We enforce a Role-based Access Control (RBAC) policy over users and information resources and control access based upon job classification, function, and team membership. We can verify user legitimacy by implementing authentication mechanisms in conjunction with unique IDs. The default access level for any new account is set to "deny all," and granting access level must be approved. Roles are frequently audited user-to-role and role-to-user to ensure that all users are accounted for at the proper permission level. Additionally, accounts created in third-party systems that contain company data are linked to a user's email account.

Management of Privileged Access Rights

Our security and systems administrators that have elevated privileges have significant access to our information systems. As such, Security Operations, Infrastructure, and Systems and Database Administrators have added responsibilities to ensure our security. Those at Toptal with elevated privileges are expected to:

Advise the asset owner on matters concerning information security.

Assist the asset owner in developing security plans, risk assessments, relevant documentation, or processes.

Ensure that any changes to any information system that affect contingency and disaster recovery plans are conveyed to the asset owner responsible for maintaining continuity of operations plans for that information system.

Ensure that adequate physical and technical safeguards are operational within their areas of responsibility and that access to information and data is restricted to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.

Verify that users have received appropriate security training before allowing access to any information system.

Implement applicable security access procedures and mechanisms, incorporate appropriate levels of system auditing, and review audit logs.

Document and investigate known or suspected security incidents or violations and report them to the Security Operations team.

Management of Confidential Authentication Information

We also have specific policies for information that requires confidential authentication:

Information systems must uniquely identify and authenticate users or processes.

All users must have a unique identifier (ID) assigned to them before they get access to any information system. In addition to assigning a unique ID to each user, at least one of the following methods must be used to authenticate any user:

Something the user knows (e.g., password or passphrase).

Something the user has (e.g., a token device or smart card).

Something the user is (e.g., biometric).

Proper user identification and authentication management for all standard and privileged users, on all information systems, must be configured so that:

Only authorized users are provided with user IDs.

User names and service accounts are uniquely named.

Providing access to company information systems requires a written authorization (a Slack chat would be sufficient) of a supervisor or manager.

Management of individual identifiers is not applicable to shared information system accounts (e.g., guest and anonymous accounts).

User or device identifiers must never be reused. The assignment of previously used individual, group, role, or device identifiers to different individuals, groups, roles, or devices is not allowed.

Periodic Review of Access Control & User Management

We perform audits of all access control policies and user management systems every six months to ensure compliance with all other security policies. If needed, corrections will be made immediately. Evaluation and introduction of new technology or services must take into account Toptal's security policies and the need to audit, monitor, report, and notify when specific events occur.

Encryption Policy

For communication purposes, Toptal relies on third-party providers of communication tools and services (e.g., Google, Slack, etc.) for security and privacy. Usage of proprietary programs for encryption, even if they implement a publicly available standard (e.g., PGP is developed by Symantec), is not permitted. GPG is a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard, and it can/should be used when needed.

Application design and solution implementation must take into consideration the need to replace algorithms and keys quickly, reliably, and without impact on the service. Furthermore, it should be easy to replace an algorithm or key if compromised, expired, or revoked. DSA, DES, 3DES, MD5, SHA1, BLOWFISH algorithms must not be used.

Personal cryptography is never allowed. Instead, we use the cryptographic systems, algorithms, and hash functions as described below:

Key length requirements are reviewed annually as part of our yearly security review and upgraded as needed. All resources must be served via HTTPS, and all requests received via HTTP must be redirected to the HTTPS counterpart. HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) must be implemented in all applications, and HTTPS must only be implemented using TLS (do not use SSL).

The policies we institute for securing all of the cloud-based services we utilize are purpose-built to work for a fully distributed team. We apply the same purpose-built logic to how we control access to all our cloud-based tools and services, as well as our encryption policies. Additionally, we have specific procedures to secure all company data, as outlined below.

Data Security

Data security is vital in a remote environment where a company does not control where team members conduct their work. To support internal data protection efforts, our team members have the minimum number of permissions necessary to do their jobs. Our IT Operations team manages all accounts and data and can revoke access if accounts are compromised or terminated.

Toptal's information security policies are based on the International Standardization Organization (ISO) 27001:2013, 27002:2013, and 27005:2011 standards for information security management, security controls, and risk assessment and treatment.

Our data security policies include both data protection and data backup.

Data Protection

Google Suite is our chosen document platform and cloud storage solution. We also store our documentation in Atlassian Confluence. Both services provide data encryption in transit (256-bit SSL/TLS encryption) and at rest (AES-256 for Confluence and at least AES-128 for Google Drive).

For source code storage and versioning needs, Toptal uses the services of GitHub. GitHub uses hosts with encrypted disks, and data is transferred via Secure Shell (SSH) and HTTPS.

Toptal uses a separate database for each application, helping contain or minimize the exposure in case of a security breach. Databases are stored in Amazon S3. Transferring the DB dumps to the S3 bucket is always done via an encrypted connection, and the storage provided by the S3 service is encrypted (AES-256).

Data Backup

For configuration backup procedures, every server used by Toptal must be evaluated periodically in order to assess the need for a backup. Toptal uses technologies like Configuration Management Systems (Ansible) to rebuild defective servers when needed. This eliminates the need for a backup process for each server.

The storage for the Configuration Management System is a versioning system service from GitHub. Although GitHub is a fully distributed versioning system (making the need to back up the repository almost redundant), our Jenkins automation servers maintain a real-time copy of the repository.

In a similar way to our configuration backup procedures, we also store a copy of the source code for any application that relies on GitHub. In the event that a service cannot access the source code from GitHub, they are directed to fetch it from an alternate backup location (typically, our Jenkins automation servers), where a working copy of the code is available. This ensures continuous access to, and use of, any of these applications.

To ensure our backup systems are not corrupted and that the restore procedures will work, we run test scenarios where we are unable to access the source code from GitHub.

Our data security policies are comprehensive and meant to prevent loss of data. Yet, data loss is not the only threat we can encounter. That is why we have also put together plans for potential security leaks, offer practical tips for how to avoid scams, and created anti-malware guidelines.

Avoiding Scams

Clear communication policies can help team members avoid scams. That is why we have created confirmation channels in Slack, leveraging its two-factor authentication capabilities. If a received email asks for information about a subject, we can confirm the legitimacy of the message with the sender via Slack.

Slack also allows us to regularly and easily update the entire team on phishing or other scams targeting the company or industry.

Malware Guidelines

Any team member at Toptal that suspects malware is present in a device configured to access Toptal's systems or data must immediately report this to Toptal's Security Operations team and promptly follow the security procedures applicable or the instructions received from Toptal's Security Operations Team.

The chosen anti-malware solutions must be used legally and in accordance with its license, have its definition database kept permanently up to date, and be running in active protection mode (set up the application to actively protect the device and not just notify the user). The malware solution must also be configured to perform in-depth checks regularly, and any malware-infected device must be disconnected from Toptal's resources (logged out of all services/accounts) until it is restored/cleaned up.

To support all of the security protocols we have instituted to protect and prevent our fully remote team from outside aggressors, we also provide the necessary tech support, albeit in a way that is built for our distributed network.

Internal Tech Support for Remote Team Members

Individuals moving to remote work and those who are used to having in-house IT Operations should expect a transition in how they work, especially if they are accustomed to receiving in-person support.

Toptal's IT Operations teams prefer to guide workers through solving their own problems. We address routine questions and issues by maintaining a single repository for easy, self-serve access. We also host an FAQ/knowledge base that addresses common questions and answers, lessening the strain on the support team and accelerating getting the right information to a team member when they need it.

We also have a Slack channel where simple questions can be directed to the support team. This improves communication on fixing problems and makes others aware of common issues. For more complex problems, Toptal has a ticketing system that creates a clear chain of responsibility within the operations team.

Lastly, we provide remote support through Zoom video conferencing, often using the tool's remote control desktop feature to diagnose issues while on a call. This approach minimizes the number of tools team members need and any jumping between applications.

Concluding Thoughts

Remote team members need to have the proper information security and technical support to protect their devices and data, no matter where they work geographically. Instrumental to this are well-defined and strongly enforced security compliance standards that educate, empower, and protect our team members.

This includes our mandatory use of Google Drive for all document sharing, ubiquitous use of two-factor authentication, strict access control policies, and well-defined encryption protocols.

It also demands our data security policies are equally detailed and include systems to prevent breaches as well as proactive planning for when leaks, scams, or malware may arise.

Vigilant protection of our information systems is paramount to keeping our virtual wall secured.

Remote companies need to think very strategically about what tools they choose. Those decisions can make or break their ability to communicate effectively, both internally and externally, and their ability to maximize productivity. There's a direct through-line between the tools a company uses and their likelihood to gain a competitive advantage.

Ismael Peinado, Toptal's Chief Technology Officer

For remote organizations, in the absence of physical proximity, it is vital that technology tools empower staff productivity and support teams. Toptal has embraced these tools, harnessing them to build workflows that, from the start, eliminated the need for a physical office.

This chapter reveals the tools we use for our remote workforce and the best ways to make them count. These include communication software such as Slack and Zoom, productivity tools like Miro and Confluence, people operations instruments such as Top Team and Polly, and developer tools such as JIRA and GitHub.

Communication Technology

As a fully remote company, determining the right communication technology to use has a monumental impact on our ability to perform our work with ease and efficiency. The below sections outline our preferred communication tools.

Slack - Everyday Communications

We use Slack as our primary tool for all instant messaging communications, as it provides for intuitive organization, easy access to company knowledge, and the security associated with two-factor authentication. Microsoft Teams and Yammer are similar products used for this purpose.

One of Slack's principal advantages is found in the acronym from which it is named: Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge. For remote organizations like ours, it serves as the foundation for enterprise-level communications.

Newly remote organizations should choose a messaging platform with care, as it forms the bedrock of daily remote life.

Since all written dialogue is through Slack, we rarely use email internally. In our experience, email is slow, more difficult to organize, lacks smart search capabilities, and does not allow for real-time collaboration and decision-making. Given our heavy reliance on Slack for daily communication, we have adopted detailed internal policies around channel structure and etiquette to enhance clarity and comprehension and set a professional tone appropriate for our culture.

Slack Channel Structure

Our team members can create channels for communications related to specific projects or interests. Over time, the number of open channels may inflate, resulting in a confusing and cluttered interface. To prevent this, Toptal has created its own structure for categorizing channels. Creating a structure and shared nomenclature for Slack channels helps team members navigate the organization easily and shortens the ramp-up period for new team members.

At Toptal, each internal team has its own channel, both with a "[TEAM]-core" and a "[TEAM]-misc" medium for communication-the former being for high-level team announcements, and the latter for more day-to-day discussions. A primary #general channel is the main announcement vehicle for Toptal. Important, company-wide news is directed through this channel, and only certain staff members are permitted to post messages to that channel.

Our Slack channels that begin with a "-" designate are company-created, "official" channels, which tend to be for central team functions. Staff may create channels for specific projects or user-interest groups, and their lack of a "-" prefix ensures that staff is immediately aware of its hierarchical standing in the organization.

The "core" and "misc" channels for every team in Toptal are publicly viewable across the organization and free for staff to join. Having messages in public serves as a self-policing mechanism, helping to reduce spam and careless messaging. We use private channels for sensitive matters, such as new initiatives that are not yet ready for general consumption.

Slack Chat Etiquette

To maintain professional order in remote organizations, it is imperative to set a defined standard for communications. At Toptal, we take this quite seriously, strongly frowning upon typos, poor grammar, and use of slang.

Toptal team members are based all over the world, but everyone communicates in American English. The searchable, public nature of Slack's channels serves as a self-regulating mechanism for communication quality. Newcomers to the company are directed during their onboarding to our guidelines, which offer examples of how to (and how not to) express themselves in written communications.

Slack allows for name tagging within a communication, but we discourage overzealous usage of mass name tagging in our Slack channels. The "@channel" tag will notify all users regardless of their notification settings and their current time zone, and thus, is only utilized for important company-wide messages. Instead, "@here" tagging is preferred.

Companies going remote should encourage overcommunication among their staff. The unspoken heuristics of an in-person environment can be harder to replicate remotely, so we give feedback with context and clarity. We rely on Toptal managers to lead by example, choosing directness over vagueness. Such an approach encourages direct reports to follow a similar style.

We use emoji reactions instead of a continual stream of short affirmative replies, as they simplify communication streams. Emojis also provide a way for our team members to express themselves and their personal character.

Replicating the Physical Office in Slack

Group Slack channels are important for stimulating creativity and ideation among teams. We try to discourage private, one-to-one messaging for topics that may be enlightening and helpful to the wider team.

Working remotely means you miss out on the organic spontaneous conversations that you'd encounter in a design studio space, so a group channel gives all the designers a window into what other designers are working on.

Bret Hansen, Toptal's Head of Brand Design

Toptal team members have Slack profiles that clearly state their role, email, phone number, and a link to their internal directory profile. Every team member chooses a formal username handle and includes a professional headshot as their avatar. We use status updates liberally to assist in notifying other team members if a colleague is temporarily unavailable or on discretionary time off.

Grammarly - Typos No More

Grammarly is offered to Toptal staff for checking the grammar and punctuation of our writing. It offers a web-browser plugin, which allows for seamless integration into Slack and other tools that Toptal uses for writing (e.g., Google Docs).

Toptal has a diverse group of personnel based around the world, and Grammarly helps to maintain a high level of quality within the organization and throughout customer communications.

Zoom - Video Meetings

Choosing an appropriate video conferencing service is another vital decision for a remote organization. There are many enterprise-level services, with Skype, Google Hangouts, and Zoom being three of the most prominent. We have chosen to use Zoom for the following reasons:

Offers native mobile and desktop versions across all popular platforms.

Includes an array of screen sharing, remote delegation, and whiteboard collaboration options.

Effective buffering technology accommodates team members across the globe with varying internet speed quality.

Capable of analog dial-in for traditional telephony.

Seamlessly integrates with Slack.

We have used Zoom at Toptal for years for everything from one-on-one calls and live face-to-face team catch-up meetings, all the way up to All Hands meetings for the entire organization. The scalability of Zoom has complemented Toptal's own growth, handling meetings with hundreds of attendees.

One core advantage behind Zoom's effectiveness within Toptal is its integration into existing workflows, most notably the Google Chrome web browser and, of course, Slack. By simply typing "/zoom" in Slack, we are able to create a one-click portal to a new video call.

Establishing norms for video conferencing is necessary for remote-centric organizations. At Toptal, team members are asked to have their camera on for desktop-taken calls. This helps build relationships more quickly and provides useful body language cues. Camera-on interaction not only makes the meeting more "real," it also promotes attentiveness since team members are less likely to multitask if they are on video.

Krisp.ai - Muting the Noise

Ensuring that background noise, either internal or external, is minimized on calls is a must for individuals working remotely. The Krisp.ai tool-for mobile and desktop-has proved to be a useful tool for our team members, either for canceling out background noise from their end of a call or politely neutralizing interference at the other end.

We rely a great deal on all of the communication tools shared in the above sections. Combining and integrating these tools with our preferred productivity tools is one of the strongest ways we are able to perform as a fully remote team in such a seamless, productive, and fast manner.

Productivity Tools

Our preferred productivity tools do exactly what their name suggests: increase our productivity. Given productivity is seared into our company's ethos, selecting the right productivity tools is always a thorough process. Below are the tools we use on a daily basis that have proved to boost our productivity.

Google G Suite - Collaborative Work & File Sharing

Google's G Suite is our chosen document platform and cloud storage solution. Microsoft Office 365 is also a popular choice among many organizations.

The nature of G Suite's file sharing, version control, and collaborative abilities are important practical tools that display the transparency and productivity inherent in our culture.

Document, slide, and spreadsheet creation are ubiquitous skills throughout any organization. In recent years, software capabilities have been enhanced by advances in collaborative working features. Working on live G Suite documents with colleagues is common practice for us.

At Toptal, file attachments are only permitted in external client communications. Internally, on Slack, all documents are shared, with specified permissions, via a link to their location in internal Google Drive folders. Working in this manner maintains version control on large documents and minimizes the noise on communication channels, allowing staff to focus on the needs at hand.

Miro - Brainstorming Tools

Office teams often use whiteboards for ideation and brainstorming exercises, and remote teams do exactly the same using a digital equivalent. Using Miro for our brainstorming exercises helps harness the collaborative input and provide structure to proceedings. Many of our teams find this tool enormously helpful, from our Product teams that rely on Miro when creating workflows to our Brand Marketing team that utilizes the tool for creative ideation.

Miro is a tool that has been effective with our creative teams. We have brainstorming sessions with 10 people using a reappearing board; people throwing ideas, creating workflows.

Kleanthis Georgaris, Toptal's VP of Product

Collabshot - Show, Don't Tell

Toptal created its own screenshot tool for distributed teams called Collabshot that has built-in annotation capabilities. These annotated screenshots increase our productivity by allowing us to get points across more quickly and to provide much more descriptive feedback. Collabshot's quick screenshots are uploaded to the cloud, shared with a link, and can be annotated by multiple users.

Loom - Video Walkthroughs

When going remote, Loom's video walkthroughs are a great way to get your POV heard when a live video call is not possible or when the subject matter is too complex to write in a Slack message. Loom simultaneously records your screen, webcam, and microphone and then can be sent directly to another team member though an integration with Slack. This is a great tool for teams that work asynchronously or when time zones aren't conducive for a live conversation.

Trello and Asana - Workflow Management

Cloud-based Kanban boards such as Trello and Asana help remote organizations manage workloads. They dissect projects into individual tasks, across an entire workflow, with individual workers taking responsibility for their respective tasks.

Trello is an effective workflow management tool at Toptal through its seamless integration into existing remote work tools used by the company. For example, our Design team creates graphical assets for the entire company, handling an array of requests. Our staff submits requests through a Google Form, which routes into the Design team Trello board. The team then manages workload across the following milestones: Inbox, Backlog, In Design, In Review, Approved, Shipped, Dismissed.

Some of our teams also use Asana when complicated remote production workflows require more granularity. A single piece of written content, for example, may require a writer, editor, designer, SEO expert, copyeditor, and feedback from multiple stakeholders. Asana creates a single source of truth so it is clear who owns each step in the process and when it is due. Anyone can see the entire journey of a piece of content on a single screen, or they can zoom out to a calendar view for a high-level editorial perspective. Customizable templates for various content types-podcast episodes and articles, for example-help avoid duplicative work for project managers. We find that Asana encourages clear ownership, helps avoid dropped balls, and holds the whole team accountable for timely content delivery.

Confluence - Source of All Knowledge

Democratizing access to knowledge in a remote organization is paramount. There is always a need to learn about a process or update an existing one. We use Confluence, a Wiki-esque enterprise knowledge management system that has excellent tools for distributed teams to document their processes. We have worked meticulously to build comprehensive records of knowledge to ensure that continuity can be maintained in the face of change.

On their own, each of our productivity and communication tools provides a great deal of value to our team members, but the real power of our tools multiplies when they are integrated together.

Integrations

Leveraging tools that enhance working remotely becomes a clear necessity once in a fully remote environment. However, it is important to integrate disparate apps, components, and platforms together to ensure they're all working to their strengths, synergistically. Without robust integrations among Slack, Zoom, TopTeam, Confluence, and more than a dozen other platforms, Toptal would not be the efficient remote work environment that it is today.

Below, we describe how we have accomplished many of these integrations successfully to provide insight for how you might go about accomplishing the same within your own organization.

Zapier - Pulling Everything Together

Zapier has been an invaluable resource for us in pulling together all of the tools described in this section. It allows workflows to be bolted on to one another to accomplish tasks that can then be automated. For example, when requests are made to Trello boards, they are routed appropriately by Zapier via submitting a Google Form. There is a range of integrations that happen through Zapier, and we highly recommend it.

Slack - Centralized Interface

As Slack is our primary tool for all internal communications, it has become our centralized interface for many, if not all, of our integrations. These integrations allow our team members to perform many daily, recurring tasks without ever having to leave their Slack environment, allowing for an almost Bloomberg Terminal type of work experience. By simply typing a slash, followed by a command, our team members can perform actions such as starting a video conference via a Zoom integration or searching for people by department and location through the integration with our Top Team portal. The list is quite long as to what team members can do via command-line-like interactions, though nearly everything at Toptal can be done via a Slack integration. These quick commands make daily communication significantly more efficient.

While all of our team members receive a tremendous amount of utility when our tools seamlessly integrate into a larger digital ecosystem, our People team also relies on some very specific tools to help their team perform within the construct of a fully remote workforce.

People Operations Technology

Our People team uses a number of tools to facilitate interactions with staff and applicants on human resources matters. Below, we highlight the most important tools we use.

Top Team - In-house Software

Top Team is our own in-house software built specifically for a remote workforce, and it has evolved to become an invaluable resource that includes team member profiles, organizational structure, career maps, and goal setting.

On the Top Team platform, every team member has a profile with their title, team, managers, the length of time at the company, as well as a self-written bio.

Through Top Team, every team member can drill down into any part of the organization they would like to see, starting from themselves or any team member they choose.

Top Team further enables users to drill down into career maps for various roles in the organization. The maps clearly delineate the skills and experience required for promotion within a department and showcase possible opportunities in other departments. Individuals can explore roles in any department, not just the ones where they are currently working.

Top Team allows team members to see company objectives from a high level as well as drill down into how their specific team will contribute to the overall organization reaching those goals. This fosters a sense of ownership for goals and connects each team member's actions back to the greater vision of the company.

Lessonly - Learning Management System

Lessonly is our learning management system that we use for all our training courses. We use this system as it enables the kind of self-directed onboarding necessary for a remote workforce. In addition, it is incredibly adaptable and customizable, allowing managers to create their own learning paths for specific roles and disciplines. The system also allows testing gates that validate active participation and comprehension of the subject matter.

Lever - Applicant Tracking System

Lever is the applicant tracking system (ATS) we use at Toptal. Its layout is intuitive and simple, though its capabilities are tremendous. Lever allows for tracking and managing the entire pipeline of applicants coming into the team. We can create interview paths, feedback forms specific to each role, and even include confidential fields for managed access. These features allow us to avoid the potential ambiguity that might naturally arise from needing to remotely track applicants. Training our team members how to use this tool is easy and fast, which is also beneficial for a fully distributed workforce.

UltiPro - HR & Payroll Management System

UltiPro is our Human Resources Management System. It is the single source of truth for all data on the team, including payroll information and each worker's job history at Toptal. The main benefit of using UltiPro is its ability to seamlessly work across our large global footprint, a capability other systems lack. This allows us to connect finance and payroll across 70+ countries, making it easy to pull reports from one single source.

PTO Ninja - Time Away Requests

Toptal embraces an unlimited Discretionary Time Off (DTO) policy built on trust, and with that trust comes the expectation that each team member will coordinate their workload with teammates so no balls are dropped.

PTO Ninja allows any team member to make a time-off request-for any reason-from a chat window in Slack. The plug-in also integrates into our calendars, incorporates delegation capabilities, and notifies the vacationing team member of the status of delegated tasks upon returning to work. It also displays a full team calendar, allowing managers to easily identify when there might be too much overlap. The tool's functionality gives us confidence that our unlimited DTO policy will be responsibly managed by all our team members.

Common Ground - Anti-harassment Training

Anti-harassment training tends to be notoriously boring offline, a problem that does not abate when you go remote. Toptal's online training is with Common Ground by WILL Interactive. In it, each team member views an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure-style story, which follows a fictional team member through challenging workplace decisions. In addition to its ability to engage with the participant, we selected this specific tool because it can be easily adapted to accommodate cultural nuances that exist in the many countries where our team members reside.

Polly - Survey Tool

Polly is a Slack app that we use for team member surveys, allowing the People Team to monitor happiness among the staff. Its instant feedback feature suits our culture well, where we embrace any tool or tactic that optimizes our productivity. Additionally, as with so many other aspects of our company culture, the tool allows for complete transparency, giving us the ability to identify and help team members who may be displaying signs of negativity or frustration.

Chronos - Rate Meetings

Chronos, an internal tool that we built to integrate into Slack, allows each team member to rate a meeting once it has ended. This provides immediate transparency as to the value of the meeting and gives the team an opportunity to decide which meetings are necessary moving forward. As so much of our daily communication and collaboration occurs through Zoom video conferences, it is absolutely essential we maximize meeting productivity. Chronos is one more way we achieve this goal.

The above tools that support our People team complement all the other tools we have highlighted in this section. All of these tools were methodically chosen, as they have proved to be the most effective at their intended purpose and for the specific needs of our remote team.

Developer Tools

Our developers use a number of tools to help with project management and team collaboration. Below, we highlight some of the most important tools we use.

JIRA - Project Management

JIRA is our primary project management and issue tracking tool. It is an extremely flexible solution that supports a wide variety of workflows and integrates well with Confluence and Slack. With JIRA, it is easy to share data back and forth with Confluence and to generate any needed reports. It also has great support for Scrum-our preferred Agile development technique. We augment JIRA with plugins for things like planning poker and Agile retrospectives. We have also created a custom plugin to help us manage our product roadmap and give us an overview of what each team is working on and how this ties to our OKRs.

GitHub - Code Hosting Platform

GitHub is our main code hosting platform and our main code review tool. All of our public and private projects are hosted there. Its functionality is perfect for our distributed, asynchronous style of work, as engineers can submit code for review at any time and other engineers can review it and provide feedback when they can.

Lucidchart - Visual Workspace

Lucidchart helps us visually solve complex problems by creating architectural diagrams and flow charts that create clarity and help our distributed team get up to speed quickly on code base and systems. Much like Google Docs, it allows multiple team members to collaborate at the same time, making it easy to work across a fully distributed team. It also integrates well with Confluence, allowing us to embed diagrams to help answer questions about code and previous initiatives.

RetroBoard - Agile Retrospectives

RetroBoard is a custom web application that we have developed as an agile retrospectives tool. It allows developers to share discussion topics, vote on their importance, and keep track of action items. It is a fantastic replacement for the physical retrospectives board utilized by office-based companies.

Concluding Thoughts

Success at Toptal is reliant on a powerful suite of technology tools and the productive workflows that use them. Our years of experience working as a fully distributed team gives us an expert understanding of the right tools to use in service of our company goals.

Communications tools such as Slack and Zoom allow our team members to communicate collaboratively with the same ease and clarity as found with coworkers who are physically together in an office environment.

The integration of productivity tools such as Google's G Suite and Miro enhance our ability to collaborate efficiently, brainstorm remotely, and manage projects and workflows with enhanced precision and accelerated speed.

We have also created customized in-house tools for our People Operations that empower all our team members to set personal goals, monitor their own performance, and plan their career trajectory at Toptal. Similarly, our developers use specific project management tools that enhance their productivity and collaboration.

Our experience using these tools allows us to match-and often surpass-the effectiveness of an office-based organization.

There was definitely a 3-4 week acclimation period when I first went remote. But once I settled into it, I realized how remarkably similar it is to working in an office environment. Actually, not similar. Better.

Mike Litwin, Toptal's VP of Brand Marketing

A fully distributed environment presents unique challenges, whether you are a team member working on your own or a manager overseeing a team spread around the world. Through years of experience as a 100% remote company, Toptal has learned to anticipate and solve these problems.

In this chapter, we address the special challenges remote teams and organizations face, including establishing and maintaining trust while remote and the need for team members in a fully remote organization to have healthy habits and the right state of mind.

Separately, we also look at challenges related to external clients or potential partners as they can sometimes be skeptical that running a fully remote company is possible at a high-caliber level.

How to Establish Trust

Many companies transitioning to a remote environment seek to maintain the "presence" element of an in-office environment, often equating greater face-to-face time with an increase in accountability or productivity. While the lack of in-person presence may be frustrating to some, we've found that strong and frequent communication is even more meaningful than simply physically sitting next to someone. While trust is the foundational element that will allow for this to happen effectively, focusing on clarity of goals, alignment of ownership, and accountability of outcomes will ultimately be much more successful vs. simply an in-person presence.

You have to resist the temptation to constantly check up on people and learn to trust them.

Kleanthis Georgaris, Toptal's VP of Product

At Toptal, we hold our team members accountable to outcomes. Critical to our environment is being trusted to follow through on commitments.

Having a high say:do ratio in terms of what you're doing professionally is a more impactful way to build trust versus shooting the breeze about the weather. If you say you're going to do something, do it and do it within the timeframe that you said you were going to do it.

Christy Schumann, Toptal's VP of Talent Operations

There are daily behaviors that can give managers a greater sense of trust in a remote environment. At Toptal, team members can optionally indicate their current activity in Slack notifications so there is line of sight, in real time, to each team member's work schedule.

Calendars are also public, so team members know when individuals are in meetings or away at an appointment.

These small though meaningful insights allow everyone to know that you are broadcasting your activity to the organization so that they can see if you are available or not. While this is optional at Toptal, we highly recommend it for many organizations who want to increase transparency in their remote work environment.

How to Avoid Miscommunication

Distributed teams, especially those scattered across multiple time zones, can experience communication challenges. However, if the right protocols are in place, those challenges can be solved in a way that unifies the team and creates a strong working cadence while reaping the benefits of remote work.

As teams become more culturally and geographically diverse, miscommunications can occur more frequently. While understanding cultural differences can help teams find common ground, alignment on cultural values and working styles at the company level is generally the most effective way to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Toptal has established programs to foster interaction between our distributed teams which help accomplish the goal of getting everyone on the same page. Initiatives like our mentorship program and culture committee provide team members from different walks of life with opportunities to get to know each other and get familiar with the norms at Toptal as a broader organization.

Furthermore, to ensure teams are working together and have good levels of camaraderie, we group teams by time zones and often ensure that our team members define working hours and availability expectations. Doing so ensures that no one is regularly working in a silo and that all of the relevant team members are working together in a tight-knit manner.

How to Build Relationships & Collaborate

A primary way to avoid miscommunication is to connect with people on a personal level and build strong relationships. At Toptal, we incorporate a number of activities designed to assist with achieving this goal.

During one-on-ones, our managers take time to ask general questions about their team members' life. These discussions offer context into what you can expect in terms of productivity-a team member's upcoming cross-country move is good to know as a manager. Following up with them, too-"hey, how did the move go?"-means a lot coming from a busy manager.

In addition to these one-on-ones, we ask our managers to keep their digital "door" open, allowing team members to reach out anytime for a quick video chat. Creating this atmosphere naturally has a trickle-down effect for how team members communicate with each other.

We also advocate for purposeful or even spontaneous collaboration. Often, one team comes up with an interesting idea during a call but needs the input of other stakeholders. Zoom video calls make it fast and easy to immediately bring others into a conversation and brainstorm in real time. Some teams even set regular "coworking hours"-times when anyone from the team can join a group Zoom and work together.

To help deepen relationships within teams on a more personal level, we have found success in having team members celebrate personal milestones. Just as coworkers often come together in an office to celebrate a team member's birthday or work anniversary, our teams create those experiences virtually through casual video conferences.

Casual team-building moments like these can even extend beyond celebrating a personal milestone to become a recurring event. Some teams have created a remote happy hour as a way to semi-regularly wind down and build camaraderie, while another team has recently started a virtual cooking club.

How to Balance Work & Personal Commitments

People have other things to do besides work, and the lines between life and work can blur when working remotely. People will be unavailable at times, and it is important to understand and communicate that.

Toptal uses status updates in Slack to communicate availability and activity status for that reason. For example, "📝 Focused on Writing," "☎️ On a Client Call," and "✈️ Traveling, slow to respond." We use a Slack integration that syncs with Google Calendar and automatically updates our status when we are in a meeting, which many at Toptal find incredibly helpful.

We also recommend that you allow your teams to set their own working hours, and focus on aggressive outcomes instead of aggressive hours, if possible. Unless their availability impinges the productivity of the rest of the team, team members should be able to craft their schedule in a way that leverages their best personal productivity habits.

Most importantly, we continuously communicate the value of flexibility. If our people need to go to an appointment, to the gym, to pick up their kids, we want them to be comfortable doing so. This flexibility is key and drives exceptional levels of retention and satisfaction within the company, while maintaining a high level of productivity.

From our experience as a fully remote company for more than a decade, the above concerns are typically the most common that we hear. We hope we've been able to offer insight and advice to alleviate those concerns and enable anyone new to remote work to feel confident and secure in this way of working.

We've created this section to provide, primarly for startups (though if you're a Fortune 500 thinking about going fully remote, this is for you as well!), guidance on dealing with potential clients who may struggle to see your fully-remote operations as world-class.

In Toptal's case, clients that have not worked with a fully remote company or with remote talent in general can be understandably hesitant to move forward. To overcome this layer of uncertainty, it is critical that remote teams are even sharper than their on-premise peers. This means fast and transparent communication, well-organized tools to facilitate interaction and flag issues, and a strong online presence that showcases authority and expertise.

Once these are in place, clients should experience your organization just as good, if not better, than their current partners.

Working Seamlessly with Clients

The most important and perhaps unique difference in working with clients remotely is communication.

Give clients the flexibility to communicate in the medium they feel most comfortable with and set clear expectations. Whether it is responding promptly or setting clear next steps at every point of the sales cycle, put the ball in the client's court and offer multiple avenues to communicate. These can include phone, Skype, Zoom, BlueJeans, and email.

At Toptal, we conduct a vast majority of our sales efforts via Zoom. This enables us to see more clients more often, close more deals, and save money on travel. Furthermore, video speeds up the sales process by eliminating the time and expense of on-site travel while providing the important human element of client contact. Many clients are just as comfortable with video as they are with face-to-face meetings.

Sachin Bhagwata, Toptal's Interim VP of Enterprise

For large projects, consider creating a Slack group that combines the client and the key points of contact from your organization. We create Slack channels in our Slack community or join the client's Slack community directly; it all depends on the client's preference. Furthermore, Slack allows for company-to-company integrations, allowing for one company's Slack to integrate with your company's. This can be very useful in many instances.

Like most organizations, Toptal tracks communications so that every touchpoint is recorded. While Toptal uses a system created in-house for its customer relationship management, plenty of other tools such as Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics CRM can work for other organizations. This tracking allows us to monitor the progress of engagements and quickly address any red flags that pop up.

Getting Clients Comfortable with Remote Work

The most common reasons clients might be uncomfortable with remote work include:

A predetermination that remote work means not being productive or working at all

A lack of experience or fear of the unknown.

A lack of the appropriate tools and/or technology coupled with processes to support the remote environment.

There are a few ways Toptal has worked to help clients get more comfortable with remote work. First, develop trust through action. Clients may be reticent at first, but through proactive communication and compelling results, the client may almost forget that you are remote.

It often can be a hurdle for clients to jump, but with the support of a sales and service team, our clients quickly realize the value of having access to the best of the best.

Erica Brunken, Toptal's Sales Enablement and Operations Lead

The quickest way to allay clients' apprehension surrounding remote work is by showing them how to do it. When setting up meetings, offer to use whatever medium they are most comfortable with. When sharing a screen is required, using a tool like Zoom, which requires no installation from either party, can quickly show clients with little experience just how easy it is to collaborate remotely.

While many on-premise organizations, especially large ones, already have tools and technology in place, they are often left unused. Find out what systems they have and adapt to them. For example, for file sharing, they may be set up for Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox. These services are so easy to use, all it takes is one experience, and the client is perfectly set up for using these file sharing services going forward.

Building Public Trust

What do you do when you can not impress potential clients with how many skylights your office has or offer them artisanal cold brew coffee on tap? The solution is to blow them away with your online presence.

At Toptal, our online blogs showcase the unrivaled expertise of our talent by publishing their research and unique experiences. We have several thought leadership publications that provide our unique point of view and expertise. They are hubs for in-depth studies and analysis, best practices, and tricks of the trade. Whatever industry you may be in, we are confident you can showcase your depth and expertise to the world in a compelling way that clearly displays to potential clients that you're even more equipped to service them than your competitors who may have a nice fancy office.

For Toptal, our client-facing offering is expert talent, so we showcase their expertise through our website. This is true for any remote company. A consulting agency might publish research, articles, and ebooks. A design firm might publish a portfolio. A SaaS company shares their products and insights into how they've positively changed a company's operations. Regardless of your sector, as a fully remote company, you have an ability to show your edge online.

Concluding Thoughts

Remote work-for a company or individual-may at first be different, often better, and not always easy, compared to the experience in an office. Pitfalls and problems await the inexperienced and uninformed. Chief among these is the need to establish trust when everyone is apart.

Toptal mitigates these challenges by holding our team members accountable to outcomes, cultivating a culture that values transparency and trust, offering advice for establishing healthy work habits, and supporting boundaries between work and personal life.

Remote work presents challenges, but we've developed solutions to each one that leads to greater rewards.

We are living through an unprecedented time right now, and we are committed to helping all organizations adapt to the challenges they face from finding themselves suddenly remote.

We hope that you enjoyed reading this Playbook and were able to gain valuable insights and practical tips that you can start immediately applying to how you work with colleagues and clients, how you manage teams, and how you transition all aspects of your daily business.

As a thriving fully remote business for over a decade, we hope our experience and expertise can be a valuable ongoing resource for you and your organization. That's why we will be continually introducing additional content on the rise of remote, including new articles on our Insights blog and new podcasts with additional perspectives from other senior leaders.

Writing this Playbook has reaffirmed our passionate commitment for remote work, and we hope that you also find great satisfaction and success as you begin working remotely yourself.

Contributors

Taso Du Val, CEO; Mike Litwin, VP of Brand Marketing; Alejandro Rigatuso, VP of Growth Marketing; Corinne Lowry, VP of Content Marketing; Michelle Labbe, VP of People; Kleanthis Georgaris, VP of Product; Brenda Kurz, Chief Administrative Officer; Mike Dowhan, VP of SMB Sales; Carlos Aguirre, VP of Finance; Ismael Peinado, Chief Technology Officer; Bill Tsingos, General Counsel; Sachin Bhagwata, Interim VP of Enterprise; Christy Schumann, VP of Talent Operations; Shane Ketterman, Lead, Operations; Cassidy Ceresa, Wellness & Engagement Manager; Erica Brunken, Sales Enablement and Operations Lead; David Abramovich, Online Community Lead; Sergio Ermacora, Lead Director of Finance; Alisa Avelar, Director of People; Elizabeth Howell Hanano, Lead Editor, Finance blog; Kevin Bloch, Editor; Alex Graham, Editor, Finance blog; David Grabowski, Editor, Staffing.com/Insights; Miklos Philips, Lead Editor, Design blog; Cameron Chapman, Editor, Design blog; Micah Bowers, Editor, Design blog; Scott Barman, SEO, Publications; Gordana Netkovska, Copy Editor, Publications; Fernando Berlanda, Senior Brand Designer; Bret Hansen, Head of Brand Design; Denis Usanov, CMS Team Lead; Nicolás Orchow, Team Lead, Growth; Aleksandr Lesnenko, Senior Front-end Engineer; Yanko Chamov, Technical Product Manager; Adam Chwedyk, Team Lead, Traffic Acquisition; Maria Kustova, Senior QA Automation Engineer; Marco Santos, Engineering Manager; Alex Nechoroskovas, SMB Lead Growth Manager; Dmitry Kudelko, Senior Front-end Engineer; Nikita Luchko, Senior Front-end Engineer; Erzhan Torokulov, Senior Front-end Engineer; Mario Loncaric, Senior Front-end Engineer; Stefan Teixeira, Senior QA Automation Engineer; Maxim Vysotskiy, Senior Back-end Engineer; Ming Chen, Front-end Engineer; Gabriel Nechita, Growth Engineer; Mariano Salerno, QA Automation Engineer; Christian Lerke, Software Engineer

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Toptal's Suddenly Remote Playbook | 6 Keys to Success for Virtual Teams

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We blinked, and suddenly, the future of work materialized. The COVID-19 pandemic circling the world transformed the gradual advance of remote work into a stampede, compelling millions of people to abandon the office and go home. From Google, Apple, and Microsoft to Chevron, AT&T, and Spotify, the list of companies embracing remote grew and grew.

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Free or Affordable Quality Learning Resources for Singaporeans & SPRs

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Free or Affordable Quality Learning Resources for Singaporeans & SPRs

# data[].attributes.body
Now is the best time to future-proof

COVID-19 has disrupted our lives, caused grievances or even destroyed our livelihood. We can either complain about this situation, or take this opportunity to better ourselves. This post chooses the latter and lists out quality and affordable learning avenues to sharpen our professional edge.

It will be mad to list out every learning programme out there since there are countless avenues. Google does a better job. Hence, entries on this board include the following criteria:

1) Perceived quality of the offered programme,

2) Usefulness of the programme to all professionals and

3) Affordability to Singaporeans or Singaporean PRs

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https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/learn/certifications/power-platform-fundamentals/

Business Analytics Specialisation by University of Pennsylvania (certification) (free to learn)

Introduction to big data analytics for all business professionals, including those with no prior analytics experience. You’ll learn how data analysts describe, predict, and inform business decisions in the specific areas of marketing, human resources, finance, and operations, and you’ll develop basic data literacy and an analytic mindset that will help you make strategic decisions based on data.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/business-analytics#about

Finance & Accounting

NUS Accounting & Finance for non-financial managers (5-day)

Learn how to interpret financial statements and apply that information into your business.

Cost: SGD$635 post subsidy for above 40 yrs old

https://executive-education.nus.edu.sg/programmes/accounting-finance-non-financial-managers/

SMU Finance Essentials for Business Success (1-day)

Learn how to interpret key financial statements, assess the financial health of organisations.

recognise ‘red flags’ and risks, identify events that have the most impact on the company’s cash flow, and identify potential business opportunities or improvements that enhance organisational value. Cost: SGD$103 after maximum funding

https://executive-education.nus.edu.sg/programmes/accounting-finance-non-financial-managers/

Human Resources

SMU Talent Management for Business Leaders

Learn how to align talent management with organisational values and goals, attract and retain talent, develop and manage talent pool, and enhance employee engagement, and conduct talent reviews. Cost: S$309 after maximum funding

https://academy.smu.edu.sg/talent-management-business-leaders-1106

Intellectual Property

Applying IP Fundamentals in Business (online)

Offered by The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), this course enables participants to better understand IP law and how it can be applied to achieve business strategies and objectives. Cost: S$62 per module post subsidy for 40 yrs old & above

https://ipacademy.iposinternational.com/enterprise-course/applying-ip-fundamentals-in-biz/

Strategic Intellectual Property (IP) Management for Businesses (IP)

1-day course curated together with the SMU Academy. This course provides participants with knowledge on how they can create more value for their businesses through the implementation of IP strategies. SSG funding is also available for this.

https://ipacademy.iposinternational.com/enterprise-course/strategic-ip-management-for-businesses/

Digital Marketing

NUS Digital Marketing 2-day workshop (online)

The course aims to provide you with a clear understanding of the building blocks that constitute digital marketing, and the tools, techniques and knowledge to develop cohesive market strategies. Cost: $242 post subsidy for 40 yrs & above

https://business.nus.edu.sg/mod/page/view.php?id=6

Digital Marketing Fundamentals by Google (Free) (Certification) (online)

Learn the fundamentals of digital marketing and get certified by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University.

https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalgarage/course/digital-marketing

Facebook Blueprint Certification by Facebook (online)

Although each Facebook Blueprint Certification online exam costs between $99 to $150 USD depending on the level of the certification, it is still worth the while considering that Facebook Blueprint Certification is the only accredited certification on Facebook advertising recognized by the industry.

https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/certification

Communication

SMU Service Management: Strategies for negotiation & communication (online)

This programme is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and techniques to becoming a master negotiator. You will learn the art of making deals whilst using a variety of tools to creating and enhancing mutual value with your customers.

Cost: S$303 post subsidy for 40 yrs old & above

https://academy.smu.edu.sg/service-management-strategies-negotiation-and-communication-2696

Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies & Skills (free to learn) (certification)

Learn and practice the four steps to a successful negotiation: 1) Prepare: Plan Your Negotiation Strategy, 2) Negotiate: Use Key Tactics for Success, 3) Close: Create a Contract , 4) Perform and Evaluate: The End Game.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/negotiation-skills

Basic Python Programming

Python is a general-purpose language, which means it can be used to build just about anything, which will be made easy with the right tools/libraries. Professionally, Python is great for backend web development, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing. Even if we are not going to be full-time programmers, it would be useful for us to grasp the basics to be able to communicate and collaborate effectively.

Python for Everybody Specialization by University of Michigan (online) (free)

Learn to Program and Analyze Data with Python. Develop programs to gather, clean, analyze, and visualize data. Audit the videos for free and earn a verified certificate for an additional fee.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python

SMU Professional Certificate in Python Programming (online)

Learn fundamental concepts in programming, use of functions and data structures in Python, object-oriented programming paradigm, basic data wrangling in Python, and applied data analysis using Python. Cost: as low as SGD$1162 after maximum funding.

https://academy.smu.edu.sg/professional-certificate-python-programming-3266

Codeacedemy Learn Python 3 (free) (online)

Explore the syntax, data types, and basic features of the language.Lots of programming exercises to sharpen programming skills. Interactive code examples make the lessons fun and easy to understand. Duration: 25 hours

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python-3

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OKRs are effective and useful for small and medium companies in managing goals. This can also be used by HR in order to achieve more in less time.

This article goes into details about how HR departments can make use of OKRs. It gives examples of HR objectives and key results using the OKR system, such as using OKR in talent acquisition, company culture, and the department's efficiency.

#OKR

https://factorialhr.com/blog/hr-goals-kpi-free-okr-template/

OKR is an effective tool in planning and achieving goals. This is why different organizations and departments make use of it to achieve more in less time. The HR department can follow the templates in this article so they have an idea on how to get OKR started.

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The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a way to plan and manage goals that more and more small and medium business are using for their usefulness and efficacy. For the Human Resources Department can be very helpful to meet objectives in less time and less effort.

Summary:
What are OKRs
How to apply the OKR methodology in your SMB?
OKRs for human resources
Download the excel template

In essence, when working with OKRs the Key Results (KR) are classified by the goals the company or department wants to achieve. the difference with other systems is in how clear that objectives are detailed and the steps to reach them. The OKR aren't more than a route for the company to evaluate in a concise and agreed upon way the objectives to meet.

What are the OKRs

OKR, Objectives and Key Results, are defined as the technique to plan and establish goals in any department or kind of company. This system got popular thanks to Intel and Google, two of the big companies using the OKR system. It's a very easy system, you just write the objectives to meet and the quantifiable actions needed to meet them.

These are some of the main characteristics your OKRs should have:

Quantifiable: All the detailed OKR should be quantifiable and measurable. "Get more clients" isn't measurable. Every Key Result must be accompanied by a number, either a fixed quantity, a percentage or a date. Make sure you can measure your results.

Qualified: When the time you established to meet your OKR, give yourself a qualification. At the end of the quarter or the year set a note for each objective where 0 is "not even close" and 1 is "objective met".

Public: All goals must be accessible for everyone on the company. Not only directors or managers, every employee should know them. Visibility furthers collaborations between people and departments and offers a clear idea of the goals.

Ambitious: It's always better to fall short than reach something without effort. If your team o company don't find any difficulties to meet their goals it may be you are not reaching far enough. OKR should be ambitious and a little bit higher than your previsions. Think big and be fearless.

How to apply the OKR methodology to your SMB?

It really is very easy.
One of the particularities that distinguishes OKR from other planning strategies is that objectives are discussed in a circular way between the employees and the directors and at least half the goals are proposed from bottom to top.
Employees are a part of the process of defining goals. The ideal is to define from 3 to 5 ambitious, but realistic, objectives following the above specifications. Once set these objectives, the next step is to detail de results to reach them. By each goals, we'll think at least two measurable results.

For example:
Objective: Improve employee engagement and their happiness at the company.
KR1: Plan 3 team meetings every month with motivational talks.
KR2: Interview 15 employees to know their needs and preoccupations.
KR3: Offer 2 yoga classes each month to the employees as a benefit.
KR4: Pass around a satisfaction survey each month and improve a 10%

These are thought as quarterly objectives so every three months an evaluation of the KR must be conducted to determine the qualifications of the goal (0-1). If the final number is close to 1 the objectives have been reached!

OKRs for Human Resources, the best way to meet your objectives efficiently

When redacting a plan for the department of human resources is very important to have in mind that any OKR must be aligned with the general goals of the company. The HR Plan must be design to be a part of the bigger picture.
If you need some OKR examples for the Human Resources department, here you'll find a few:

1. Talent Acquisition
Objective: Recruit and retain employees to satisfy company needs.
KR1: Increase the percentage of active open positions in the company's job board.
KR2: Reach the employee retention rate higher than 75%
KR3: Increase the percentage of managers with open positions with the HR department help.

2. Employee motivation and loyalty
Objective: Improve employee compensation without increasing company costs to motivate employees and promote company loyalty.
KR1: Activate 3 flexible retribution plans before the month ends.
KR2: Offer 1 benefit to all company employees.
KR3: Offer courses and training to the employees.

3.Company Culture
Objective: Maintain a positive workplace environment based on the company values.
KR1: Increase a 20% the percentage the employees that agree on a positive workplace environment according to the survey.
KR2: Give employees a special space or room to relax before the year ends.

4.HR department eficiency.
Objectives: Decrease the time destined to holiday and leaves administration.
KR1: Implement a software to manage company leaves before Christmas.
KR2: Spend a 50% less time between the time the employee asks for a leave and the time they get it (now a week).
KR3: Spend 4 hours less managing leaves thanks to the software without increasing response time.

If you want to improve fast motivation, workplace environment and spend less time managing documents, take a look at what Factorial can do for you.

How can this Human Resources OKR excel template help you.

With this free Human Resources OKR excel template, you can meet your objectives in less time and effort. In Factorial we've created this template specially for the companies that want to improve their human resources management and to help them on their day to day.
If you want a template to start detailing your human Resources objectives with the OKR system you can download here the free excel template: Human-Resources-OKR-Template-By-Factorial.

¡But to meet your objectives you need time! Register now and use your time for what really matters, your employees not your papers ??

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Meet your Human Resources goals with our free OKR template

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The Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a way to plan and manage goals that more and more small and medium business are using for their usefulness and efficacy. For the Human Resources Department can be very helpful to meet objectives in less time and less effort.

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The OKR system is effective in helping teams achieve their goals. This might sound daunting, but OKRs can be made fun. This guide from Atlassian makes the entire experience a game, despite the challenges.

#OKR

https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/okrs

This is a play-by-play guide that takes teams on how to set their own OKRs. What's great about this guide is that it makes setting OKRs a team effort that takes teams through every step.

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For remote teams, start by creating a collaboration document, like a Trello board or Confluence page. You can use the templates provided, if you'd like, or create your own.

For in-person teams, create a collaboration that you plan to share on a screen during the session.

As a team, decide what period of time you're setting OKRs for. If your company runs on quarters, quarterly is a good start.

Share any information that will help inform your OKRs with your team before the meeting. This could include broader company goals, project roadmaps, customer metrics, customer feedback, or previous quarters' OKRs.

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OKR Guide & Template | Learn How to Set Team Goals

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For remote teams, start by creating a collaboration document, like a Trello board or Confluence page. You can use the templates provided, if you'd like, or create your own. For in-person teams, create a collaboration that you plan to share on a screen during the session.

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Great Managers Ask These Questions on One-on-Ones

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Great Managers Ask These Questions on One-on-Ones

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No matter the size of the company, a one-on-one meeting is an effective tool in building a manager-and-employee relationship.

When a one-on-one meeting is done properly, it unlocks different doors such as knowing employees better and being in the position to boost their morale. This is why it is important for managers to take advantage of one-on-ones. This article talks about the different questions that managers can ask their employee during a one-on-one meeting. It lists 87 useful questions that are segregated depending on the topic discussed.

#1-on-1

https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meeting-questions-great-managers-ask/

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One on one meetings are a cornerstone to any effective manager <-> team member relationship from small startups to giant companies. What you talk about, and the one on one meeting questions you ask, make all the difference in the performance of your team.

It's why Andy Grove, legendary founder of Intel and author of High Output Management, said this about one on ones:

Over the last few years I've spoken to hundreds of managers, and making the most of these meetings is one of the biggest differences between good, effective leaders, and bad, frustrating managers. It's why the company I helped found, Lighthouse, is built to help you make the most of them.

So what should you talk about?

There are a variety of topics you can cover in your one on one meetings. Most are things you would rarely, if ever, get a chance to talk about otherwise, but can have a huge impact on your team's morale and engagement.

Even better, because you're having them in a private setting with a decent amount of time ( hopefully 60 minutes, but at least 30), you can dig into their responses and really explore their answers, ideas, frustrations, and feedback by asking good followup questions.
[Ed note: This post originally appeared as an answer on Quora. If you find this post and others on the Lighthouse blog helpful, please go here and upvote Jason Evanish's answer.]
For each of these key topics to cover in your one on one meetings, there are different questions that are best to ask to foster a great conversation. Those categories include:

1) Building Rapport & Trust

2) Talking about Career Development

3) Giving and Receiving Feedback

4) Talking About Ways to Improve Your Team or Your Company

5) Checking in on their General Happiness

Finally, there are also a couple questions you should ask every time to make sure these are good, productive conversations going forward. Without these, you can lose momentum and your team may disengage from sharing or talking much in your one on one meetings.

Let's begin.

1) One on one meeting questions for Building Rapport & Trust

The foundation of any good manager and team member relationship is rapport. If your team doesn't feel like you care about them as an individual, they're unlikely to be motivated to work hard for you.

This chart from Gallup powerfully summarizes that fact:

As you can see, if your team doesn't feel like you care about them and trust they can come to you, there's almost zero chance they'll be engaged at work.

Put more simply, Camille Fournier, former CTO of Rent the Runway and author of The Manager's Path, has learned:

So how do you create that trust?

Creating trust and building rapport is easier than you may think. As Fournier suggests, all you need to do is take an interest in them as people.

By learning what's important to them, remembering what those things are when it counts, and working with them through personal challenges that occasionally affect work (divorce, children, sickness, family issues, injuries, etc) you build more and more trust, rapport, and loyalty.

The Emotional Savings Account

My father, who has an average tenure of 17 years with his accounting staff (industry average is ~3.5 years), calls this rapport you build an "Emotional Savings Account."

When you do things to strengthen trust, or show you understand them, you're paying into the account. Then, when something difficult happens like a tough decision that affects them, no pay raises for a year, etc you withdraw from the account.

When the account is drained, you lose your good people, or they disengage.

Through the years, like any business, my father's company has had its share of ups and downs. He's retained good people because he does things to show he values his staff individually from day 1 all the way to their rocking chair retirement gift and dinner ( coincidentally, his leading cause of voluntary turnover).
What's the balance in your Emotional Savings Account with your team?
Okay, so what do I ask to build rapport and trust?

The short answer is to be human! Find out what's important to them and what their interests are. Start by getting to know them and then revisit asking about the things they care about in future one on one meetings.
Here's a few one on one meeting questions to ask to get you started:

1) How are you? How is life outside of work?

2) How do you feel your work/life balance is right now?

3) What is your resentment? (A great lesson from Marissa Mayer)

4) What's one thing we could change about work for you that would improve your personal life?

5) If around a holiday: Do you celebrate [Holiday]? How was it?

6) How are your parents/grandparents? Where do they live? Do you visit them?

7) If they have children: How is [name of child] doing? (Ask something related to their age like starting school, playing sports, or other interests.)

8) What do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies?

9) What did you do for fun in the past that you haven't had as much time for lately?

10) What drives you? What motivates you to come to work each day?

Want more ideas? Not sure how to handle someone who is a different generation, ethnicity, background, culture, or life stage? There's over 81 ideas for building rapport right here.

2) One on one meeting questions for Talking about Career Development

What do you think is the #1 perk people want at work according to multiple studies by respected sources like Gallup, Deloitte, and Google?

It's not free lunch, health insurance, a 401k, or ping pong tables.
It's career growth.
Below is just one example of the myriad of data showing how much people want to grow:

And when they inevitably look for another job, according to a study by PwC, growth is what people look for in their next job, too:

So your 1 on 1s are a great time to talk about their growth, because let's be honest, with everything going on, adding another meeting ad hoc to "talk about your career" falls into the "best intentions, but never happens" bucket.

Instead, every 3-4 one on one meetings, talk about their career development.

Start by establishing their goals.

At first, you need to establish what their goals and interests for growth are. These questions are a great place to start:

When you ask these questions, some people on your team will know immediately what they want.

Maybe they want to start a company some day. Maybe they have a goal to be a CMO or CTO. Or, they could be narrowly focused on the next promotion in front of them like becoming a manager, senior associate, or Software Engineer III.

For those that don't know, you'll need to work more with them at this stage.

Questions 16-25 are all about uncovering them by first looking at what excites them about their work and what they're best at. People who get to work on their strengths are more engaged at work according to Gallup, so you can help your team and actually help them long term as well by uncovering these.

Then, make progress together.

Talking about their goals is a good start, but it's not enough on it's own. People need to feel progress on them.

You have to turn talk into action.

Taking action takes advantage of the Progress Principle that PhD's Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer discovered is the key to sustained workplace happiness:
Here's some questions to ask to make sure you're making progress on their growth & development:

27) Do you feel like you're making progress on your big goals here? Why or why not?

28) What's one thing we could do today to help you with your long term goals?

29) Do you feel we're helping you advance your career at a pace you would like? Why or why not?

30) What are your big dreams in life? Are you making progress on them?

31) Could you see yourself making progress on more of your goals here? What would need to change to do so?

32) What skills would you like to work on most right now?

33) Are there any events or training you'd like to attend to help you grow your skills?

34) Who in the company would you like to learn from? What do you want to learn?

Sometimes you won't be able to make a lot of progress. Talking about why and setting the stage for what you can do in the future is a great way to keep them engaged anyways.

Want more help having career conversations with your team? Here's a few places to start:

3) One on one meeting questions for Giving and Receiving Feedback

Given the privacy of a one on one, and the trust you're building with them in these meetings, it is an excellent time to discuss feedback.

This is true for both coaching them on an area they could improve, and getting feedback from them. Either way, you'll have the opportunity to be candid with each other privately.

With privacy, and the healthy time set aside in a one on one, you can dig into a piece of feedback so you're on the same page. This avoids the defensiveness and resistance that can come from public feedback.

Feedback helps everyone get better.

If you want to help them improve, the best place to start is with feedback for them. Here's some questions to start that discussion:

35) How do you prefer to receive feedback?

36) Do you feel you're getting enough feedback? Why/why not?

37) What's a recent situation you wish you handled differently? What would you change?

38) What's an area of your work you want to improve?

39) What aspect of your job you would like more help or coaching?

40) How many hours a day do you feel you're productive? How could we help you be more productive?

As a manager, it's important to give your team feedback and coaching, and not just at review time. Research shows most people would like feedback more often:

Asking questions like the ones above help you understand where they may be most receptive and interested in your feedback and coaching. Take advantage of this; they'll be particularly motivated to accept and work on feedback in those areas.

Of course, if they have other places you feel they need to improve you should share that with them as well.

The Pro Move: Tie feedback to their goals.

If you want to be a real pro, then that's where you should look to see how you can tie the feedback for them either partially to an area of interest they have ( like attention to detail as part of them stating they wanted to improve presentation skills) or their career goals ( "I need you to improve in this area for me to be ready to advocate for you to get that promotion.")

If you're looking to get beyond the stereotypical sh*t sandwich for feedback (Light praise - real feedback - light praise), then look to some of the tactics here to help you give better feedback.

Remember to get feedback, too!

Feedback is a two way street. If you want to improve as a manager ( and who doesn't have more to learn and work on?), then listening to your team's feedback for you is big, too.

Again, the right one on one meeting questions can open up valuable insights for you to learn from:

When you get this feedback from your team member, be as open as you can. Ask clarifying questions about recent examples, or the reasoning why they chose that. Don't be defensive.

If you're open to feedback and show you take it to heart, or explain why things are a certain way, you build more trust with your team. That then creates a virtuous cycle where they're more likely to share more feedback, and come to you when you need them to.

Having trouble getting feedback from your team? You can get some ideas for getting more feedback here.

4) One on one meeting questions for Improving Your Team or Your Company

The beauty of one on ones are their flexibility. You suddenly have this block of time on your calendar to talk about anything with your team member.

One of the surprisingly valuable ways is to talk about how to improve your team or the company; your team members often have priceless insights that can save you money and time, or improve things in ways you'd never realize on your own.

Remember: everyone in your company has a different vantage point. They're often much closer to problems and opportunities with customers and other employees than you.

Here's some good questions to tap into exactly those kinds of insights:

About Your Company or Department:

About Your Team:

The benefit of these questions are two fold:

1) Get burning issues off their chest

If there's something that's really bothering them, then this is a great way to make them feel heard on something important to them. They may have a specific answer to one of these questions, or suddenly realizing this is a safe subject, bring up something else on their own.

The key here is you want to avoid having anyone on your team feeling what psychologists call "learned helplessness," which is what happens when things that bother them feel beyond their control for too long. Disengagement and turnover follow at that point.

Fortunately, simply the act of talking about them and finding even the smallest thing you can do to address it can go a very long way to making them feel better. This is another way to apply the Progress Principle we discussed earlier.

2) Get your people thinking like owners

The best companies have all their employees thinking about improving the company. It's a major key to Toyota's Total Production System, where even the lowest-ranking factory line worker is listened to for feedback and ideas.

If you ask a question like the ones above and they don't have a ready answer, keep asking some of them occasionally.

Over time, especially if they see you listening and acting on the feedback and ideas of others, they'll start looking for opportunities to contribute ideas, too.

5) One on one meeting questions for Checking in on their General Happiness

If your team member is unhappy for a long period of time, it's going to affect their work, especially if work is the cause. As we mentioned above regarding Building Rapport, great managers care about their people.

As Jason Lemkin writes, you have to ask to know for sure.

It's easy to think you know, but you won't know for sure unless you tackle it head on. This is especially important if your team member is introverted. They're less likely to give clear indicators or directly bring up issues that are bothering them.

Again, this is where privacy matters. By using these one on one meeting questions, you avoid putting anyone publicly on the spot. You also make it safe for them to be honest about how they feel in a way they'd never be in a group setting.

These one on one meeting questions can help make sure you don't miss a case of them being unhappy in a way that affects their work.

These are about action, not therapy.

Remember to make this a productive conversation. You are absolutely *not* their therapist.

Your goal is to uncover issues, and work together to address them, or suggest where they can (like a real therapist, if needed).

Knowledge is power. Once you know about a situation or issue affecting your team member, you can address it. They might just have a good reason why they need to leave early some night, or come in late in the morning. Even small accommodations to help them will earn their respect, and pay into your emotional savings account with them.

Worried about low morale on your team? Here's some ideas of things you may be doing to contribute to it and how to fix it.

The Last Step: The one on one meeting questions you need to ask *every time*

Who knew there was THIS MUCH you could talk about in a one on one!?!?

All of these one on one meeting questions will help you build stronger relationships with your team members. However, a conversation should only be the start.

What's essential is you then take action.

Action is what leads to change and improvement. It's what starts the flywheel going to make these the mega-valuable meeting they are.
This is why the 2 questions to ask in every one on one meeting are:

1) What can you do to take action or make progress on what we talked about today?

2) What can I do to take action or make progress on what we talked about today?

By asking these questions, you're working *together* to make things better. It creates a psychological contract between the two of you to both keep your promises.

Then, when you get to your next one on one, you're both likely to see things are just a little better. It reminds your team member that you really listen, and when they have the courage to bring up issues, it leads to things happening.

That's how you build trust.

If you don't set actionable next steps, you lose everything.

Your team will not trust you to continue bringing up issues if nothing happens or changes. Instead, they'll slowly disengage from your one on one meetings with them and give you one word and non-answers in them.

And you'll suffer, too. If you ask them to do something, but don't make it explicit, they may forget or misinterpret what you said. Then you'll be frustrated, too, especially if you're trying to improve their performance.

You can avoid all that by being explicit. At the end of the meeting, put it down in writing and you'll avoid all of that. You'll also tap into the Progress Principle we mentioned earlier. (Want help doing this? Then get a free trial of Lighthouse here , as it helps you remember to do this and automates your actionable followup).

What you talk about makes all the difference in your one on ones.

For most newer managers and their teams, these 5 categories of one on one meeting questions are a revelation; suddenly one on ones have a real purpose and value not found any other way.

As one team member whose manager used Lighthouse (which has over 100 one on one meeting questions available right with your notes) remarked:

"At my last company, we had one on ones too, but they were constantly re-scheduled and my manager was always rushed. It's only doing them here that I actually understand the value of them."
Want to have great discussions in your 1 on 1s? You can start a free trial of Lighthouse to do so right now here.

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One on One Meeting Questions Great Managers Ask Their Teams

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One on one meetings are a cornerstone to any effective manager team member relationship from small startups to giant companies. What you talk about, and the one on one meeting questions you ask, make all the difference in the performance of your team.

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How to Make Culture of Feedback Possible

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How to Make Culture of Feedback Possible

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To help employees improve their performance, an honest and focused feedback is important. Employee performance often drives results that the management wants. Therefore, a feedback culture is even more important.

This just shows how essential feedback is for improvement and growth. Sergey Gorbatov writes the steps that organizations have to make in order to build feedback culture. He suggests a three-step feedback model for businesses to make feedback a reality.

#feedbackculture

https://www.ie.edu/corporate-relations/insights/making-feedback-culture-reality/

Feedback culture is important in driving the results that management wants. It pushes employee performance, which in turn drives organizational goals. In order to make this effective, organizations need to implement this. This article suggests a certain model in order to make this kind of culture a reality.

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Performance feedback is essential for the growth and improvement of all organizations. In order to be effective, however, the feedback must be constructive and fair. Many leaders are reluctant to provide feedback because they feel inadequate for the task, are concerned about harming feelings, have a skewed view of the situation, or just have poor leadership skills.

However, it has been proven that good feedback enhances employee performance. The first step to creating a feedback culture is to equip leaders to provide constant feedback. Over time, this will cultivate an environment within their organizations where feedback is the norm. Providing leaders with a simple framework to structure their feedback provides a strong start. We propose a simple, three step model.

One of the most effective ways to ensure that feedback is fair and accurate is to incorporate calibration into the evaluation process.

Three-Step Feedback Model
The first consideration for improving employee performance and ultimately achieving a real, tangible change is to establish a clear expectation for this change and a detailed plan to carry it out. The most important aspects that must be measured in terms of observable performance include capability, attitude, and context. These can be translated into a three-step feedback formula:

1. The first step of the process is "tell me why it matters," in which the leader should make it clear why the topic is worthy of attention and effort. People will be more likely to work toward positive change if they understand the purpose and value of their task.

2. The second step is the actual delivery of the relevant information on the observable performance, or "tell me how I did it." Performance must be evaluated so that employees know what they did right and what they did wrong.

3. Finally, the leader must create the expectations for future performance, or "tell me what to do." This involves reinforcing the good behaviors, or explaining changes that need to be made in the future. It is important for the leader to only choose one or two things for the employee to improve on. It is better to focus on improving in a few important areas than to overwhelm employees with too many changes at once.

Calibration in Evaluation
The three-step employee feedback formula assumes that the leader has an accurate perspective on what needs to change. One of the most effective ways to ensure that feedback is fair and accurate is to incorporate calibration into the evaluation process. Calibration is the process of reviewing and comparing performance of several individuals. Companies should apply it to increase the accuracy of assessment and feedback.

One form of calibration is to ask for input from other sources in addition to the customers. Although customer input is valuable, it usually focuses more on service levels than actual performance. Data will be more diverse and accurate if the company also collects information from its stakeholders and other sources.

The second source of calibration the company should apply is comparing employees with peers who are at similar roles and levels, as well as those in different ones. This will give leaders a more overarching idea of how people are performing within the company as a whole, rather than just their own department.

Another form of calibration is to ask leaders at the highest level to offer their evaluations because it is beneficial to have the input from a qualified, knowledgeable person in the organization. It is also rewarding to compare employees' performance with their performance from the prior year to ensure that they are making personal improvements.

Finally, leaders can calibrate against the standards and norms of the industry by attending external conferences and events, as well as keeping in touch with prospective company candidates and others outside the organization. It is important to make comparisons with the outside world in order to make sure the organization is advancing along with others its industry.

The first step people can take to prevent the influence of bias in their lives is to admit that it exists within them.

The Role of Human Resources
It is the role of HR to design and implement the processes that are most impactful for individual and organizational performance. Feedback is one of them. HR must create a detailed evaluation process to make sure the managers' feedback is fair and accurate. This is a difficult task because, in general, human performance is a messy business. It is even more difficult because everyone has personal biases. The human brain is wired to make quick, efficient survival decisions. As a result, people must be aware that it is their first instinct to take mental shortcuts to prevent cognitive overload. These shortcuts often take the form of stereotypes, rules of thumb, and biases.

The first step people can take to prevent the influence of bias in their lives is to admit that it exists within them. Three of the most common types of bias within organizations are social bias, cognitive bias, and organizational bias. Using a structured, consistent method of evaluation leaders can reduce these biases, which will result in more accurate and fair feedback to their employees. Thus, instead of letting the leaders invent their own methods and standards for feedback, HR should put in place clear guidelines and create correct expectations for collecting, calibrating, and delivering accurate, fair, and focused feedback.

By formally training leaders in structuring feedback, by requiring calibration and by driving awareness of cognitive biases, Human Resources will hardwire a culture of feedback overtime.

People experience the culture of a company through the behaviors of their managers. Those behaviors are fomented by the organizational hard-wiring (processes, structures, metrics, etc.) and the company's leadership. HR is responsible for both. By dialing up the culture of feedback, we are strengthening the culture of performance.

Sergey Gorbatov, Adjunct Professor of Human Resources & Organizational Behavior at IE Business School, and Angela M. Lane, Vice President of Talent at AbbVie.

© IE Insights.

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Making a Feedback Culture a Reality - Corporate Relations

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Performance feedback is essential for the growth and improvement of all organizations. In order to be effective, however, the feedback must be constructive and fair. Many leaders are reluctant to provide feedback because they feel inadequate for the task, are concerned about harming feelings, have a skewed view of the situation, or just have poor leadership skills.

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OKR is helpful in that it can help align employees and goals to help the organization grow. It provides a system that lets everyone know one's goals while making sure that these goals are measurable.

This webinar goes into using OKRs and how to launch them in your organization. Studies show that a majority of the employees don't know the company's goals. and directions. It shows data on how companies are not making the most out of their workforce. It also discusses the OKR mistakes to avoid.

#OKR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KEZ1ZPyx5U

Get to know how to use OKR effectively for your organization through this webinar. It goes into the data of how organizations are currently running ineffectively and how OR can remedy this.

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Webinar: How To Use OKR Goals to Align & Grow in 2018 [September 21, 2017]

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A one-on-one meeting is one of the best tools that a manager can use to create a better team. It’s more than just sitting down and talking. It also ensures that employees are focused on the right thing and helps to show to them that you care.

However, making sure that you know what one-on-ones are for is just one side of the story. You also need to prepare for them to make every minute count. Officevibe recommends preparing for your meeting properly as you would any big meetings and setting up an agenda. They note that one-on-one meetings should be structured yet the conversation should flow naturally.

#oneononemeeting

https://www.officevibe.com/blog/guide-to-better-one-on-ones

One-on-one meetings are more than just a sit-down conversation between a manager and an employee. It can be used to build trust and show to employees that you care. According to Officevibe, it is important to prepare and structure one-on-ones. They provide some tips on how to structure your meeting and some helpful reminders in making it more productive.

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The one-on-one meeting is one of the most important tools you have as a manager.

It's the best way to discuss issues, develop relationships, and make sure an employee's goals are being met.

It sounds simple enough, but in order for them to be effective, there's more to it than just sitting down and chatting.

In this article you'll learn...

How to prepare for a one-on-one meeting

A one-on-one agenda to manage your time

A complete list of questions to ask employees

They are a time to ask strategic questions such as, "are we focused on the right things"?

They are a way to show employees that you value them and care about them as people.

Simple tips for giving tough feedback

What are One-On-One Meetings And What Are Their Purpose?

According to Harvard Business Review, one-on-ones are a productivity tool that serves two essential purposes:

From our experience of using one-on-ones at Officevibe, they are a time to catch and stop problems in their track, realign on goals, build trust and ensure that employees are heard and feel valued. They are about taking a breather after a month-long bout of hard work and reflecting, together. They are a human-fueled activity that reminds companies to put employees at the center ❤️.

How to Prepare for One-On-One Meetings

Question Examples

In our last one-on-one you mentioned you were frustrated by X and wanted to try Y as a solution. How has that been going?

What development areas do you want to work on in the coming weeks?

What additional resources can I provide for you between now and the next time we meet?

Showing up to a meeting with last minute ideas is not efficient, and it will make your employees feel as though they're an afterthought.

Start From Where You Left Off

A great place to start is to review the last one-on-one you had with them (if this is not your first) and make sure to do a follow-up.

Prepare Your Feedback In Advance

It's the perfect time for you to give your employee some feedback. Recognition for their hard work is a great way for you to make your employee feel valued, and thus make them more productive. Take a moment and start recollecting general observations about their contribution to the team/workplace. Constructive feedback is just as good, just be careful about how you deliver it.

Question Examples

I've noticed that our last several one-on-ones have stayed pretty surfaced. What are your honest impressions of this meeting? What could we be doing differently or better?

What would you like to see change in these discussions? How could we make them more useful for you?

I'm trying to make my one-on-ones better and would appreciate your honest feedback on this one - what did you like about it, and what could be improved?

One-on-ones are not meant to be exclusively for professional topics, so show some interest in them by asking some general questions about their lives, beliefs, and aspirations.

If Your One-On-Ones Are Stuck In A Rut

Sometimes these meetings can be a little bit hard to navigate. The conversation can feel forced or lacking in depth. How can you fix it? A good place to start by mixing things up a bit. Try holding the meeting at the cool new coffee shop that opened down the street or just simply go for a walk. The important thing is to change things up.

Retrospective thoughts on the past month

What they would like to work on moving forward

What they need from you if they encountered any roadblocks.

1. Informal Catch Up

Start your meeting with about 10 minutes of informal catch-up. The point of this part is to make your employee feel as comfortable as possible. It's a nice, light way to start off the meeting, and shows employees that you genuinely care about them as people.

You can follow up on something that was brought up in a previous one-on-one (Hint: bring a pen and paper and start taking notes!) or just ask how life is going outside of work.

2. Listening To Employees' Concerns

It is important to listen during this time more than you speak. Block about 20 minutes for this part, but if this goes longer, don't cut the employee off.

It's during this block of time that you can encourage employees to share whatever is on their minds.

Tip: Try pausing for 3-4 seconds before responding to what they just said. This might encourage them to dive deeper into what they were just saying.

PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer describes it perfectly:

"If you resist the temptation to respond too quickly to the answer, you'll discover something almost magical. The other person will either expand on what he's already said, or he'll go in a different direction. Either way, he's expanding his response, and you get a clear view into his head and heart."

3. Sharing Your Notes And Comments

It's important to come prepared with notes on where your employees deserve recognition and what you would like them to improve so that you don't forget anything you wanted to say. Coming unprepared can be invalidating for employees, demonstrating that they weren't worth the time.

Ask For Feedback During The Meeting

As a great leader, it is your innate desire to constantly grow and learn. Use this opportunity to have an open and honest discussion about how you could be a better leader for them.

Feel free to prompt them to get the discussion going with yes/no questions about leadership behaviors you have. For example: "When I offered you criticism, did you feel that it was constructive enough?"

Question Examples

I'd like to improve as a manager and I could really use your help. Next week, would you be willing to share some feedback on one to two things you think I could do better as your manager?

What can I do to help you enjoy your work more or remove roadblocks to progress?

Which areas would you like more or less direction from me on your work?

4. Action Planning

Take 10 minutes at the end of the meeting to come up with an action plan based on what was discussed so that you can follow up properly for the following month.

Setting 1-3 clear goals will really help employees focus over the course of the next month.

Jason Evanish, who has written a lot on one-on-ones explains it perfectly:

None of the things you talk about in one-on-ones matter if you don't follow through and take action on them. These two questions will ensure you always follow through with the important things you discuss in your one on ones:

What can I hold you accountable for next time we talk?

What do you need from me in order to achieve your goal?

Ask Employees For An Agenda 24 Hours Before

This will definitely accelerate the process as it will help the employee collect their thoughts prior to the meeting while also helping you guide the session.

1. Remember, It's The Employee's Meeting

One of the most important tips is that it's the employee's meeting, not yours. While this might seem subtle, it's important to change your frame of mind to focus on the employee.

The key to a good one-on-one meeting is the understanding that it is the employee's meeting rather than the manager's meeting. This is the free-form meeting for all the pressing issues, brilliant ideas and chronic frustrations that do not fit neatly into status reports, email and other less personal and intimate mechanisms. Ben Horowitz

2. Keep Track By Taking Notes

While it's important to actively listen to your employees while they speak, it is also essential to document the key points of the meeting so that you can follow up properly in the next one-on-one.

To avoid physical blockers, which can create a sense of mistrust between you and your employee, use a pen and paper to jot down your notes instead of using a laptop. Pings and alerts are sure to pop up and distract you. In fact, avoid all devices in the meeting so you can focus respectfully.

Their agenda can include;

One-On-One Meeting Agenda

From a high-level, here is a suggestion for how you can structure your one-on-one, but keep in mind that you don't need to confine yourself to this timeframe. It is more important for the conversation to flow naturally.

Tips For Great One-On-One Meetings

1. Focus on behaviour, not personality: It's harder and more discouraging to have to change who you are than an action that you do.

2. Be specific: Zoom in on a certain problematic area instead of creating negativity around their general work. If they were disorganized, give the specific instance, don't label them in general.

3. Avoid negative terms: Ultimately, you want a positive outcome. Avoid words like "but" because it primes defensive behaviour and removes weight from the positive feedback before the "but".

These types of meetings can be tough, especially for new managers if they conducting them for the first time. Here are a few tips to make sure you have an effective one-on-one everytime.

Having Difficult Conversations

Giving negative feedback can be as stressful for managers to share as it is for employees to receive - we get it. Anticipating hurting someone's feelings, having a defensive reaction, or being unliked afterward. These are valid fears.

Most employees want the feedback so that they can improve, but there are certainly some dos and don'ts when it comes to communicating.

Here are 3 simple tips for delivering negative feedback:

Want to be a better communicator all around? Download these 7 amazing communication techniques for leaders.

Do You Conduct One-On-Ones?

Any tips to share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

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Agenda & Template For Successful One-On-One Meetings | Officevibe

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Leverage one-on-one meetings like the all-star leader that you are. Learn how to prepare for a one-on-one meeting, how to set up an agenda to manage your time, get multiple examples of questions to use along with a free template. It's time to optimize your meetings and avoid common pitfalls.

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Creating Standards for Internal Communication

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Creating Standards for Internal Communication

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Setting a standard for how your organization performs internal communication can be helpful. Having effective internal communication can improve employee satisfaction and in turn affect the organization’s performance as well.

According to Zogby Analytics, though a majority of the managers claim that they know company news, only 40% of employees are aware of these mews. To bridge the gap, setting up effective internal communication is important.

Zinc writes eight tips for organizations to develop their own standards when it comes to internal communication. Among the interesting things they noted is setting goals for communication and guidelines when it comes to disseminating information.

#companywidecomm

https://www.zinc.it/8-step-guide-develop-internal-communication-standards/

Having a standard for the organization’s internal communication is important. Effective communication can make or break the organization as it is known to improve employee satisfaction and business performance. To create effective internal communication for your organization, follow these tips from Zinc.

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Improve Your Top-Down Strategy with Internal Communication Standards

Mastering communication at work is not as easy as you might think, but it's crucial for employee satisfaction and business success. Research has proven time and again that effective communication practices directly affect an organization's financial performance. And in order to be effective, business leaders need to create and follow internal communication standards.

Following strategic policies and procedures ensures everyone at the company is informed and engaged, no matter if they are in an office, working remote, or on the frontline facing customers each day. A recent study from Zogby analytics found that while 71% of managers consider themselves informed on company-wide news, only 40% of frontline employees claim the same.

To prevent both miscommunication and a lack of communication at your org, follow these 8 steps to create effective internal communication standards that guide all top-down updates.

1. Set Your Goals

What communication goals are important to your organization? Are departments siloed from each other? Do employees feel disconnected from the company culture? Is there a lack of trust and transparency coming from leadership? Identify the weaknesses in your company's current communication patterns and set goals for improvement. These goals will help inform the following steps.

2. Decide Who Needs to Know What Information

Identify which kinds of updates should be sent to everyone, such as a message from the CEO, and which kinds need to be segmented by department, region, or team, such as a regional policy change. The more targeted messages are -so that information only goes to the employees that it concerns-the more effective communications will be.

3. Establish How Quickly Information Should Be Shared

How quickly should employees be made aware of different kinds of updates? Some news needs to be shared immediately, such as a new benefits enrollment plan from HR or the announcement of an acquisition. Other updates could have a natural cadence such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. An example might be reminders for regular product training certifications that are due by a specific date.

4. Set Guidelines for The Way Information Will Be Delivered

There are various updates that internal communications leaders need to get out. Whether it's organizational restructuring, earnings reports or congratulatory messages, decide which types of updates need to be shared in-person and which can be delivered online.

When conference calls and face-to-face meetings are required, how will those meeting details be shared with the workforce? If an email is sent, will everyone read it? Consider new communication modes like one-to-many broadcasts that instantly capture your employees' attention.

5. Select What Software Will Be Used to Communicate with Dispersed Teams

What software or applications will be used for sending information? The communication technology your company uses can have a profound impact on the success of your overall communication strategy, so it's important to spend some time here.

There are a range of technical requirements for enterprise communication platforms and key characteristics that make some a better choice than others. Above all, the software you choose has to be secure as well as intuitive so that employees actually use it.

To decide what technology to use, conduct an audit of your company's current communication tools to identify deficiencies and opportunities for improvement. You may find that different departments use different tools (some on Slack, some on Skype, and others on WhatsApp) and that you can cut costs by deploying a single solution across the workforce. Of course, there are many benefits to having everyone use the same software platform and protocol.

You may also find that a large segment of your workforce is completely shut out. For companies that have deskless workers, such as field service organizations, this happens all the time. Information that is sent over email or via an intranet simply goes unread because these workers are on mobile devices, not desktops.

Additionally, don't forget to think about communication holistically across the entire organization. Choosing an app built solely for top-down communication can have the side effect of employees never checking it because they don't need to use it to get their work done. Consider:

How employees will talk to each other

How managers will talk to their teams

How corporate will push updates out to the workforce

Rather than forcing multiple apps on employees, it may be worthwhile to find a company communication app that combines all of these communication functions into one app.

6. Set Guidelines For Which Communication Modes Should Be Used

For updates that don't require an in-person meeting, what online communication mode will be used? There are a myriad of modes to choose from including conference calls, top-down broadcasts, group chats, and of course old-school email. Decide which methods are appropriate for the message. For non-urgent updates that are team-specific, a group message may suffice. For an urgent safety alert, a broadcast that instantly alerts employees is a better choice. Provide guidelines for which modes to use so that those in charge of pushing out updates can be as effective as possible.

7. Identify Who Will Own Different Top-Down Communications

Who will own the different types of updates? Identify the exact employees across HR, corporate communications, and management who will be in charge of getting updates out to the workforce. This prevents information gaps as well duplicate emails regarding the same topic.

8. Factor in How Employee Feedback Will Be Collected

Lastly, how will corporate gather employee feedback? Issuing surveys, holding live Q&A sessions, and having designated group messaging channels for feedback are all options. Don't be afraid to adjust your internal business communication standards to better accommodate employees. Regularly check in and make sure employees are getting the information they need and adjust your strategy when necessary.

Get Your Internal Communication Standards Off the Ground

With a communication strategy and procedures in place, you can ensure employees stay informed and engaged. Many organizations suffer from low retention rates and uninformed workers, which leads to low productivity and costs the organization thousands per month.

By thinking through corporate communication strategies and creating guidelines that help employees get information out effectively, you can turn around those metrics. Companies like BlueLine Rental and Vivint Smart Home have completely transformed their company culture and employee retention by putting strategy and effective technology behind their communication processes.

Listen to the CEO of BlueLine Rental talk about the communication changes he made in this episode of the Essential podcast:

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8-Step Guide to Developing Internal Communication Standards - Zinc

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Mastering communication at work is not as easy as you might think, but it's crucial for employee satisfaction and business success. Research has proven time and again that effective communication practices directly affect an organization's financial performance. And in order to be effective, business leaders need to create and follow internal communication standards.

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A growth mindset is important in order to continue a path of personal and career development. Lisa Paredes makes an interesting point that growth mindset can be learned and developed through having a feedback culture.

Aside from that, she notes that it is also important to have the right environment for feedback culture to thrive. There should be a change in how people view feedback as criticism, but it is a tool that promotes development. According to her, there should be three elements to create a feedback culture in an organization: trust, empowerment, and communication.

#feedbackculture

http://www.hult.edu/blog/create-culture-feedback/

Feedback culture is an important element that nurtures growth mindset when in the right environment. This can be an essential tool in an organization that wants to leverage on their employees for growth. According to Lisa Paredes, creating a culture of feedback in the organization can be done through three elements such as trust, empowerment, and communication.

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If I had to choose only two concepts that will follow me after Hult, those will be growth mindset and feedback. I believe these two concepts really define how I view my journey during this year and my future as an ongoing personal development process. At the beginning of this year, we debated if growth mindset could be something we were born with and if a fixed mindset could be changed. I believe it can be learned and it can be developed by the adoption of a feedback culture in the right ecosystem.

"This all changed when I came to Hult and feedback became not only a daily used word but a way to help drive development."

That ecosystem has been created for us at Hult and magnified with our interactions during the year. But when we go out to the real world how are we going to help create this type of culture? Before coming to

, feedback wasn't something I looked for. I even dreaded the moment when I had to receive some. Depending on your culture and background feedback may mean different things to you. For me, it was always a criticism and a form to point at my weaknesses. This all changed when I came to Hult and feedback became not only a daily used word but a way to help drive development.

[Tweet "#Feedback, without proper use and purpose, can become a huge amount of unused information."]

The word feedback became popular in today's workplace. Now we can even set up a tool to facilitate it, make time for it, even make it mandatory. However, all of this will be useless unless we help create the right culture for feedback. The first thing we should do is to ask ourselves why do we need feedback? What do we want to achieve with it? A culture of feedback sounds like a great characteristic for a company. However, without proper use and purpose, it can become a huge amount of unused information. Constant feedback is one of the ways companies can facilitate learning and development for their talent. Giving feedback is about supporting a person in their journey to increase their performance and develop new skills. Both results help the company reach its main goals and support its employees' fulfillment.

[Tweet " Giving #feedback is supporting a person's journey to improve their performance and develop new skills."]

The three elements I believe companies should invest resources in to be able to create a culture of feedback are: Trust, Communication, and Empowerment. These elements may seem very related - and they certainly are - but there are different ways to build each of them.

"A feedback culture can never be created in a company or a team where there is no trust."

Trust
Trust is the foundation where all social interactions will be defined. A feedback culture can never be created in a company or a team where there is no trust. The whole process of giving feedback is about listening to the advice someone is giving us to become better or wanting to help someone be better at what they're doing. None of these will happen if there is no trust between a manager and his employee or within a team. Managers and companies should be aware of the trust level they are working in and invest time in building it. Feedback given in an untrustworthy environment will only be useless information that won't initiate any action.

Communication
When there is trust, the communication within a company or a team can have an impact and reach the desired outcome. With trust, people are open to speaking truthfully and others are open to receiving that truth. Trust must be built to have effective communication. Ways to communicate vary between cultures and personalities. It is extremely important to learn how to give feedback, as the desired outcome will depend on how it was communicated. Teaching employees how to communicate with different people will help them approach the process of giving feedback in a different and more effective way.

[Tweet "Empowerment is the catalyst for #feedback to have an impact. #PersonalDevelopment #Leadership"]

Empowerment
I believe this is the catalyst for feedback to have an impact. Giving feedback is not the end of the development process, it's empowering the person to make a change. By supporting, checking on and motivating employees, feedback can become a powerful tool for talent development. Therefore, we talk about coaching when we talk about feedback. Coaching is the complete word to describe the whole process of giving feedback and initiating action.

Some of you may think that creating a culture of feedback is the job of HR or business leaders and don't want to engage with it. However, no matter where you are, where you work, which technologies you may have, you will always have to interact with people. As human beings and more importantly as leaders, we must learn how to develop ourselves and others. The differentiation between long-term and short-term success is how companies can leverage their talent as their most important asset.
If you would like to find out more about our business programs, download a brochure here.
Lisa Paredes is a Hult MBA student from Guatemala. She was the CEO of a wine distribution company before she left to pursue her postgraduate degree in San Francisco. Her experience as a businesswoman and yoga teacher led her to her biggest passion-working with people.

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How do we create a Culture of Feedback? Hult Blog

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If I had to choose only two concepts that will follow me after Hult, those will be growth mindset and feedback. I believe these two concepts really define how I view my journey during this year and my future as an ongoing personal development process.

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For anyone or any company who want to use OKR, a system of setting and achieving goals, the start can be daunting. However, goal-setting should start at the company level and then trickle down to the different departments.

This article gives examples on how companies can set up OKR goals. This gives organizations an idea on how to write their own using the most common goals. It can be helpful to those who don't know where to start while giving them the idea of how to do it.

#OKR

https://blog.newsteer.com/okr-goals-practical-examples-for-companies-and-startups-a1d2fbb037c5

Starting to implement OKR in the organization can be challenging. Having a guide like this will be great for those who want to know where to start and how to do it.

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OKR Goals: Practical Examples For Companies and Startups

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When getting started with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) the most common questions we get at Steer are: To answer these questions we are launching a series of practical and comprehensive OKRs...

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When you feel like you’re losing touch with your employees and only talk to them when there’s a problem, it’s high time to employ regular one-on-one meetings. This can be a great way to build trust and create an inclusive culture within the organization. This also allows you to develop employees and it can be a rewarding experience.

Bonnie Slater writes that solely relying on annual performance review is not enough. This can also breed a culture of anxiety and blame. Having a regular one-on-one check can be a way for leaders and employees to build trust and bond. It allows for a deeper and more meaningful conversation. To do this, make sure that you create a safe environment while asking powerful questions.

#oneonone

https://www.boost.co.nz/blog/2017/11/build-trust-with-one-on-ones

Building trust can be done through one-on-one meetings. Instead of just relying on annual reviews, having a regular check-in can improve relationships with the team. This also creates an inclusive and safe culture while keeping everyone engaged.

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By Bonnie Slater in on November 19, 2017

Do you feel like you're not fully engaged with your team? Are you only having catch-ups when there's a problem or when their performance review comes up? Looking at regular, one-on-one meetings could be something to consider; they are a great way to create an inclusive culture and build trust. At Boost, each of us has a fortnightly meeting with one of our Agile coaches. As a coach myself, I can highly recommend it. Supporting and developing the people that make up your organisation or team is so rewarding.

Disclaimer time: Just so we are clear; this is based on my experiences as an Agile Coach at Boost. This is how I approach one-on-ones, but how you run yours may be different and that's absolutely fine. The simple act of engaging with your team through regular one-on-ones is a step in the right direction. You do not need to be a coach to start this process; you simply need a team of individuals that you want to be more engaged with.

Why do it?

In previous places I've worked, annual performance reviews were the norm but this did not provide a collaborative environment. Instead, it created a culture of blame, fear and anxiety as we each worked towards the dreaded interview. Here at Boost, as coaches, we do fortnightly, 30-minute one-on-one coaching sessions with our teams. It's a great way to bond, build trust, learn, listen and explore possibilities. It's something I really enjoy and it allows everyone the chance to talk about anything that might be affecting them.

Keep it safe

Making a safe environment where people can speak openly is important and is something I work hard to create. If these meetings come across as too clinical or formal, one-on-ones are unlikely to be help. They should be an opportunity to get to know the person and find out if there's anything worrying them. It's great to be able to foresee potential issues before they become problems. It takes time, trust and mutual respect, but the benefits of a good one-on-one meeting are priceless.

It takes time to establish trust, but don't let this put you off. The journey of building trust and mutual respect is a journey well worth taking. It does involve actively listening to the person and having a genuine interest in what they have to say. In her book, Rising Strong, Brené Brown says, "Curiosity is a shit-starter. But that's okay. Sometimes you have to rumble with the story to find the truth."

I work hard not to dominate the discussion and instead try to leave plenty of room for them to talk or even for the dreaded silence. Silence can be uncomfortable so it takes time to master this skill; not filling in silences with talk allows quiet reflection and can be very effective.

Sometimes, getting out of the office is another simple way to get people to talk openly. The very act of leaving the organisation-bubble makes for a more pleasant opportunity to get these conversations going. Go grab a coffee or sit in the park. You might even try walking meetings to keep things dynamic!

Powerful questions

When I first start a one-on-one with a new person, I tend to do a lot of the talking. However, I offer a disclaimer, "I won't talk this much normally because these sessions are about you, not me." I do like to talk people through the meetings if it's our first one to find out what their expectations might be and what they would like to get out of them.

I like to introduce the technique of Powerful Questions in these first meetings. Powerful questions are open-ended questions that require significant thought before they can be truly answered. When I ask a powerful question, I can dig deeper and get into more thought-provoking discussions. I try and bring a couple of these questions, pre-prepared, into my one-on-ones. I don't always need to use them but they are a good way to focus on the individual's personal or professional journey. Approaching these meetings in a pragmatic way helps ensure that we can get some value out of each session, and it helps me to have pre-prepared questions to throw into the mix if needed. My aim is that each person walks away feeling that they have been heard and challenged in a safe environment.

Build trust

A one-on-one is a great way to establish those strong trusting relationships but it is far more than this. There is no right way to run these meetings, as long as safety, mutual respect and moving forward are achieved. These meetings provide a way to truly engage with the individual, provide feedback in a safe and constructive way, receive feedback, work through any issues or concerns and generally get a strong sense of how that person is doing on a regular basis.

One of the most important things to be aware of, therefore, is that these meetings are not about you identifying and solving their problems; I focus more on working through any issues, concerns or goals together so they can find the way forward. Arming them with the confidence to work through their own issues and building the resilience to cope with them better has a much more far-reaching benefit than solving the problems for them. In the process, a stronger organisation and team results as well.

Feedback

To kick off a one-on-one, I like to share some positive feedback or a positive observation of that person. It's a great way to stimulate conversation and create safety. Hopefully, it isn't too hard to come up with something positive for each session, but if you're struggling, it may help to develop the habit of actively seeking out positive feedback and speaking with others may help with this. If you are finding it impossible to come up with something positive, perhaps there is a bigger issue to dig into!

Once we bask in the positivity of this feedback, it's time to move on to any more active feedback. This needs to be worded in a way that is non-threatening and opens up, rather than closes down, discussion. Everyone wants to do their best and to offer feedback on how a person can achieve this is welcomed if phrased in a constructive and respectful way. This again will often lead to a productive conversation. For me, the goal is always to set the stage for useful discussion. Sometimes this discussion flows freely but sometimes it needs a bit more direction and that is where I find that powerful questions come into play.

Make it productive

I like to encourage a strong sense of self-motivated professional development (a personal passion of mine). This means that finding out what is important to them, what their 'blue sky' goal might be, for example, is a good starting point. It helps you find ways to discuss and support their development. You may need to take small steps at the start to build trust further, but this is an investment in the person and their future. I cannot emphasize this enough: having a genuine interest in them is vital to the success of one-on-one meetings. If you are simply going through the motions, you will not see positive results.

A key question that I like to ask regularly, in some way or other, is "How can I coach you better?" or "Is there something I can do to make our one-on-one's more constructive?". I know, this session is not about me, but I want to make sure that each one-on-one is offering value and is motivating. I accept all feedback as constructive in this situation and make sure that anything that's offered is worked through and put into action. Again, this can become a catalyst for further discussion on exactly what the person needs and why. However, there is no point asking this if you have no intention of making the changes if required or becoming defensive. Remember, building and maintaining trust is at the core of these meetings.

I make sure I time-box one-on-ones are as much as possible to ensure we don't move too far away from the focused discussions. However, if the conversation is uncovering some useful information, I'm not going to shut those discussions down after 30 minutes; we just have to use common sense.

Following through

To conclude my one-on-ones, I tend to ask "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?". I like to invite the person to bring up anything they might be feeling tentative about or have questions about; this is the opportunity for them to voice anything else they may have on their mind. Sometimes, it just takes a small prod to remind that person that there is something they want to talk through. My rule is, 'ask anything'. If I don't know the answer, I will find out or put them on to the person who can best help. But, I do make sure that I follow this up; it may be the difference between a trust breakthrough and letting someone down. Following through on promises is a way to maintain trust and make one-on-ones as productive as possible.

Lastly, I like to reiterate that they do not have to wait until our next scheduled meeting if they want to talk about anything. I am their coach and they are my priority and I want them to feel safe in talking about anything they need to at any time. Also, if the meeting needs to be cancelled, immediately reschedule it. It's really important that the person knows that they are indeed your priority.

Summary

You can create a more inclusive, productive, safe and engaged organisation in many different ways; regular one-on-ones are just one way we like to do that. I have learnt a lot through just doing it. I would recommend and encourage anyone seeking greater engagement or connection with their team to consider trying this process. The sooner you start, the sooner you will start to build trust and respect amongst your team.

A few tips when running regular one-on-ones

Keep them fresh (change things up).

Take notes and review them regularly so you can revisit things that are important.

Be patient and supportive.

Take a genuine interest.

Silence is nothing to be afraid of, it uncovers truth.

Your role is not to solve problems but to build confidence and resilience.

Set challenges and goals together.

Actively listen.

Ask open-ended or powerful questions.

I hope this has offered you an insight into why to run one-on-ones and a few ideas on how to do them. There is lots of great information out there and finding what works best for you and your team is what's really important. Good luck out there!

Learn more
How to make the most out of every manager's secret weapon 7 proven ways to genuinely connect with your employees Build trust across a team with a Team Charter Your business purpose: How to discover your organisation's compass

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By Bonnie Slater in on November 19, 2017 Do you feel like you're not fully engaged with your team? Are you only having catch-ups when there's a problem or when their performance review comes up? Looking at regular, one-on-one meetings could be something to consider; they are a great way to create an inclusive culture and build trust.

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Who Should Take the Lead for Internal Communication?

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Who Should Take the Lead for Internal Communication?

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Organizations are starting to come up with plans to improve their own internal communications. However, one question always pops up. Who is responsible for it? Though management would task HR to take the lead, this might only lead to limited results. According to Peter Banerjea, everyone in the company should take the initiative for it to flourish.

He notes that top management, HR, and team managers are all responsible for internal communication in the organization. Different teams and groups in the organization have responsibilities in certain aspects of internal communication. They need to be involved because at the end of the day it’s still a team sport.

#companywidecomm

https://blog.smarp.com/who-is-responsible-for-internal-communication

One of the first questions when implementing internal communication in the office is who gets to take the lead. Peter Banerjea answers that it shouldn’t be just the HR. It should be a company-wide initiative that involves everyone like the top management, team managers, and HR. Internal communication should be considered a team sport for it to work.

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An increasing number of companies are taking steps to improve their internal communication. However, most companies are not very clear about one thing: Who is responsible for internal communication?

The top leadership at many companies believes that human resources should be responsible for internal communication. After all, HR is the custodian of culture, right?

However, this is not entirely true. Leaving internal communication entirely in the hands of HR will give your company extremely limited results. HR might take the lead, but for internal communication to truly flourish, it has to be a company-wide effort.

The following groups of people are responsible for the success of internal communication:

1. Top Management

Absence of the top leadership's support is a key reason why internal communication fails to take off.

Internal communication is essentially about fostering conversations. The simplest way in which the top leaders can help is by initiating those conversations. They should make more frequent announcements and updates about the status of the company and the industry and invite people to share their thoughts on those updates.

For example, the company's CEO can make a weekly video address about the key updates across divisions. This video can be hosted on the company's internal communication platform like Smarp, where people can leave their comments and ask questions, and the CEO can respond directly to those questions.

Employees will only speak up freely if they are invited to do so. The top bosses have to take the lead and extend those invitations.

2. Human Resources

As internal communication grows in importance, it now plays a central role in the employee retention strategies of many the world's best places to work. HR teams know that employee engagement, retention and internal communication go hand in hand and therefore they are taking the lead in playing far more than just a transactional role in internal communication.

Traditionally, HR has been responsible for communicating messages related to performance management, administrative announcements, etc. but now they are doing so much more.
HR now facilitates internal communication in the following ways:

HR is now taking the lead in deploying the shared technology and processes to facilitate internal communication. This includes deploying a shared internal communication platform, such as Smarp which makes it super-easy for people to communicate.

HR is responsible for creating an internal communication strategy and plan - which includes periodic activities, milestones and measurement metrics.

In more mature organizations, HR is helping top management with their periodic communication. HR teams help formulate messages as well as coach top leaders on the best way to deliver their messages.

HR is responsible for recruiting and it's using internal communication and Employee Advocacy to support the recruiting function. It's helping define the right messages that are sent out as part of the company's employer value proposition. It also makes sure that the right criteria for recruitment are met, so that newer employees are a fit with the company's internal communication culture. After all, culture plays a vital role in internal communication.

3. Team Managers

For any initiative to succeed it must be addressed at a macro as well as at a micro level. The top management and HR can help establish the framework and take the lead, but the managers have to take it to the next step.

Here are two ways in which managers can contribute:

#1 Encourage internal communication within teams

Two of the key principles of internal communication are transparency and freedom of expression. Employees should feel that their opinions matter. Before they have the confidence to express their thoughts and ideas to the top management, they should feel confident enough to talk openly with their immediate bosses. Managers should encourage their team members to speak up and share their ideas.

For instance, if a manager has an unrealistic expectation about a sales plan for the coming quarter, employees should be able to point out the flaws in that plan, and suggest better ideas.

#2 Create micro communication channels

Managers also need to encourage communication between departments, so that people do not work in silos. If the marketing team needs information from the product team for creating a campaign, they should be able to access that information quickly, without having to go through a convoluted process. This can be easily facilitated if a product manager and a marketing manager come to an understanding and agree to work together.

Conclusion

Different groups within a company are responsible for different aspects of internal communication. The people who are shaping a company's communication strategy have to actively involve all these groups. Companies who win at internal communication have realized a simple fact - that it's a team sport!

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Who is Responsible for Internal Communication?

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An increasing number of companies are taking steps to improve their internal communication. However, most companies are not very clear about one thing: Who is responsible for internal communication? The top leadership at many companies believes that human resources should be responsible for internal communication. After all, HR is the custodian of culture, right?

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It can be rare to find a company with good feedback culture across different industries. Often, programs like this tend to not have the sustaining power. According to this article from Horizon Talent Developer, the feedback program should not be used as a way to demoralize and criticize employees.

In order to make it work, they suggest starting from the very top of the organization to create change. Doing this can help in driving culture and demanding the change that is needed. Making everyone accountable is also important, such as empowering employees to show how they have used different feedback tools and reward those who have been successful in promoting feedback culture.

#feedbackculture

http://www.horizontalentdeveloper.com/2017/11/27/how-to-develop-a-feedback-culture-12-must-read-tips/

Nurturing a feedback culture can be a challenge, especially if it didn’t come naturally to the organization. There are natural issues that come along with implementing this kind of culture, especially when it will be used improperly or will not be sustainable in the long term. To make this effective, Horizon Talent Developer suggests starting the change from the top of the company before trickling down. Enforcing change and the culture is also important among many others.

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Unfortunately, feedback-driven cultures at organizations across various industries are a rarity. And I hate to say it, but the ever-present 360 feedback programs are often a major waste of time, money, and unfulfilled expectations.

The truth is, most goal-oriented people want to experience an impactful and actionable feedback program, but find that six to 12 months later little or nothing from it has changed or improved them. So it loses interest and staying power.

Why? Two reasons. First, most feedback exercises aren't specific enough to focus on skills and behaviors and improve upon them. They are often interesting personality-based exercises that tell you a little about yourself, your style, and your traits. Beyond that, they lack in specific, actionable ways to seriously impact personal and professional development.

The second more significant reason is that the company has not established a true feedback culture. Specifically, a non-threatening, inspiring and motivational culture based on candor, openness, and ongoing developmental feedback that goes from top to bottom.

In short, without a truly "blessed from the top" feedback culture in an organization, professional growth suffers. As a result, a company's biggest asset, its human capital, doesn't feel like they're maximally growing and developing. The byproduct of this cycle is often decreased productivity and lower morale, which doesn't serve either party.

FACT: Approximately 40 percent of employees, based on surveys, feel they're not appreciated at work, and without ongoing feedback, aren't engaged and committed as much as they could be.

So why is it so difficult to establish a feedback culture? To start, an effective feedback program should not be a vehicle to criticize, evaluate or demoralize its people. It should be geared to develop, grow, motivate and energize talent.

In order to bypass stagnant professional development, organizations must engage and inspire employees and staff.

Looking to win big with an effective feedback culture? Here are 12 musts that will set the foundation for feedback that promotes professional development, while galvanizing the strength of any organization.

Start at the very top. The CEO must formally announce that the organization is now establishing a total feedback culture. This means that constructive feedback, openness, candor, and communication empathy will drive the culture of the organization moving forward.

Be Explicit. Organizations and top-level management need to be specific with overall feedback culture objectives, including norms, scope, style of interfacing among people, and timeframes. Define what a feedback culture means at your organization and don't be subtle. This may include conducting ongoing praise sessions, motivational criticism, and goal-setting geared to develop people to the fullest. Try getting employees to buy in and help sell the value and benefits of this culture to their colleagues, too.

Include Goal Setting. Apply goals, time parameters, and annual re-assessing to the feedback program. A sound feedback culture is not just motivational and energizing, it actually sets specific, attainable goals and timeframes for achieving these goals. Customized training and follow-up coaching should be set to further develop employees as well as annually reassessing staff to measure improvement and identify future development needs.

Make Everyone Accountable. As part of the annual performance appraisal meeting, request that each person present to their bosses a specific summary of how they have incorporated feedback and motivational tools to develop their people. Reward the people who demonstrate excellence in enhancing the feedback culture, and attaining results.

Make Feedback a Two-Way Street. A truly effective feedback culture shouldn't just be bosses giving feedback to subordinates, but subordinates giving feedback to bosses and other relevant colleagues as well. Once you establish this culture, feedback and coaching will be the
norm, not the exception.

Make Active Listening Your Feedback Foundation. Remember and implement the two essential listening techniques in your feedback culture. First, the 20/80 Rule - speak 20 percent of the time and listen 80 percent of the time. Second, SOTT - Stay On Their Track. When somebody speaks, ask questions and comment on what they said, don't drift to your track or take over the conversation. It is important to note active listening isn't just for work, it is for when you are at home, in the community - with everybody.

A feedback culture is the way of the future for progressive organizations. But it doesn't automatically evolve just because it is announced. It's a constant work in progress, but this work is well worth it. When people feel that feedback is the norm and welcomed, and a way of life in the organization, everybody gains - your organization, its reputation, productivity and your bottom line. Good luck!

Roger E. Flax, Ph.D. is the President and Founder of Horizon Talent Developer™, an internet-based feedback and mentoring program his firm licenses to organizations to support Learning Development Directors, Executives, Human Resources Professionals, Talent Management and Development Directors and more. As an executive coach, speaker, and corporate consultant, he has impacted millions of business professionals through leadership training. He founded one of America's most successful leadership development consulting firms in 1970 which has conducted thousands of programs in five continents for more than 400 companies. He has been featured on TV, radio and in print media outlets including ABC, CBS, Entrepreneur, FORTUNE, NBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many others regarding talent development, motivational feedback, and effective presentations training.

To learn more about Horizon Talent Developer™ and how to successfully integrate a feedback development tool and feedback culture into your organization, view the HTD information piece and video here.

, Horizon Productions Enterprise, LLC.

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How to Develop a Feedback Culture: 12 Must‑Read Tips | Horizon Talent Developer™

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Unfortunately, feedback-driven cultures at organizations across various industries are a rarity. And I hate to say it, but the ever-present 360 feedback programs are often a major waste of time, money, and unfulfilled expectations.

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John Doerr popularized his own formula for OKR, which is "I will (objective) as measured by (key results)." The great thing about OKR is that it can be customized.

This post gives examples of how OKRs can be implemented in every aspect of the organization. It starts with the company's general OKR and how this translates to the different departments such as sales, HR, marketing, and others.

#OKR

https://goalify.plus/goal-example/

Implementing OKR can be helpful in achieving the organization's goals. It is already a system that makes the goals measurable. What makes it even better is that it can be customized depending on the industry or department. This post gives some clear examples of how to use OKR in setting organization goals to department goals.

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OKR Examples for Marketing, Sales, HR, Product, etc. | Goalify

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How to effectively set up your OKRs and some OKR examples of Goalify for your HR, Marketing, Sales, etc. team.

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Why One-on-One Meetings are Effective and Meaningful

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Why One-on-One Meetings are Effective and Meaningful

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This article from TalentMap humanizes one-on-one meetings. It shows that this is not just a tool to get work done in the office. It also makes connections more human and allows leaders to take a peek into the personal lives of employees and how it affects their productivity.

They added that by asking the right questions during a one-on-one meeting, leaders can unlock a ton of valuable information. TalentMap provided some tips to make these meetings more effective such as approaching this meeting for feedback and acknowledging employees for their achievements and work.

#oneonone

https://www.talentmap.com/one-on-one-meetings-with-employees/

There is a human factor in one-on-one meetings that makes it a great cure for different organizational problems. It is not just something to use to be on top of employees, it’s also a way to get to know them on a more personal level and see how their lives affect their work. TalentMap gives different tips on how to make one-on-one meetings more effective. Aside from asking the right questions, it is also important to approach the meeting for feedback and make sure that employees are acknowledged for their hard work.

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You've noticed a tinge of tension in the air. Your team isn't playing well together, not as well as usual. Levity is missing. Deadlines are being met, but just barely. One of your group left on paternity leave several weeks ago. A top talent employee from another department has finally been identified and recruited to fill the gap. They start tomorrow. You're a tad worried about how they'll fit into an environment that's not up to standard, productively or socially. You've heard about one-on-one meetings with employees. HR touts them as the panacea for corporate ills. Time to test their claims.

The next day when you meet with the sixth and newest member of your team, you have a great employee onboarding session; your first official one-on-one, if you will. "What do you hope to get out of this placement?" you ask. "Is there anything specific you'd like to learn?...You have a Business Degree, and your Masters in International Development, and now, you're here working on policy for the agri-business...where do you want to go with this background?"

You think out-loud about how their Business Degree must mean they have a comfort level with numbers and ask how they are with stats. They express a hint of hesitancy. You counter by suggesting they give it a try-they're the best qualified of the bunch you encourage-and assure them if after a while it's not working out, you'll rejig things. Their enthusiasm is palpable. You mention you're always there for them. Invite them to reach out anytime with ideas, concerns, questions-anything. You both exchange a few personal stories, you about your family reunion weekend, them about their ultimate frisbee tournament. You agree to meet on Mondays at 9:00 a.m. for a weekly 30-minute check-in and ask what kinds of topics they'd like to see on the agenda.

By the end of an hour together both of you are smiling, relaxed and pumped for the day ahead. One down, five more to go.

Over the next week, you hold one-on-one meetings with your other employees. You learn one of the team members is into early stages of Alzheimer elder care for their widowed father. Medical appointments and general time commitments are overwhelming and there are no siblings living nearby to help. You agree on a flexible and remote-working arrangement with weekly check-ins or more if needed. Provided they meet their goals timely and efficiently it doesn't matter to you when or where the work is done. The four others express in their own words and ways the stress of trying to manage their own workloads on top of the responsibilities they've inherited from the co-worker on leave. One is reticent to give up these new assignments because of the challenges and opportunities associated with learning something new. The others are more than happy to turn things over to the newest team member so they can resume a better work/life balance. Two, share in confidence their concern for their colleague's elder care burden and how they've been doing what they can to lighten the load.

By opening the doors to these kinds of conversations in a manner that shows you're listening and genuinely care, you're also opening the door to trusting rapport.

To get started, consider a walk-about to chat with your team members individually. Tell them you'd like to set up regularly scheduled check-in meetings with time for you to talk about what you need to discuss-organizational updates for instance-and for the employee to do the same. Give some ideas of the kinds of things you might cover, like promotion paths, professional development opportunities, tackling challenging interpersonal relations, ideas and innovation, organizational goals, and how the team and individual fit. Mention how both of you will need to prepare for agenda topics in advance for a meaningful exchange. Rather than dictate a time that fits into your schedule, select a meeting time mutually. Recognize frequency will vary depending on the individual and their function. For some it might be weekly, for others bi-weekly or monthly. Whatever you both decide-commit and stick to it.

Approach this as a time for feedback: positive, supportive, forward-thinking, aspirational.

Ask for employee feedback about the organization, policies and procedures. Can things be done differently? Where and how?

Be open to being managed upward. Your employees probably have insights that can help you in your own professional development. (Does your management style work for them? Are you giving enough feedback and is it what they need?)

View these sessions as a time to share organizational news, a time to review goals individually and within context of your department and the larger organization, a time to look at where employees want to go and how to get there.

Find ways to support or offer training in areas where employees need improvement or want to develop new skills for professional development and growth.

Acknowledge and sing the praises of jobs well done.

Remember and remind yourself and your employees these one-on-ones are two-way conversations; private chats about what's going on professionally and personally.

Choose a location for these confidential conversations. Their office or yours? In a coffee shop around the corner or a quiet corner table in the cafeteria? By phone for those working remotely?

Sometimes meetings may take a handful of minutes rather than the full 30 minutes or hour you've set aside. The employee has nothing pressing from their end and neither do you. No problem. Just remember to check-in as agreed.

Some say setting a formal agenda keeps one-on-one meetings with employees on track and sessions productive. Others prefer a less formal approach and invite employees to lead off the conversation. Choose and use the technique that's best for you and the person with whom you're meeting. Having an agenda, though, might be the best technique the first few times to set direction and tone until you've both established a cadence of your own.

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Successful One-on-One Meetings with Employees | TalentMap

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You've noticed a tinge of tension in the air. Your team isn't playing well together, not as well as usual. Levity is missing. Deadlines are being met, but just barely. One of your group left on paternity leave several weeks ago. A top talent employee from another department has finally been identified and recruited to fill the gap.

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Using Linkage to Justify Promotion of Employee Engagement

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Using Linkage to Justify Promotion of Employee Engagement

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There's a strong link that connects employee engagement to happier customers. This often promoted by different practitioners and startups. However, it can be hard to justify programs that promote employee engagement with the higher management. Using linkage models when it comes to creating a culture of feedback can be a good method to show the impact of programs that take care of employees.  By creating such links and seeing the real benefits, it becomes easier to invest and prove to executives the results that feedback has to the business.

#feedbackculture

https://blog.cultureamp.com/when-linkage-makes-sense

Justifying programs that promote employee engagement can be challenging. However, it is already proven that engaged employees tend to be more productive and this leads to happier customers, as well. To justify these programs, create links that connect the programs to the bottom-line. This means linking employee feedback with the business outcomes.

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In the employee feedback space there's a lot of hype about linkage for good reason. Linking the data from your people surveys to broader business outcomes can be incredibly powerful. It's an effective way to demonstrate to leaders that looking after and caring about your people does deliver tangible business benefits, like making your customers happier.

Rather than just assuming that your work is having an impact on the organization, linkage models can give you the proof points that show the impact of your people initiatives. It can also help you validate and gain confidence in the questions you are asking people - as well as suggesting areas to go deeper. Here's some tips for how to get started:

Linkage connects business outcomes with employee feedback

Linkage is when the rubber hits the road with employee feedback. It makes real connections between your business objectives and employees' experience in your organization. This is what most leaders, executives, boards and shareholders care about. For example, by demonstrating a link between training perceptions and sales performance in one part of an organization, a case can readily be made to invest in training across the entire organization.

Previously it was incredibly expensive to apply statistical techniques on large datasets to make these linkages. Now we have tools that can enable people in almost every company to do this if they set their mind to it.

Some of the classic things that we're seeing clients link to employee feedback are churn and retention rates. This allows organizations to look at the type of experiences or structural things that lead people to leave their organization. We have consistently seen good linkages in this area.

We have also have seen strong connections between engagement levels and customer satisfaction, particularly in call centres or other parts of an organization where there is a direct relationship with customers. If people are engaged and motivated in a call centre that is typically reflected in a better customer experience.

Be realistic when you first make linkages

While linking employee feedback to outcomes can be powerful it can also be incredibly complex, particularly if an outcome has multiple inputs or causal factors. If there are lots of hidden variables that we're not able to accurately measure it can be difficult to show an association between the people side of things and the outcome. That's why it's important to be realistic and understand that some things are potentially outside the sphere of what you can measure or model.

In other situations you may be able to take some of the causal factors into account in your model. For example:

If you're looking at growth in a particular country, you can control for how long you've been in that market.

When you're looking at sales growth that is enabled by training you may need to take into account the size of people's territories.

This can make your model more robust and help you get a better return from your analysis.

Examine the usefulness of the information in your linkage

When choosing your variables it's also worth considering whether the linkages you're making will provide valuable information that your organization can use. One organization we worked with was looking for linkages between the wellbeing of their people and workplace performance / retention. They added a variable that considered the level of social support that someone had outside of the organization.

Interestingly, the analysis found that people with strong social support were more likely to leave the business. But this linkage didn't actually help the organization because they couldn't reduce the amount of social support a person had outside of the business (and wouldn't choose to do so even if they could).

My best tip when it comes to linkage analysis

The best tip I can give when it comes to linkage analysis is to start with something small. Start somewhere you have confidence that there's a connection and you have a reasonable level of control over the inputs going into the system. This will give you the best chance of demonstrating the connection. Great places to start are call centre engagement and customer satisfaction, engagement levels and employee retention, or training and sales performance as they often have clear linkages.

Once you've been able to demonstrate a successful link between a people practice and a business outcome you can then progress to adding new variables or making more complex linkages. The results will help you show your leadership the benefits of looking after your people, and can inform your people strategy into the future.

How to get started with simple linkage

Although we can very easily get quite sophisticated in our linkage analyses (we often use machine learning techniques such as Random Forests and Support Vector Machines for example) this isn't always necessary. We've often seen our customers identify key linkages by simply getting the right data together and uploaded into their feedback dashboards. This allows some straight-forward but powerfully simple linkages to be seen quite dramatically.

One of the most common examples of this is when an organization simply tracks which employees have exited the organization over time and then uploads this as a simple flag in previous feedback surveys. This can clearly show the areas in which exiting employees were having their most negative experiences prior to leaving - which is a quite powerful guide to where you might direct your attention to address future retention.
In the screenshot below you can see a simple heatmap. This shows how employees who have subsequently exited the organization were having negative experiences associated with Innovation. This linkage clearly shows that exited employees here had much lower scores particularly in regards to how they felt innovative ideas we acted on.

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How to make the connection between employee feedback and business results

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Linkage is powerful because it directly connects employee feedback to the broader performance of the business. It can also be difficult to implement, so it's important to start simple. Culture Amp's Chief Scientist provides tips on when to use linkage and how to get started.

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Using Rules in Conducting Effective Team Meetings

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Using Rules in Conducting Effective Team Meetings

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Elise Keith has an interesting take on life and dealing with people. For her, you get what you tolerate. Although it is broad and can be applied in just about anything, she takes it on a different route and relates this to being a meeting leader.

She notes that structuring the meeting can prevent problems like speakers extending their allotted time among others. Setting some ground rules can be effective in managing team meetings while improving the overall engagement. Having rules can be a tool to set the tone of the meeting and make sure that everyone follows the code of conduct. Keith includes some examples in creating your own meeting ground rules such as respecting people’s time and not interrupting speakers.

#teammeeting

https://blog.lucidmeetings.com/blog/using-ground-rules-improve-engagement-excellent-team-meetings

Conducting a team meeting can be challenging for may leaders. It can be hard to control members. The easiest way to go about it according to Elise Keith is to set some ground rules for your meeting. Doing so helps in managing meetings and making it more effective for everyone.

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You get what you tolerate.

I've heard this adage many times when complaining about my dog's behavior, and occasionally regarding my children too. The person sharing that wisdom is telling me that my dog's and my children's poor behavior persists because I allow it to; because I'm creating the conditions where that kind of thing can occur not just once, but repeatedly.

Recently we hosted a webinar on how to increase engagement during team meetings, and we asked people who registered about the number one meeting engagement problem they hoped we could help solve.

Several registrants asked about how to deal with the person who won't stop talking, making it hard for anyone else to get a word in. Several others asked about how to get people to show up on time, or even to show up at all.

I shared some specific techniques for helping with these situations in the webinar, but as more and more of these replies kept coming in, I couldn't help but hear that adage echo in the back of my head.

You get what you tolerate.

While I believe that's true to a degree, I never found it particularly useful!

I didn't appreciate it when people told me to just "stop tolerating" undesirable behavior from my kids and my dog. I wanted advice that went beyond "Well, don't let them do that!" I gritted my teeth, rolled my eyes, and admitted that yes, sure, I'm tolerating this behavior I guess - but what else am I supposed to do?!

That's the challenge faced by many meeting leaders when it comes to the long-winded participant. How exactly are you supposed to "not tolerate it" when that one person-let's call him Fred-decides to keep talking about his pet project? Do you just cut him off? Do you kick him out? Do you follow the lead of our U.S. Senators and hurl a talking stick at him?

Not likely.

You can do a lot with how you structure and lead your meeting to minimize this problem. The facilitation literature includes all kinds of tips specifically for this issue.

For most people, though, redesigning every meeting just to work around Fred isn't realistic.

Instead, I recommend considering a more direct approach by creating team ground rules for your meetings.

Ground rules give everyone a chance to manage Fred-including Fred! When you work with your team to establish an expectation that everyone in meetings will keep their comments brief and relevant, you can all hold each other to it.

Ground rules give you a tool you can use when someone goes too long. This means the burden and the power to manage the conversation falls not just on the meeting leader - ground rules give everyone on the team a tool they can use!

It's important to remember that the people who take more than their fair share of meeting time may not realize the impact they have on others. They may feel that no one else wants to speak, and it's up to them to carry the conversation. This is certainly what happens with me and my middle child. He's at that age where he doesn't talk to his parents much, so I find myself just jabbering on to fill the vacuum.

Over-talkers may not be able to sense social queues well. I know several people who will admit they can't "read" other people, and they actually appreciate a bit of subtle coaching to help them avoid unintentionally upsetting others.

Finally, they may be waiting for someone else to acknowledge them, and will just keep talking until someone does. This can happen a lot when people are nervous or worked up - they keep talking until someone assures them that they've been heard.

Another possibility: they could be the type that thinks out loud, getting carried away in their own verbal thought process without really noticing the minutes ticking by. This is my particular foible; it's taken me a lot of years to clue in to my husband's impatient toe tapping as he waits for me to get to the point!

Or finally, it's possible they could be jerks who like to dominate everyone else with their inane babble! On balance, though, this last option isn't the most likely.

Whatever the reason, when you set a clear expectation about the kind of behavior the group wants in meetings, you can talk openly about that behavior in the group. In other words, when you start talking about what you want, it becomes easier for everyone to talk about what they want. If you're uncomfortable with the idea of suggesting ground rules to your team, please consider how obvious that last sentence is.

Then once you have ground rules, if someone violates those expectations and you all do nothing about it - well, I've heard it said: you get what you tolerate.

Let's explore what ground rules are and how to put them in place for your team.

Tool: Ground Rules

Ground rules detail the code of conduct for a meeting and the team, explaining the behavior that's expected of all participants. Team ground rules should be created and agreed to by everyone in the team together, because groups more easily accept and abide by rules they've set themselves.

Another adage my wise advisors tell me:
If you think you have an agreement and the other person doesn't stick to it, then you didn't have an agreement, did you?

It's very common for workshop facilitators to establish ground rules at the beginning of the workshop. What's less common-but which has a higher positive impact over time-is the establishment of ground rules at the team, department, or organization level.

A Ground Rule by any other name may possibly smell less

Some people bristle at the idea of setting "Ground Rules" because it sounds too restrictive and punitive. If the idea of working with your team to set "Rules" rubs you the wrong way, consider these alternatives:

Meeting Code (as in Code of Conduct, or Pirates' Code)

Meeting Manifesto (akin to the Agile Manifesto, outlining shared principles)

Meeting Guidelines or Protocols or... you get the idea.

The other common name for Ground Rules is Team Norms (meaning "adopted standards"). If that works for you, go for it. One caution, though: people may use the term norm interchangeably to refer to your written "Norms" and also to any normal-but-undesirable behavior in the group, as in "Sally's 6 minute's late, as per norm," which can weaken these agreements over time.

While the ground rules you use should be developed collaboratively with your team, it's always helpful to start with some examples. Here are some sample ground rules that we've used to reinforce those behaviors the research indicates contribute most directly to meeting quality. You can find many other examples online and linked in the resources below.

A few of these directly enable teams to manage the person who hogs the time. I've made these bold.

Sample Ground Rules for a Team, Department, or Organization
Again, these are examples only.
Don't think some of these would fly with your group? Dislike the wording?

Please please please! Do what works for you!

That is, in fact, the whole point of the exercise.

Example Ground Rules

Respect our commitment to making meetings enjoyable and productive.

We adopt these ground rules as our shared commitment to doing great work in meetings. These are our rules; we can and will change the rules together if we feel there is a better way.

Everyone is responsible for enforcing the ground rules. Notice when we have strayed, and speak up.
(This one gives you and everyone else permission to say something if you feel there's a problem.)

Respect everyone's time.

Start on time, end on time.

Communicate in plenty of time about any times that need to change.

Share the time; do not monopolize the discussion or rob others of the time they need to share their perspective.
(This one says that it is a problem if one person does all the talking.)

Respect the work of the meeting.

Know the meeting's purpose and desired outcomes. If this is unclear, ask.

Come prepared and ready to engage.

Information is the raw material of results. Be ready to contribute any information you have that will improve the results in this meeting.

Everyone is responsible for keeping the meeting on track. Speak up if you feel the group is drifting.

Document clear commitments then follow-through; walk your talk.

Respect each other as human.

Assume best intentions, but do not assume anything else. Ask questions to better understand anything that is unclear or troubling.

Listen when others speak. Remember that no one has all the information, and don't interrupt.
(This rule, in combination with a well-run go-around, makes it possible for meeting leaders to get the opinions of several people into the discussion before calling on the dominant person and asks the dominant person to wait their turn.)

Share your views and concerns in the room. Show each other courage and respect by having the tough conversations that need to be had directly.

Treat each other with kindness and tolerance first. We all have tricky days when we aren't at our best. You will appreciate this tolerance when that tricky day is yours.

Take care of yourself. If you need to step out or take a break, do it. The group values your participation, so do what you need to do so you can devote your full attention.

Have fun!

How and When to Establish Team Ground Rules

Teams typically develop ground rules during team formation or alternatively, as part of a meeting improvement initiative.

Teams that are just forming can set their ground rules as one part of their larger working team agreement by asking "What agreements or ground rules do we want to set for our meetings?" as one item on the agenda.

For a template walking you through the creation of a full on Working Agreement, check out Lisette Sutherland's process for setting a " Remote Team Working Agreement" (Tip: you don't have to be a remote team to use it.) You'll also see expectations for meetings discussed as one part of Paul Axtell's process for introducing a new leader to a team. Finally, if you're leading a sensitive conversation, take a look at the Guidelines for Leading a Sensitive Discussion by Dr. Patricia Roberts.

Existing teams that want to improve their meetings can also create ground rules together in a short, focused meeting.

Here's an overview of that process.

A Meeting to Set Team Ground Rules

Purpose: To decide together our shared expectations for meetings
Desired Outcomes:

An understanding of the things we agree help us do our best work in meetings

A documented set of agreements-or ground rules-we'll use to make sure our meetings are effective going forward

Preparation:
Each team member should individually research these questions before the meeting.

1. What are meeting ground rules and how are they used?

2. What are some examples of companies or organizations that use meeting ground rules?

3. Which ground rules do you think would help us hold better meetings?

Agenda:

1. Introduction: What are ground rules and why should we use them?
Quickly check in with everyone and refresh the group on the purpose for this meeting. Then, discuss what people found during their preparatory research for the meeting.

2. What do we see when we're working our best? What are we doing (or not doing) in our most productive and enjoyable meetings?
Discuss your team's experience with meetings, capturing both what everyone feels works well and the challenges that the team feels keep meetings from succeeding.

3. Which ground rules should we adopt for our meetings?
Work together to create your initial list of ground rules. Focus on getting the right ideas out there rather than on perfecting the specific wording. These are your rules; you can always change them later.

4. Confirm the list: Are we agreed on these draft ground rules?
Wrap up the meeting by looking at the final list of draft ground rules as a group and answering:

Do these ground rules address the highest priority items we identified earlier? If not, is there anything else we need to change here now?

Where will we post the ground rules so we can easily refer to them in meetings?

Who will take responsibility for documenting these ground rules and sending them to the team?

Once you have a plan for finalizing and posting your new ground rules, you're done!

How to Use Ground Rules

Ground rules are used to train and adjust meeting behavior. The most impactful and dramatic use of a ground rule is during a meeting when someone says:

"Sorry, but we agreed to xyz in our ground rules, so I think we need to..."

For example:

"Sorry, but we agreed to have one conversation at a time. I think Ted wasn't quite finished with his point."

Or

"We agreed to come prepared to meetings, but it looks like we aren't ready to have this discussion. What should we do? Would you like to reschedule, or should we add 10 minutes to the meeting now so everyone can read the pre-work?"

Ground rules can also be:

Shared with new team members and employees as part of the onboarding process. This helps new people know what to expect. Ideally, the new person will learn the ground rules from another team member rather than the boss, as this doubly reinforces that these are everyone's rules to enforce.

Posted in meeting rooms as a reminder (and as a way to demonstrate your values to visitors). Several start ups and technology companies have prominent Meeting Rules posters in their conference rooms to both remind their employees and impress outsiders with their professionalism.

Updated to include special language and rituals that express your team's character and unique culture. For example, some teams use the "Vegas Rule" - as in "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" to establish that meeting discussions are to be considered confidential.

Shared in your organizational marketing and recruitment as an example of your team's dedication to quality results. Yes, companies actually do this, which is what makes that prep assignment to go find examples possible!

More Sample Ground Rules and Resources

Do you have ground rules that work particularly well for your team? Have you had an experience with ground rules that could benefit others?

Please share in the comments below!

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Using Ground Rules to Improve Engagement and Run Excellent Team Meetings

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You get what you tolerate. I've heard this adage many times when complaining about my dog's behavior, and occasionally regarding my children too. The person sharing that wisdom is telling me that my dog's and my children's poor behavior persists because I allow it to; because I'm creating the conditions where that kind of thing can occur not just once, but repeatedly.

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How to Plan Internal Communications for the Long Haul

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How to Plan Internal Communications for the Long Haul

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Internal communications for long-term is often not prioritized in organizations. When an organization has a well-planned internal communication, however, the employees and leaders can often reap the benefits. Employees are able to see the bigger picture of their daily actions while leaders can motivate and inspire employees.

It is best to remember that the communications plan should change as the generation of employees change. It should also keep up with the times. When planning your organization’s internal communications long-term, MediaPlatform suggests setting goals, investing in helpful tools, and keeping the communication inclusive.

#companywidecomm

https://www.mediaplatform.com/2017/09/planning-organizations-long-term-internal-communications-strategy/

An organization with a well-planned internal communication can achieve a lot of things. Having this in place can help leaders in motivating employees while employees are able to see the bigger picture of what the organization is trying to achieve. According to MediaPlatform, organizations need to consider different factors when creating a long-term communication plan. It noted that keeping communication inclusive and using the right goals are helpful in being successful.

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Long term internal communications planning is often undervalued or neglected. Yet, there are so many benefits of a well designed communications plan. When executed correctly, it helps employees understand the bigger picture and the part they play. Meanwhile leaders gain a stronger perspective in how to motivate, inspire, and engage employees.

But as nice as it would be, communication plans don't just happen overnight. Building trust and credibility requires tremendous effort, preparation and coordination.

Whether you are a seasoned communications expert, or are creating your first ever internal communications plan, it's always worth revisiting your strategy. Employees come and go, and communication needs change with each generation. Communication technology also is changing at a faster pace, forcing us to all rethink how we approach this subject.

Below are four things to consider when planning your next long term internal communications strategy:
Set goals
Just like any other business plan, your internal communications plan must include goals, deadlines, and responsibilities. If you are familiar with goal setting on any level, you likely know the SMART goal setting methodology. This is where you make goals Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. It's also worth strategically thinking about each goal, and then asking questions. For example, why does a particular goal matter? Why is it important that this goal is reached within a certain time period?
Invest in the right tools
It is important to assess all the communication tools you have at your disposal. Depending on the size of your organization, this can include email, newsletters, company magazines, intranets, and video communication. You should also make sure that the tool(s) work for every department; at least when it comes to company wide communication. If you are using an enterprise video platform, now is a good time to leverage this tool and give serious consideration to how your are using it. Is it used for CEO town hall meetings? Do all employees know how to access content? Do employees know how to search for important and relevant videos? And, are employees commenting on existing videos?
Consider the upcoming year
Will there be growth? Will there be change? How does your communication strategy support that change? Change can happen unexpectedly, as is the case with things like mergers and acquisitions. It is often during these times, that communication plans are truly put through the test. And while you may not have a crystal ball to predict such change, you can spend some time considering what a plan may be look like if a drastic change were to occur. A mock run through should reveal who receives the message, and how quickly news disseminates.
Keep it inclusive
It's easy to get lost in the planning of internal communications and forget a department or two-especially when departments, team, or employees work remotely, or do not have desk based jobs. However to truly be inclusive, your plan must include and reach all employees. Different employees may require different communication platforms and tools, but there should be no department or employee that is considered unimportant. Every employee deserves good communication.

What are you doing to ensure the success of your internal communications plan?

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Planning Your Organization's Long Term Internal Communications Strategy | MediaPlatform

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Long term internal communications planning is often undervalued or neglected. Yet, there are so many benefits of a well designed communications plan. When executed correctly, it helps employees understand the bigger picture and the part they play. Meanwhile leaders gain a stronger perspective in how to motivate, inspire, and engage employees.

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One of the advantages of OKRs is that you can personalize how you use it depending on the need. It is a system that can be customized on the specific team that's using it.
This is a guide gives you examples of how OKRs are used in different departments. It has concrete examples that can be used by customer service, marketing, sales, engineering, and other departments. This makes OKR easier to apply to any organization and its different teams.

#OKR

https://upraise.io/objectives-key-results-okr/examples/

Customizing OKR to your specific needs is necessary to make it work. To use OKR in your organization, check out this guide. It gives concrete examples of how OKRs are used in different departments.

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Setting OKRs, especially for the first timers can be a daunting task. Here are a few OKR examples for your easy reference.

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One-on-one meetings are great tools for leaders to help employees to succeed. Some new managers might think one-on-ones as daunting. They might find it challenging to ask the right questions and take advantage of this type of meeting.

The key to an effective one-on-one meeting is to structure it properly. Culture Amp notes that one-on-ones tend to tread on different topics over time. They also suggest different questions to ask during the meeting such as general check-in questions and some career aspiration questions.

#oneonone

https://blog.cultureamp.com/great-one-on-one-meeting-questions

New managers might find it tricky to maneuver one-on-one meetings. But this is an essential tool to help employees succeed. According to Culture Amp, structuring one-on-ones can be helpful in making it more effective. They also suggest some interesting questions to use such as general check-in questions, relationship-based questions and career questions among others.

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Managers have many tools for helping their team members succeed, like regular one-on-one meetings. However, this humble meeting might seem daunting for a new manager. Confusion around what types of questions to ask is understandable.

Managers might wonder: How often should we meet? What should I ask them? Can I ask them about their personal life? Do I set the agenda each time or let my direct report take the lead?

In this article, we'll share how to structure your one-on-one meetings and then dive into different types of questions you can ask in your next one-on-one.

Structuring your one-on-one meeting

One thing we see is that managers tend to have either too little structure or too much. Managers might also revisit the same topics each time, most often jumping straight to operational or task-focused questions.

Effective one-on-ones circulate through a variety of topics over time, depending on what's going on in your organization and for the individual. Aside from operational task-focused questions, other things you'll want to cover on a regular basis are alignment, wellbeing, growth/progress, career aspirations, relationships, and of course, creating space for your direct report to steer the conversation.

As for cadence, it depends on the individual and their work environment. Ideally don't go longer than two weeks without checking in, even if it means a coffee catch-up coupled with a more in-depth monthly discussion.

Below are 24 great questions any manager can use for better one-on-one meetings divided into categories.

General check-in questions

Start each one-on-one meeting with a personal check-in. Knowing the mental state of your team is valuable context for how to proceed in the rest of the meeting. These questions are important to ask every time, so you can understand how people are doing as far as work-life balance, wellbeing, and personal life. If something has come up for the individual, allow space to discuss it further. This is where flexibility is key - if you are too focused on getting through a rigid agenda then you might miss cues when your direct reports need support or guidance.
1. How is everything going today? Tell me about this last week? 2. What's on your mind this week? 3. Last time we spoke you said X was a challenge for you, how is that going? 4. What are your plans and priorities this week?
Alignment questions

This is where you want to discuss company confidence, and how connected or aligned an individual feels to the organization. These are particularly important following an engagement survey, or any big change in your organization.
5. Do you have any questions about the recent change involving X? (e.g. announcement from CEO, merger, teams).6. How confident do you feel with where the company is going? 7. How aligned do you feel with where the company is going?
Progress questions

It's important to understand how people feel they are progressing and where they are experiencing growth. This can relate to what they're learning on the job and whether they are feeling a sense of achievement or momentum.
8. What has energized you in your role [over a period of time]?9. What has challenged you [over a period of time]?10. What has gone well/not so well for you [over a period of time]?11. What's one thing (or a few) you learned this week? 12. Do you feel confident in how you/your team are progressing? 13. How are you/your team progressing towards established goals?
Relationship-based questions

Interpersonal interactions are often a missed topic when it comes to one-on-ones, but they can have a huge impact on someone's experience at work. Managers have a great opportunity to coach their team members when it comes to relationships at work. You can also take this opportunity to ask for feedback on you as a manager and how your relationship is tracking.
14. How is everything going with people you work with/on your team? 15. Any interactions you'd like to discuss? 16. What feedback do you have for me?
Career aspiration questions

Often career conversations are reserved for once a year when a review of some sort is done, or completely ignored if a manager doesn't feel confident in leading the conversation. Career aspirations and goals are important to discuss much more frequently - you can even check-in weekly (i.e. what progress have you made on your career goals this week?).
17. When you think about yourself in two years time, what comes to mind? 18. What are two or three new skills you'd like to learn on the job? 19. How are you progressing towards your bigger career and life goals? 20. Is there someone at the company (or outside) that you'd like to learn from? 21. What progress have you made on your career goals this week?
Questions to close your one-on-one

Ending your one-on-one meeting on an actionable question keeps the loop of feedback open.
22. What are you committing to between now and the next time we meet? 23. What can I help you with between now and the next time we meet? 24. Is there anything we didn't cover that you'd like to discuss next time?
Don't forget to also offer informal, in-the-moment effective feedback whenever you have a chance. As you interact with your direct reports, take time to acknowledge how they are doing rather than feeling the need to wait for a 1:1. This way, they can always be confident in their performance and feel comfortable seeking feedback.
Want to learn more about what makes managers great? Download our ebook, 11 essential traits of great managers.

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Managers have many tools for helping their team members succeed, like regular one-on-one meetings. However, this humble meeting might seem daunting for a new manager. Confusion around what types of questions to ask is understandable. Managers might wonder: How often should we meet? What should I ask them?

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Every leader wants an effective culture, especially one that promotes positive feedback. For bigger companies, this can be challenging. Many see feedback as negative. Others even dread feedback. This issue should be solved by creating a culture of positive feedback in the company. Employees need to see feedback as positive and as a step towards improving their performance and work environment.

To do this, TruQu notes the importance of nurturing a growth mindset in the office. This helps in making employees more open to feedback and improvement. In addition to that, change that starts from the top to the bottom can also be more effective.

#feedbackculture

https://truqu.com/10-tips-on-how-to-establish-a-positive-feedback-culture-at-work/?lang=en

Feedback is often viewed as negative. However, feedback is important in the company so it’ll improve and grow. Nurturing feedback can be a challenge for bigger companies, but it’s doable. To build a more positive feedback culture, TruQu advises organizations to start the change from top to bottom. Moreover, there needs to be a prevalence of the growth mindset among employees to make everyone open to change and improvement.

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Every manager wants to make their company more effective, and encourage employees to give each other, positive feedback. But it can be hard to create this culture, especially at larger corporations. Too often, feedback of any kind is dreaded and seen as negative. At worst, some employees may even consider feedback to be useless and irrelevant. To solve this problem, you must establish a positive feedback culture at work. A feedback culture helps your employees understand how they are performing, rewards them for great work, and promotes a healthier and more constructive work environment. Read on, and find out our top 10 tips on how to establish a positive feedback culture at work!
1. Provide Regular, Constructive Feedback

The process must begin by providing regular, constructive feedback that is based on honesty and trust. If you can provide feedback that is honest, and do so in a way that does not make another person feel negative - even if there are areas that need improvement - you're well on your way to developing a positive feedback culture.

You should also try to provide feedback to coworkers and colleagues more regularly. For example, consider ditching the traditional "annual performance review" in favor of project-based feedback sessions - regular, focused feedback helps nurture a positive feedback culture.

2. Nurture A Mindset Focused On Growth

If an employee has a growth mindset, they are much more likely to receive feedback well - whether it's positive, or focuses on areas where an employee could improve.

This is because a growth mindset helps employees recognize where they have succeeded as a person and an employee, and where they can still grow.

A growth mindset helps an employee realize that there will always be areas where they can improve - and as long as they are trying to do so, they're on the right track!

3. Train Employees On How To Give - And Receive - Feedback

One problem with feedback is that employees often give feedback in staggeringly different ways. One project manager, for example, may focus on giving only positive feedback, and avoid negative comments altogether. But another project manager might almost exclusively focus on areas where employees can improve.

This disconnect fosters a sense of fear and dread about feedback - because employees don't know what to expect from each other, or their managers.

Because of this, it's important to train employees on how to give and receive feedback. If everyone gets on the same page, it's much easier to communicate.

4. Start From The Top-Down

Change always starts from the top. If you really want a positive feedback culture, your C-suite execs, VPs, and other important managers must be serious about encouraging change. They should ask for feedback from each other, and give feedback - all up and down your organizational hierarchy.

As employees begin to notice this, they will feel more comfortable giving feedback to each other and their managers - encouraging a more open, honest work environment.

5. Encourage Honesty In Employees - And Make Them Feel Safe

A feedback culture only works if employees feel they can be honest. And if employees think they will be punished for sharing their honest opinions, your feedback culture is broken.

Encourage employees to be honest about their feelings, and encourage a "feedback-safe" environment. Emphasize that they will not face any kind of negative repercussions for sharing honest feedback with you, or their colleagues.

You should also understand that different people have different levels of Emotional Intelligence - and some are going to be more (or less) comfortable giving feedback. Be respectful - don't force feedback from these people.

6. Create Clear, Reasonable Feedback Guidelines - And Follow Them

Setting feedback guidelines helps standardize the process, and makeS employees feel more comfortable. You should outline things like:

● Who gives feedback to who?
● How often should feedback be given?
● How do we give feedback? Is there an official process?
● What is the goal of each feedback session?

7. Practice What You Preach

The only way to create a feedback culture is to put in the work - every day. Practice always makes you perfect - and unless you "practice what you preach" and work to make a positive feedback culture a reality, your efforts will fail.

Integrate feedback into your daily operations, meetings, and more. Ask your employees how you can make the process of giving and receiving feedback more efficient, and how they feel about its integration into their day-to-day work.

Yep, that's right - the best way to build a feedback culture is to ask for employee feedback! It's ironic, but it's true!

8. Utilize Multiple Feedback Channels

You shouldn't have just one formal system for employees to give each other feedback. Different people prefer different modes of communication - one employee may be fine with giving feedback face-to-face, for example, while another may prefer to send their feedback online.

It's best to use a mix of online and face-to-face feedback,- as well as both group and individual feedback. If you give your feedback online the receiver has time to think about the context, afterwards you'll be able to go deeper into the feedback face-to-face. Keeping things varied and diverse helps each employee find their "groove" and see what form of feedback they prefer to use.

9. Balance Both Positive And Corrective Feedback - But Don't Be Negative

Feedback is not all "sunshine and rainbows." At some point, you're going to have to give some corrective feedback and constructive criticism. No employee is perfect - and unless they understand mistakes or errors they have made, they won't be able to improve.

But this doesn't mean you have to be harsh or cruel about delivering corrective feedback. When delivering corrective feedback, focus first on what an employee or colleague is doing well. Emphasize their achievements and accomplishments - then discuss what could use improvement.

Avoiding negativity is so important. When employees begin to feel negatively about giving - and receiving - feedback, your entire feedback culture breaks down. Make sure you address areas of improvement, but deliver criticism with a light touch.

10. Highlight Decisions Made Based On Feedback

Feedback that does not influence business decisions seems useless and pointless - that's just a fact. So when you do make a decision based on someone's feedback, you should let them know.

Don't just focus on communicating the change itself - tell them why you made the changes based on their feedback. This makes them feel like what they say truly matters - encouraging future feedback, in turn!

If you don't bother communicating why you make business changes - or worse, you don't make changes based on feedback at all - you will never be able to build a positive feedback culture. People hate feeling like they're being ignored, or their efforts are being wasted, so they'll just give up on providing feedback to you.

Follow These Top 10 Tips - Start Nurturing A Positive Feedback Culture At Work Today!

Creating a positive workplace culture focused on feedback is a wonderful thing. And, like most wonderful things, it's not easy! But with these 10 handy tips, you're sure to be on the right track.

Next to these tips to create a positive feedback culture, an online feedback tool might help to nurture feedback into the workplace. TruQu offers an online tool that makes it easy for your employees to ask and receive feedback from colleagues, managers and clients. If you want to know how TruQu can help your organization you can request a free guided demonstration!

Get a guided demonstration

Think about how you can incorporate these simple pieces of advice and a feedback tool into your day-to-day work, and you'll be astonished at how your work environment improves!

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10 Tips On How To Establish A Positive Feedback Culture At Work - TruQu

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Every manager wants to make their company more effective, and encourage employees to give each other, positive feedback. But it can be hard to create this culture, especially at larger corporations. Too often, feedback of any kind is dreaded and seen as negative. At worst, some employees may even consider feedback to be useless and irrelevant.

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Team meetings have this reputation of being boring. Many consider it a total waste of time. As a leader, it is essential to make sure that everyone is engaged during meetings. To help you out, Mary Walton listed some ideas to make meetings more enjoyable. Some of the tips she included are changing the scenery, using groupings, and adding engaging presentations to spice things up.

#teammeeting

https://www.achievers.com/blog/2018/03/7-fun-ways-host-team-meetings/

Team meetings don’t have to be boring. Leaders need to take the initiative to keep it fun and entertaining for everyone. There are different ways to make meetings more enjoyable. Mary Walton suggests changing the scenery and adding visual presentations among. Check out this article for more ideas from her.

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Team meetings are renowned for being boring and, to many employees, a waste of time.

In fact, one survey shows that over 75% of meeting participants are annoyed by meetings they deem unnecessary, and many more will agree they find them boring, even if it's just from time to time.

So, as a meeting host in your business, it's up to you to spice things up and bring a spark that will keep everybody engaged. To help you get started, here are seven techniques you can use.

One of the most common meeting tactics to use is known as 'breakout groups'. This is a type of meeting where you'll introduce a certain point or subject and then break the teams up into groups to discuss it. As you can imagine, this is ideal for brainstorming activities.

"Try to split up groups of people, so each group is as diverse as possible. At the end of the session, bring the teams back together and discuss all your points as a team," shares Mary Parker, an HR Manager for UK Writings.

You may have heard of team-building days, but there's no reason why you can't bring a team-building exercise into your meetings to bring everyone together and to get the mind focused. This is a great way to boost employee morale, build company culture and make the team socially aware.

You could give your team a puzzle or play a simple Q & A game. Team meetings don't have to be completely work-related either - they could solely focus on the team building aspect and be used as ten-minute introductions to get everybody engaged.

One of the best ways to bring new life into your meetings is by creating a visual presentation, such as a PowerPoint. This adds a visual element to your meetings and is a great way to share information in an easily digestible format.

You can add graphics, images, videos, graphs, text, and any other form of data or media that will help to keep the participants of your meeting engaged. Aim to produce high-quality presentations for your team meetings. Here are some tools that can help:

Grammarix & Studydemic
These are two online tools you can use to check the grammar in your presentation.

Revieweal
This website reviews copywriting services that can create content for your presentation, as recommended by the HuffingtonPost inWrite My Essay article.

Let's Go and Learn & My Writing Way
These blogs have a tonne of writing guides you can follow to improve your general writing skills.

Australian Reviewer
This is an online writing community where you can meet writers from around the world to improve your skills.

Cite It In
This is a free online tool to help you add citations, references and quotes to your presentation professionally.

Writing Populist & Academadvisor
These are two services that can help you to edit the content of your slides to perfection.

Do you always hold your meetings in the same room? Why not mix things up by changing your meeting's venue? Perhaps you could book another room in your office building. You could try meeting in a huddle space or taking your team to a nearby café or quiet place to sit.

"One of the more popular meeting places that people enjoy is going outside. Not only does this give your team a bit of sunlight and fresh air, but it also helps to break up the day, keeps your participants engaged and focused and makes a nice change from a boring meeting room," explains Sarah Cattle, an HR Manager for UKServicesReviews.

If your meetings are dragging on and on, it's only natural that people are going to get bored, switch off and become disinterested in what's being said. That being said, it's so much better for you and the rest of your team to keep things short and engaging.

This means if you're having a meeting, it's better to stick to a selection of topics and subjects that you're talking about, rather than trying to go on and on and cram in absolutely everything you have to say. As a rule of thumb, try and keep your meetings to around 30 minutes maximum.

When your team comes into your meeting, have you ever paid attention to how they seat themselves?

Typically, you'll see people sit in the same places and next to the same people. This is great, but if people are mucking around, or the same people are hiding at the back trying not to be involved, this will contribute to an unsuccessful meeting.

Instead, try mixing people up and getting them sitting next to people, and in places, that they wouldn't normally sit. This is great for brainstorming team meetings, especially when group discussion is implemented.

This is only scratching the surface when it comes to ways to enhance and revitalize your meetings with what works for you.

To help you get off on the right foot, here are some extra touches you can add to bring energy into your meetings, and to make them more fun:

Get a different employee to bring in food for each meeting and vote best food every month

Break your group into small groups for discussion (mix people up)

Every time someone 'crushes' an idea, get another member to throw a soft toy at them saying, "Let's give it a "

Be charismatic when talking

Make eye contact with the people in your meeting

Concentrate on your body language

Spotlight employees with rewards and recognition

Whether your hosting team meetings, teleconferences or office workshops, it's important to always add your own flair to effectively engage employees. The next time you have a team meeting, make sure you have these 7 tips in your back pocket.

Are you having trouble engaging your employees? Check out this guide highlighting four ways to start measuring the results of your engagement programs.

Do you have any thoughts on this article? Share your comments below.

About the Author Mary Walton is a business writer and blogger at Simple Grad, read her Boom Essays review there. Also, she writes for the Huffington Post (one of her most popular posts there is Buy an Essay article).

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7 Fun Ways to Host Team Meetings | The Engage Blog

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Team meetings are renowned for being boring and, to many employees, a waste of time. In fact, one survey shows that over 75% of meeting participants are annoyed by meetings they deem unnecessary, and many more will agree they find them boring, even if it's just from time to time.

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The Importance of Internal Newsletter for Your Company

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The Importance of Internal Newsletter for Your Company

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Company communication is mostly focused on getting the word out. However, internal communication is just as important as external communication. The latter provides the opportunity to keep all employees in sync.

If you’re not sure what to cover in your company’s newsletter, Mai Le suggests different ideas. She includes noting some industry news and trends and reinforcing the brand’s style and voice through the newsletter. This can also be an avenue to promote the organization’s advocacy.

#companywidecomm

https://www.meltwater.com/blog/11-reasons-your-organization-needs-an-internal-newsletter/

Internal communication is also important as external communication. The former reinforces the company’s brand to employees while making sure everyone is in sync. To make use of internal communication, Mai Le suggests different ideas to cover. Industry news and the organization’s advocacies can be interesting topics to shed light on aside from just reinforcing your brand.

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10 Reasons Your Organization Needs an Internal Newsletter

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Every organization needs an internal newsletter to avoid miscommunication, misaligned values, and a host of other issues.

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The guide gives an overview as to what the Google OKR is. It discusses the benefits it provides and how it is used. What's interesting about this guide is that it talks about the little details about OKRs and how it can be used by different organizations. It also includes some interesting tips such as separating OKRs from compensation and bonuses.

#OKRs

http://felipecastro.com/en/okr/what-is-okr/

This is a very robust discussion about the nitty-gritty details of OKR. It also includes examples and templates that one can use in creating OKRs for the organization making every step actionable.

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Felipe Castro - OKR Coach, Speaker, Author

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OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal system used by Google and others. It is a simple tool to create alignment and engagement around measurable goals.

OKR: Google's approach to goal setting

The big difference from traditional planning methods? OKRs are frequently set, tracked, and re-evaluated - usually quarterly. OKR is a simple, fast-cadence process that engages each team's perspective and creativity.

Creating alignment in the organization is one of the main OKR benefits. The goal is to ensure everyone is going in the same direction, with clear priorities, in a constant rhythm.

OKR's original concept came from Intel and spread to other Silicon Valley companies. Google adopted OKR in 1999, during its first year. It supported Google's growth from 40 employees to more than 60,000 today.

Besides Google, other companies use OKR, including Spotify, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Airbnb.

But the OKR system is not only for digital companies. Walmart, Target, The Guardian, Dun and Bradstreet, and ING Bank are also using OKR.

The Components of OKRs

John Doerr is one of the most successful venture capitalists of all time. He started his career at Intel and went on to invest in companies such as Google and Amazon. Doerr, who introduced Google to OKR, has a formula for setting goals:
Doerr's Goal Formula I will ________ as measured by ____________.
A proper goal has to describe both what you will achieve and how you are going to measure its achievement. The key words here are "as measured by," since measurement is what makes a goal a goal. Without it, you do not have a goal, all you have is a desire.

Doerr's formula is the best way to explain the structure of an OKR:
I will (Objective) as measured by (this set of Key Results).
So, as the name implies, OKR has two components, the Objective and the Key Results:

Objectives are memorable qualitative descriptions of what you want to achieve. Objectives should be short, inspirational and engaging. An Objective should motivate and challenge the team

Key Results are a set of metrics that measure your progress towards the Objective. For each Objective, you should have a set of 2 to 5 Key Results. More than that and no one will remember them.

All Key Results have to be quantitative and measurable. As Marissa Mayer, a former Google's Vice President, said:

"If it does not have a number, it is not a Key Result."

Example One

First of all, we need an Objective. An example might be "Create an Awesome Customer Experience." This sounds great, but how would you know if the experience is awesome? Remember, without measurement you don't have a goal.

That is why we need Key Results. How can we measure if we are providing an awesome customer experience? Net Promoter Score and Repurchase Rate would be two good options. Do our customers feel so good about dealing with us that they would recommend us and buy again?

But measuring NPS and repeat purchases alone can send the wrong message. It might encourage us to make the customer happy at any cost. Therefore, we can include a countermeasure such as Customer Acquisition Cost. We want to make our customers happy while keeping the costs under control.

The complete example would be:

Objective: Create an Awesome Customer Experience
Key Results:

Improve Net Promoter Score from X to Y.

Increase Repurchase Rate from X to Y.

Maintain Customer Acquisition cost under Y.

Example Two

Now consider a team that wants to increase the engagement with a digital service:

Objective: Delight our customers
Key Results:

Reduce revenue churn (cancellation) from X% to Y%.

Increase Net Promoter Score from X to Y.

Improve average weekly visits per active user from X to Y.

Increase non-paid (organic) traffic to from X to Y.

Improve engagement (users that complete a full profile) from X to Y.

Once more having a set of Key Results helps create a healthy, sustainable OKR. We want to increase the weekly visits, but we want it to be organic, not through an expansion of marketing spend.

Key Results are crucial. Most of all, they define what we mean by "Delight our customers." A second team or company could use the same Objective with different Key Results.

What's unique about OKR?

There is not a single way to use OKR, each company or team can adapt and tweak it, creating different versions of it. But there are some core concepts:

Agile Goals

Instead of using annual static planning, OKR takes an agile approach. By using shorter goal cycles, companies can adapt and respond to change.

Simplicity

Using OKR is straightforward, and the OKRs themselves are easy to understand. Intel's original model set goals monthly, which required a lightweight process.

Companies that adopt OKR reduce the time spent setting goals from months to days. As a result, they invest their resources in achieving their goals and not on setting them.

Transparency

The primary purpose of OKR is to create alignment in the organization. To do so, OKRs are public to all company levels - everyone has access to everyone else's OKRs. The CEO's OKRs usually are available on the Intranet.

Nested Cadences

OKR understands that strategy and tactics have different natural tempos since the latter tends to change much faster. To solve this, OKR adopts different rhythms:

A strategic cadence with high-level, longer term OKRs for the company (usually annual).

A tactical cadence with shorter term OKRs for the teams (usually quarterly).

An operational cadence for OKR tracking results and initiatives (usually weekly).

Bidirectional Goal Setting

The traditional top-down cascading model takes too much time and does not add value. As Laszlo Bock, Google's former VP of People Operations wrote in his book Work Rules!:

"Having goals improves performance. Spending hours cascading goals up and down the company, however, does not. It takes way too much time and it's too hard to make sure all the goals line up. "

That is why OKRs do not cascade. OKR uses a market-based approach that is simultaneously bottom-up and top-down. The company sets the strategic OKRs that each team should use to draft their tactical OKRs.

Tactical OKRs should align to the company strategy to the other teams. In a typical company, around 60% of the OKRs are set bottom-up in agreement with the managers.

This model improves engagement while creating a better understanding of the strategy. It also makes the process simpler and faster as you won't spend time "cascading goals up and down."

Ambitious Goals: Moonshots and Stretch Goals

The philosophy behind OKR is that if the company is always reaching 100% of the goals, they are too easy.

Instead, OKR targets bold, ambitious goals. Besides aspirational objectives, OKR believes in enabling the team to set challenging goals. Goals that make the team rethink the way they work to reach peak performance.

Ambitious goals are so important that Google's "Ten things we know to be true." mentions them directly:

"We set ourselves goals we know we can't reach yet because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected."

OKR's ambitious goals are known as moonshots or stretch goals. The usual recommendation is that in average you should achieve only 60-70% of them.

But that does not apply to all OKRs, as some goals should be predictable. That is why is important to understand the difference between moonshots and roofshots.

Decoupling Rewards

Separating OKRs from compensation and promotions is crucial to enable ambitious goals. Employees need to know they will not lose money if they set ambitious goals. It is hard to set moonshots when you need the bonus to pay for your kids' college.

Companies should reward employees based on their impact on the business. As Andy Grove, Intel's former CEO, wrote in his book High Output Management:

"[OKR] should be just one input used to determine how well an individual is doing."

OKR is a management tool, not an employee evaluation tool.

Adopting OKR

Adopting OKR is a journey, not an event. As in any cultural transformation, change does not happen overnight. But it is possible to modify the company's dynamics in a few months, aligning and engaging the team.

Furthermore, you should customize OKR to your organization, as this framework explains.

Common OKR mistakes
1) Using OKR as a task list.
Use OKR to measure if you are adding value, not if you are delivering tasks. Therefore, you need to understand the difference between Value-based and Activity-based Key Results.
2) Setting too many OKRs.
This mistake is a common consequence of the first one. Rather than being a laundry list of every single thing you do, OKR lists your top priorities. OKR is your definition of what most important during that quarter.

Even if you are using Value-based Key Results, you need focus, or your team will not remember their OKRs.
3) Not aligning your OKRs
OKR is an alignment tool, so you should never set your OKRs in isolation. You have to talk to the other teams.
4) "Set it and Forget it."
OKRs are not New Year Resolutions. Without regular follow-through, you will never achieve them.

Tips for writing good OKRs

For Objectives:

First of all, Objectives should be simple, short and easy to memorize. If you have to stop to breathe while reading your Objective, you are doing it wrong.

Second, Objectives shouldn't be boring. They can fit the organizational culture and be informal and fun. You can use slangs, internal jokes and even profanity - whatever fits your culture.

For Key Results:

Separate metrics from initiatives

Set few of them. Usually between 2 and 5 per objective.

You can also use some OKR tools to help you understand the goal system.

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OKR: Learn Google's Goal System with Examples and Templates

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OKR (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal system used by Google and others. It is a simple tool to create alignment and engagement around measurable goals. The big difference from traditional planning methods? OKRs are frequently set, tracked, and re-evaluated - usually quarterly.

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One-on-one meetings are often an overlooked management tool. However, they are indispensable especially when done right. Though there might be a lot of comments on how negative this kind of meeting is, it can be changed into a positive experience when managed appropriately.

To make one-on-ones beneficial to both manages and staff, Cake HR lists the tips to make the most of these meetings. Among the tips they included are meeting regularly in a distraction-free environment and monitoring progress and goals. Having a schedule that both parties can adhere to is important to prevent wasted time. Make sure that phones are off and you both can talk without any distractions.

#oneonone

https://blog.cake.hr/its-time-for-a-one-on-one-meeting/

Many people tend to have negative comments when it’s about one-on-one meetings. But, these can become more positive when meetings are handled well. To do this, Cake HR suggests being more open in conversation, meet regularly, and do this in a distraction-free environment.

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Love them or hate them, the one on one meeting (if managed correctly), is a great employee management tool that is often overlooked. Here, we impart some practical tips and advice that can seriously have an impact on the one on one meeting's success.
"It's a fundamental rule of management that to lead others, you need to practice frequent and open communication." -Kristi Hedges - Contributor, Forbes
I can't tell you how many times I have heard staff and managers share their negative experiences of one on one meetings; some don't understand the point in why they are implemented and others see it as an opportunity to be reprimanded and therefore come away with knocked confidence, fearful of the next one.

Because of this, it's more often than not that the one on one meetings get cancelled, rescheduled or forgotten about altogether.

But let me tell you, with the right guidance, knowledge and understanding of how the one on one meetings can actually be a positive and rewarding experience, all of that can change.

So to ensure that these meetings are beneficial to both you and your direct reports, here are some tips that we have put together to help you get the most out of them:

Without understanding the positive effects of having the one to one meetings on a regular basis, nobody will invest their time into them.

To go into full detail of the benefits would require another article entirely, but this list should give you an idea:

Strengthens relationships within the team and builds loyalty

Proactive approach to discovering issues that may have been hard to find

Address performance issues before they grow into larger problems

Improves employee engagement, morale and satisfaction

Creates a communicative, trusting culture within the organization

In turn will help in reducing turnover, thus saving costs

Enables employees to have a voice within the organization

Rewarding to have one on one time with management to discuss topics freely

Don't plan to have weekly meetings on a day or time that isn't fully suitable to both parties.

If either person has other deadlines around the same time, you won't be fully focused on the meeting and therefore it will be a wasted effort.

It is however, a good idea to try and schedule a meeting towards the beginning of the week, early in the morning so that you can recap on events of the week before and plan for the week ahead, but this needs to remain consistent.

With use of HR software, one on ones can be made simple by scheduling real-time meetings using a shared calendar and objectives set during the meeting can be made available to view at any time.

Managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units

It's acceptable that other work may come up that causes you to cancel or reschedule, but they should really be the exception.

Create an atmosphere that allows both you and the employee to speak freely about concerns, accomplishments and ideas.

This will lead to an organization with a more engaged, positive workforce.

Block regular time in your schedules

Communicating clear objectives will help employees have a full understanding of the goals of the company and individually, giving everyone the chance to contribute to the success of the business and be more productive.

Schedule one on one meetings for a time that's not so busy in both parties working day.

Turn off work phones, don't have a computer in front of you where e-mails are likely to pop up and conduct the meeting in a place where other staff aren't likely to disturb.

There is only one time that is important - NOW!

Both people need to be ' present '. This meeting should be time focused on the needs of the individual employee.

At the end of the one on one meeting, everyone should clearly understand what tasks they are accountable for so there is no confusion later on.

To be sure that everyone does understand, it's good practice to recap the points made during the meeting and put something in writing, email or on HR software that is accessible to everyone involved.

Without a structure in place, the meeting is likely to fail; winging it just won't cut it in this type of situation.

Create a structure that works for you and your staff as individuals.

Once you have the right structure in place, it is good to keep the same structure for all future meetings so everyone has an idea of how the meeting will run each time and can prepare accordingly.

Like the old adage says, 'By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.'

Both parties could prepare by bringing updates or evidence of progress on current objectives and be ready with questions that have arisen since the last meeting.

Knowing the structure of the meeting means you can have everything in order prior to the meeting and gradually, week by week, the meeting will soon run smoothly and efficiently.

It also comes across as more professional and shows you are really invested into the one on one meetings.

Most will see one on ones as a negative experience because of poor management issues.

If managers are hurried in other areas, they may decide to use the opportunity of a one on one to highlight performance problems that they have not had time to address, which is why these meetings get such a bad rep and employee morale is often crushed afterwards.

Create a recognition culture

Now is a great time to discuss areas of performance or work that have gone well and praise your staff, so start and end the meeting on a positive note, even connecting on a personal level by showing genuine interest in activities conducted outside of the workplace.

Of course if there are recent areas of concern to discuss, make sure your staff are well aware of what topics the meeting will cover, so there are no nasty surprises.

If you show no interest in the objectives being set, it is unlikely that much effort will be invested into them which is why it's important to monitor how employees are coming along with a target set.

Also be sure to check if they have all of the resources available to accomplish the goals and that the deadline will still be achieved by the set date.

HR systems can be a blessing for tasks like this when work gets busy, enabling both you and the employee to easily communicate and view what work is in progress.

If you want to find out if the way you are conducting the one on one meeting is seen as effective by your staff or the structure is to each individuals taste, it's good idea to ask for feedback and use open ended questioning techniques.

However, this won't happen overnight as it will take time to create a feedback culture within your organization, but stick with it, the results will come over time.

Collecting feedback will help with continuous progression and improvement, even when things are going well.

Coaching is the new managing

It is stated that employees whose managers hold regular meeting with them are almost 3 x as likely to be engaged.

So with the endless benefits associated with effectively run, regular one on one meetings it is worth taking on board all of the above tips to bring out the best in your employees, eliminate unnecessary tension and improve workflow within your team.

As an employee, the one on one meetings are a very useful platform to share open and honest feedback, helping you progress further within your role.

To summarize, the top 10 tips towards successful one on one meetings are:

1. Know the benefits of the one on one meeting

2. Have a schedule you can both stick to

3. Engage in open conversation

4. Meet in an environment that is free from distractions

5. Manage accountabilities

6. Structure the meeting

7. Prepare in advance

8. Share success and problems

9. Monitor progress and goals

10. Ask for feedback

Robyn.

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It's Time for a One-on-One Meeting CakeHR Blog

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Without understanding the positive effects of having the one on one meetings on a regular basis, nobody will invest their time into them

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Building a Listening Culture in the Company

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Building a Listening Culture in the Company

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There should be more than just getting feedback in building feedback culture. In the video, Frances Roy talks about the importance of creating a company culture that's based on continuous learning. She discusses that in order to create a growth-minded company and nurturing value-based behavior is through leading by example. A key takeaway to her talk is that listening plays a valuable role in the feedback culture.

#feedbackculture

https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/continuous-listening-company-culture

Often, companies mistake building a feedback culture to just collecting feedback. Aside from that, there should be a culture of continuous listening.

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Frances Roy led the charge to implement TINYpulse at Ascension Health, the largest non-profit health system in the United States. She came to TINYcon to share her learnings and guidance as a chief talent officer there, and to start the conversation about continuous listening.

Watch the video below, or keep reading for our biggest take-aways...

The importance of leading by example

Creating strong company values is quickly becoming a universally recognized step to building an agile, strong, and growth-minded company. But one of the major challenges many companies face is bringing those values down off the wall, and living by them in the workplace.

Roy suggests that the first step to getting value-driven behavior is to lead by example. "When people tell you one thing, and the realities are something different, who do we look to, to see what realities are? Leadership. And when you see that the two don't go together, what does it do to your own engagement? It goes down."

Employee engagement is an excellent indicator of successful leadership

For individual contributors, success is measured in business outcomes; that can mean product output or client happiness. But for leadership, the business outcome they should be measured on is engagement. And if you don't think employee engagement is a business outcome, the US chamber of commerce found that the 25% most engaged teams had:

25% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations)

65% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations)

37% lower absenteeism

20% higher customer metrics

21% higher productivity

22% higher profitability

Employee engagement is usually related to a myriad of factors. At TINYpulse, we break it down into the ten most common "culture drivers," determined from over 5 million data points. One of the biggest culture drivers to employee happiness is leadership and management. "So, how do you know what leadership behaviors impact business outcomes?" asks Roy, "When you use TINYpulse to listen to your team, [...] all the data is there." The next step is making sure that the right people are reading it, taking it, and doing something with it.

The importance of listening, and the tools to do it

Surveys are a great way to start engaging with employees and telling them that you're looking for feedback and that you're invested in their experience. But your frequency and your response are just as important as the questions that you ask. "If we're only asking questions every eighteen months, or once a year, what does that really say about how important it is for us to listen to associates?" Roy asks.

Similarly, if you 'listen' by collecting feedback, but then never follow-up or acknowledge the kind of feedback you received, the participation and investment in those survey responses will degrade over time.

Best practices for a listening leadership

Roy shows a video, during her talk at TINYcon. The premise; a woman with a nail in her forehead complains about seemingly related experiences, like snagging her sweater or experiencing pain. But she doesn't want help to remove the nail, she just wants to be listened to. The video is a reminder that there are many different reasons why we communicate with each other, and that often that communication is not to seek a solution, but to connect or to express ourselves.

When you think about the employee surveys that you send out, it's important to remember why employees are sharing their feedback with you, especially for opt-in surveys or anonymous suggestion boxes. And how you can respond to that feedback in a way that communicates that you have heard them and acknowledged the feedback that was received.

Roy gives an easy example: an employee survey reveals requests for better lighting in the parking lot, which the company promptly installs. The important opportunity here is to reassure and restate that the employee is valued, recognized, and supported. The perfect example is a statement like: "We heard your feedback, and your safety is very important to us, and it's something we care deeply about. So, in the next 60 days, we'll be installing that lighting, since we know that it's something that we've heard is important to you. And it's important to us as well."

Clear outcomes: Customer-facing employees will show improved listening as well

When your employees feel valued, recognized, and supported, there's a very clear increase in the quality of care that your clients receive. Roy found that as they surveyed clients over time, the increase in engaged employees also lead to better customer service. Employees with high engagement were more concerned for their clients, got more involved personally, and did more overall monitoring of their customer's status and behaviors, to understand their satisfaction and retention.

"The most basic and powerful way to connect with another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention."

The big goal: shifting to a listening culture

As it becomes clearer that there is a direct return on investment in focusing on employee engagement, it's important to remember that one of the biggest factors controlling employee engagement is the relationship between employees and managers. Listening to employee feedback is a good way to start the conversation, and acknowledging that you've received the feedback is a must-do as you let employees know that you're investing in their experience.

Frances Roy leaves us with one final quote; "Listening is about supporting, not carrying." As tempting as it may be to take all that feedback and do the heavy lifting to make your culture a better place, it's important to remember that 'fixing' isn't always what your employees are looking for, and often they simply need to be supported as they find solutions that work for them.
Frances Roy spoke at this year's TINYcon 2017. To reserve your tickets to next year's TINYcon, and make sure that you're keeping up to date with the latest in employee engagement and company culture,get your early bird tickets now! If you're looking for more tips or info on improving company culture, you can also read our culture reporthere.

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Creating a company culture of continuous listening

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Frances Roy led the charge to implement TINYpulse at Ascension Health, the largest non-profit health system in the United States. She came to TINYcon to share her learnings and guidance as a chief talent officer there, and to start the conversation about continuous listening. Watch the video below, or keep reading for our biggest take-aways...

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Conducting Incredible Meeting with Your Team

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Conducting Incredible Meeting with Your Team

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Meetings are the part that separates projects that succeed and those that don’t. However, running meetings is a skill that managers need to practice. There are people who will be so good at them that you need to pay attention to them and look at them for inspiration.

Meghan Keaney Anderson writes how Mark Kilens of Hubspot is so skillful at conducting team meetings. She includes the different points in how Mark succeeds in running effective meetings, like having no devices to keep everyone present and setting a timer so meetings stick to its allotted time. One important trick she adds is to give a damn as a leader, especially when how team members have sacrificed their time to be in the meeting.

#teammeeting

https://thinkgrowth.org/how-to-run-incredible-team-meetings-cdf646fe2615

There are different ways that skillful leaders handle effective meetings. Meghan Keaney Anderson writes the different reasons why Mark Kilens runs the most incredible meetings in Hubspot. She points out that Mark’s meetings do not allow laptops and other devices so everyone is focused on the meeting. To combat extending meetings, a timer must be used.

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Hint: Give a Damn

This is a snapshot of a typical day for me:

Perhaps a bit more crowded than usual, but not by much.

I am a manager.

At various points in my career I have wielded pens, launch plans, video editing software, or other tactical tools - today I wield meetings. I tell people this sometimes, and they look at me with a sort of sympathetic nostalgia. Meetings are the WORST, they say. More often than I should admit, I respond, "yes, they can be."

The part that I leave out is the back half of that sentence. They can be, if you misuse them.

I have misused my fair share of meetings in my career so far. It's never because of poor intentions. It's always because I ran out of time to properly prepare for them.

It's a time management thing.

I'm working on it.

I've also had good meetings. Great meetings. Meetings that are the single point of difference between a project that fails and one that excels.

Meetings are a skill just like writing, coding, or anything else learned through practice, observation and an undying, unwavering desire to suck less.

When you spot someone good at them, you sit up and pay attention. I'm writing this post because I recently spotted someone good at them -  Mark Kilens, VP of HubSpot Academy.

Every month Mark holds a team meeting to ground his cohort of twenty-four professors, content creators, project managers, editors etc. in the progress they've made and the challenges ahead. Team meetings like this happen every day across HubSpot in a variety of ways. Mark's are just really good. Here's why.

1. No laptops. Not only that, there are no phones on the table. No buzzing, no slacking, no anxiety spiking prompts to take your head out of the game. Everyone seems to have recognized how expensive it is to take that many people out of their work for a meeting and is intent on getting the value out of it.

It's a fascinating thing when everyone in a room is present. It's infectious. And it makes you realize just how polluting it is in other meetings when someone checks-out of the conversation to glance down at their phone. Even if it's only one person, it shatters the focus of the room.

2. Set a timer. Everyone has had the experience of a conversation running off the rails in a meeting. Running over time may seem like a small digression in the moment but it snowballs. Eventually topics get bumped and new meetings have to be called to cover everything you didn't have time for previously.

Mark breaks meetings up into smaller sub-topics and sets a very visible timer that everyone, including he, adheres to.

3. Share the stage. Every meeting is split up into subtopics led by different members of the team. These subtopics aren't chosen for the sake of letting so-and-so speak, they're chosen based on relevance to the larger team and the goals they're going after. Additionally, when he is speaking, he breaks up his own monologue to ask people in the room for examples of what he's discussing or contrary experiences.

More on that next...

4. Be inclusive. It's often cited that meetings are an extroverts opportunity to shine and and introverts opportunity to sit in the corner and type quietly to themselves. Whether it is deliberate or natural, Mark manages to pull everyone into the discussion in ways that feel productive and not forced. He mixes quick questions (e.g., "Who can tell us what an OKR is") with guided ones, "Meghan, you had an experience with this recently - what was that like." His meetings aren't dominated by a few vocal people, but shared by all.

5. Ties the team's work to company goals. When you are immersed in your own work it's hard to keep your view from becoming myopic. Mark does a nice job of connecting the dots between the short-term achievements of the team and the broader company goals. The kicker here is he does this in every single meeting, not just at the beginning of the year. This is a constant reminder of why the team does what it does.

6. Interject breaks. The Academy Team meetings are long - not for the faint of heart - but they're thorough and every piece is well planned and valuable. Mark structures his meeting agenda so there are short-periods of focus followed by shifts or breaks. These shifts in focus and breaks in attention play a big role in keeping productivity high.

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How to Run Incredible Team Meetings - ThinkGrowth.org

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This is a snapshot of a typical day for me: Perhaps a bit more crowded than usual, but not by much. I am a manager. At various points in my career I have wielded pens, launch plans, video editing software, or other tactical tools - today I wield meetings.

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Using Companywide Communication to Develop Strengths

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Using Companywide Communication to Develop Strengths

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Internal communication is an essential key to building a company culture that is strengths-based. Having this kind of culture in the company helps in increasing employee productivity. It also increases sales, profit, and customer engagement according to Gallup.

The idea behind using internal communication to build strengths is simple. When companies talk about key strengths, then employees tend to use their strengths more. To make use of internal communication, it has to be strategic and memorable. One interesting tip noted by Gallup is to keep repeating. Consistency in communicating is needed to inculcate the culture that you want.

#companywidecommunication

https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/196589/companywide-communication-key-strengths-development.aspx

According to Gallup, internal communication is necessary to build a strength-based company culture. Internal communication must be used to talk about strengths by making it memorable and strategic. By talking about strengths more, employees tend to use their strengths more.

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by Brandon Rigoni and Jim Asplund

Story Highlights

Internal communication about strengths should be both formal and informal

The most effective communication is thoughtful and strategic

Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts

This is the third article in a seven-part series.

In a global study of companies that have implemented strengths-based management practices, Gallup found that 90% of the groups studied had performance increases at or above the following ranges:

10% to 19% increase in sales

14% to 29% increase in profit

3% to 7% higher customer engagement

6% to 16% less turnover (in low-turnover organizations)

26% to 72% less turnover (in high-turnover organizations)

9% to 15% increase in engaged employees

22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

Even at the low end, these are impressive gains. In working with hundreds of organizations, Gallup uncovered the characteristics common among companies that have accomplished the most with their strengths interventions. These companies often work toward creating a strengths-based culture using seven strategies. This article focuses on the third of these seven strengths strategies: internal communication.
Generating Awareness and Enthusiasm Companywide
It's a simple notion: When companies consistently talk about strengths concepts, employees use their strengths more often. Internal communication about strengths should occur both formally and informally, with strengths infused into everything from hallway conversations to official business strategies.

Leadership's communication about strengths at a broad level is vital. For example, leaders should discuss their own performance goals in terms of their strengths. This consistent messaging encourages everyone to buy in. In addition, informal references to strengths should be an everyday occurrence. Leaders and managers are responsible for providing the resources for and enthusiasm about daily strengths conversations.
Best Practices for Powerful Internal Communication
Be strategic. Leaders with the most effective strengths communication are thoughtful and strategic, proactively considering how communication flows through the company and developing their communication plan accordingly. These leaders go beyond companywide email announcements about strengths; they enlist influential employees, high-profile teams and prominent leaders to help garner enthusiasm for strengths.

These leaders also predict and avert communication roadblocks. Optimal strengths communication is purposeful, with leaders fostering an environment in which employees discuss strengths daily.

Explain not only what and why, but also how. Leaders and managers should start by explaining what strengths are and why the organization is building a strengths-based culture. Then, they need to ensure employees know how to incorporate strengths in their day-to-day work and how to leverage strengths to accomplish goals.

To achieve strengths-based performance gains, employees need to bring strengths to life -- and this takes strengths education. Importantly, "what, why and how" messages should not be generic; rather, companies should individualize conversations to each employee's role. For example, managers use their strengths for different purposes than front-line workers do and need customized strengths education.

Onboarding is a critical time for strengths education, so leaders should ensure all new employees learn about strengths starting on day one.

Make strengths memorable. Every organization has a unique culture, so it is important for leaders to communicate about strengths in ways that make sense. For some, it means incorporating elements of humor with catchy sayings or branded t-shirts; others might need a more direct, disciplined approach, such as connecting company strengths to business outcomes during investor calls.

It can be helpful to incorporate strengths as a strategy to accomplish other well-known company objectives so that leveraging strengths becomes the how as the company wrestles with what everyone knows must get done.

Communicating the benefits and importance of strengths can require consistent effort over many months. Today's busy employees have less time to focus on corporate communications, so it is important for leaders to be mindful that other organizational messages may confuse employees by competing with strengths as a strategy.

Tell success stories and recognize strengths-based achievements. Real-life examples about strengths demonstrate to employees that a strengths-based culture really works. For example, a manager can highlight "strengths in action" by publicly recognizing a team member for leveraging his or her strengths to make a lasting difference. Infusing strengths into employee recognition is a winning communication strategy that motivates employees to tap into what they do best.

Share positive strengths-based outcomes with credibility. Part of gaining employee buy-in for strengths involves communicating the hard facts about how strengths-based cultures realize business and customer benefits. Messages about these outcomes are often most effective when they come from very credible sources, such as a CFO or other employee whose role involves bottom-line outcomes. Trustworthy communication fosters ownership among employees and encourages them to do their part in realizing the business benefits of strengths.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. As with any company initiative, consistent communication is essential. Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts, such as how to infuse strengths into goals, team assignments and performance management processes. Leaders should constantly reiterate the importance of strengths and never assume employees know the "what, why and how" behind them.
The next article in this series will focus on building broad strengths communities within organizations. Bailey Nelson contributed to this article.

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Companywide Communication: Key to Strengths Development

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by Brandon Rigoni and Jim Asplund Story Highlights Internal communication about strengths should be both formal and informal The most effective communication is thoughtful and strategic Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts This is the third article in a seven-part series.

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Although there is no specific program or software to use OKRs with, this kind of flexibility is what makes it unique.

Kevan Lee of Buffer writes how the company uses Trello to set, track, and achieve OKRs. He briefly goes into what OKR is and what its benefits are. He also shows how Buffer uses OKRs in an organization perspective starting from top-level OKRs trickled down to employees. It guides you with how Buffer uses Trello to setup and track their OKRs including using some checklists and charts.

#OKR

https://blog.trello.com/okrs-set-achieve-track-trello

There are different ways and programs that you can use OKRs with. The beauty of OKR is that it can be flexible, whether you want to use the classic pen and paper or go the software route. In this article, Kevan Lee of Buffer shows us how the company uses Trello to set, track, and achieve OKRs.

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So you want to go places?

We do, too!

We have big plans at Buffer to build a social media tool that is as ubiquitous for social marketers as Google Analytics is to website owners. It's a big, hairy, audacious goal, right? How do we even begin to work toward something like that?

We also have big marketing plans to ship major projects (courses!), explore new channels (Snapchat!), and not spend all day in Slack (single-tasking!). It's tough to stay on track. How do we prioritize when every goal is so exciting and, well, so big?

Sound familiar? Imagine having a way to reach the goals you set (no matter how large), and stay on track all the way there.

Our solution these days is to focus on OKRs, a rigorous method of goal-setting and progress-tracking that we've found to have a great impact on our focus, excitement, and results. Read on to see exactly how OKRs work for us at Buffer, from how we chose them to how we track them.

An OK-What? A Brief History And Definition Of OKRs

OKRs stand for Objectives and Key Results. The Objectives tend to be the desired outcomes that you want, and the Key Results are the measurable ways you know you're on track to reach them.

Put another way ...

An Objective helps answer the question, "Where do I want to go?"

A Key Result helps answer, "How will I know I'm getting there?"

Here's what OKRs look like in practice:
Source: https://blog.weekdone.com/introduction-okr-objectives-key-results/
OKRs arrived at Google in 1999 when VC John Doerr introduced them to Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They've been used at Google ever since - and it seems Google has done quite well with growth since the 90s. Talk about social proof!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJB83EZtAjc
For a look at how the company implements their OKR processes, Rick Klau of Google Ventures Startup Lab describes what OKRs look like (using San Francisco 49er references) and how Google thinks about setting and tracking them:

3 Reasons Why We Do OKRs At Buffer

Teal (based on the book Reinventing Organizations )

No managers , very flat structure, almost Holacracy

No goals

Lots of goals

OKRs

At the same time, we've grown quite fast. The team was 17 people when I joined two years ago. There are 82 of us now.

As we grew and as we dreamed, we felt that a system might be useful for helping us all stay on the same page with the big goals we wanted for the company. We've used OKRs to chart our path toward these goals, setting them in each quarter of 2016. Here's what we've found most valuable:
The main goal of OKRs is to connect company, team and personal objectives to measurable results, making people move together in right direction.
OKRs Increase Clarity

And when you get a team of dozens or hundreds all moving as one, you achieve some pretty incredible results!

I felt this clarity right away with our first quarter (January to March) OKRs at Buffer. I was working to create customer case studies, which is a great and fun task on its own, and which became all the more paramount with the perspective gained from OKRs. I could draw a line from my OKR of case studies all the way up to our company-wide OKR for revenue:

Case studies lead to ...

middle-funnel, bottom-funnel traffic, which leads to ...

higher conversion rates, which lead to ... (a marketing-wide OKR)

more trial starts, which means ....

An increase in monthly recurring revenue, or MRR (a company-wide OKR)

OKRs Increase Focus
"Does this get me closer to meeting my goals?"
Among the best practices for OKRs is to revisit them regularly - ideally every week. I have even found myself revisiting them daily.

Whenever I was faced with a new task or felt myself drifting with my work, I would stop and ask:

Then sure enough I'd pull out my OKR Trello board (more on that below) and check to see where my current tasks fit within my stated goals. If things were in line, I could get back to work and feel confident that I was moving in the right direction. If there was conflict, I would have a built-in excuse for moving on to other tasks.

OKRs Increase Collaboration

This is probably a good lesson to learn early (thank you, OKRs!) - I can't do everything alone.

Many of my personal OKRs relied on the involvement of my teammates. I couldn't set a new landing page live because I don't have front-end development skills. I couldn't create three to five new infographics because I can't design one.

We noticed these arrangements were common across the board at Buffer, so we made sure to include a period of negotiations before finalizing any OKRs. You'd simply get in touch with the people you'd need to work with on these projects and find a common ground with them so that the work ended up on each person's OKR list.

How We Do OKRs For Marketing At Buffer

A couple weeks before the start of a new quarter, we'll all take time to reflect on what we want to achieve in the coming months. Joel and Leo will help set the company-wide OKRs, then we'll work together as a marketing team to negotiate what OKRs might look like in our area.

Here is a quick list of some of our top tips for setting OKRs at Buffer:

Objectives are to be ambitious and should feel slightly uncomfortable.

Key results are measurable; they must have a number.

Ideally, you'll only achieve 70% of your OKRs.

Getting 100% means your OKRs aren't ambitious enough.

Low grades aren't to be punished.

Be careful not to set too many. Generally, a maximum of five objectives with a max of five key results each is enough.

And probably our biggest learning with OKRs: They can (and should) change during the quarter. Especially at a SaaS startup, things happen fast, we learn fast, and the objectives we set may not be the right ones in a few weeks' time.

Our marketing OKRs for quarter two (April through June) included five different objectives that we were excited to take on, each with three to five key results attached. Here's one OKR for what we hoped to do on Medium last quarter:

Setting them is really fun. It is a chance to dream big, reflect on where you're at and where you want to go, and brainstorm how to get there.

Also quite fun? Tracking them! I've found a lot of joy in of the system we use for our marketing OKRs.

How To Track OKRs In Trello

^ our Buffer marketing OKRs

At Buffer, we have the freedom to track our OKRs however we feel best. There are some great tools out there for robust OKR tracking. I found everything I needed in a Trello board. Here's how I put together the board for Buffer's marketing OKRs:

Initial Setup

The basic layout is organized like this:

Each Objective is summarized in a list title

Each Key Result gets its own card under its Objective list

Each card has a rich description of the OKR details

Labels show the status of the Key Result

One of my biggest goals with the Trello board was to make it a) useable, b) scannable, and c) pretty. Fortunately, all three wishes tied nicely together!

I knew I couldn't fit a whole Objective into a list title. Something like, "When people think about companies that are some of the best on Medium, they should name Buffer as the #1 brand that comes to mind" just wouldn't fit very neatly. So, I summarized. Each Trello list name is a high-level synopsis of the Objective, sometimes captured in as little as one or two words.

Similarly, each Key Result receives its own Trello card, with a highly-abbreviated description on the front:

Then within the card, I go into greater detail about the full Objective and Key Result:
All of our color-coded Key Result status labels.
I also use a very simple label system, showing how far along we are with each Key Result:

Planning: "We haven't started yet, but we sure are thinking about it lots!"

In Progress: "Currently working on it!" (This is our most-used label.)

Done: "Success!"

Done (for now): A nice way of saying, "we didn't quite reach this one ... but we might someday."

Checklists

Here's one for the result "Run 8 experiments to grow traffic towards the social blog":

For those results that are not so easy to turn into to-do lists, we have a bit of a different tracking setup. The checklist becomes a series of mile markers throughout the quarter, helping us stay accountable for checking in regularly and updating the card with the latest stats or activity:

Waterfall Charts

We've set a number of target goals for the quarter, things like "grow sessions to our new posts by 30% in the first 28 days" or "get to 150,000 sessions per month on the Open blog."

These goals are exciting to stretch for! And one thing I'm keen to ensure is that we're not in a place where we set the OKR in April and don't realize until late June that we're not even in the ballpark.

What we've found works well here is a waterfall chart. You can see them attached to a number of cards on our board:

A waterfall chart is a pair of line graphs, one showing where you are when you set your goal and where you want to be at the end of the goal period, and the other line showing your progress throughout the period.

1. Set a goal, based on a time period;

2. Determine how much daily progress you need to make in order to reach the goal;

3. Chart this progress on a line graph;

4. Track your daily progress; and,

5. Add this progress to the line graph, too.

The variations we've added to the chart came from a realization we made in quarter one. The idea of OKRs is to set aggressive, ambitious goals to hit, with the understanding that you're expected to reach only 70 percent of your OKRs in a quarter. So we added this element into our waterfalls, which now include three different growth lines:

70% - On track

85% - Wow, going great

100% - Home run! Fireworks! Party rock!

So here's what a chart of ours looked like early in the quarter:

And how do we add it into Trello?

Now, It's Up To You

If you're looking for a way to jumpstart your productivity, your focus, and your results, we've found a goal-setting system like OKRs to be a real boost. There can be a lot to dig into with OKRs, though we've found that just these basics can be enough to get the ball rolling toward achieving great things:
Have you tried out OKRs at your organization? Any other goal-setting tips or tricks you've learned? It'd be great to hear from you in the comments! Next: The 4 Mistakes You're Constantly Making In Your Marketing Campaign

1. Set ambitious goals with measurable results.

2. Place them into Trello.

3. Check-in regularly to see your progress.

Then, when the quarter is up, celebrate!

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All About OKRs: How To Set Them, Achieve Them, And Track Them In Trello

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So you want to go places? We do, too! We have big plans at Buffer to build a social media tool that is as ubiquitous for social marketers as Google Analytics is to website owners. It's a big, hairy, audacious goal, right? How do we even begin to work toward something like that?

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OKRs are currently the talk of the town when it comes to goal-setting. Popularized by Google and all its achievements, OKR is a system that connects organizational goals with personal goals aligning everything together.

This article takes an interesting look at how one startup uses OKRs to reach goals. As mentioned, Swipley used OKR as they were growing to make sure that everyone is moving forward together. The company had to figure out a way to use OKR to suit their needs. They were able to use OKR not just to set goals but also as a communication layer.

#OKR

http://firstround.com/review/How-to-Make-OKRs-Actually-Work-at-Your-Startup/

OKR is a goal-setting system that was started by Intel but made popular by Google. What makes this system popular is its efficiency and simplicity in achieving goals no matter what the company size. In this article, it gives an example of how Swipley was able to make use of OKRs to their advantage.

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In 2013 alone, Swipely jumped from 30 to 80 employees. Teams swelled and split, and people filled new roles with new directives. It reached that ironic point where, while growing strong, a company is also at its most delicate - with culture, productivity and alignment all in flux. Smack in the middle of this sprint, at 50 employees, CEO Angus Davis knew he had to do something to keep everyone moving forward as a team.

He chose a well-known tool: OKRs. The system made famous first by Intel and now by Google asks all employees to outline their major objectives and the quantifiable actions (i.e. key results) it'll take to achieve them. It's a technique designed for accountability and enforced with scores. But Davis knew he'd have to go further. After becoming Netscape's youngest employee in 1996, working to launch Mozilla, and co-founding Tellme, he'd seen how hard it is to implement something that actually makes a difference.

That's why, at Swipely, OKRs have become much more than a goal-setting system. They serve as a layer of communication that holds the company together and elevates its game at the same time. And in short order, they've become fundamental to Swipely's culture, helping it hit a record $1 billion in sales under management this fall.

How did this happen? Davis says it was all in the execution. Just because a system's worked like gangbusters before, doesn't mean one size fits all. You have to figure out how to put OKRs to work for you.
Breathing Life into Acronyms
There are few things people hate more than corporate acronyms - especially corporate acronyms that mandate work. To escape this stigma, Swipely has shifted the spirit of OKRs to be less about action items and more about collaboration.

The reality is, a system was needed. "We had grown to the low eight digits in revenue, and we've got a lot of teams dependent on one another to succeed - no one person knows everything going on inside the organization anymore," Davis says. "The right way to look at OKRs is a way to communicate so there's clarity of purpose."

At Swipely, OKRs are made up of a high level objective, a more detailed description of why that objective is important, a summary of how the objective aligns with the broader goals of both the person's team and the company, and the three to five key results that will help them achieve that goal (see below for examples).

When personal objectives are directly and clearly connected to the broader goals of the company, they're suddenly more inspiring, less myopic. Make them public so everyone can see what's on their co-workers' plates and employees no longer feel like they're toiling in a vacuum, or for their manager's approval, Davis says. That way, OKRs become a built-in way for people to ask for resources, or easily spot where they can come to their colleagues' aid.

"Having public goals forces different types of thinking around how people ask for help from others," Davis says. Swipely's implementation of OKRs is all about bringing this type of dialogue to the fore. Airing things out releases anxiety and let's people get creative - and that's when interesting things happen.
The Musts
Davis embraces the fact that Swipely's OKR system is probably different from Google's, which is different from Intel's and so on - but there are some key tenets that every system needs to be effective. As he puts it, "Every church or temple might have a different interpretation, but the overall philosophy stays the same."

All high-performance OKR systems have these commonalities:

"The ability to track results on a quantitative basis." Key results are not general or subjective actions you plan to take. They should always include numbers to make it clear how much has been achieved. For example, if Mary's objective is to improve her sales prospecting skills, one key result might be to spend two hours a week shadowing Jennifer, the team member who demonstrates the most prospecting success.

" Make it something people look at, every quarter, every week, every day." This consistency turns goal-setting into a habit and changes how people think about their work and approach their everyday to-dos. "It puts in place natural milestones that make you think about what you need to do next and aim high."

" They have to be a stretch. " Most people wouldn't consider 70% to be a good grade, but for OKRs that's just about perfect, Davis says. You want your objectives to be ambitious enough to push you beyond your limits. When everyone does this, it forces the tough conversations about what's truly needed to beat expectations.

Davis created the following examples (and many others) to help guide people in defining their OKRs:
Paul, a member of Swipely's engineering team
Objective: Ship [X] feature to increase engagement.

Description: Our [X] will allow merchants to access Swipely anywhere, increasing engagement, value and differentiation which will reduce churn and differentiate our offering with an exciting new value proposition.

Alignment: A company-wide objective is to "Become a 'must-have' tool merchants love to use," which has a key result, "Ship [X] product to increase engagement and drive excitement in sale." The individual objective to ship [X] is aligned with this company-wide objective.
Key Results:

Deliver alpha version to targeted devices for alpha testing feedback from 10 early customers by [date: mm/dd/yyyy].

Provide screenshots/screencast to support marketing launch of the app by [date: mm/dd/yyyy].

Release beta version by [date: mm/dd/yyyy].

Achieve engagement DAU / MAU metric of [X] with beta audience.

And on the other side of the spectrum...
Cindy, a sales account executive who wants to turn more dials into demos.
Objective: Develop better prospecting skills.

Description: By improving prospecting skills, I will get into more initial presentations and win more business!

Alignment: A company-wide objective is to "accelerate revenue growth," which has a key result, "grow booked ARR by $XX to $YY mm, thanks to new AEs, channel, and fully ramped AEs." The individual objective to improve prospecting skills is aligned with this company-wide objective because it will help Cindy attain her quota targets. It also aligns with a company-wide objective to strengthen the team.
Key Results:

Review training materials from our online coaching resource.

Do 2 60-minute game tape reviews with the sales manager, reviewing 20+ prospecting calls for coaching on what's working, what's not working.

Do a role-playing session with Allie, who has our team's top connect-to-meeting rate.

Test 5 new "compelling reason" pitches on prospecting calls to introduce humor, rapport and other techniques.

Increase my weekly connect-to-meeting rate from X% to Y%.

Davis spent hours assembling these archetypes and a central document about the OKRs process. This is solidly CEO territory, he says. As he wrote in his introduction to the document, "OKRs are critically important to me, to our board, and they should be important to you too. Having clear objectives, especially those tied to developing your skills, are a key part of career development here at Swipely."

He beats the drum every quarter. Since OKRs launched, the first All Hands of every quarter has been devoted to talking about them. "The idea is to spend the beginning quickly running through results from the previous quarter, and then use the rest of the time improving how to use OKRs and why they are important. Only then can you talk about the objectives for the next quarter."

During this part of the meeting, Davis asks the heads of each department to talk about how they performed against past OKRs and what they plan to do over the course of the next three months. "Everyone should come out of this meeting with a clear understanding of where the company's going and why," Davis says.
Why Stretch Goals?
People love hitting their marks. Crossing off every to-do is always the goal. But when it comes to effective goal-setting, you should never get to 100%. If you do, you're not trying hard enough.

If you don't set your goals high, you won't force the right questions.

It's not enough to say you want to see 10% improvement when you know that's well within your reach. It means you'll just keep doing the same things, just working ever so slightly harder.

"But if I said to you, I need 50% improvement in what you're doing," Davis says, "you'd probably say, 'Gosh, in order to do that, I'd have to completely solve this hard problem' or 'I need to completely rethink how I'm addressing X or Y.' That's what OKRs are supposed to do. When you aim higher, you think harder about the steps you need to take to really achieve something."
The Kiss of Death: Performance Reviews
While some companies fold OKR results into annual performance reviews, Davis is adamant about decoupling these processes, especially if compensation is involved. "OKRs are not designed to be used as a weapon against your employees," he says. "They are a tool for motivating and aligning people to work together. They increase transparency, accountability and empowerment."

For example, Davis says, members of Swipely's sales team have part of their compensation tied to the number of deals they close. That makes sense. But if OKRs were always tied to money, you'd never see other, diverse objectives in the mix. A salesperson would never create an objective to improve a training program, for instance, even though training programs are vital to the company's overall success.

But that's not the only problem. "Let's say we bring OKRs into a performance review, and punish the person for scoring lower than maybe they had hoped - they go without their bonus. That just encourages them to sand bag their OKRs from there on out. They won't stretch. They won't push hard." In short, they'll play it safe. And that's when startups stagnate.

Putting distance between reviews and OKRs has another positive side effect. Before the OKR system was instituted at Swipely, most employees got all their praise and/or feedback in one big chunk during their performance reviews. Now, with regular OKR updates and reviews spurring increased dialogue between employees, their co-workers and managers, recognition can be spread out over time, which tends to be more rewarding.
How it Works in Practice
At Swipely, OKRs aren't only a quarterly affair. Davis checks in on his immediate reports every week, and encourages his leadership to do the same. They believe people should be held publicly accountable for failing to regularly update their OKRs, and Davis even shapes his management meetings around them.

"We start each meeting and I ask people to give me their quick wins - one or two things they or their team has achieved in the last week that are notable. Then I say, 'Okay, now looking at your OKRs, what progress has been made? What are the areas that are still keeping you up at night? Where do you need help?' Everyone shares one or two things that are causing them the biggest concerns about hitting their OKRs and that guides the meeting's conversation in the right direction." Because they're always focused on removing roadblocks, they never feel like they're wasting time, Davis says.

Outside of management meetings, he believes OKRs make it easier than ever to keep people focused and collect feedback. Employees are encouraged to spend time defining their own OKRs and then to meet specifically with their managers to incorporate their feedback. This update should happen within the first week of a new quarter - after the prior quarter's OKRs have been scored and discussed.

Swipely uses SalesForce's Work.com platform to track people's OKRs even as they make progress.

If, for example, your objective is to drive more leads, one of your key results might be to create a live chat feature to drive a certain number of new leads a month. "When you get the live chat feature pushed to the website, you can mark your key result at 30% done. Then when you start getting close to your target number of leads, you might mark it at 60% done." At any point, your manager can check the system to see where you're at and if you need help.

"Grading should be a simple exercise at the end of every quarter, five minutes tops," says Davis. You score an objective by averaging the individual key result scores underneath it. This is also why it's so important to make those key results quantitatively measurable.

Measuring OKRs should be easy. Defining them is where you want to spend your time.

Swipely's Work.com system also makes offering feedback to people or their managers as simple as clicking a button - same goes for requesting feedback from someone specific. "You can tag the people who you want feedback from just as easily as you add tags to a photo, and they can give you private one-on-one feedback about whatever you want."

Skill-building is a major emphasis for Swipely's OKR system, and Davis is especially keen about helping people develop in areas where they want to improve.

"When it comes to developing skills, it's more about continual coaching," he says. "We actually require that every person on our sales team have at least one skill development objective. It's not something like book a certain number of sales. It's about their personal career development. It could be as simple as someone wanting to read more on a particular topic."

Davis is so intent about this that he has a standing meeting with the head of sales every month to see how each person's skill development objective is coming along and whether they can leverage any of the company's resources to help them win.
Bottom Up, Not Top Down
In order to maximize impact across the board, OKRs need to be a tool for the bulk of employees, not a requirement.

You want 60% of your company's OKRs to be defined by employees, not leadership. You don't want the executives coming in dictating what all the goals are going to be and letting them trickle down.

As an example, he highlights Swipely's commitment to improving training programs, especially for its large and rapidly growing sales team. "We heard from a number of people that they want to develop better skills in certain areas, and now we have a goal at the very highest level of the organization to keep expanding our training opportunities. As key results, we've hired a dedicated sales training person and brought in an outside consultant to talk about particular skills that will help the team win more consistently."
The Beauty of Alignment
Just over four months ago, Swipely opened up an important new source of revenue - channel partners who promote the service to their networks. Before that, the company was solely dependent on in-house direct sales, so this is an exciting development. And, to a large extent, OKRs made it possible.

In order for the channel partnership team to get traction, it was going to need heavy duty marketing support from day one. Not only did they need to explain the program to prospective partners, they needed to empower them with marketing collateral and build a community to engage them, answer questions and track their progress. There were a lot of big asks all at once that weren't easy to anticipate.

Because the OKR process is standard across teams, Davis had the ability to make sure marketing's goals were in line with channel partnerships' needs.

"I could shuttle the marketing OKRs to the person running the channel partner program and straight up ask him: 'Ok, if we do even just 70% of this stuff, it'll be a home run for you guys, right?'" Davis explains. "But the first time I showed him the list he said no, what we really need is X, Y, Z. It forced the conversation, and let me go back to the head of marketing to say, 'Hey, this isn't going to cut it.' If it hadn't been for OKRs, we might not have had that conversation until the end of the quarter."

The result: The channel partner team got the resources it needed from not just marketing, but also sales and operations to become a major and growing stream of revenue for the company.

Still, Davis says, one of the best outcomes is that he now hears people talking casually in the halls in the context of their OKRs. It's a sign that people feel connected to the company and where it's headed. And that gives him faith, he says.

"We created OKRs because we were getting to a size where I or the leadership wouldn't be able to and wouldn't want to weigh in on every little decision - now everyone in the company has the framework to make decisions in Swipely's best interest and a support system to build the skills that will take them to the next level."

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How to Make OKRs Actually Work at Your Startup

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In 2013 alone, Swipely jumped from 30 to 80 employees. Teams swelled and split, and people filled new roles with new directives. It reached that ironic point where, while growing strong, a company is also at its most delicate - with culture, productivity and alignment all in flux.

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We all know why one-on-one meetings are important. Essentially, they make sure that everyone is on the same page and helps in accomplishing goals. However, as a manager, it can be confusing what to do with this kind of meeting.

Suzanne Lucas lists the different ways that leaders can make the best use out of this kind of meeting. One of her interesting tips is to map out the goal progress and how the staff is working towards achieving the big annual goals. An important thing to do for leaders is to praise employees when they have done a good job. Bring up their accomplishments during the one-on-one meetings so they know they are appreciated.

#oneonone

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/successful-one-on-one-meetings-4150090

One-on-one meetings are important. They keep everyone aligned and make sure that leaders are aware of their staff’s performance. However, not everyone knows what to do during one-on-one meetings. As a leader, it is important to take advantage of one-on-ones. Read this article for some tips to make the most of this meeting.

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If you're a manager, you probably already know that you are supposed to hold one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. That much is obvious. But what on earth are you supposed to do in these meetings? How do you make sure that they are productive and worthwhile, rather than counting for just one more checkmark on your management list?

Here are seven ways to make the most of your one-on-one meetings with employees.

1. Goal Progress

Every time you meet with your employees, you'll take a look at these goals and see how they are progressing toward achieving them. Your employees will always know what is expected of them and you'll always know where they stand relative to needed progress.

2. Change Goals

This may seem like the opposite of the above point, but the goals that were set in December don't always make sense in July. Companies reorganize, clients leave your organization, and new clients join. Employees quit, and replacements are hired. Projects are killed, and new projects are added. In other words, don't hesitate to make changes to the original plans.

When you sit down with the employees and look at the goals and one goal makes no sense, throw it out. No guilt. Get rid of it and add a new one, if appropriate. Now, if a goal no longer makes sense because your employee achieved the objective, then congratulate her and take it off the list.

3. Ask about Needed Support

A one on one meeting is the ideal time to ask the employee where she needs help. A complicated project may need more manpower. She may be working with a coworker who is a bully and a jerk. She's just found out that she's pregnant and will need time off for doctor's appointments. But, tread carefully-don't ask about needs if you're going to ignore them once they're identified.

Don't take a request for help as a sign that your employee is incapable of performing her job. Everyone needs help, and it's better that you create an open, supportive environment rather than wait until there is a disaster that you have to spend your weekend fixing.

4. Career Planning

While your focus is on getting the job done today, your employees are concerned about their future. While this isn't a focus of every one on one meeting, career planning is a valuable part of regular meetings. This is for your benefit as well as your employee's benefit.

You want to know where she wants to go, and you'll want to help her along that path. Why? Because the best thing you can do for your company is help retain the best employees. That includes career growth-very few people want to stay in the same job forever.

5. Praising

Everyone wants to hear when they're successful. While the best time to praise an employee is in the moment, ("Hey, great presentation!" or "I just saw you handle that obnoxious customer perfectly. Awesome job!") managers aren't everywhere all at once.

Make sure that you praise your employees for their accomplishments. Keep your eyes and ears open for reports of good work. If another person says, "Hey, Jane did an awesome job yesterday," write it down and bring it up with her at your one on one. (This is also great documentation to have for your performance based salary adjustments.)

6. Correcting

Along with praising, corrections need to happen. Like praise, most of this feedback is more effective when given in the moment-if appropriate. Unless a situation is urgent and dangerous, you need to offer corrections privately. (It's okay to yell at an employee to get the fire extinguisher to put out a cash register fire, but it's not okay to yell at the employee in front of customers and other employees because her cash drawer was short.)

One-on-one meetings are the time to sit down and offer corrections and advice.

The corrections you offer can range from picky requirements ("we have a company standard of using Times New Roman for reports, please change your reports"), to personality traits that are causing problems ( "I've noticed that you criticize your coworkers. If you have concerns about a coworker, please bring them to me, and I will handle them. Your job is to do X, Y, and Z. Do not concern yourself with Jane's work.)

Criticisms should always help rather than providing punishment-at least at the beginning. No manager should expect perfection. However, there are some actions that may need "punishment." If an employee is chronically late, you may need to create a performance improvement plan. If an employee is bullying other employees, you may need to place a write up in her personnel file and accompany this disciplinary action with intensive counseling.

Regular one-on-ones allow you to keep up with these situations so nothing gets out of hand. For example, you'll never have a workplace bully take over because you'll have corrected the problems at their first sign, and if corrections don't work, you're documenting a strong case for employment termination.

7. New Assignments

While you don't have wait for a one-on-one meeting to assign an employee new task or goal, it's often the best place to discuss a new project. It gives you the time to present the entire project and for your employee to ask questions so that when she leaves your office, she's ready to go.

She can also bring up concerns and ideas that may make the project run more smoothly. She also needs to understand the amount of authority and autonomy she can exercise in her decision making. Finally, the employee needs to create with you a critical path that specifies the times when you will need feedback about her progress during your one on one meetings.

How Often Should You Hold a One-on-One Meeting?

No single answer covers all contingencies. It depends on how many employees you have, what type of work you do, how much support your employees need, and your schedule. Sometimes, 15 minutes of one-on-one time, once a month, is sufficient to keep on top of everything.

Sometimes you may need an hour per week to accomplish the seven goals outlined above. If you're new to the one-on-one meetings, start out with every other week for a half hour and adjust up or down as needed. You don't need to schedule the same amount of time for every employee, although you'll want to make sure that you're not favoring one employee over another.

When you get in the habit of regular appointments with your direct reports, you'll find that your department runs more smoothly. Your employees will know what they need to do and you'll know what you need to do to help them.

And, if you're not already holding them-schedule a one-on-one appointment with your boss periodically. You'll benefit from this face time with your boss, just like your employees benefit from the time they spend one-on-one with you.

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How to Make the Most Of Your One-on-One Meetings

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If you're a manager, you probably already know that you are supposed to hold one-on-one meetings with each of your employees. That much is obvious. But what on earth are you supposed to do in these meetings? How do you make sure that they are productive and worthwhile, rather than counting for just one more checkmark on your management list?

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How Feedback Creates a Positive Culture in the Company

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How Feedback Creates a Positive Culture in the Company

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Different organizations have different workplace culture. Some have an informal and casual vibe while others still maintain a traditional approach. Culture is an important factor in keeping employees happy. This also affects how goals are achieved.

The company culture is also a combination of beliefs, values, systems, habits, and vision of the organization. This also includes a high amount of trust and transparency that can be achieved through cultivating a culture of feedback. This article lists the different ways on how feedback can greatly impact culture and make it more positive.

#feedbackculture

https://www.polly.ai/blog/4-ways-employee-feedback-will-help-define-positive-company-culture

Company culture is important in making employees happy and ensuring that goals are achieved. This makes employees more engaged and more productive as well. However, company culture is a combination of different factors all in play. One of the essential aspects that build culture is feedback. Find out how feedback can help in building a positive company culture.

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All companies possess a unique workplace culture. Some companies promote an informal team-based environment, while others are masters of a traditional and formal approach. Google, for example, frequently ranks as one of the best places to work in the world . Why? The tech giant prioritizes its employees by promoting a fun and relaxed work environment. This creates an enviable workplace culture enabling Google to attract and keep the brightest minds in the industry.

Culture shapes how things get done, how employees interact with one another and how people behave. It's a combination of the values, beliefs, vision, systems, and habits that an organization and its employees share.

However, building a positive company culture takes high levels of trust, transparency and a lot of listening. Instead of allowing your organization's culture to develop itself, take a proactive approach to create a positive culture where your employees thrive. By introducing feedback methods or tools, you can begin to collect the information that reinforces desired behaviors and beliefs, ultimately shaping a positive culture that reflects your business.

Let's take a look at how employee feedback can help define a positive company culture.

1. Create Office Dynamic

The experience your employee has in your office environment can play a major role in defining your culture, and significantly impact an employee's performance and productivity. Your office space should reflect the values and personality of your organization. For example, Apple values innovation, creativity, and collaboration. The new $5 billion office space, Apple Park , has been designed with culture in mind, to encourage collaboration between different departments, share ideas with co-workers and build an open working environment.

While many different factors can impact employee experience, creating a physical work environment that encompasses your organization's personality will help define your culture. And involving your employees in these decisions will help create a workspace your employees enjoy coming to.

To do this, consider your key values. And ask your employees what would assist them in living out these values in the workplace. If you're re-designing the office, create a survey to gather feedback on the new designs. For instance, if you value creativity, what elements of the office will help each team member thrive? Relaxation pods might be used to foster creativity, whereas standing desks or exercise balls can be used to promote health and employee well-being. Your employee's ideas are valuable, and they will appreciate being involved in the decision-making process.

2. Identify New Policies and Procedures

Company policies and procedures establish expectations of both an employee and employer. They are there to provide guidance and direction on different workplace situations, and closely reflect the values of an organization. While many policies and procedures are non-negotiable, there is always room for improvement and addition of new policies to further define your culture. And who could be better positioned to provide feedback than your employees?

A great routine to establish is to regularly ask your employees how a policy or procedure could be improved to enhance the company culture. You might be surprised by the fresh perspective your employees have. Pet-friendly offices are a terrific example of employee lead policy, with more businesses now recognizing the potential animals have in boosting morale and productivity. Pets are proven to promote a positive mood, relieve stress and can even improve physical health. Some of the world's most well-known companies, including Google have implemented policies that allow employees to bring their dog to work.

When implementing an innovative policy, you will want to gather feedback from each employee to ascertain whether the policy has been a success and whether any small changes need to be made. Is anyone allergic to dogs?

One of the best ways to determine the success of a new policy is through feedback surveys. If 'Slack' is the primary means of communication within your organization, you can easily use to create quick surveys, allowing your employees to provide regular feedback and ascertain what is and isn't working.

3. Build Transparency

Transparency within an organization can build trust and provide the foundation for excellent employee teamwork. It can enhance productivity, boost morale and show employees that you value them. In a transparent company, employees know what's happening around them, and they feel more involved. However, transparency shouldn't just be from top to bottom. It needs to work both ways, with employees able to voice their opinion to management, knowing it will be shared and valued.

So, how do you build a culture of transparency? A good way to do this is through a suggestion poll. Recurring polls can be easily implemented on a weekly schedule, and provide an opportunity for employees to speak up and share feedback on current projects, corporate decisions or anything else they wish to bring up.

4. Create an Environment of Continual Development

Ongoing learning helps employees continuously improve. This not only benefits workers as they develop new skills, but it creates opportunities for you to improve your bottom line. As employees find better ways to work, the company as a whole can develop systems/processes that refine the efficiency and effectiveness of your operations. It also increases employee satisfaction and lets them know you don't think of them as just another cog in the machine.

Workplace learning culture begins with the managers. Training initiatives should be reinforced and formalized with development plans and regular feedback. If your employees aren't benefiting from the training, there is no point in doing it. Set up regular polls to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. You may find that your employees know a particular topic very well, but struggle with another. Shift and adapt according to the feedback you receive and ensure everyone in your organization is continuously learning.

Develop a Positive Company Culture

A company's culture can't be formed overnight, but by harnessing employee feedback, you'll begin to define and shape your company's culture over the following weeks, months and years. Even the notion of encouraging employee feedback supports a positive culture, as it can show that your company values and respects the input and opinions of its employees.

Leave a comment and tell us how you use employee feedback to shape a positive company culture!

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4 ways employee feedback will help define a positive company culture | Polly

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All companies possess a unique workplace culture. Some companies promote an informal team-based environment, while others are masters of a traditional and formal approach. Google, for example, frequently ranks as one of the best places to work in the world . Why? The tech giant prioritizes its employees by promoting a fun and relaxed work environment.

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How to Use Radical Candor to be A Good Boss

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How to Use Radical Candor to be A Good Boss

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Often, candor in the office is rare. Some people might find that being candid can mean being not nice.

This talk has a different take on candor and how it can be used when giving feedback and in guiding employees as a manager. It gives the framework on how radical candor can be used to become an effective boss. One interesting thing pointed out was how caring for employees personally can make a great deal of a difference in being candid.

#feedback culture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yODalLQ2lM&feature=youtu.be

This video has an interesting take on how radical candor can make one a good boss. It provides some interesting insights on candor and how important it is. It also gives a working framework on how to effectively use this in the organization.

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Radical Candor — The Surprising Secret to Being a Good Boss | First Round Review

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Uploaded by FreshBooks University on 2015-12-08.

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Many employees dread team meetings. They tend to be not that exciting or interesting to some. Team meetings should not be dull. They can be made interesting by using some of these fun ideas from James Allen.

He suggests introducing novel methods to connect with the staff, such as using a coloring book. Another tip he had was to ask probing questions before discussing the meeting content. This takes everyone out of their comfort zones and keeps them engaged.

#teammeeting

https://www.creativehuddle.co.uk/ideas-for-your-next-team-meeting

Team meetings need not be dull or boring. James Allen lists the different ways to make team meetings more fun. He suggests some ideas that you can use for your next team meeting such as making a connection before the content and using novel methods to engage participants.

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How many team meetings do you attend each week? How exciting and interesting are they? My guess is "not very". But meetings don't need to be dull. Here are some of the more interesting ways companies across the world bring an extra dimension to their meetings.

1. Using odd meeting times can help staff remember more easily, and combat lateness / absence. Washington-based employee engagement software provider TINYPulse starts its daily staff meeting at 8:48 a.m.

2. Introduce novel ways to engage and connect with staff. Every Thursday, baby food maker Plum Organics gives everyone colouring books and holds a creative-thinking meeting where staff colour, talk, and decompress. Research suggests that colouring helps promote active listening.

3. Address the most important issues first - be like Stephen Covey and make sure you cover the most salient issues early on to ensure you have an effective, fruitful meeting.

4. Connection before content - ask probing questions to each other to get people out of their comfort zones and completely engaged. Take a leaf from the meetings manual of software provider LivePerson, who ask each other: "What are your doubts about something you're working on?"

5. Games & sports can be used to get people having fun and ideas flowing. Mobile game publisher Genera Games have their meetings whilst playing basketball.

6. Don't allow the same topics to be endlessly rehashed - create a visual aid to stop people rehashing old topics. Staff at security management software provider Brivo hold up ping-pong bats emblazoned with the phrase "no rehash" to discourage repetition.

7. Q&A sessions can drive engagement and get contentious issues and questions out in the open. If no one has a question, be like e-commerce company Etailz cofounder Josh Neblett and stare at them until they think of one.

8. Punish interruptions. Prevent lateness like Darrell Gehrt, vice president of Inquisium, by forcing people to sing when they enter late. During meetings at Keller-Williams Realty, anyone whose phone rings must make a donation to the company's charity. This cuts down on interruptions during meetings, and when it happens, it supports the corporate nonprofit. Win win!

9. Make sure attendees leave with actionable tasks to complete. No one should leave a meeting without knowing what they have to complete going forward. At Apple, every project component or task has a DRI - a Directly Responsible Individual whose name goes next to all the agenda items they are responsible for. This way there's rarely any confusion about who should be getting what done.

10. Have a clear end time. Constraints breed creativity and setting a clear end time will ensure you cover what's needed. The staff at Tripping.com, a search engine for holiday rentals, sets a stopwatch for 30 minutes at the start of each meeting. If the meeting goes on for longer, the person who called the meeting has to put $5 in the team beer jar. Cheers!

11. Limit the people involved - Google strictly limits meetings to 10 people to avoid confusion and good ideas being lost in the crowd. And Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is famous for his " two pizza teams " - if two pizzas isn't enough to feed everyone at the meeting, it's too big.

12. Keep meetings short - incentivise people into keep meetings a short length, and create punishments for when people drag them on. At digital design agency O3 World, the boardroom is hooked up to Roombot, an app they created. It reads everyone's Google Calendar and warns when it's time to finish. It also dims the lights in the final minutes of the meeting.

13. Agile teams champion the daily standup - also called the daily scrum. The whole team meets every day for a status update, standing up to keep the meeting short. Meet where the work happens, not in a meeting room.

14. Make the most of new staff - sometimes entry-level workers can have the freshest ideas. Sean Higby of Newsala believes in getting junior colleagues heavily involved in meetings to generate new approaches & ideas.

15. Be like Christopher Frank of American Express and start your meeting by asking each person to define in five words or less the problem to be solved. If the answers are inconsistent or too long, you're probably not focused on the same problem. Work towards clearly articulating the goal.

16. Be prepared to challenge & be challenged - it's OK to ask tough questions and get contentious issues and problems out in the open.

17. Don't wait for meetings to make decisions, and if meetings are really necessary make sure they happen as soon as possible. As Danny Sim says in this article: "Decisions should never wait for a meeting. Otherwise, the velocity of the company is slowed to its meeting schedule."

Or, if none of those work, be like productivity software maker Asana - they have a no-meetings-on-Wednesday rule, ensuring that team members get at least one schedule-free day: a large block of time to focus on heads-down work, without having to fit it in between meetings.

There really is no excuse for running a boring team meeting. Don't just go through the motions - shake things up and see where it takes you.

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Some ideas for your next team meeting | Creative Huddle

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How many team meetings do you attend each week? How exciting and interesting are they? My guess is "not very". But meetings don't need to be dull. Here are some of the more interesting ways companies across the world bring an extra dimension to their meetings. 1.

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Poor Internal Communication and Its Symptoms

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Poor Internal Communication and Its Symptoms

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Having an effective internal communication can hold an organization together. Without it, it can be messy. Expectations and tasks aren’t clearly communicated. Making sure that there’s better communication inside the organization can be helpful.

If you think your organization is suffering from poor internal communication, there are some symptoms that you should look out for. Backstitch lists the five symptoms of a communication problem. Among the interesting symptoms are low productivity and lack of engagement during company events.

#companywidecommunication

https://www.backstitch.io/blog/five-symptoms-of-poor-internal-communications

Good communication in the organization is mandatory for success. When you’re having communication problems, it can cause a ton of other problems in the organization. Always striving for better communication is key. In this article, the most common symptoms of poor internal communication are identified such as lack of engagement and low productivity.

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And without that glue, things can get a little messy around the office. For example, if tasks and expectations aren't communicated clearly, you might find your employees running around like chickens with their heads cut off instead of working.

Better communication between employees can fix this. But, for those of you who already have a consistent strategy in practice, how do you know whether or not what you're doing is working?

Regardless, there's a good chance your communication strategy has room for improvement. In fact, the majority of organizations spend significantly more time and money on external communications - leaving internal communications as an afterthought.

Below are five symptoms that might indicate that your company has a communication problem:

Lack of engagement in company events,
volunteer and employee challenges

Company events and activities make employees feel connected to one another. They can help organizations operate as a cohesive team, rather than individual cogs in a machine.

Ask yourself, how many employees showed up to your latest Holiday party? How many chose to participate in the recent company-wide wellness challenge, or volunteered at your organization's annual food drive?

Low levels of engagement in such events might indicate that your employees didn't resonate with or receive the message. Did you send the information out via email and text message? Or, was word of mouth the main driver of engagement? Audit your communication channels to ensure everyone is informed.

Perhap s your delivery is to blame. If your email announcement used a drab font, zero visuals and too much industry jargon, some employees might have exited out of the message immediately.

It's also important to clearly connect the company mission with the reason why the employee event is being hosted.

Next time a company event or challenge comes around, pay attention to the employee engagement rate. Remember that planning such affairs takes time, so it's important to be intentional about achieving a successful outcome.

Low enrollment rate of benefits

In addition to a paycheck, companies compensate their team members in other ways - such as discounts, perks and benefits that keep them happy and healthy.

If it's offered, why wouldn't 100 percent of eligible employees properly participate in company programs?

You've guessed it. The biggest reason for this is poor communication. Many people are unaware of what exactly their benefits package consists of.

If team members don't know which benefits options are available, they won't be taking advantage of them fully (which could mean wasted money on an organizational level.)

Benefits can be a daunting task for some to comprehend, so it's important that benefits information is easy to access. Whether it be found on a static webpage or an employee app, there ought to be a "go-to spot."

Also, not everyone reads the fine print. Make sure you are communicating lesser known benefits information in a dynamic, eye-catching manner.

Costly errors

If employees have been making mistakes more frequently, it might be a sign that they lack clear direction and expectations from management.

These errors can be reduced with a streamlined internal communications workflow. Perhaps your organization should swap out its outdated communication tool in favor of technology that's more user-friendly?

For example in one case, a miscommunication in New Jersey led to a loss of $200 million to the state budget. Yikes.

Remember, mistakes happen less when everyone is on the same page.

Retention issues

If your business has a high turnover rate , it's possible that your internal communications strategy is not as cohesive as desired. People leave companies when they feel insignificant, confused and taken for granted.

Good internal communication connects employees to the company's greater purpose - which a Gallup study says the majority of employers want.

Ask yourself, when was the last time C-Suite shared the "why" behind their decision? And was the average employee notified when the media mentioned your organization?

Sharing "high level" information such as this is integral for invoking camaraderie and purpose in teams.

Low productivity

Lastly, an organization's overall productivity level will be affected by the strength of its internal communication.

For teams where energy and results have taken a dip, take a look at what kind of messaging they've been receiving lately from higher-ups. Low productivity rates have been linked to poor company communication and employee disengagement.

It's a leader's job to motivate and communicate with the entire team. Clear communication is motivating, comprehensive and will propel employees to give their absolute best.

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Five Symptoms of Poor Internal Communications

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And without that glue, things can get a little messy around the office. For example, if tasks and expectations aren't communicated clearly, you might find your employees running around like chickens with their heads cut off instead of working. Better communication between employees can fix this.

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OKR is the talk of the town when it comes to strategically setting goals. The interesting thing about OKR is that it seamlessly weaves both the organizational goals and the personal goals together.

This article goes through the essentials of goals in businesses and how it has evolved. It also discusses what the best practices are for using OKRs and why goals matter. One point it made is that goal setting can get everyone on the same page in order to achieve the organization's objectives.

#OKR

https://www.employeeconnect.com/blog/science-goals-okr/

Setting goals for organizations is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page. This is where OKRs come in. Having a clear system for goal setting can help in achieving the big organization goals.

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Posted at in by Performance Ari Kopoulos

OKR, which stands for objectives key results, describes a management style that connects employee work tasks to overall strategic company goals. The objectives key results approach can include both company objectives and personal goals for career development. Objectives are the goals that your company - or your employees personally - want to accomplish, and key results provide a roadmap of how to get there.

An illustrative example of the differences between objectives and key results is NASA's celebrated space program that used goal setting in a highly visible way - determining to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, which was the objective. A key result of NASA's goal setting was building a lunar module that weighed less than 40,000 pounds by December of 1965. Most company goals aren't quite this ambitious, but no organisation can accomplish its business objectives unless it first sets challenging goals. Goal setting is a highly publicised way of getting employees, managers, and executives to work towards common goals through objectives key results techniques.

Why Goals Matter

Statistics compiled by Kaplan and Norton shed light on why goal setting matters:

About 90 percent of companies fail to develop a comprehensive goal setting strategy.

When companies do develop a strategy, only about 5 percent of their employees truly understand it.

Only 25 percent of managers link work tasks to achieving company goals.

85 percent of executive teams only spend about one hour each month discussing OKR strategy.

Most organisations - about 60 percent - fail to link their budgets to support a goal setting strategy.

Using this methodology for achieving company objectives gets everyone on the same page for achieving company objectives while leaving room for each employee to work on personal goals as part of the larger context of advancing the company's agenda. Goal setting - when managed strategically - provides guidance, facilitates better planning, inspires employees and helps management evaluate and control performance to achieve company objectives.

Goal Setting Considerations

Developing a strategic approach to OKR simplifies achieving objectives key results. Some of the key considerations that are common to most businesses include:

Alignment
Aligning your goals with the skills of employees is a critical step. One recent study found that there's a strong correlation between financial success and developing a strategic goal setting process, andaligning goals with talent and skills offers the best chance of achieving objectives key results in the most efficient way possible.

Communication
Linking communications to achieve the company's objectives key results goals is also essential. All departments, company stakeholders and employees play a role in goal setting, and the success of the approach depends on maintaining clear and frequent communications. Communications might involve publishing content to your customers to increase product awareness or motivating employees to achieve concrete sales goals.

Discipline
Discipline, or willpower, is a powerful tool for achieving company objectives. The best methods of fostering discipline include organizing the work and workspace, removing the temptations that waste time, learning to tolerate long hours and emotional discomfort and not getting discouraged when over mistakes.

Measurement
The OKR approach lends itself to measuring your progress because you can set incremental objectives key results standards for yourself, each team member and specific company initiatives. It's important to assess what each person's abilities are so that you don't set impossible goals, and unexpected difficulties should be considered when measuring progress. Use clear measurementbenchmarks so that managers and team members understand what they're expected to achieve. Clear measurement criteria also simplify the process of measuring achievements against goals.

Engagement
Igniting workplaceengagement can encourage even the most disconnected employees to achieve greater success. This is an area where setting personal goals and encouraging career development can foster better employee engagement.

Performance
Performance management in OKR is the process of aligning company objectives and key results with performance. Managers can specify tasks and results, set targets, outline time frames and prioritise goals. Breaking down OKR into sections allows goals to be assigned to supervisors, employees, HR departments and executives because each stakeholder plays an important role inperformance management.

Culture
Culture is often neglected in OKR, but it's important to consider your company's culture when setting objectives and key results. Do any of your company's goals solidify or support the company's culture? If not, then your plans haven't been adequately developed.

Evolution of Goals

Finding the right OKR cadence for your company doesn't need to be set in stone. Quarterly, semi-annual and annual goals are common, but your company could benefit from regular check-ins on a daily or weekly basis, frequent performance reviews and periodic updates. One expert on the OKR framework recommends that companies begin by setting company and team goals and adding individual and personal goals at a later time as the process becomes clearer.

Other methods of updating objectives and key results include:

Drucker's MBO Approach
Drucker's Management by Objectives theory, which was developed by Peter Drucker, seeks a balance between achieving company objectives and each employee's personal goals. This approach involves integrating personal goals with company objects by setting goals for employees at the quantitative and qualitative levels. The goals must be challenging, and best practices include providing daily feedback. Rewards and recognition are essential motivating factors, and the approach depends on positive reinforcement instead of punishments.

Doran's SMART and SMARTER Goals
Goal setting is an important aspect of personal and business success, and George T. Doran developed SMARTER goal setting in 1981. Setting SMART goals involves choosing goals that are specific, meaningful, achievable, relevant and timely or time-bound. Doran's SMARTER goals go further by requiring decision-makers to evaluate and readjust their approach.

KPIs
If you decide to use OKR goals, it's important to set a range of metrics in your key performance indicators or KPIs. This approach provides greater utility because you can set specific goals while defining what happens if you fall short or exceed your goals significantly. These ranges of actions can be applied equally to KPIs and OKRs.

Balanced Scorecard
New goals must be measured by today's more precise analytic measurements. For example, it's impossible to measure newspaper success today by the standards of previous decades when news media commanded a larger percentage of advertising dollars. The Balanced Scorecard refers to setting realistic measurements based on today's expectations and indicators of success. Managers can use four perspectives for measuring performance that include customer performance and satisfaction, internal processes, improvement activities and innovation.

Objective Key Results

Google developed a grading system for objective key results when it adopted this management approach early in its operations. Google helped to define setting goals in ways that have resonated throughout the digital ecosphere. Instead of setting a goal to increase sales, try setting a goal of increasing sales by 30 percent and profit by 15 percent. Google recommends measuring OKR performances quarterly and annually at the company level, team level, managerial level and personal level. Employees should have at least four to six OKRs per quarter as their contributions to achieving company objectives. Google grades each OKR between 0 and 1. If employees consistently achieve a '1,' then the goals are considered too easy to achieve. An ideal score ranges between 0.6 and 0.7.
Goal setting and Behavioural Science
Psychological studies show that those who set goals achieve greater success than those who don't. Employees earn faster promotions and pay raises, and college professors earn tenure in record-setting times. Even students can learn up to 250 percent faster when they break down their studying habits into manageable, incremental goals. [6]

Best Practices for Using the OKR Framework

You can reach your objectives - personal and business - with the objectives key results approach. Leading companies such as LinkedIn and Google endorse the method, and you can enhance your success by using OKR best practices. Although there are many best practices that you can follow as your experience in this management process grows, the following practices are of major importance:

Make sure that your goals are aligned with your employees' skills and the company's technological capabilities.

OKR needs to be supported at the executive, managerial and personal level to succeed.

Your strategy must be adaptable in the face of a continuously evolving company environment and marketplace.

Your efforts should be progress-based and offer rewards instead of punishments for failure.

The best practices include developing aspirational OKRs for transformational change and support of the company's culture.

Agile Performance Management Using OKR

Agile performance management has become increasingly popular in today's rapidly evolving markets where new technologies are constantly and continuously developing. Using the objectives key results approach complements today's agile approach to performance management by setting concrete goals, monitoring performance and adjusting goals based on changing conditions. Regular check-ins, daily feedback and support for achieving personal goals helps to ensure success when using the objectives key results approach. If one key result doesn't work, it's easy to break it down into more easily achieved parts or reassign duties to employees who can better achieve the desired key result.

Goal setting with the OKR method is an excellent way to build a more favourable future for your company and better careers for your employees. It's impossible to predict the future with 100-percent accuracy, but you can facilitate a probable, possible or preferable future by setting SMARTER goals, using the OKR method and developing talent by encouraging workers to set personal goals and achieve key company objectives.

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Posted at in by Performance Ari Kopoulos OKR, which stands for objectives key results, describes a management style that connects employee work tasks to overall strategic company goals. The objectives key results approach can include both company objectives and personal goals for career development.

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One-on-one check-ins with employees are important in building a focused team. This is one of the secret tools of many effective leaders to create a powerhouse group. This type of meeting typically lasts from 10 to 20 minutes and involves both leaders and team members.

Doing one-on-one meetings can help in identifying and removing challenges and ensure that members are focused on the goal. This is also something that could affect the employee’s engagement which also relates to the organization’s profitability.

This article from Cognology points out the other benefits of conducting one-on-one check-ins and how to do so. It notes that making time for one-on-one meetings is important to keep leaders aware of how their members are doing.

#oneonone

https://www.cognology.com.au/learning_center/how_to_conduct_one_on_one_meetings_with_team_members/

Conducting one-on-one check-ins is important for both leaders and team members. According to Cognology, this type of meeting can keep employees motivated and keep them focused on the goal. When leaders make time for check-ins, employees are more engaged as well.

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Would you like to be involved in something exciting? How about something big, special or important? Most people would. And for those who wouldn't, many would still like to be an integral part of their workgroup. In this article we'll look at one of the secret weapons leaders can use to build a powerhouse team. A tool that continually instils a sense of importance and focus.

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How to conduct one on one meetings with team members

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Would you like to be involved in something exciting? How about something big, special or important? Most people would. And for those who wouldn't, many would still like to be an integral part of their workgroup. In this article we'll look at one of the secret weapons leaders can use to build a powerhouse team.

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Virtual meetings often get a bad rap. However, they can be more effective than traditional meetings. They can be an inexpensive way to meet while building engagement among teams.

This article by Keith Ferrazzi explores the different dos and don’ts so you can take advantage of virtual meetings. One interesting tip he gave was giving an advance report on the key agenda so everyone is prepared. He also recommends being prepared for everyone’s opinions and connecting with people during the meeting.

#meeting

https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-to-run-a-great-virtual-meeting

Virtual meetings can be helpful and can be a key tool in building engagement when done properly. Keith Ferrazzi suggests different ways on how to make the best use of virtual meetings. Among his tips are giving an advance report on the meeting’s agenda, being prepared for opinions and connecting with people during the meeting.

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Virtual meetings don't have to be seen as a waste of time. In fact, they can be more valuable than traditional face-to-face meetings. Beyond the fact that they're inexpensive ways to get people together - think: no travel costs and readily available technology - they're also great opportunities to build engagement, trust and candor among teams.

Several years ago, my company's Research Institute embarked on an exploration of the "New People Rules in a Virtual World" to explore how technology is shaping our relationships and how we collaborate. This multiyear journey also evolved my thinking on the subject, helping me recognize that virtual is not the enemy of the physical if key rules and processes are maintained and respected.

Going back through that research now, I've put together a comprehensive list of some simple do's and don'ts to help you get the most out of your next virtual meeting.
Before the meeting:
Turn the video on. Since everyone on the call is separated by distance, the best thing you can do to make everyone at least feel like they're in the same room is to use video. There are many options to choose from, such as WebEx and Skype. Video makes people feel more engaged because it allows team members to see each other's emotions and reactions, which immediately humanizes the room. No longer are they just voices on a phone line; they're the faces of your co-workers together, interacting. Without video, you'll never know if the dead silence in a virtual meeting is happening because somebody is not paying attention, because he's rolling his eyes in exasperation or nodding his head in agreement. Facial expressions matter.

Cut out report-outs. Too many meetings, virtual and otherwise, are reminiscent of a bunch of fifth graders reading to each other around the table - and that's a waste of the valuable time and opportunity of having people in a room together. The solution is to send out a simple half-page in advance to report on key agenda items - and then only spend time on it in the meeting if people need to ask questions or want to comment.

This type of pre-work prepares participants to take full advantage of the meeting by thinking ahead about the content, formulating ideas or getting to know others in the group, which can help keep team members engaged, says business consultant Nancy M. Settle-Murphy in her book Leading Effective Virtual Teams. But one thing is critical: It has to be assumed that everyone has read the pre-read. Not doing so becomes an ethical violation against the team. I use the word "ethical" because it's stealing time from the team - and that's a disrespectful habit. The leader needs to set the tone aggressively that the pre-read should be done in advance.

Come prepared with the team's opinions. Not only do you need to do your pre-reads, but once you see the agenda, make sure you discuss with your team what is going to be covered - that is, do your own due-diligence. What happens all too often is that people get on virtual calls with a point of view, but because they haven't done any real homework before the call, they end up reversing their opinions once the call has ended and they've learned new information that they could have easily obtained in advance. If there's a topic that seems to have interdependencies with people who work in our location, get their input ahead of time so you're best representing those constituents in the meeting.
During the meeting:
Connect people. People perform better when they are comfortable with each other, which affords a greater degree of candor and mutual interest. Your job as a leader, particularly when people may not know each other, is to make them feel connected so you can have a productive meeting. How? Do a personal-professional check-in at the beginning of each meeting. Have team members take one minute and go around to talk about what's going on in their lives personally and professionally. Go first to model the approach for what doing it "right" looks like, in terms of tone and candor. Remind everyone to respect each other by not interrupting and to only say what they're comfortable sharing with the group.

Encourage collaborative problem solving. A collaborative problem solving session replaces the standard "report-outs" that can weigh meetings down. It's when the leader raises a topic for group discussion and the team works together - and sees each other as sources of advice - to unearth information and viewpoints, and to generate fresh ideas in response to business challenges.

Give each person time on the agenda. Along with collaborative problem solving, giving each person time on the agenda fosters greater collaboration and helps get input from all the team members. Here's how it works: In advance of the session, have team members write up an issue they've been struggling with and bring it to the table, one at a time. Each team member then gets five minutes on the agenda to discuss his or her issue. The group then goes around the meeting so everyone gets a chance to either ask a question about it or pass. After the team member answers everyone's questions, people then get an opportunity to offer advice in the "I might suggest" format, or pass. Then, you move on to the next issue. It's a very effective use of a collaboration technique that could easily be managed in a virtual environment.

Kill mute. In a co-located meeting, there are social norms: You don't get up and walk around the room, not paying attention. Virtual meetings are no different: You don't go on mute and leave the room to get something. In a physical meeting, you would never make a phone call and "check out" from the meeting. So in a virtual meeting, you shouldn't press mute and respond to your emails, killing any potential for lively discussion, shared laughter and creativity.

As leaders, we need to establish a standard: Just because you're in a virtual meeting and it's possible to be disrespectful, it has to be understood that it's unacceptable. We're talking about civility and respect for people, so if you wouldn't do it in person, don't do it virtually.

Ban multitasking. Multitasking was once thought of as a way to get many things done at once, but it's now understood as a way to do many things poorly. As science shows us, despite the brain's remarkable complexity and power, there's a bottleneck in information processing when it tries to perform two distinct tasks at once. Not only is this bad for the brain; it's bad for the team. Managers should set a firm policy that multitasking is unacceptable, as it's important for everyone to be mentally present.

Here are three ways to make sure the ban on multitasking is followed:

Use video: It can essentially eliminate multitasking, because your colleagues can see you.

Have the meeting leader call on people to share their thoughts. Since no one likes to be caught off-guard, they'll be more apt to pay attention.

Give people different tasks in the meeting, rotated regularly. To keep people engaged, have a different team member keep the minutes of the meeting; track action items, owners and deadlines; and even come up with a fun question to ask everyone at the conclusion of the meeting.

Nick Morgan, president of consulting company Public Words Inc., recommends constant touchpoints: "In a virtual meeting, you need to stop regularly to take everyone's temperature. And I do mean everyone. Go right around the list, asking each locale or person for input."

Assign a Yoda. Candor is difficult even for co-located teams, but it's the number one gauge of team productivity. To keep people engaged during virtual meetings, appoint a "Yoda." Like the wise Jedi master in Star Wars, the Yoda keeps team members in line and makes sure everyone stays active and on topic. The Yoda keeps honesty from boiling over into disrespect by being courageous and calling out any inappropriate behaviors. At critical points during the meeting, the leader should turn to the Yoda and ask, "So, what's going on here that nobody's talking about?" This allows the Yoda to express the candor of the group and encourage risk-taking.
After the meeting:
Formalize the water cooler. Have you ever been in a meeting, and just when it ends, everybody walks out and vents their frustrations next to the water cooler? Make the water cooler conversation the formal ending of the virtual meeting, instead. Five to 10 minutes before the meeting ends, do what everybody would've done after the physical meeting - but do it in the meeting and make sure it's transparent and conscious, processing people's real feelings.

How? Have everyone go around and say what they would've done differently in the meeting. This is like the final "Yoda" moment - it's the "speak now or forever hold your peace" moment. This is the time when you say what you disagreed with, what you're challenged with, what you're concerned about, what you didn't like, etc. All of the water-cooler-type conversation happens right now, or it never happens again. And if does happen later, you're violating the ethics of the team.

Most importantly in virtual meetings, civility and respect must be the norm. There have to be inalienable, ethical rules that you follow before, during and after a virtual meeting for it to be truly successful. And that means adhering to two fundamental principles: Be respectful of others' time, and be present. Failing to do so steals precious hours from the team that can never be recovered. Co-located teams have enough problems building candor and trust; teams separated by distance really need to have great meetings to build these connections.

Want to help with our research? Please take this survey so we can see how many companies are using these practices.

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Virtual meetings don't have to be seen as a waste of time. In fact, they can be more valuable than traditional face-to-face meetings.

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Feedback is valuable. However, it can be challenging to implement. One scenario noted in the article was that how most organization start implementing the feedback culture by training managers thinking that once managers are trained, they can provide feedback to employees effectively. Unfortunately, this doesn't work. You also need to train employees to receive feedback in order to have a cycle.

Jessica Stillman writes some ways on how to encourage feedback in the workplace, such as promoting a culture of learning and teaching everyone to listen to feedback.

#feedbackculture

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/encouraging-a-feedback-culture-you-re-doing-it-wrong.html

It's not enough to train the upper management to promote feedback culture in the workplace. Employees also need to learn how to receive feedback. In this article, Jessica Stillman recommends some ways on how to encourage this kind of culture, such as promoting learning and teaching everyone to listen to different feedback.

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In a world where it seems everyone has an opinion and a willingness to share it, once people get to work they often become weirdly close mouthed, hesitating to tell the boss that the new initiative is doomed, the founder asking for money just how hopeless his business plan is, or the less-than-stellar colleague the several ways he is making your life more difficult.

Hence all the advice out there on how to elicit more feedback, give better criticism, and even, in a recent favorite phraseology, build a "feedback culture." But the very fact that these types of posts and articles are so numerous tells you something--despite a tsunami of tips, people are still looking for answers. So why is getting people to say what they really think so very hard?

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

Because most people go about it backward, answered recruiting blog Fistful of Talent recently. "Most organizations start by teaching managers how to give feedback effectively. The logic follows that if they have the skill, then they'll go around giving all sorts of helpful feedback to readily receptive employees who will use it to improve and pay it forward in a never-ending positive spiral of development and enrichment. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?" writes Ben Olds. "Problem is: I've tried it. It doesn't work."

Is there a better way to encourage feedback? Yes, insists Olds, but only if you start by acknowledging that just tutoring bosses in how and why to give more feedback is not enough; employees also need to learn how to receive that advice.

"The most skilled provider in the world will have a miserable conversation with someone who doesn't want feedback, and/or doesn't know how to receive it," Olds says. It's hard to argue with him. So instead of just focusing on giving feedback, you need to simultaneously ensure you're helping your employees get better at accepting it as well. This requires a four-point strategy, according to Olds:

Encourage a culture of learning. "This requires creating the psychological safety among colleagues to be vulnerable, to admit imperfections, and to embrace learning and improving," he writes. "Educate employees on the value of constructive feedback, and seek out and destroy habits that erode psychological safety. Amy Edmonson's book has some great advice on how to do this."

Teach leaders to give feedback. We're relatively good at this part. Advice abounds.

Encourage leaders to give more feedback. Make sure you have a feedback-friendly company culture and "create incentives for it (recognize those who give it, have leaders go out and ask for it, etc.)," suggests Olds.
Are your attempts to encourage more feedback missing crucial pieces of the puzzle?

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Encouraging a Feedback Culture: You're Doing It Wrong

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In a world where it seems everyone has an opinion and a willingness to share it, once people get to work they often become weirdly close mouthed, hesitating to tell the boss that the new initiative is doomed, the founder asking for money just how hopeless his business plan is, or the less-than-stellar colleague the several ways he is making your life more difficult.

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How to Make Your Team Meetings More Effective

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How to Make Your Team Meetings More Effective

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Having team meetings keeps everyone on the same page. This is essential to make sure everyone is working on the same objective. Unfortunately, meetings can be boring and unproductive. Many employees dread team meetings and they tend to waste time.

To make meetings more effective, one interesting tip from DZone is to use visuals instead of just text. Visuals are processed faster by the brain and are typically more interesting. Another tip is to keep meetings short whenever possible because employees tend to be distracted and tired from long meetings.

#teammeeting

https://dzone.com/articles/5-tips-for-more-effective-team-meetings

Make your team meetings more effective by following these tips from DZone. Among the tips they provided was to use visuals during meetings and to keep meetings short. By using pictures and keeping discussion quick, participants are more engaged.

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Team meetings are significant and inevitable. They ensure the team's projects are on time and on track and that everyone is on the same page. Team meetings make clear that everyone is working toward the same goal.

However, statistics show another side of the story. Generally, employees end up wasting approximately 31 hours each month in unproductive meetings.

Even at the management level, middle managers waste up to 35% of their time and upper managers waste up to 50% of theirs in meetings.

This being said, meetings are important. But how do you make them productive and effective, too?

We may have some tips to help you along the way.

Have an Agenda

While this may seem like unnecessary information - or a given - it may surprise you that more than 63% of meetings have no planned agenda.

With no pre-decided agenda, meetings can quickly become a waste of time. From conversations going off topic to discussing items with the least priority, a mismanaged meeting can do more harm than good.

A good method by which to stick to the agenda is by outlining the details of the meeting and sharing them with employees beforehand. This keeps the meeting's discussions on track in a productive manner.

Creating an agenda also allows you to assign each employee a piece of the presentation, helping employees feel useful and focused.

Brainstorming Sessions

While it's good to have discussions outlined, it can also be effective to leave a time slot open in your meetings to brainstorm.

Employees have unique skillsets, thought processes and talents, and this gives your team members the opportunity to feel heard.

Employee disengagement is an unfortunate fact; a whopping 70% of U.S. workers report not feeling engaged enough at the workplace.

Thus, encouraging employees to speak up just may do the trick. Brainstorming sessions can help employees share ideas based on their unique skillsets.

These sessions can enable employees to voice ideas and issues that may otherwise seem invisible, which may contribute valuable information to the business and lead to finding unlikely solutions.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

Visuals are an integral part of every meeting.

Did you know that over 90% of information conveyed to the brain is visual? Also, your brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than it does words.

You may want to consider these statistics next time you arrange a meeting.

Don't just talk over the matters using text on slides or paper handouts. Make use of graphs, pictures, and even videos to discuss progress.

Keep It Short

Long meetings can make employees tired and distracted.

According to research, the time span for paying attention is between 10 and 18 minutes. For this reason, you may want to keep meetings to, on average, 15 minutes or less.

Short meetings help focus only on the issues without giving employees the luxury of time to get side-tracked.

Did you know that Yahoo's Marissa Mayer schedules only 10-minute meetings?

Online Meetings

Many modern companies have branch offices scattered in various locations.

Though face-to-face meetings are effective, traveling between branches can waste time and resources.

According to Verizon Conferencing, face-to-face meetings that require travel may be seven times more expensive than virtual meetings.

While you may consider the option of conference calls, you may also want to know that 65% of employees regularly do other work during a conference call.

This, in turn, causes loss of focus and wasted time.

Rather than conference calls, it can be useful to engage in video conferencing, allowing employees to meet face-to-face without actually being in the same place.

A good solution: online meetings.

Better yet, invest in online meeting management software.

A meeting management app has the ability to streamline multiple processes, from managing attendees and vendors to deciding budgets and schedules. It can also provide multi-party video conferencing and content sharing.

Some can even arrange your notes into professional meeting minutes and help you send them to the team. Meeting management apps can be the solution to nearly all meeting productivity issues.

Do you have any tips to make meetings better and more effective? Share them with us, in the comments below.

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5 Tips for More Effective Team Meetings - DZone Agile

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Team meetings are significant and inevitable. They ensure the team's projects are on time and on track and that everyone is on the same page. Team meetings make clear that everyone is working toward the same goal. However, statistics show another side of the story.

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How to Improve Communication in the Office

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How to Improve Communication in the Office

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Effective communication in the workplace is important for success. This can help in nurturing relationships in the office and in bringing together people for a shared goal. Often, when the communication is weak, employees tend to be disengaged.

In order to improve communication in the workplace, follow these tips from Officevibe. Among the interesting points mentioned is having face-to-face communication instead of just relying on email or Slack. Human interaction is more natural and tends to resonate with people more.

#townhallmeeting

https://www.officevibe.com/blog/improve-communication-at-work

Communication is always an important part of the office culture. Having effective communication in the office ensures that employees are engaged and the organization is successful. Read this article to find some helpful tips on how to improve office communication.

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Good communication at work plays an essential role in each and every responsibility you have.

Whether you're building relationships, managing conflict, or explaining clear objectives: you set the tone when it comes to learning why good communication skills are important.

Adding remote work into the mix, effective ways of communicating become fundamental for a positive employee experience.

To help improve both the quality and frequency of communication on your team, we put together 13 tips for effective workplace communication with an emphasis on helping distributed teams.

1. Practice authentic communication

Internal communication may often feel rehearsed, which makes some messaging less meaningful. Encourage your team to stay authentic. Not only will this help with productivity and engagement, but it will also help your team know that they can speak up when they need to.

As a manager, you set the example. Emphasize your humility and vulnerability. This will help others feel a level of approachability as well as indicates that they too can share their perspectives.

For example: When you communicate with sincerity by admitting to mistakes or not having all the answers, you establish psychological safety. This helps to level the playing field for others to do the same. Once that seed of authenticity is planted, everything from building solid relationships to having difficult conversations becomes that much easier.

2. Create a communication-friendly culture

To make sure your day-to-day is communication-friendly, set your team up with the right tools for online communication. Apps like Slack and Zoom are great for staying connected with remote employees and make communication feel accessible and collaborative even from afar.

In a communication-friendly culture, it's essential to emphasize the importance of expressing emotions, and ideas, and being unafraid to bring up difficult conversations.

Teams who show a high level of productivity have established psychological safety in their communication. In fact, many value trust and open communication and see it as integral to their team's success. This is especially true when broaching tough conversations.

Tip:

At Officevibe, we have a set of team norms that act as our guiding principles. These outline acceptable behaviours and one of these values underscore communication: "Call out the elephant in the room".

Essentially this means that we hold team members accountable to make sure we're not sweeping important issues under the rug.

3. Keep workplace communication constant

Maintain a healthy communication flow with your team. Instead of relying on annual reviews to discuss performance and goals, find the time for monthly 1-on-1s.

Holding yourself and your team accountable to stay up to date on each other's workload, morale, and resources will nurture two-way conversations. Not only does this help with employee productivity, but it also boosts employee motivation and engagement.

Don't rely on reading body language from afar. You'd be surprised how much your team has to say if 1-on-1s or team catch-ups didn't initiate important conversations.

There are also amazing tools for online communication that can help you organize your streamlining. See which one fits your team better.

4. Hold weekly team meetings

In addition to monthly one-on-one meetings, schedule the same sort of initiative but for the whole team in an open forum.

During prolonged times of uncertainty, having more frequent meetings will be helpful to re-communicate goals, and objectives, collaborate on projects and discuss shifts in strategies. This is also a great time for the team to ask questions and get on the same page.

Tip:

Individuals may feel too awkward to bring up questions in a virtual group setting. Remember, you are the leader. Normalize sharing candid thoughts by demonstrating your own curiosity. Ask your team questions that prompt reflection and leave space for them to answer.

💡 Instead of "is there anything unclear about the new strategic direction?" try "what part of the new direction is lacking clarity?" or "what excites you about our upcoming projects?'

Also, if you're working remotely, your team might be missing some of the benefits of physical meetings. You need to be ready to smoothly transition to the future of work: a hybrid reality that includes remote work and periodic face-to-face interactions.

Incorporating co-working spaces that enable productive and efficient collaboration, could be the best approach to combining remote and physical work.

5. Offer a platform for anonymous feedback

Allowing anonymous feedback is crucial for effective workplace communication. Sometimes, employees shy away from sharing feedback.

They might be hesitant to make a complaint or divulge their authentic thoughts and emotions openly. In this case, the option for anonymity facilitates the process of sharing more difficult sentiments, which are key insights for managers.

1. Our anonymous feedback tool allows employees to share their thoughts anonymously, and lets managers respond to the feedback directly in the platform. Opening up a dialogue about issues in real-time helps start important conversations before problems become too big.

2. Answering feedback isn't always easy. Our latest Feedback Guidance Feature guides managers in responding to all sorts of feedback. We'll always be there to guide you, but you'll improve over time, and eventually, answering even the toughest feedback will become natural to you.

3. We believe in meaningful, effective, and collaborative communication, always. Our one-on-one tool lets managers and employees set talking points in a collaborative agenda and even helps managers kick-start discussions with dozens of Conversation Starters that are proven to promote solution-finding and openness.

6. Ask for employee feedback

Effective communication is never top-down or one-way. Always give the team the chance to give you, their leader, feedback.

For example: Ask teams to communicate their feedback on your performance as a manager. Or ask them to share their input on the upcoming strategy you presented. The idea is to keep lines of communication open and get rid of hierarchical barriers. Everyone has something to learn, especially managers.

💥We created a Toolbox for managers with frameworks, guides, templates, and checklists to get them through their most common management challenges.

7. Communicate face-to-face

Using tools like Slack and email is efficient, however, they're not the most ideal for building lasting connections.

It's important to remember that face-to-face communication holds a great amount of value when it comes to sincerity and authenticity. In-person conversations aren't always accessible, but there are ways to facilitate this in a remote work environment.

Part of effective communication is human interaction. With this in mind, try speaking instead of typing as often as possible without disrupting the flow of work.

This will further facilitate getting to know your team's body language, personality, and tone. It's especially helpful when it comes to giving feedback.

Tip:

If you can't be face-to-face, try hosting video calls rather than phone calls. They help to reduce distractions during important conversations and strengthen peer-to-peer interactions when you and your employees can't physically be in the office.

8. Master your body language

Non-verbal communication is important. Your body language has a huge impact on how people perceive you and gauge reactions.

Communicate with physical presence and ensure that your body language is open and approachable. When working remotely, your body language speaks volumes. Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

Smile (if you're feeling it). Seeing your teammate smiling back at you is comforting!

Keep your arms uncrossed to demonstrate openness

Maintain an upright posture to show your engagement

Maintain eye contact. Looking into the camera when you speak and looking at the person speaking when it's their turn shows that you're present.

Turn off device notifications to minimize distractions

9. Know when less is more

In a perfect world, employees can power down after work hours and stop checking emails. The truth is, many of us are so connected to our jobs and our devices.

The line between a healthy work-life balance gets blurred even further while we're working from home. Building a boundary is helpful to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Make sure you keep the number of emails you send after core hours to a minimum. While communication is important, rest is equally a priority.

According to data we collected during the transition to remote work, 32% of employees don't feel they have a proper balance between their work and personal life. As a manager, employees look to you to lead by example and help draw clear boundaries.

10. Take time to listen

One of the most essential and meaningful elements of communication is practicing active listening. It's like the old adage: we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Listening to your team gives them the space to share honest and transparent feedback.

Bonus: it shows empathy and promotes healthy professional relationships with humility at the base.
Here are 3 quick tips to help you be a more active listener:

1. Normalize comfortable silences: Leaders might dominate conversations. It's important to lead by listening. Open-air gives people time to reflect and think about how they can contribute to the conversation.

2. Be present: It may seem obvious, but listening means focusing on the interaction in front of you. Put your phone away, turn your notifications off, and dedicate your attention to being here, now.

3. Confirm what you know: Repeat what's been brought up. Let the other person know that you were truly listening by confirming what you heard. This ensures you're both on the same page and can move forward with clarity.

11. Personalize your communications

Understanding your employees' individual communication style takes time.

Great leaders know that it's worth being patient. Being mindful of the way you communicate and how this will land with the people you speak to, goes a long way and has a big impact. Consider this:

Employee A might prefer to communicate in a private space and appreciate specific examples when receiving feedback.

Employee B might like to walk and talk during difficult conversations because it requires less direct eye contact, rendering the conversation less formal.

Employee C might have a hard time communicating altogether. This would be a good time to work on communication techniques as part of their development.

One way to discover each employee's communication preference is to ask:

What is the best way I can share feedback with you?

What is most important to you when it comes to communication at work?

What do you find difficult about communicating?

12. Set aside time for non-work related discussions

Employees are multidimensional people. That person from marketing might have interesting travel stories, or that new person on your team might be working towards a big personal fitness goal.

Whatever the case may be, knowing that you're communicating with people initiates empathy. Talking about topics beyond the scope of work leads to positive relationships and strong team dynamics.

Try this activity:

Ask everyone to share a piece of information that no one at work knows about them. Write it down on a piece of paper. Throw it into a bowl. Shuffle each piece of paper around. Now, work together to guess who it belongs to. You'll be surprised what you learn about each other! You can even draw names in a remote setting using a tool like Name Picker.

13. Prioritize workplace communication training

Emphasize the importance of communicating effectively with your team. This is especially important for managers to nip bad habits in the bud.

At Officevibe, we're enrolled in Conscious Communication training (also known as Non-Violent Communication training). Initially, the program was limited to our managers, but the benefits were so great that now 300+ employees are taking part in a two-day workshop! The goal is for everybody to become more self-aware when it comes to communication. We've especially noted the impact our choice of words has on teams.

Effective communication leads to engaged employees. It helps everyone understand what's going on in the company and what's expected of each other.

It helps us build relationships, have tough conversations, and successfully tackle problems. It removes ambiguity, stress, and confusion that is compounded while working remotely. Communication is the thread that ties through all successful teams.

Our feedback guide helps you put these tips into practice. Check it out and tell us about your experience!

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How to improve communication in the workplace

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Improving your communication at work is easy! Check out our 13 tips for managers to make communication engaging and productive for your team.

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Both goals and management should go hand-in-hand in order to achieve the organizational goals. What makes OKRs an effective tool is that it aligns goals through the hierarchy and throughout all the departments.

However, when setting up goals and OKRs for the organization, there is the possibility of failure. This article lists the different ways organizations should set their OKRs and meet them. Some interesting tips include taking a break to get a sense of perspective and keeping employee engagement in mind.

#OKR

https://www.workstride.com/10-tips-for-setting-and-meeting-your-corporate-okr-goals/

Setting and meeting goals are two different things. To make sure that your organizational OKRs will be successful, follow the tips on this article.

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Specific goals lead to successful management outcomes. Yet, many companies fail to set objectives and key results (OKR) goals. Meanwhile, of the companies that do set these goals, many still fail to implement a management strategy that keeps people focused on them. Goals provide managers and employees with direction, reminding them to stay focused on productive tasks that are central to their company's success. They also tend to be used by the more successful companies, including Google, which widely popularized its OKR goal-setting and performance management system. The combined impact of carefully aligned goals at all hierarchical and departmental levels is enough to make or break a career, a fiscal quarter or sometimes even a company altogether.

It is difficult to be motivated without a purpose, and it is impossible to tell whether goals are being achieved without a measurable sense of progress in mind. Here are some tips that will come in handy during your goal-setting process.

1. Use SMART Criteria

Using this criteria is a a great place to start. SMART stands for specific, measureable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. SMART criteria applies well to OKRs because the KRs (Key Results) are written in a SMART way. Specific goals set a clear criteria that allow for more accurate performance. Measurability is a similar means of tracking progress and holding people accountable. While aspirational goals are sometimes important, goals should not be completely unrealistic. Screening for goal relevance and time specificity are also key elements of goal-setting. The reality of harsh market competition means that time should never be squandered.

2. Weekly Check-Ins Make a Huge Difference

You should always know what your top goals are. Often times, a surprisingly short 10-minute check-in will help you stay on-task. What is a weekly OKR goal check-in? It's simple-you just invest 5 to 10 quick minutes at the end of your week going over your goals and updating the measurable progress (i.e. the key results) towards these quarterly OKR goals.

3. Take a Break

It may sound excessive to some, but truly motivated entrepreneurs and managers often use at least a small portion of their time away from work to get a sense of perspective and reconsider how things might be done differently when they return. With a little introspection, one might realize that being busy all the time does not necessarily lead to optimal productivity. Take a bit of time while you're away from work to give more consideration to how your efforts might be more directly linked to better business outcomes, and be specific in defining them.

4. Stay Focused on What Matters

Companies that go through periods of abundance sometimes begin to spend excessive resources on goals that are not related to revenue generation. Meanwhile, companies that are suffering are generally doing so for the exact same reason. This is often caused by selecting goals that aren't impactful or a failure to set goals altogether. Many of the most successful companies have both quarterly and annual goals that are outcome oriented, and this quarterly process means that goals continue to be updated, which is necessary in a sometimes fast-changing market environment. Have an adaptational mind-set that leads to a shift in priorities when necessary. This also means being willing to admit it when something isn't working.

5. Start with the Outcome in Mind

If you're not sure what to do next, start with the outcome in mind and project what would have to take place between now and a realistic future date in order for that goal to be met. If you're struggling, look at other companies that have achieved the goal you're working towards. An astonishing amount of success can be achieved by simply seeing what has worked for others in the past.

6. Simplicity

The goal creation process is less daunting when kept simple. This also increases the ease of understanding for your managers and employees. Don't worry about using too much technical language. While many or most goals will require technical expertise to accomplish, this is not the case for the language of the goals themselves.

7. Measurability

It's a good idea to have a system for tracking the progress of your goals. Without a system, it is very time-consuming and virtually impossible to track progress of goals of many different employees in the organization (will take up too much time doing it in Excel or waste too many emails). Also, since goals need to be specific and measurable, a system can help track all the metrics/KPIs. Otherwise leading managers will have no way of knowing whether they are making progress as fast as they need to.

8. Vision

A vision is required to understand what a company's future outcomes should look like. The reason the company was founded in the first place was that the founder(s) began with a vision. In order for goals to be understood, you need to think about what the future of the company ought to look like. A little imagination can be an incredible asset in the goal-setting process. It also helps you stay optimistic and gives employees a sense that things could be better in the future.

9. Employee Engagement and Motivation

You may have goals that seem perfectly suited to your company, but they won't work out unless both you and your employees maintain high levels of motivation in the process of executing on those goals. Employee engagement is directly correlated with giving people autonomy that extends to the level of their competence. It also is related to benefits, rewards and compensation. Leading managers at top-performing companies understand that they need to pay their employees well in order to remain competitive in bringing in top talent. Goals also help motivate employees by giving them a greater sense of unity and purpose.

10. Performance Reviews

Be sure to evaluate your success rate at the end of every quarter or half a year. Don't do it just once a year at the end. Those annual performance reviews can actually make your organization ineffective. The performance review must always start with OKR goals first and foremost and thus will tell you and your team what's working and what isn't. The most important thing is to monitor your goal progress often and also do your performance reviews more often than just once a year-say, quarterly or even monthly. That cadence will make your company more productive, effective, and much more efficient too. This emphasizes the importance of staying goal-oriented and shows all employees that the process is taken seriously by the CEO and the management.

If all these tips are implemented, you'll be headed in a good direction towards making considerable improvements in your company's efficiency and revenue generation. The best thing you could do is to sit down for a few moments right now and do some brainstorming, rather than putting it off for the future. As the saying goes, there's no time like the present.

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10 Tips for Setting and Meeting Your Corporate OKR Goals

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Specific goals lead to successful management outcomes. Yet, many companies fail to set objectives and key results (OKR) goals. Meanwhile, of the companies that do set these goals, many still fail to implement a management strategy that keeps people focused on them.

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Having one-on-one meetings is a good way to nurture feedback and keep both the manager and the employee updated. This can help improve the employee’s skills and have an avenue to discuss challenges.

To make this kind of meeting more effective, managers should keep in mind these four elements that are discussed in the article. These elements are goals, format, expectations, and frequency. Integrating all the important elements will help you have better one-on-one meetings in the future. Keep in mind though that you can always customize it depending on your leadership style.

#oneononemeeting

https://lattice.com/blog/managers-here-s-how-to-run-a-one-on-one/

Running an effective one-on-one meeting is dependent on having the key elements. This article talks about how managers can make one-on-ones better through goals, formal, expectations, and frequency. Having all these elements and adding your personal touch can be helpful in making meetings smoother in the future.

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Managers, Here's How to Run a One-on-One

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A 1:1 meeting is an ongoing feedback strategy to keep both the manager and the employee updated on the employee's progress, an opportunity to develop employees' skills, and gives the employee a chance to discuss workplace challenges with their manager.

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This article has a different take on feedback. It takes a look at how feedback is necessary for the creative industry. It also identifies how feedback is important for the creative process. As a creative team grows, so does the need fostering feedback.

Talin Wadsworth is a lead designer for Adobe XD and he talks about how to foster open feedback in a growing team. He highlights the importance of having the right team psychology and environment on top of making sure that feedback is practiced.

#feedbackculture

https://theblog.adobe.com/enabling-a-culture-of-feedback-a-conversation-with-talin-wadsworth-lead-designer-for-adobe-xd/

Feedback culture can be beneficial no matter what the department is. In this article, we take a look on how to foster feedback in a growing creative team and how important it is for the creative process. This article from Adobe gives some practical tips o how this can be done.

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Gone are the days of the lone, creative genius designer. Today's creative professionals work on complex projects, often in multi-disciplinary teams. Feedback - seeking input and guidance from our peers - is central to the creative process. It supports people to grow and improve, builds trust among team members, and ultimately results in better work.

Talin Wadsworth, Lead Designer for Adobe XD, is part of a centralized team at Adobe, and leads 7 designers directly. As the team has grown, one focus for him has been evolving a process that can continue to foster a culture of open feedback. We had a conversation about what he has learned along the way.

Creating the Right Environment and Team Psychology

The groundwork for a healthy and productive approach to feedback within a design team starts with the culture of the team. "If people don't feel comfortable sharing, then we have a cultural problem. People coming from an honest place, and having familiarity with one another allows feedback to flourish," said Wadsworth.

This psychological safety is foundational to successful teams, as studied by many academic researchers, including Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson. In one research paper, Edmondson defines psychological safety as "a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves." This aligns exactly with the team culture Wadsworth is promoting.

For Wadsworth, one way to foster a sense of safety is to be supportive as a leader. "It's really important to me that people see me as their advocate. My role is to set everyone up for success, and part of that means being tough with feedback and critique in order to help them feel really confident in the work that they are sharing," said Wadsworth. "When the time comes for group feedback, I want people to feel I am in their corner promoting their work, because I know they put the work in."

Supporting people to foster a sense of safety during feedback also aligns with Kim Scott's idea of Radical Candour which notes that as a leader you need to care personally, as well as challenge directly. When people know that your feedback comes from a place of caring, they are more likely to be receptive and feel safe sharing. As Brene Brown wrote in her book Daring Greatly, "vulnerability is at the heart of the feedback process," and so finding ways to support people in their vulnerability is crucial to fostering a culture of feedback.

Five Ways to Enable Feedback on a Team

Beyond the psychological and cultural conditions for productive feedback on a design team,

Wadsworth also shared some practical tips:

Make feedback part of the process: "We've set ourselves a goal this year of a shared vision - being able to have enough context and exposure to pick up each other's work if we needed to," said Wadsworth. For the team this means sharing work early and often, throughout the daily process. "We share regularly via Slack, we share XD prototype links. We also provide feedback asynchronously through comments in XD prototypes." This means the team has ongoing visibility into the work that is happening.

Create dedicated space for feedback: While sharing on an ongoing basis is useful, it is also helpful to create space where the sole focus and intention is on feedback. On Wadsworth's team, they have a weekly Friday critique session - a guaranteed day where the team is together for feedback purposes. Protecting this space, especially for busy design teams who can get pulled in many directions, is a great tactic to grow a culture of feedback. "For our team, these sessions have become one of the most important things we do," said Wadsworth.

Set it up right: Of course, it's not enough to just get in a room once a week. For the feedback sessions to be successful they need to be set up carefully. Wadsworth elaborated, "These sessions go over better when people have context and familiarity - you don't want people coming in cold to the work's objectives and history. The beauty of being properly set up is that it clears the deck to get right into the weeds of the design challenge we are trying to solve." This setup can include making sure people have seen the work before they get in the room, as well as giving context to the design show and tell.

It's always about the work: Some of the reasons that designers may dread feedback is experiences of feedback that have felt personally hurtful, or based on the giver's personal opinion and preferences. Wadsworth's technique for mitigating this is to keep the conversation really focused on the work, and also keeping it user centred. "We avoid critique of a one-off design, and instead look at a design within the context of a user flow. When we keep it focused on the problem we are solving for our users the feedback is always much more actionable."

Lead by example: Creating a culture of feedback as a design leader means walking the walk. In practice, this means modelling for the team by sharing your own work and being receptive to feedback. "I've had to be the example in a lot of ways, it's had to start with me. Once I'm putting myself out there it's a catalyst for the team to do the same. You can't just put down rules or force a process, as a leader you have to follow through and be diligent about sharing your work too."

Of course, none of this matters if the feedback happens in a vacuum. There needs to be demonstrated accountability to iterating on the work. For Wadsworth, this is about "showing we're all part of each other's process of making the work better." One of the goals for Adobe XD has been to integrate the feedback loop into the creative workflow itself, so this has been a fun process. "We give feedback on evolving the design of XD in XD, using the built-in feedback features - it's all very meta!"

It's also important to note that feedback is something you can practice and coach a team to improve. As Wadsworth says, "In design school, the instructor was always pushing you to show your work and put it up on the wall, it felt very stressful but you do it and the next time it's easier! In a team context, we are constantly training each other to be able to use that feedback muscle - in both providing it and receiving it."

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Enabling a Culture of Feedback: A Conversation with Talin Wadsworth, Lead Designer for Adobe XD | Adobe Blog

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Gone are the days of the lone, creative genius designer. Today's creative professionals work on complex projects, often in multi-disciplinary teams. Feedback - seeking input and guidance from our peers - is central to the creative process. It supports people to grow and improve, builds trust among team members, and ultimately results in better work.

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When Typeform started as a small team, feedback came naturally. However, as the team grew feedback was hard to come by. Creating a culture of continuous feedback was essential in order to make it feel natural fr employees. This helps in improving engagement and retention. Typeform lists the different ways they're creating feedback culture, like encouraging two-way feedback, listening to new hires, and asking co-founders anything among others.

#feedbackculture

https://www.typeform.com/blog/inside-story/feedback-culture/

As any team grows, feedback can become harder. This is something natural that can happen when a startup grows. However, feedback culture can be kept despite growth. In this article, Typeform lists down the ways they were able to create feedback culture so other teams can follow suit.

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When I joined Typeform, we were a small group of people in a much smaller office. Back then, everything worked organically and feedback came naturally. We had company meetings every couple of weeks, and spontaneous get-togethers when needed.

Then everything changed.

In 2016, our team nearly tripled in size. So we moved to a much larger office, scattering people from the barception to the "swimming pool."

More people meant more meetings and tighter deadlines. And this meant we could easily go a few days without interacting with people sitting in different spots. It happens when your headcount grows like this:

So we had a challenge: continue to grow while maintaining the culture of trust we'd worked so hard to nurture.

Our answer? Create a culture of continuous feedback.

We wanted to create a place where employee feedback is natural and ongoing-not just another box to tick.

We also knew that 40% of employees are actively disengaged at work because of inadequate feedback.

What about workers who receive feedback? They're more motivated, more engaged, and less likely to quit. Plus, we wanted our people to grow as individuals, and the cornerstone of continuous learning is feedback.

So how did we get started? Here are the ten initiatives that helped us launch our employee feedback culture and boost employee retention.

1. Encourage two-way feedback

They say that "people don't leave companies, they leave managers." So when our horizontal teams started gaining structure, we knew we needed a place for managers and team members to talk.

Our approach? Encourage managers to coordinate recurring 1:1 meetings with every person in their team. We didn't set strict guidelines, we let things unfold naturally.

Because the idea wasn't to turn out status reports. The goal was to create a space where people could talk openly and honestly. Instead of focusing on projects and tasks, the emphasis was on each person's challenges, goals, engagement, and career plan.

How often should people meet? We let the teams decide that too-whatever worked best for them. Usually, when things are going great, fewer meetings are needed. But if someone is underperforming, we encourage managers to commit to more regular meetings, ideally once a week.

These meetings are also designed to promote better ways of mentoring. A huge part of this was encouraging managers to listen.

This focus on reciprocal feedback has improved our team engagement. We're now better able to detect issues of motivation, performance, and a lack of vision or higher purpose.

2. Show appreciation with Bonus.ly

How do you recognize people who go above and beyond? And the less-commonly asked: how can you encourage people to recognize coworkers who go out of their way?

Simple: you empower employees to hand out bonuses.

No, you don't give out the keys to the cash box. You get started with Bonus.ly -a tool that lets employees give micro-bonuses using their very own currency. We call ours "typecoins."

Every month, employees are given a set number of typecoins to distribute however they want. A coworker put in extra time to help someone finish a project? A team member delivered an amazing presentation? Toss them some typecoins.

Bonus.ly in action at Typeform:

People also use hashtags to promote company values: #seek_to_innovate, #practice_empathy, and #leave_space_for_fun. But of course, givers can add any hashtag they like: #vision, #creativity, #yourock, #I_owe_you_a_beer.

And what can people do with ther typecoins? Trade them in for credits on Amazon, PayPal, and lots of other things. Employees can even donate typecoins to charities or other causes of their choice.

In the end, it's all about publicly recognizing our peers' work and reinforcing the right values. This is even more important as we scale. It's less about the typecoins given, and more about enabling people to applaud someone else's valuable contribution.

3. Listen to the new hires

When you're growing fast, it's normal to look for ways to streamline things. But you should never cut corners with the care you give new hires.

Feedback started as a natural part of onboarding. We informally checked in with newbies as they transitioned to their teams. But after a while, we started embracing more standard feedback checkpoints.

→ Ever heard of a full month of employee onboarding? Here's how we do it.

Now we have two meetings: one at six weeks, and one at the three-month point. Here, they'll meet with their manager and their People Partner-the recruiter who was first in touch with them during the hiring process-who also becomes their main point of contact in the People Operations Team.

What do we talk about? Things like goals, expectations, and gaps we could help fill. And just like the manager meetings, we strive to make sure that feedback goes both ways. This way, our onboarding keeps improving too.

It's also the perfect way to educate new people on our feedback culture, and to stimulate their hunger for feedback themselves. It's part of our journey to democratize the concept of feedback, and it starts by making employee feedback a natural thing from day one.

4. Check in with employee engagement surveys

Remember what we said: 40% of employees feel underappreciated at work. This takes a huge swing at productivity.

So a couple times of year, we check in to see how happy and engaged our typeformers feel at work.

Of course we get the general vibe by asking questions like "How do you feel about coming to work every morning?" But we also dive into more touchy topics:

Does your manager inspire you?

Do you feel the company is going in the right direction?

Do you see a clear link between your work and the company's goals?

But why does our employee engagement survey work so well? Because it's honest, it's conversational, and it lets people know how we're using the results.

Here's what it looks like, go ahead and give it a try:

We share all feedback with teams and managers, then work together to create employee engagement ideas for improvement, bottom-up.

And now for the key: real improvements.

Overall satisfaction and engagement in more targeted areas have improved with every survey. All in all, people really appreciate that we take the time to find out what people think and feel.

→ Not sure what to ask? Here's our top 10 employee engagement survey questions.

5. Ask our cofounders anything

One big thing we learned through a previous engagement survey: we could improve how people perceived company leadership and how they communicated with the company. Our cofounder, Robert, put it this way:

Our approach? An "Ask Us Anything," kind of like what you find on inbound.org. First, we presented the initiative, then Robert sent out a shared doc where people could add their questions.

And we got over six pages full of questions! So we had some serious answering to do.

Each question was replied to by the person with the most info on the topic. This way, all answers were as thorough and honest as possible. Then the doc was shared with the entire company. In the intro, our cofounders made it clear what feedback is all about. Here's an excerpt:
A little while ago we asked everyone in the company to ask us any questions they'd like. There were some great questions, and it only strengthens our belief that communication is key in a fast-growing company like ours. Will we always get it right? No, of course not. But as long as we all keep communicating, we think Typeform has a very bright future. If you forgot to ask something, or weren't with us when we sent this out, please remember that you can always come and tap us on the shoulder, send us an email, etc., whenever you like.
Our feedback on the initiative told us that people really appreciated this openness and transparency.

6. Drop thoughts in the suggestion box

People always have something to say. Sometimes they can't wait to share thoughts and concerns in an engagement survey every three months, or until the next Ask Us Anything comes around.

We needed a fixed channel to address questions or suggestions on an ongoing basis.

Solution? We started off with a simple typeform where people could ask a question or leave a suggestion. But as much as we like digital, we thought "How cool it would be to have a physical thing gathering the suggestions, like an old-school suggestion box?"

And that's when we came up with this:

Yup, that's a typewriter hooked up to an iPad. When people pound the typewriter keys, it inputs comments rights into the iPad.

We've gathered hundreds of suggestions so far, and we're constantly putting them into action. One of the first requests? Make it easier to send feedback from anywhere. So we've kept digital suggestion box as well. Can't win 'em all. 😉

7. Get the whole picture with 360 feedback

Does a single manager really know all there is to know about every person in their team? We weren't sure. That's why we decided to try a more holistic 360 feedback approach.

→ Not sure if 360 feedback is right for your team? Read this.

The questions are simple:

What has this person has done exceptionally well?

What's at least one thing that they could improve?

Any other additional feedback that might be valuable?

We aim for a minimum of four people to complete the feedback for each person-including managers, peers, and a self-evaluation. People can leave their name or stay anonymous to allow truthful feedback to flow.

Once all the info is in, managers organize 1:1 meetings with every team member to discuss. The main goal: celebrate strengths, find places to improve, and outline steps to make it happen.

We do this every six months. But we don't want this to be just another task. We're aiming to make this even more frequent and relevant.

8. Collect feedback on feedback

What if we're doing it all wrong? It's definitely something we want to avoid. That's why we sent out our "feedback on feedback" typeform.

Our main objectives:

Improve 360 feedback

Understand what people need to grow professionally

Find out how people feel about giving open feedback and why

Compare with last year's results to see if we've made an impact

Adjust our training initiatives to provide better support

We're constantly planning employee feedback initiatives, and we want to make sure we're doing it for the right reasons. Besides, we figure we should be just as comfortable asking for and learning from feedback as everyone else.

9. Add a communication specialist

Without clear communication, feedback falls flat. Or worse, messages get crossed and meaning gets lost.

That's why we hired Katie, our Internal Communications Specialist. She works with the leadership team to make sure that info flows in ways that everyone can understand.

She's also cleaning up how we share information across the company. From helping to launch Notion as our intracompany wiki page, to taking and distributing minutes in assemblies and company meetings.

It's all part of fostering a culture of feedback, communication, and trust.

10. Learn how to give and receive feedback

We're not usually taught to give feedback, let alone receive it. That's why we've recently started hosting Feedback Workshops. The objective:

Make giving and receiving constructive feedback easier

Increase the frequency and quality of feedback conversations

Promote feedback as part of a culture of trust and ownership

For some half-day sessions, we bring in an outside facilitator with international experience. DiSC-Bridge profiles have helped people understand that everyone is different in how they communicate and need to be supported.

Brenda, our Learning and Development Specialist, also runs frequent workshops called "The F-Word," with different teams around the company. The big takeaway:

Are you ready to build a culture of employee feedback?

We all have things to learn and improve. That's why Typeform is building a feedback-friendly company culture that's meant to be transparent, rewarding, and constructive.

It helps team engagement, motivation, and development. Communication and collaboration improve too-and all this helps your business strategy and operations.

Thinking about creating an employee feedback culture at your company? You should! But remember that it's an ongoing process that takes trust and education to implement.

Be clear about why you're collecting feedback and what you plan to do with it. And once you've collected feedback, be honest and transparent with what you've learned.

It's the only way that you'll get people to trust the process and benefit from the results.

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10 ways Typeform is creating a culture of employee feedback

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When I joined Typeform, we were a small group of people in a much smaller office. Back then, everything worked organically and feedback came naturally. We had company meetings every couple of weeks, and spontaneous get-togethers when needed. Then everything changed. In 2016, our team nearly tripled in size.

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Though team meetings aren’t always enjoyable, meeting with managers regularly can be helpful to the entire team. However, the time spent on team meetings should be spent well in order to provide everyone value.
Leaders need to master team meetings to prevent this from being a torturous ordeal. Some of the tips Julia Austin provides is having a meeting purpose and meeting engagement. There should be an agenda prepared ahead and monologues should be avoided in the meeting. There should be discussion and meetings should also be fun.

#teammeeting

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/mastering-the-team-meeting?cid=wk-rss

Many people dread team meetings. However, these are helpful in setting the tone for work and being able to reach team goals. In order to make meetings worthwhile, leaders need to master team meetings. This article from Harvard Business School gives tips on how to handle and conduct meetings properly to give value to make it more enjoyable.

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Happy employees tend to be more productive than others. In order to improve employee satisfaction, companies have come up with town hall meetings. It has helped a lot of leaders to say what they need to say to everyone. Before starting your own town hall meeting, make sure that you’ve given employees enough time to plan ahead. Schedule and announce it earlier so they also know what to discuss and say during the meeting. Another important tip is to make sure that you follow-up on all the feedback made by your employees as timely as possible.

#townhallmeeting

https://www.popinnow.com/develop-rock-solid-town-hall-meeting-ideas/

Town hall meetings can be useful in making employees more satisfied with work. However, you have to make sure that you do your town hall meetings right. This article gives some tips on how to do your own meetings, such as giving enough time to your employees so they can plan ahead and making sure that you follow-up on their feedback.

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It is common knowledge that happy employees are more productive than their restless counterparts. Unfortunately, only 13% of employees report feeling engaged while at work. To alleviate employee dissatisfaction, many managers have come up with town hall meeting ideas. Town hall meetings have worked for many a leader. In fact, the most recent presidential election utilized the town hall meeting model for its debates. Why The Town Hall Meeting Model WorksNowadays, many corporations host company meetings via audio. Audio meetings, while convenient, don't hold employees' attention like face-to-face meetings do. Then there is the value of face-to-face interaction to consider. People prefer face-to-face communication because it is more personal. It says, "I care enough about what you have to say to see you in person." As a result, face-to-face meetings are more likely to build trust between employers and their employees. Plus, there are the possible audio issues to consider. Even when the phone or Internet connection is clear, voices can become static-y and hard to understand. Additionally, the town hall meeting is about giving everyone a voice. It isn't an "I talk and you listen" situation like many all-hands meetings are. Town Hall Meeting IdeasBefore hosting a town hall meeting, there are a few ideas you should take into consideration. Let's take a look at the top town hall meeting ideas below. Give Employees NoticeWhen you announce the town hall meeting, announce it far enough in advance that employees can plan what they want to say. Keep in mind employees may be hesitant to voice what they think may be viewed as "complaints." During your announcement, remember to let your employees know that you want feedback. That lets them know you want to hear what they have to say. Send Out SurveysPrior to the meeting, send out an anonymous survey to all employees. Emphasize the fact that the survey is anonymous. In the survey, address specific questions that you have. For example, what is working for the company? What isn't working for the company? Additionally, ask for specific feedback about organizational challenges that employees have encountered. Include a space for them to make suggestions for improvement. Address The FindingsMake a complication of all the feedback that you received, especially the questions. Then give your answers during the town hall meeting. It is important to include time for employees to ask different questions about the answers that you give. The survey will give you an idea of the topics on your employees' mind. Use that knowledge to prepare in advance for the additional questions you'll receive. It is also important to address all the feedback that you receive. Acknowledging even outlier feedback shows your employees that you heard their voices. Follow Up Follow up on all feedback that you received in a timely manner. Shoot a company-wide email to all employees outlining the meeting and what was addressed. Additionally, outline how you plan to improve procedures per the feedback that you received. End with thanking everyone for their participation.

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How to Develop Rock Solid Town Hall Meeting Ideas - POPin

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It is common knowledge that happy employees are more productive than their restless counterparts. Unfortunately, only 13% of employees report feeling engaged while at work. To alleviate employee dissatisfaction, many managers have come up with town hall meeting ideas. Town hall meetings have worked for many a leader.

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Different Ways to Tell Your Team that You Appreciate Them

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Different Ways to Tell Your Team that You Appreciate Them

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Simply saying thank you can make a difference. However, there will be times when this isn’t enough for a team that has done so much. Appreciation should be more than just saying things. It should be heard and seen, as well.

Aside from just saying thank you, there are different appreciation speeches that you could do in order to show to everyone that you care. SnackNation has created an appreciation speech checklist that you can use for employee appreciation talks. They also added some tips and tricks that can make you feel at ease while delivering your speech.

#Reward

https://www.snacknation.com/blog/employee-appreciation-speech/

Saying and showing appreciation is essential to boost your team’s morale and show them that you care. This also helps in developing employees and the entire organization. SnackNation gives you a quick guide on showing your team that you appreciate them. Their guide includes a checklist, some tips and tricks, and even a sample to help you get started with your own appreciation speech.

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The simple act of saying "thank you" does wonders.

Yet sometimes, those two words alone don't seem to suffice. Sometimes your team made such a difference, and your gratitude is so profound, a pat on the back just isn't enough.

Because appreciation is more than saying thank you. It's about demonstrating that your team is truly seen and heard by thanking them for specific actions. It's about showing that you understand and empathize with the struggles your team faces every day. And it's about purpose too. True appreciation connects your team's efforts back to a grand vision and mission.

Soit's time to diversify your portfolio of reliable tips and go-to words of wisdom for expressing your undying appreciation. After all, you diversify your portfolio of investments, and really, workplace appreciation is an investment.

Let's set aside the standard definition of appreciation for a second and take a look at the financial definition.

According to Investopedia,

"Appreciation is an increase in the value of an asset over time."

In the workplace, appreciation increases the value of your most important assets-your employees-over time. Here are some ways appreciation enhances employee relations:

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in American business built companies, and lasting legacies, by developing employees through the simple act of appreciation.

Charles Schwab, founder of the Charles Schwab Corporation, once said:

"I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among my people the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. There is nothing else that so kills the ambitions of a person as criticism from superiors. I never criticize anyone. I believe in giving a person incentive to work. So I am anxious to praise but loath to find fault. If I like anything, I am hearty in my appreciation and lavish in my praise."

Boost your ability to arouse enthusiasm by learning how to deliver employee appreciation speeches that make an impact. Once you master the habits and rules below, sincere appreciation will flow from you like sweet poetry. Your employees are going to love it!

The Employee Appreciation Speech Checklist

Planning employee appreciation speeches can be fast and easy when you follow a go-to "recipe" that works every time.

Maritz®studies human behavior and highlights relevant findings that could impact the workplace. They developed the Maritz Recognition Model to help everyone deliver the best appreciation possible. The model asserts that effective recognition touches on three critical elements: the behavior, the effect, and the thank you.

Here's a summary of the model, distilled into a checklist for your employee appreciation speeches:

1. Talk about the behavior(s). While most employee appreciation speeches revolve around the vague acknowledgment of "hard word and dedication," it's best to call out specific actions and accomplishments so employees will know what they did well, feel proud, and get inspired to repeat the action. Relay an anecdote about one specific behavior to hook your audience and then expand the speech to cover everyone. You can even include appreciation stories from other managers or employees in your speech.

2. Talk about the effect(s) of the behavior(s). What positive effect did the employee behaviors have on your company's mission? If you don't have any statistics to share, simply discuss how you expect the behaviors to advance your mission.

3. Deliver the "thank you" with heartfelt emotion. Infusing speeches with emotion will help employees feel your appreciation in addition to hearing it. To pinpoint the emotional core of your speech, set the "speech" part aside and casually consider why you're grateful for your employees. Write down everything that comes to mind. Which aspects made you tear up? Which gave you goosebumps? Follow those points to find the particular emotional way you want to deliver your "thank you."

Tips and tricks:

Keep a gratitude journal (online or offline). Record moments of workplace gratitude and employee acts you appreciate. This practice will make you feel good, and it also provides plenty of fodder for appreciation speeches.

Make mini-speeches a habit. Try to deliver words of recognition to employees every single day. As you perfect small-scale appreciation speeches, the longer ones will also feel more natural.

When speaking, pause frequently to let your words sink in.

Practice your body language. The words in your speech mean nothing if your body language projects an insincere, awkward image. Toastmasters International recommends:

Making eye contact

Controlling jittery gestures

Acting out verbs

Matching facial expression to words

Moving around the stage

Modulate your tone. Experts say the sound of your voice can have as much impact as the meaning of your words. Analyses of expert orator John F. Kennedy's speeches have pinpointed a few vocal elements of powerful speeches:

Varied pace. Don't drone on at the same pace. Speak quickly and then switch to speaking slowly.

Varied volume. Raise your voice on key points and closings.

Employee Appreciation Speech Scripts

Build on these customizable scripts to deliver employee appreciation speeches and casual meeting shout-outs every chance you get. Each script follows the 3-step approach we discussed above. Once you get the hang of appreciation speech basics, you'll be able to pull inspirational monologues from your hat at a moment's notice.

Swipe the examples below, but remember to infuse each speech with your own unique perspectives, personality, and heartfelt emotions.

All-Purpose Appreciation Speech

Greet your audience.
I feel so lucky to work with you all. In fact, [insert playful aside: e.g. My wife doesn't understand how I don't hate Mondays. It drives her nuts!] Thanks to you, I feel lucky to come to work every day.
Talk about behaviors you appreciate.

Everyone here is [insert applicable team soft skills: e.g. positive, inspiring, creative, and intelligent]. I'm constantly amazed by the incredible work you do.
Let's just look at the past few months, for example. [Insert bullet points of specific accomplishments from every department].

Finance launched an amazing new online payroll system.

Business Development doubled their sales last quarter.

Human Resources trained us all in emotional intelligence.

Talk about the effects of the behaviors.
These accomplishment aren't just nice bullet points for my next presentation. Each department's efforts has deep and lasting impacts on our business. [Explain the effects of each highlighted accomplishment].

The new payroll system is going to save us at least $20,000 on staff hours and paper.

Revenue from those doubled sales will go into our core investments, including a new training program.

And I can already see the effects of that emotional intelligence training each time I'm in a meeting and a potential argument is resolved before it starts.

Say thank you.
I can't thank you enough for everything you do for this company and for me. Knowing I have your support and dedication makes me a better, happier person both at work and at home.
Formal Appreciation Speech

Greet your audience by explaining why you were excited to come to work today.
I was not thrilled when my alarm went off this morning, but I must admit, I'm luckier than most people. As I got out of bed and thought about doing [insert daily workplace activities that inspire you], I felt excitement instead of dread. It's an incredible feeling, looking forward to work every day, and for that, I have each and every one of you to thank.
Talk about behaviors you appreciate.
Just last week, [insert specific anecdote: e.g. I remembered, ironically, that I forgot to create a real-time engagement plan for TECHLO's giant conference next month. As you all know, they're one of our biggest clients, so needless to say, I was panicking. Then I sit down for my one-on-one with MEGAN, worried that I didn't even have time for our meeting, and what does she say? She wants to remind me that we committed to submit a promotional plan by the end of the week. She had some ideas for the TECHLO conference, so she went ahead and created a draft.]
Talk about the effects of the behaviors.
[Insert the outcome of the anecdote: e.g. Her initiative dazzled me, and it saved my life! We met our deadline and also blew TECHLO away. In fact, they asked us to plan a similar initiative for their upcoming mid-year conference.]
Say thank you.
[Insert a short thank-you paragraph tying everything together: e.g. And you know what, it was hard for me to pick just one example to discuss tonight. You all do so many things that blow me away every day. Thank you for everything. Thank you for making each day of work something we can all be proud of.]
Visionary Appreciation Speech

Greet your audience by explaining why you do what you do.
Here at [company name] we [insert core competency: e.g. build nonprofit websites], but we really [insert the big-picture outcome of your work: e.g. change the world by helping amazing nonprofits live up to their inspiring visions.] I want to emphasize the "we" here. This company would be nothing without your work.
Talk about behaviors and explain how each works toward your mission.

Have you guys ever thought about that? How what you do [recap the big-picture outcome at your work: e.g. changes the world by helping amazing nonprofits live up to their inspiring visions]?
[Insert specific examples of recent work and highlight the associated outcomes: e.g. Let's explore in terms of the websites we launched recently. I know every single person here played a role in developing each of these websites, and you should all be proud.]

The launch of foodangel.org means that at least 500 homeless people in the greater metro area will eat dinner tonight.

The launch of happyup.org means thousands of depressed teenagers will get mental health counseling.

Now if that's not [recap the big-picture outcome], then I don't know what is.
Say thank you.
Thank you for joining me on the mission to [big-picture outcome]. With any other team, all we're trying to do might just not be possible, but you all make me realize we can do anything together.
Casual Appreciation Speech

Greet your audience by discussing what upcoming work-related items you are most excited about.
I've been thinking nonstop about [insert upcoming initiative: e.g. our upcoming gallery opening]. This [initiative] is the direct result of your amazing work. To me, this [initiative] represents [insert what the initiative means to you: e.g. our true debut into the budding arts culture of our city.]
Talk about behaviors you appreciate.
You've all been pulling out all the stops, [insert specific example: e.g. staying late, making 1,000 phone calls a day, and ironing out all the details.]
Talk about the effects of the behaviors.
Because of your hard work, I'm absolutely confident the [initiative] will [insert key performance indicator: e.g. sell out on opening night.]
Say thank you.
Thank you, not just for making this [initiative] happen, but also for making the journey such a positive and rewarding experience.
Funny Appreciation Speech

Greet your audience by telling an inside joke.
I want to thank you all for the good times, especially [insert inside joke: e.g. that time we put a glitter bomb in Jeff's office.]
Talk about behaviors you appreciate and highlight comical outcomes.
But seriously, you guys keep me sane. For example [insert comical examples: e.g.]:

The Operations team handled the merger so beautifully, I only had to pull out half my hair.

The Marketing team landed a new client, and now we can pay you all for another year.

And thanks to the Web team's redesign of our website, I actually know what we do here.

Talk about the real effects of the behaviors.
But for real for real, all your work this year has put us on a new level. [Insert outcomes: e.g. We have an amazing roster of clients, a growing staff, and an incredible strategic plan that makes me feel unqualified to work here.] You guys made all this happen.
Say thank you.
So thank you. This is when I would usually tell a joke to deflect my emotions, but for once in my life, I actually don't want to hide. I want you all to know how much I appreciate all you do. That was hard; I'm going to sit down now. We hope adapting these tips and scripts will help you articulate the appreciation we know you already feel!

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Use These Employee Appreciation Speech Examples to Show Your Team You Care

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Use These Employee Appreciation Speech Examples to Show Your Team You Care The simple act of saying "thank you" does wonders. Yet sometimes, those two words alone don't seem to suffice. Sometimes your team made such a difference, and your gratitude is so profound, a pat

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What's interesting about using OKRs for an organization is that it can be used by different departments to reach their respective goals. When using OKRs for the HR department, this post covers the essentials. It has different examples and templates on how OKRs can be implemented in HR, such as for hiring, culture, and employee retention.

https://7geese.com/human-resources-okr-examples/

#OKR

OKRs can be used by different departments in an organization. Find the most common HR OKRs in this post so you can start writing your own OKRs for your department.

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OKRs and Continuous Performance Management | 7Geese

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Human Resources OKR Examples: How to Write OKRs

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Using OKRs is a great way to provide focus and align priorities with the rest of your company. Here you'll find extensive Human Resources OKR examples.

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This article guides one on how to write objectives and key results. It provides a checklist of how these two should be written properly in order to make the most out of OKRs. Writing OKRs is a prerequisite to execution. So in order for OKRs to be effective in an organization, it has to be written properly. These connect the strategy and the execution, which makes them even more important.

https://upraise.io/blog/writing-effective-okrs/

#OKR

OKRs are communication channels that connect the strategy with the execution. Writing them properly is important to make them effective. Follow this checklist and write better OKRs.

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One of the major challenges while adopting any management framework is to figure out how to get started. Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), the agile goal setting framework is not an exception to this rule. We have already written a few articles around best practices in OKRs (listed at the end of this post), in this one we will provide a checklist. It can be used as a quick reference to write effective Objectives as well as Key Results.

Why should you care?

A common question that pops up in everyone's mind - does it really matter how the OKRs are written? After all, isn't OKRs a goal management approach just like any other goal setting methodology

The answer lies in the fact that OKRs are not just goals for individuals but they are connections between the strategy & execution. OKRs are nothing short of a communication channel for conveying strategy. And we all know how good strategies end up in a trash can because they weren't executed properly. Writing good OKRs is a prerequisite to executing the strategy successfully.

In addition, putting in sufficient efforts for collaboratively writing the OKRs can reveal new & innovative ways goals can be achieved.

There are two major components of the OKR designing process. One focuses on how the objectives should be written & the other one concentrates on key results.

Writing an Objective

Objectives are the qualitative goals. They are usually broad in their outlook & inspiring in nature. First & foremost, the objective should help in achieving the company goals & should be aligned with the corporate strategy.

More importantly, finalising objectives can be a tough task. People who have experienced OKR setup process before, will know how tempting it is to set myriad objectives at every possible level. Use the five why analysis to figure out if the 3-5 objectives that are being chosen are really the critical ones.

In a nutshell, you are spot on if you can answer following questions affirmatively with respect to the objective.

Is the objective broad in outlook?

Is the objective inspiring?

Does the objective help in achieving the company goals?

Does the objective align with corporate strategy?

Is the objective indispensable?

Is the objective timeboxed?

Writing a Key Result

The way key results are defined, is the soul of the entire OKR philosophy. Key results are essentially measurable indicators of success of the parent objective. Key results, unequivocally tell you how much of the objective is achieved. Some literature calls them the sub-objectives or even at times they are (wrongly) called as KPIs.

If they cannot be objectively measured, they are not KRs. Numbers form an integral part of the key result. Do note that key results are results & not activities/tasks. Again, the key lies in limiting the number of KRs in the 3-5 range, against every objective.

Ask these questions to ensure you are writing effective OKRs:

Does the Key Result adhere to SMART? (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time bound)

Is the KR a result and not just another task/activity?

Does the KR help in achieving the objective it belongs to?

Is there a timeline identified for the KR?

Does the KR belong to either a stretch or an operational goal category?

Is the KR important enough to appear in the top 5 KRs for the objective?

Template & Examples

Although there is no one size fits all template that works for all possible use cases, there is a generally acceptable way of phrasing OKRs. You are now probably writing effective OKRs but do they fit the below 'template'?

We plan to succeed in ______________________ , as measured by ___________, ____________ and ____________. We plan to achieve this by _________

1st blank is a placeholder for the objective & rest of the blanks (2-4) are going to hold related key results. The last blank adds a deadline to the entire OKR structure.

Let us look at a few examples for writing effective OKRs.
Example 1:
Increase in employee engagement

Decrease attrition rate from 7% to 3%

Increase eNPS from 78% to 90%

At least 3 engagement activities are executed within each department.

Example 2:
Raise funds to fuel our growth in APAC

4 growth centres with maximum anticipated ROI are identified

Pitch to at least 25 institutional investors

A non-binding term sheet is finalised

Additional reading for writing effective OKRs:

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Beginner's guide to writing effective OKRs | UpRaise

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One of the major challenges while adopting any management framework is to figure out how to get started. Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), the agile goal setting framework is not an exception to this rule. We have already written a few articles around best practices in OKRs (listed at the end of this post), in this one we will provide a checklist.

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MBO stands for management by objectives while OKR stands for objective and key results. Although OKRs and MBO are quite similar, there are differences between them. Bernard Marr breaks down the differences of both including how these are implemented and used. Both are still popular management tools. However, OKR is gaining more traction because of its regular reviews and aspirational quality.

https://www.bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=1460

#OKR

Both MBO and OKR are known management tools in business. Although they are similar and might be often interchanged, there can be differences. Find out which is which by reading this article.

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MBO (which stands for "management by objectives") has been a popular management tool for decades. But there's an alternative approach that's gaining a lot of traction at the moment: OKR (or "objectives and key results").

If you've read anything about OKRs, you might have noticed it has some distinct similarities to MBO. However, as we'll see in this article, there are some clear differences between the two.

Defining MBO
MBO was formulated by Peter Drucker in his 1954 book The Practice of Management as a way to improve organisational performance. In essence, MBO describes a process of defining specific and clear objectives for employees and is designed to create a culture of working towards common organisational goals. The concept spread widely, and has become the "norm" for many companies. Indeed, if you think of the classic way of managing performance - i.e. a manager agrees objectives with each employee, and then their performance (and compensation) is assessed against these objectives - what you're thinking of is MBO.
Digging into OKR
Because it's getting a lot of attention at the moment, and has been popularised by tech companies like Google, you might think OKR is a new approach. In fact, OKR has been around for decades. The concept was introduced by Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel, in the early 1980s and caught the eye of venture capitalist (and early Google investor) John Doerr. Doerr picked up the approach from his time at Intel and took it to Google, who loved it, and OKR spread from there.

Like MBO, the OKR approach is about setting strategic goals. However, it goes further than MBO, breaking down strategy and execution into two parts: the objectives (the Os) and the key results (the KRs). Essentially, this means you set a goal and then define how you will achieve it.
So what exactly is the difference?
It's clear that the MBO and OKR approaches are related - OKR evolved from MBO, essentially cherry-picking some of the best bits of MBO and building on them. And ultimately, both provide a framework for setting and communicating goals, as well as measuring performance. Both move people towards achieving common objectives.

That said, there are some clear differences between the two approaches, namely:

MBO sets out what you want to achieve, while OKR sets out the what and how
The MBO approach is about defining what it is you're trying to achieve. How an employee or team achieves that goal, and how their performance is measured against that goal is relatively flexible and open.

OKR, on the other hand, drills down into much more detail. The key results clearly define what success looks like, and therefore what needs to be done to achieve the goal, and these results translate into quantitative performance measures.

MBO is reviewed annually, while OKR is usually quarterly
Traditionally, MBO works on an annual cycle, setting goals for the year ahead, which are then evaluated and revised a year down the line. I say "traditionally" because this annual review cycle isn't so suitable for today's fast-paced world, and many companies are now choosing to review MBOs more regularly. (Indeed, if Peter Drucker was writing his book today, I've no doubt he would specify more regular reviews.)

OKR is designed with a shorter cycle in mind, with goals and progress being reviewed at least quarterly, sometimes even monthly. This allows you to better track performance, highlight where things might not be on track, and take appropriate action.

MBO is private and siloed, while OKR is public and transparent
MBO objectives are set in a confidential discussion between an employee and their line manager, and the objectives remain private. Partly this confidentiality is because MBO is linked to compensation (which we'll get to below).

In contrast, OKRs are much more transparent and tend to be created through wider team discussions, with the whole team deciding how to support the bigger-picture company goals. Anyone can see anyone else's OKRs, from the CEO to the shop floor worker.

This highlights another key difference between MBO and OKR: the former is a top-down process, with the manager setting goals (that have, in turn, been cascaded down to him or her from the leadership team), while the latter is more of a bottom-up and sideways process.

MBO is tied to compensation, while OKR (usually) isn't
Pay rise and bonus decisions are heavily influenced by MBO - an individual's annual performance determines their compensation. As I've written about extensively, this can lead to some skewed results, and not necessarily the desired performance improvement.

OKR is divorced from compensation - or, at least, that's the idea. Because OKRs tend to be quite aggressive and aspirational (see the next point below), they are not tied to compensation. The idea is to aim high, try new things and push boundaries, not to determine how big Kevin's bonus should be this year.
MBO is naturally risk-averse, while OKR is aggressive and aspirational
When compensation is linked to objectives, as it is in MBO, the expectation is that people will achieve their objectives in full. Otherwise, it's a reduced bonus for you, Kevin. Therefore, with MBO, people are expected to achieve their objectives, and this means objectives are often "safe".

OKR is quite radically different in that it's okay to not achieve all of your objectives. The goals should be aggressive, aspirational and tough (although not impossible) to achieve, so getting only 60% or 70% of the way still represents great performance. This makes perfect sense if you think about it; consistently achieving 100% of your objectives means you're not being challenged. There's a willingness to let people fail (at least, in part) with OKR, and this encourages innovation.

In conclusion, while MBO remains a popular way of setting goals and measuring performance, the OKR approach is gaining a lot of traction. And with good reason. Particularly because of its more regular review cycle and aspirational quality (and, let's be honest, its association with Google), I think we'll be hearing a lot more about OKR in the near future.

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MBO (which stands for "management by objectives") has been a popular management tool for decades. But there's an alternative approach that's gaining a lot of traction at the moment: OKR (or "objectives and key results"). If you've read anything about OKRs, you might have noticed it has some distinct similarities to MBO.

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How Different Companies are Succeeding with OKRs

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How Different Companies are Succeeding with OKRs

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This article gives examples of how different organizations are using OKRs. Although OKRs have fundamental steps, these can be used differently by different organizations. It also notes that it can be a great tool for SMEs and there is no downside to implementing OKRS. It can be a one size fits all solutions to every organization.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/278777

#OKR

The great thing about OKRs is that it can be customized depending on the organization using it. Alexander Maasik gives examples of how Google and other companies have found success in using OKRs.

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Objectives and key results ( OKRs) is a popular method for setting and tracking goals. First developed in the 1970s by the late Andy Grove in Intel, it's now increasingly popular and used not only in big companies like Google, LinkedIn and Twitter but in many SMEs as well.

OKRs can be used in any company, with any team size and there really is no downside for having clear goals. The methodology helps people be more productive and focused.

John Doerr, one of the advocates for OKRs, has said:"I remember being intrigued with the idea of having a beacon or north star every quarter, which helped set my priorities. It was also incredibly powerful for me to see Andy's OKRs, my manager's OKRs and the OKRs for my peers. I was quickly able to tie my work directly to the company's goals. I kept my OKRs pinned up in my office and I wrote new OKRs every quarter, and the system has stayed with me ever since."

Big objectives and measurable key results.

Although used a little differently in every organization, OKRs have some fundamental similarities. Objectives are set every quarter on personal, team and company level and they should summarize the most important things that a person or the team has to do.
Related: 3 Ways to Help Your Employees With Goal-Setting
Each objective should have three to four clearly measurable key objectives. It's very common to use the SMART goals methodology for that. SMART stands for "specific," "measurable," "achievable," "relevant" and "time-bound." For instance, "selling more products" is not a good key results. Instead it should be "to sell 20 percent more products than last quarter in U.S. market."

Key results must be 100 percent measurable and looking at your OKRs, you should easily see, how well you're doing.

Google's ambiguous goals.

It was John Doerr who originally introduced OKRs in Google in 1999 and they've been using the methodology ever since.

In Google, the quarterly goals are set as high as possible to make people really push for the stars. At the same time, each goals have easily measurable key results on a scale from zero to 1.0.

It is a common belief that if you can achieve 100 percent of all your OKRs each quarter, you're not aiming high enough. The OKRs must be structured. In Google, each individual and team has it's own objectives that contribute to a higher (department) level objectives. That helps to make sure that everyone is working in sync.

One other key thing about OKRs is openness. Anyone in Google can see anyone's OKRs and so, everyone knows what others are working on and how they contribute to the whole.

OKRs make your mission actionable.

Using OKRs has been very good for LinkedIn.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner defines them more broadly. They should be about "something you want to accomplish over a specific period of time that leans toward a stretch goal rather than a stated plan. It's something where you want to create greater urgency, greater mindshare."
Related: How to Seesaw Between the Why and the How of Goal-Setting
He has also said that good leaders show to each person in a company, that they can make a real difference and OKRs help you with that.

SMEs need an OKRs management tool.

OKRs are a vital tool for smaller enterprises as well.

In 2015, one of the team members in Zlien, which makes preliminary notices, lien waivers and mechanics lien compliance, suggested using objectives and key results.

They first tested it with their technology team, but quickly included the department managers as well.

Scott Wolfe Jr., CEO of Zlien, recommends using OKRs in general. It's very good to align and focus your team on the main things you are trying to work on as a company. He said: "I like the structure and how it breaks down each department and team."

Lyle Stevens, co-founder and CEO of Mavrck also loves the objectives and key results framework.

"It makes it easier to align what every individual of the company wants to achieve each quarter," said he.

For Mavrck, it's a great system for prioritizing resources and for making sure everybody is focused on the right goals. OKRs help them to make trade-off decisions. For example, if they have a new potential priority, OKRs help them to compare it to what they already want to achieve.
Related: When SMART Goals Don't Work, Here's What to Do Instead
No downside.

I can think of no reasons, why implementing a clear goal setting system in a company would do harm. From Google to two-people teams, OKRs are a "one size fits all" solution and your competitors probably already know that.

OKRs can be managed in an Excel spreadsheet or using a specific tool like Weekdone and taking the time every quarter, will save you a lot of time along the road.

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Objectives and key results ( OKRs) is a popular method for setting and tracking goals. First developed in the 1970s by the late Andy Grove in Intel, it's now increasingly popular and used not only in big companies like Google, LinkedIn and Twitter but in many SMEs as well.

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Town Hall Meetings

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Town Hall Meetings

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Town hall meetings are also known as all-hands meetings. This kind of meeting encourages everyone, including senior leaders and employees to come together in one venue. It allows management to keep everyone informed about the latest company updates and understand the organization’s goals.

According to this article, the great thing about town hall meetings is that it makes employees more engaged and encourages unfiltered feedback. On the flip side, town hall meetings can be complex and information may be filtered. The article also goes into the meeting format and alternatives that organizations can do instead.

https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/11/town-hall-meetings/

#townhall

Town hall meetings are essential to keep the organization aligned as it brings together both leaders and employees in one place. However, there can be advantages and disadvantages to this kind of meeting. This article lists the pros and cons and also includes some interesting tips to change up the meeting format.

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In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow:

Management to keep their team up to date on important information.

The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

Everyone to understand the goals and values of the organization.

Town hall meetings also go by the name of All-Hands meetings. The term "all-hands" captures exactly who needs to attend the town hall meeting. Everyone!

We'll use the terms "all-hands" and "town hall" interchangeably throughout the rest of this article.

Advantages of Town Hall Meetings

Town hall meetings have many advantages:

Important Updates are Shared Firsthand: technology can enable even remote teams to listen and take part in an all-hands meeting. By having the entire team participate at the same time they will hear firsthand about important updates. This is important because we all know the kinds of misunderstandings that can occur when information is shared secondhand among employees.

Visible Leadership: the larger an organization the more invisible senior leaders can appear. A message delivered in-person from the CEO will have more impact than one delivered by email.

Reinforce Culture and Values: regular all-hands meetings provide a great way to reinforce the organization's culture and values. In a more broad sense, you can use town hall meetings can as an educational opportunity to reinforce the things that every employee should know.

Promote Teamwork and Collaboration: getting everyone in the same room encourages people to mingle. It also helps remote team members feel connected to the whole. By hearing someone from a different part of the organization speak, you become familiar with that person. This can encourage team members from different parts of the organization to reach out to each other to solve shared problems.

Employees Feel Engaged: the all-hands makes them feel part of the decision making process.

Unfiltered Raw Feedback: senior leaders will hear real, honest, unfiltered feedback from the team. This is very different to how information usually reaches senior leaders. It is often adjusted each time it moves up a level of management.

Everyone Can Enjoy Them: most organizations know how to get their team to work hard, but you can use these meetings as an opportunity to have fun. This again can further promote teamwork and help employee retention.

Disadvantages of Town Hall Meetings

Although there are many advantages to town hall meetings, there are also a few disadvantages:

Complexity: they can be complex to organize, especially when your team is spread across multiple time zones around the world.

Information is Filtered: the information given by members of the team isn't always unfiltered constructive feedback. Team members can often say what they think people want to hear or say things for political reasons, such as wanting to get promoted.

Social Issues: Not everyone likes to speak up in front of possibly thousands of people. To overcome this issue you can use technology, for example, a dedicated email address to ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide feedback.

Town Hall Meeting Format

There are no standard rules for holding an all-hands meeting but here are some tips which can help you.

1. Keep the Opening Short

As the leader of an organization, you may feel the need to talk, a lot! But you don't have to. Introduce the agenda so everyone knows what to expect and then jump right in. It isn't going to be fun for anyone if you're dragging things out for longer than needed.

2. Stick to Agenda Timings

A simple agenda for an all-hands might look like this:

Ensure that everyone sticks to their timings. It doesn't say much for a leadership team if they promise a 90-minute meeting that goes on for 3 hours.

3. Celebrate Successes

All-hands meetings provide an opportunity to celebrate the successes of your team, even small ones. It's great to use these meetings to drive your team harder, but that message is more likely to be well received if you've already acknowledged their successes. Especially if this is done in front of their peers.

4. Share Openly

Share information as openly and candidly as you can. It will help to build trust. Of course, it would be imprudent to share certain sensitive information, but share what you can.

5. Include Everyone

This should already be clear to you from the rest of this article, but it is important to invite everyone in the organization to the meeting. Ensure that all new hires get added to the invite list on their first day in the job.

Think how bad it would feel if you were working remotely within a strategically unimportant part of the business and you didn't receive an invite to the all-hands meeting? What kind of message do you think that sends?

6. Discuss Key Metrics

All organizations have somewhere they're trying to get to. Share your KPIs for these key initiatives so everyone understands how the organization is doing.

7. Leave room for Q & A

Leave some room on the agenda for questions and answers. Remember it's important to hear feedback from the team and to facilitate them to ask questions to clarify their understanding.

If you don't know the answer to a question then state you don't know and will get back to them. As tempting as it can be, don't try and make up an answer if you don't know it. You may feel it makes you look better to know the answer to everything, but it actually undermines your credibility if you lie.

8. Keep it Fun

All-hands meetings can be a great opportunity to have some fun. This could be getting pizza or beer for everyone at the end of the meeting and encouraging them to socialize. Or it could be giving employees the opportunity to sing or dance to showcase their other talents. Use your imagination here.

Alternative to Town Hall

If you are managing a small team then Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) can provide an alternative to all-hands meetings.

MBWA won't scale as well as town hall meetings, but they might give you better information on the fears and challenges facing your team.

Summary

Town hall meetings serve three purposes:

They allow management to share important information.

They allow employees to ask questions.

They ensure everyone understands the goals of the organization.

To be successful it is important that everyone attends the meeting. These meetings should not be a one-off event. You should hold them frequently to reinforce important points and to align new hires with the objectives of the organization.

It is also important that every all-hands meeting gives employees the opportunity to ask questions. This allows employees to feel part of the decision-making process.

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In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow: Management to keep their team up to date on important information. The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

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How to Make a Great One-on-One Meeting Agenda

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How to Make a Great One-on-One Meeting Agenda

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One-on-one meetings are effective in keeping teams motivated. However, managers might struggle when it comes to conducting them. Different managers might have different problems with their meetings. Some need to have a few light questions before going with the heavy ones, while others have to adjust their meeting structure.

One important thing to do in order to have great one-on-one meetings is to make sure that you have an agenda. This helps in guiding meetings and making the most out of them. One interesting tip given in the article is to encourage employees to be in charge of the agenda. Ask them for an outline of the things they want to discuss and ask for this in advance.

https://getlighthouse.com/blog/one-on-one-meeting-agenda/

#oneonone

Having an agenda for a one-on-one meeting can be helpful in guiding managers. This also helps in making meetings more productive and in making sure that employees are engaged. This article gives some interesting insights in creating an agenda for one-on-one meetings that make them employees more involved.

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them.

Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like. If you want to maximize your time investment in each team member, then you should add one on one meeting agendas to your process.

Even if your one on ones are already pretty good, adding an agenda can really enhance the meeting so you make the most of the 30-60 minutes you have for each of your team members. Here's why:

Times change and so do people. There's always new challenges, issues, problems, and opportunities that come up that you have to help your team with. It's why you have your one on ones in the first place: to stay on top of these issues that don't neatly fit into their daily tasks. As Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel wrote on one on one meetings:

While many of you may know this, it's still really easy to let some important topics slip in your one on ones.

Maybe something happened to them last Monday and so it's no longer on top of their mind in your one on one this week. Maybe you had something you wanted to talk about, but you would have waited to discuss it if you had known what was pressing for them.

If you have your team member work on an agenda of what they want to talk about leading up to each one on one, you can ensure you don't miss any critical issues that you should make sure fit into your one on one with them.

2) Maintain trust and keep them efficient

Meetings and management go hand in hand, so it's really easy to get buried alive in them. As you run from meeting to meeting, you could easily sit down in your one on ones and have no idea what you discussed last time.

At the least, this sets you back in the meeting as you'll spend the first 5 to 10 minutes jogging your memory. At worst, your team member will resent it and be less likely to open up to you, feeling like you won't remember what's important to them anyways.

By having an agenda for each of your one on one meetings, you can ensure that you sit down knowing what you'll be covering. If you add to that glancing over what you talked about last time, you'll make the most of your meetings by hitting the ground running when you start them.

3) Build momentum and continuity across one on ones

One of the challenges with one on ones is that they happen infrequently; if you're meeting with people to talk for 30-60 minutes every few weeks, it's pretty easy for each one to be an isolated conversation.

However, if you want to build valuable momentum from meeting to meeting, as mentioned before, reviewing your notes and having an agenda each time can be a big boost. You'll also ensure you cover the variety of good topics for 1 on 1s like their career goals, feedback, praise, and shopping ideas.

One on ones become much more powerful when there's continuity from one meeting to the next. Whether you ran out of time on a subject and need to push it to next meeting, or have something you don't want to forget to check in on, an agenda ensures neither of you will forget.

It also avoids wasting a one on one on small talk, when you could have covered something more important that keeps them happy and motivated.
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.
How to make a great one on one meeting agenda

So now that you can see why agendas are important, let's take a look at how to create a great one on one meeting agenda:

1) Put them in charge of the agenda

This is their meeting so it only makes sense to ask them to take the lead on creating the agenda. You don't need anything fancy, just ask them to send you a simple outline of whatever is on their mind that they want to discuss.

Encourage them to "add it to the agenda" if they come to you mid-week with something they would like to discuss and you can't handle it in the moment.

Then, as your one on one approaches, ask for it in advance of the meeting so you have a chance to review it, ask for any clarifications, and be in the right mindset in the meeting. Most managers will ask for it either the day before, or the morning of the one on one at the latest.
{Ed. note: If your team member is brand new to one on ones, this post can help them understand what to expect and what are good things to bring up with you in the meeting, and if you use Lighthouse, they'll teach them and automatically send you the agenda. Don't use Lighthouse yet? Sign up now for a free trial and start having great 1 on 1s.}
2) Add your own questions and topics

While one on ones are their meeting, it doesn't mean you don't have any work to do. You still need to do your part to prepare and especially bring good questions.

While your team will build the habit of bringing pressing issues to you by adding them to their agenda, you'll still have to develop the skill of probing deeper and asking good questions to leave no elephants in the room. Ben Horowitz captured this well when he wrote:

Do you have an agenda for your one on ones? What advice would you give managers starting out with them?
Want an easy way to keep all your 1 on 1s well prepared and effective? Then sign up for a free trial of Lighthouse and keep all your 1 on 1s organized and set a great agenda with your team.

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Why You Need a One on One Meeting Agenda & How to make them great

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One on one meetings are a crucial tool for managers to keep their teams happy and motivated, yet many struggle with them. Other times, you have to dig deeper and look at the overall structure of your meetings to understand why they're not going as well as you may like.

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The changes in the job market today has led companies to use feedback culture in retaining employees. This post highlights how important feedback is for a manager and how to change your mindset when it comes to feedback. It also lists the steps in creating feedback culture, such as promoting peer-to-peer feedback and coaching employees with fixed mindsets.

https://www.td.org/insights/steps-you-need-to-take-now-to-build-a-feedback-culture

Having a feedback culture in an organization can help improve employee retention. This is essential for a company's success. To build this kind of culture, follow the steps listed in the article.

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A dramatic shift in the job market has led many companies to turn to feedback to improve employee retention rates. Unlike in the past, employees are feeling less tied to company loyalty and freer to take on new opportunities. Millennials in particular are notorious for their job-hopping tendencies, with most being expected to stick with each job for less than three years. Employee turnover can result in major costs for your company, and significantly affect company morale. Think about how much time you're already spending recruiting new people to replace those who have left.

Attracting top talent will also become more challenging as potential hires are looking at not only salaries, but also the quality of the work environment. Ratings-based reviews on websites like Glassdoor are helping hires become more selective and raising concern among companies over the potential for disgruntled employees to scare off new talent. As companies focus more on trying to reverse this trend, feedback has emerged as a way to better engage employees.

To some, giving candid feedback more often may seem counterproductive, but a 2009 Gallup study shows that 98 percent of employees fail to be engaged when managers give little or no feedback. As a result, companies are investing more in new feedback technology to encourage the exchange of feedback between managers and employees. Faced with the challenge of satisfying a more demanding employee population, managers will be responsible for using this technology to infuse the workplace with a greater feedback culture.

Why Is Feedback Important for Me as a Manager?

While the entrance of Millennials into the workplace will present new opportunities, it will also require adjustments to your management style. The top two most commonly cited reasons for employee turnover are problems with management and a lack of opportunities for professional development. In fact, a 2014 study by Deloitte University revealed that two-thirds of Millennials believe managers are responsible for providing them with further development opportunities. In other words, managers must become more open and engaged in their employees' career growth to meet their expectations.

When given effectively, providing your employees with more feedback is one of the best ways to demonstrate your involvement in their professional development. Giving your employees' advice on how to enhance their skills and helping them develop career goals is a powerful way to motivate your team. Even if you don't have any constructive feedback to give, giving positive feedback is a great way to acknowledge employees' work and make them feel valued within the team. In the long term, feedback can significantly boost team spirit and productivity.

Feedback not only is helpful for improving your employees' performance, but also allows you to pinpoint adjustments that need to be made to your management style. Employees might be reluctant to voice concerns about your performance as a manager until it's too late. Creating an open environment in which employees are encouraged to give you feedback in return will foster greater trust between you and your team, and alert you to potential conflicts before they heat up.

Changing Your Mindset

To realize the benefits of a feedback culture, you and your employees will need to overcome common misconceptions about feedback. As a manager, you may be hesitant to give constructive feedback to your employees and risk hurting or offending them. When it comes to your top performers, you may stick to showering them exclusively with praise as a way to demonstrate how satisfied you are with their work. When it comes to receiving feedback from your reports, you may feel uncomfortable or even defensive when given constructive criticism. You may question whether opening yourself up to feedback will undermine your position as a manager.

If this sounds familiar, you may have what Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck terms a "fixed mindset" toward feedback. People with a fixed mindset see their intelligence and personality as static features. Constructive feedback is therefore taken personally and can elicit a more emotional response. People with a "growth mindset," on the other hand, see their abilities as learned traits that must be exercised and enhanced to develop over time. People with growth-centered mindsets will view feedback as a way to reassess and hone their skills.

Remember that employees with fixed and growth mindsets may react differently to your feedback. If some employees become defensive or emotional when you review their performance, this may be a sign that they have a fixed mindset. To create a positive feedback culture, it's essential that you coach your employees on how to open themselves up to and benefit from feedback.

How to Create a Feedback Culture in the Workplace

Become a role model for open communication by asking for more feedback. Creating an open environment in which employees feel comfortable reviewing your performance will help you to improve your management skills and encourage them to see feedback from a different perspective. It is likely that some of your reports will be hesitant at first to give you honest feedback. Here are some ways you can break down these barriers.

Encourage Employees to Come to You for Feedback

Be sure to make yourself available when employees seek feedback and follow up with them after giving it. Giving your employees feedback more often will motivate them to come back to you for advice when they need it. The most important part is to learn how to give a mix of positive and constructive feedback and work on delivery. Communicating feedback in a clear and constructive way will ensure that it's received well and taken into consideration.

Promote Peer-to-Peer Feedback

Getting used to giving and receiving feedback from one another will help employees improve their interpersonal communication skills and build a greater sense of team spirit. There may be some employees who continually take on an informal mentorship role. Help them develop their potential leadership skills by providing extra training on how to give effective positive and constructive feedback. See our series of feedback guides for employees to get some inspiration.

Identify and Coach Employees With Fixed Mindsets

Employees with fixed mindsets will need extra coaching to overcome their defensive tendencies. Consider holding one-on-one sessions where you can discuss their reactions to feedback, and come up with a plan to overcome their inhibitions.

When given and received effectively, feedback can be a powerful tool to not only improve professional skills, but also motivate, increase productivity, and raise the profile of your company's work culture. However, as a manager you will need to adjust not only your mindset toward giving and receiving feedback, but also your employees'.

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Steps You Need to Take Now to Build a Feedback Culture

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A dramatic shift in the job market has led many companies to turn to feedback to improve employee retention rates. Unlike in the past, employees are feeling less tied to company loyalty and freer to take on new opportunities.

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In this article, a former Google employee relates how OKRs have helped her while she was still with Google and how it is used in her own startup starting from its inception. She relates the different mistakes that you should avoid when using OKRs, although it might be used differently by every organization. She notes that one should never set unrealistic expectations, skip regular check-ins, and shortchange celebrations.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2016/08/31/want-to-set-goals-like-google-use-okrs/#65c24e852b8e

Many people who have worked with Google also swear by OKRs in achieving goals. Falon Fatemi writes her own experiences with OKRs and how the system has helped her in building her own startup.

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Sometimes it takes time to see everything that an experience has taught you. When I left in 2011, I felt prepared for my adventure in the startup world. I'd learned the art of online sales, dabbled in Google's nonprofit arm, worked on key strategic partnerships at YouTube, and even helped influenced Google's global expansion strategy.

But looking back on the job, Google taught me much more than I'd realized then. I recognized, for instance, that I'd learned to handle rejection and to seek out mentors. And as I worked with early stage companies and eventually started my own business, I realized the importance of a tool from Google: OKRs.
The OKR Methodology
Google, in its first year, debuted OKRs - objectives and key results - to track progress toward its goals. Especially at a fast-moving company like Google, OKRs are essential. Some objectives last years, while others change every quarter.

Even today, Google employs OKRs at the company, departmental, and individual levels to create timelines for achievement. I recommend watching this presentation by Google Ventures' Rick Klau for a better understanding of how the system works.

I remember Google's OKRs fondly. During my four-year tenure, I used the system to monitor my own growth as well as my department's contributions to Google. Without even realizing it, OKRs became ingrained in me - an essential part of my work.
OKRs at Node
When I founded Node, I thought about my objectives. How would we know when it was time to hire the first developer? When would we seek our first round of funding? How long would we stay in stealth mode? Those questions snapped my mind back to OKRs.

Our earliest OKRs were product-focused. We drafted a timeline for release, set mile markers, and planned for product-market fit. Today, OKRs help us chunk the company's annual goals into quarterly, function-specific objectives.

The cardinal rule of OKRs is that they're measurable. A sales OKR, for instance, might be to hit a certain revenue target within the quarter. Marketers might set a benchmark for qualified leads, while human resources could plan to hire a particular number of engineers within the quarter.

As your company grows close to the 20-person mark, OKRs should become more individualized. How does each sales member contribute to the function's goals and, ultimately, the company's success? It is no longer enough at that point to just have OKRs by function; you need each person to own his part of the equation.

If you're a startup CEO, company OKRs are up to you. As you bring function leaders aboard, though, those individuals should take responsibility for drafting team OKRs.

OKRs vary as widely as companies themselves, so your business objectives are, well, your business. There are, however, three crucial mistakes to avoid:
1. Setting unreasonable expectations
Done right, OKRs give your team challenging objectives that link clearly to company goals. But if you make them too far-fetched, they lose credibility and can demotivate employees. Balancing stretch goals, available resources, and employee abilities takes a bit of practice. Basically, you want employees to get close to their goals, but not necessarily hit them every time.

At Google, employees set four to six quarterly OKRs; more than that is too many to manage. At the quarter's end, each employee grade his performance on a 0 to 1.0 scale. If someone hits 1.0 on every OKR, his objectives aren't ambitious enough. On the flip side, low scores shouldn't be punished but rather be used to refine the next quarter's OKRs.

Without regular evaluations, OKRs lose meaning. Think of them as a contract that's set for quarterly check-ups. To help them stick, make them public. That way, everyone sees what everyone else is working on and how they're doing. Google employees can look up anyone's current and past OKRs, from CEO Larry Page on down, in the employee directory.

At Node, we check OKRs monthly and quarterly. As CEO, it's my job to meet with function leaders to ensure employee goals align with company objectives. It's also my responsibility to model good habits by publicly reviewing the company's OKRs each month.
3. Shortchanging celebrations
OKRs are great management tools. But when you don't celebrate wins along the way, you miss opportunities to recognize employees' hard work. For young startups, as much as it is about achieving business objectives, it's about building a close-knit team.

Node is creating a more contextual web, and we need motivated, excited employees to get us there. By making time to celebrate the milestones, we create the camaraderie needed to tackle ambitious goals.

If OKRs sound simple, that's because they are. But that's the beauty of them. They help companies - from Google-sized giants to tiny startups - break down big goals into bite-sized, tough-but-doable tasks. OKRs help you become the company you want to be, one quarter at a time.

Falon Fatemi is founder and CEO of Node, a stealth startup of ex-Googlers backed by NEA, Mark Cuban, Avalon Ventures, Canaan Partners, and more. Falon has spent the past five years as a business development executive doing strategy consulting for startups and VCs and advising a variety of companies on everything from infrastructure to drones. Previously, Falon spent six years at Google starting at age 19. As one of the youngest employees in the company, Falon worked on sales strategy and operations focusing on global expansion, Google.org, and business development for YouTube.

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When I left Google at 23, I knew I'd learned a lot. But it wasn't until I'd started my own company that I realized just how much the tech giant taught me. Today, I employ one of those lessons - Google's OKR methodology - to help Node set and track individual, function, and company performance benchmarks.

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Rick Klau goes into detail regarding how to use OKRs for the organization. He talks about what OKRs are, how these are used by Google and how to adopt these for an organization. OKRs are effective in focusing efforts by aligning employee's work with the organization's goals. He notes that objectives should be ambitious. Key results should be measurable and public.

https://library.gv.com/how-google-sets-goals-okrs-a1f69b0b72c7

#OKR

Though OKRs were started by Intel, Google popularized the system that helped its growth. This is an effective system that aligns everyone with the company's goals and encourages accountability.

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On the day Google's acquisition of FeedBurner closed in 2007, it was also the first day of a new quarter at Google. My new manager at Google asked me to draft my OKRs for him to review. I had no idea what he was talking about.

I've now gone through the process of setting my Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) 24 times, and each time I marvel at what an effective mechanism they are for focusing my effort as well as aligning my work with the company's objectives. Last fall, I led a workshop about OKRs at the Startup Lab, which we're making public today.

John Doerr originally presented OKRs to Google's leadership in 1999 when Google was less than a year old, and they've been in use ever since. In the video, I present a portion of John's original deck, then lay out how we've implemented them at Google over the years. I also shared a few of my OKRs from my time as a Product Manager on Blogger, and answered some questions from the employees at our portfolio companies who were present for the workshop.

Though the video goes into more detail, here are a few keys to what make OKRs work at Google:

Objectives are ambitious, and should feel somewhat uncomfortable

Key Results are measurable; they should be easy to grade with a number (at Google we use a 0-1.0 scale to grade each key result at the end of a quarter)

OKRs are public; everyone in the company should be able to see what everyone else is working on (and how they did in the past)

The "sweet spot" for an OKR grade is .6 - .7; if someone consistently gets 1.0, their OKRs aren't ambitious enough. Low grades shouldn't be punished; see them as data to help refine the next quarter's OKRs.

One comment: in talking recently with one portfolio company who's implemented OKRs, I realized that I should have been more emphatic in pointing out that OKRs are not synonymous with employee evaluations. OKRs are about the company's goals and how each employee contributes to those goals. Performance evaluations - which are entirely about evaluating how an employee performed in a given period - should be independent from their OKRs. We'll cover employee evaluations in an upcoming workshop.

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On the day Google's acquisition of FeedBurner closed in 2007, it was also the first day of a new quarter at Google. My new manager at Google asked me to draft my OKRs for him to review. I had no idea...

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Town hall meetings provide opportunities for organization leaders to connect with employees. This opportunity of getting everyone together should be taken advantage of in order to promote culture in the organization.

To make these meetings more engaging, Jamie Nichol suggests playing music and incorporating a meal into the session. This helps in lightening the mood and encourages everyone to sit and talk together. Doing so can improve engagement and collaboration.

https://cultureiq.com/7-ways-to-make-your-town-hall-meetings-more-engaging/

#townhallmeeting

Setting up town hall meetings can be challenging. However, this has to be done as it promotes culture in the organization and nurtures relationships between senior leaders and employees. There are easy steps to make town hall meetings more engaging for employees. Among the suggestions from Jamie Nichol is adding music and incorporating a meal in between the session.

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At their best, town hall meetings are an opportunity for senior leadership and all employees to connect, collaborate, and share updates. At their worst, these company-wide meetings can simply be a waste of time, where it feels more like a one-sided lecture better served as an email. It's rare to pull everyone together, either virtually or in-person, so take advantage of this opportunity and make it an event that actively (and positively!) contributes to your company's culture.

1. Play music. Music is something we all can appreciate, and it has been proven to lighten as well as improve the mood. By playing music at the beginning of the town hall meeting, your employees will come in feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to learn more about the current state of the company. Take it a step further and make it collaborative by giving the song selection responsibility to a different employee each time.

2. Keep the sessions smaller, and emphasize the importance of face-to-face communication with leadership. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the town hall meeting is most effective because it has the ability to capture and hold the attention of the audience. The audience will be even more engaged if the sessions are smaller, so you might want to schedule several different town hall opportunities and invite employees to sign up for a time that works best for their schedule.

3. Incorporate a meal into the meeting. This WCG blog notes that serving food and encouraging corporate leaders to sit at tables with other employees will improve engagement. Some employees might be too intimidated to speak up during a question-and-answer session, and they might feel more comfortable asking a question in a more casual atmosphere over a turkey wrap.

4. Use pictures and videos to capture the attention of the audience... and keep it! Visual elements will be more interesting to the audience, and will make your meeting more successful. Consider revamping your entire slideshow template to be more colorful and visual.

5. Present awards at the meeting. Choose different awards for each town hall, and be sure to recognize a diverse range of employees. The prize doesn't need to be expensive, and instead, it can be something simple, fun, or even goofy. The key is to create excitement around the award program.

6. Make it more interesting by hosting an interview. Ask a member of the communications team to interview a new employee each month. This could be a member of senior management, a new employee, or someone who went above and beyond this month. Make sure the interview is informative and encourage the interviewee's personality to shine through!

7. Encourage feedback via a follow-up survey. Maybe employees had questions they didn't have a chance to ask, or maybe they want to share their positive feedback about the new award program that you implemented after reading point 5 in this post. Give everyone an opportunity to provide this feedback by sending a quick follow-up survey to all employees after the town hall meeting.
Looking to develop an open, communicative culture? Learn how CultureIQ can help.

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7 Ways to Make Your Town Hall Meetings More Engaging

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At their best, town hall meetings are an opportunity for senior leadership and all employees to connect, collaborate, and share updates. At their worst, these company-wide meetings can simply be a waste of time, where it feels more like a one-sided lecture better served as an email.

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How to Run a Worthwhile Town Hall Meeting

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How to Run a Worthwhile Town Hall Meeting

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Town hall meetings are important in being an avenue for leaders to connect with employees. This allows the former to share results and discuss issues with the latter. Doing so can help in achieving success for the organization.

Though in theory, everything might look good, a town hall meeting can have problems when it becomes a heavy presentation. Some employees might start dreading this kind of meeting. To make your town hall meetings more worthwhile and effective, you need to take actions. One relevant tip given in the article is to keep the meeting content fresh. Avoid repeating content and make it more interesting by providing unexpected ones by showing videos or audio.

http://blog.meeteor.com/blog/town-hall-meeting/

#townhallmeeting

Making town hall meetings interesting and worthwhile is necessary to make sure all participants are engaged. These meetings are beneficial for the organization’s success but there are times when they can be a drag. This article lists some tips for making town hall meetings more meaningful for everyone, especially employees.

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In more than 30 years' experience in internal communication, I've learned that one of the things employees value most is the opportunity to connect with senior leaders That's why town hall meetings are so important; they give leaders a forum for sharing results, reviewing critical issues and discussing what employees can do to help the organization succeed.

The intention is to create an open space for employees to engage in conversations. However, the problem occurs when the meeting becomes just a series of dense, one-way presentations. And it's made worse when one session is just the same as every other town hall.

The result is that employees start to dread town hall meetings rather than looking forward to attending them. In fact, if you were to ask employees, they might say:

"With all those charts, time moves so slowly."

"The format doesn't change from quarter to quarter, and the content's not very different either. I feel like I heard it all before."

"I don't know what it means to me."

"The CEO says he wants questions, but presentations always run long and we end up with only a few minutes for Q&A."

"What do I feel when I leave the town hall? Mostly relief that it's over."

What a missed opportunity!

The potential of effective town hall meetings

When town halls are well run, they give employees the chance to closely interact with senior leaders, which builds trust and confidence. Town halls share content employees can't hear anywhere else. And they bring people together to create a sense of community.

How, then, can you tap into the potential to make town halls as effective as possible?

Start with this premise: A town hall meeting is an event, not a series of presentations. In fact, the core principle is participation. Several thousand years ago, the Greeks invented the town hall (which they called an "assembly") as a way to give citizens a voice and a role in government. Today, every town hall should be planned not just as a way to share information but as an engaging experience.

5 actions you can take to plan a meaningful town hall meeting

1. Set focused objectives

In many organizations, town halls have become so routine that they run almost on automatic pilot. The sessions are scheduled months in advance and, a few weeks before the town hall meeting will be held, the communicator in charge starts to work on content the meeting will cover. He or she meets with leaders, asking, "What do you want to talk about this time?"

But that's actually the wrong question. For the town hall to be truly effective, here's what you should ask: "What are the outcomes we are trying to achieve in holding this town hall? What do we want employees to know, believe and do as a result of participating in the meeting?"

By doing so, you're creating focused objectives that build a strong foundation for planning a town hall meeting that's not based on a collection of topics (see #2), but on measurable outcomes that make the session worth the effort.

Objectives like these are a great starting point for building better town halls:

Increase confidence in the company and trust in leaders

Learn about an issue that's vital to the organization

Motivate participants

Prepare employees to take action

2. Create focus and flow

One of the most common mistakes made in planning town halls is including too many topics.

It's not unusual for organizers to put town halls together by collecting topics from key stakeholders. By the time the town hall meeting begins, there are 10 or 12 topics shoehorned into 40 minutes of presentation time. The town hall seems like a laundry list (a bulleted list of facts) or rice at a wedding (unstructured, scattered content).

Instead, ask yourself: How can you put this town hall together to raise employees' energy and leave them feeling more motivated than when they came in?

Start by structuring the session to engage employees' emotions. Think about which topics build energy and lift people up, and how others will require serious thought.

Plan your town hall meeting the way you would a special event or a television talk show. Start with a strong opening. Energize employees early-and give them opportunities to participate throughout the meeting, not just at the end. Instead of giving every topic equal time, create in-depth sessions on the issues that matter most. Consider telling a compelling story that brings the issue to life.

Here is an example of what I mean-an energy-creating agenda that immerses employees in a key initiative:

Welcome/introductions (5 minutes)

Thank you for great year; recognize teams that made a difference (5 minutes)

Recap 7 priorities for the coming year, give a tangible example for each (5 minutes)

Focus on customer service priority: what's happening with our competitors, why customer service is a differentiator, how we're working to improve our scores by 10% (15 minutes)

Employee perspectives on customer service, brainstorm initial ideas, Q&A and discussion (25 minutes)

Next steps (5 minutes)

3. Keep content fresh

There's nothing more boring than old news, yet many town halls share information that employees already know. The content is as stale as last week's bread.

The good news is this: You can create content that's fresh and unexpected; you just need to put in a little effort. Here are three ways to do so:

Instead of rehashing the quarterly financial report, ask the CFO to share what analysts are most concerned about.

Instead of reiterating all seven strategic initiatives, focus on one. Invite an internal expert to explain what it means. Create a breakout session where employees share perspectives on the issue.

Instead of repeating any existing content, explore new ways to engage the audience. For example, don't review safety statistics; develop stories about how employees have taken steps to improve workplace safety. Show photos, play audio, create a video.

4. Arrange the "room"

Physical space matters and sets the tone for the conversation. Here's a simple change that will make a big difference: rearrange the way the room is set up.

Many organizers arrange the chairs in theater style: semicircular rows of chairs facing a stage. A theater-style arrangement sends a signal to people that their role is to observe and listen-not participate.

Instead, consider setting up the room up with round tables, with employees sitting in a semi-circle around one side of each table, facing leaders. This seating arrangement signals to employees that they're in this together-that they've got a chance to work together to participate. Of course, you've got to do more than just rearrange the room; create an activity (such as a breakout discussion) that takes advantage of the new seating arrangement. By changing the chairs, you signal to employees that this town hall meeting may be different from the ones that came before.

5. Go beyond Q&As to transform participation

At nearly every traditional town hall meeting, there's a moment of silence that comes when a senior leader utters these four scary words: "Are there any questions?" A hush falls over the room. People avoid making eye contact. Finally, some brave soul raises his hand and everyone starts breathing again.

Town hall participation shouldn't be painful. Here are three ways to encourage employees to play a role.

Allow plenty of time.
Most town halls and other leader venues are too heavily weighted toward presentations, leaving only a few minutes at the end for Q&A. You need enough time to set up the discussion, facilitate dialogue and build momentum.

Take a vote.
The safest way for employees to participate is as part of a big group. Use audience response devices or text polling to ask employees their opinions on key issues. If you don't have access to technology, you can still ask employees to participate by calling for a show of hands.

Instead of calling for questions, coach leaders to pose a question.
Even in the most supportive culture, it's risky for employees to expose potential ignorance by asking a question. But if the leader poses a question-like "What are the obstacles to achieving this objective?"-employees have the opportunity to participate from a position of strength.

You don't have to make all these changes at once; even a simple step can make a difference in improving the experience of your town hall meetings.

Image Credit: Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

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How Do You Run a Meaningful Town Hall Meeting For Employees? - Meeteor

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In more than 30 years' experience in internal communication, I've learned that one of the things employees value most is the opportunity to connect with senior leaders That's why town hall meetings are so important; they give leaders a forum for sharing results, reviewing critical issues and discussing what employees can do to help the [...]

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One-on-One Meetings: Important Tips for Managers

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One-on-One Meetings: Important Tips for Managers

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One-on-one meetings are essential for workplace success. It’s an amazing productivity tool that builds relationships between employees and managers.

For managers balancing the regular workload and having one-on-one meetings with everyone from the team can be challenging. Libby Duong gives six tips to help managers maximize their one-on-ones and make sure they’re productive. She noted that this type of meeting should be a two-way conversation and constructive.

https://www.quantumworkplace.com/future-of-work/6-essential-one-on-one-meeting-tips-for-managers

Doing one-on-one meetings for managers can be challenging and time-consuming. However, this can be a great tool for success. For managers, here are some easy tips to make one-on-one meetings more productive and effective.

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

But as a manager, your resources are stretched thin. You've got to balance your own workload, on top of carefully monitoring your direct reports' performance and development. I'm sure you often find yourself wondering how to have the most productive and effective conversations.

Good thing we're here to help. Check out these six essential one on one meeting tips to maximize your meetings.

#1) Hold one on one meetings frequently.

This doesn't mean blocking off hours and hours on the calendar. This means meeting frequently enough so performance, goals, challenges, and barriers can be discussed in real-time, while they're top-of-mind.

#2) Set a meeting cadence.

This tip is simple: put a reoccurring meeting on the calendar. Whether that be monthly or quarterly, the consistency will help you and your employee prioritize the one on one, making sure it doesn't slip through the cracks among all your other responsibilities.

#3) Share topics ahead of time.

Thinking through the topics to be discussed at your next one on one shows that you've put time and effort into the meeting and that you consider it a priority. It also allows your employees to prepare, think through their answers, and inspire more topics of their own to be discussed.

#4) Do your research on your employee.

Do you really know what your employees have been up to? How is their progress on goals? Have they received any positive or negative feedback on recent projects? Are their peers recognizing them for their great work? Checking in on these smaller milestones can help you paint a better picture of how your employees are really doing.

#5) Make sure it's a conversation.

Effective one on one meetings should be a two-way conversation. Both participants should be actively engaged, sharing their thoughts and opinions to make sure the conversation is constructive.

#6) Discuss next steps.

Don't let the time you've put into your one on one go to waste: make sure ideas become realities by discussing next steps to hold both parties accountable. Record these next steps using one on one tech so they're not forgotten by your next one on one meeting.

It's time to take these six essential one on one meetings tips and implement them in your organization. Whether you're a seasoned manager, or embarking on the new adventures of a leadership role, you're bound to have more effective one on one meetings with these tips in mind.

Need questions to ask in your next one on one meeting? Download a whole bunch (350 to be exact) today!

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6 Essential One on One Meeting Tips for Managers

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You've heard time and time again about the importance of one on one meetings in the workplace. If you haven't, take it from Forbes: "One on ones are one of the most important productivity tools you have as a manager." They're absolutely crucial to building a relationship between a manager and employees.

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Feedback can be powerful in molding employees and in helping them in their careers. Creating a feedback culture in an organization can be done by following these eight principles highlighted in the article. Among the principles are hiring employees that are open to feedback and training them to provide feedback correctly.

https://emplo.com/blog/how-to-create-a-feedback-culture#.Wz4Q1dUzbIV

#feedbackculture

There are many benefits that a feedback culture can provide to an organization. It helps mold everyone and aids them in their career. When creating a feedback culture, these principles can guide you to make it even more effective.

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Feedback's power is impressive. It can aid in molding employees and guiding them toward a fulfilling career path. It can improve motivation and engagement. However, for many offices around the U.S., feedback can be a scary word associated with stressful annual meetings. While likely no one relishes the pressure associated with an annual meeting, there are other ways to offer feedback. If you've ever wondered how to create a feedback culture with your organization, it is important to know that it starts with the people.

How to create a feedback culture? Stick to these eight golden principles:

1.Recruit employees open to feedback.

Culture is people, so it's important to begin screening new employees to be open to a feedback-rich culture. Look for potential hires that are life-long learners. These people have what's called a ' growth mindset'. Employees that respond more positively to a feedback culture will search out knowledge and improvement on their own.

2. Train your employees to give feedback correctly.

You can't just throw your employees into the fray. That's not how to create a feedback culture. Feedback is not a natural talent but a skill that needs to be cultivated. No one is born knowing the right way to offer feedback. Improper feedback can come across as demotivating, discouraging, and all around frustrating for employees. Investing in training to give your employees the tools to give critical, helpful feedback is a crucial step. Set your employees up for success. It is important to remember that while your employees may be open to feedback during the training; it needs to be implemented in the day-to-day office culture as well.

3. Create safe spaces to receive feedback.

To do this, you need to offer your employees opportunities to get to know one another. Learning about their co-workers on an individual level can help them understand the right way to deliver feedback. It also creates a sense of trust and understanding among your employees which will help foster positive encounters.

4. Let your employees say, "Not right now".

Feedback shouldn't be forced upon employees that are not responsive to it. Sometimes, it's just the wrong time to hear something critical, even if it needs to be said. Give your employees the option to say, "Later please," and stick to it. They'll be more receptive when you do speak with them, and you'll keep reinforcing that you respect their boundaries. It's important for your employees to learn how to create a feedback culture as much as you and part of that is setting boundaries.

5. Give more positive feedback than negative critiques.

Often when people hear the word 'feedback', they think of negative feedback. While this is a necessary element of a feedback culture, you should be offering far more positive praise. Not only does it motivate your employees, but it keeps them open-minded about hearing criticisms because they'll know that you see all of the good work they do too.

Research shows that the most positive long-term relationships have a balance of five positive interactions to one negative one. This is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when you're interacting with and offering feedback.

6. Do not tie feedback to compensation.

This might be one of the most important principles for how to create a feedback culture. For many offices, employees dread feedback because it is tied to compensation in the form of an annual review. Feedback needs to be divorced from compensation otherwise you will likely find your employees resistant to the idea. No one wants to hear critiques of their work if they think that will impact how much their raise will be. Feedback should only be delivered in a constructive and supportive environment that's aimed toward improving your employees' skills and achieving their career goals.

7. Live what you teach.

To have a true feedback culture, you cannot be exempt. As a manager, you will have to ask for feedback. The key; however, is afterwards to show that you're taking steps to enact changes in response to the feedback. You want to show that your employees' opinions matter to you so that they will respect your feedback as well.

8. Vary the feedback types.

Not all feedback is appropriate for all situations. To create a feedback culture, encourage and use different forms and delivery methods for feedback. Annual reviews is a classic example of feedback but there is also 360-degree feedback (or another permutation), face-to-face, in a meeting, or through a performance management tool like emplo.

Learning how to create a feedback culture is a process.

It might not all be smooth sailing if you're trying to change the inherent culture of your office, so here are a few tips to help ease some of the speed bumps along the way.

Feedback isn't scary. And it shouldn't be. Often feedback is built up into this big thing that is held behind closed doors, but it can be casual. It can be an offhand comment made in the break room if you've sufficiently developed a feedback culture.

Feedback can happen anywhere. Along the same lines, make a habit to give feedback anywhere. Feedback doesn't require a scheduled meeting.

Notice and reward effort and not just results. You should be paying attention to your employees' activities as a whole and not just the results. Sometimes the results are out of the hands of your employee. If you can see that they're trying hard to meet goals, note that and praise them for it.
Notice and reward effort and not just results. Click To Tweet
Stay attuned to your employees' emotional states. Sometimes it's not the right time to give feedback. That doesn't mean if your employee is having a bad day, you should never talk to them about something, but giving them some space to come to a calm mental state will help.

Learning how to create a feedback culture can seem daunting, but approaching it with the right attitude and training will help guide the way. Once you have established a strong feedback culture, you'll likely be surprised to see an entire shift in your employees' demeanor. They will be more engaged, happy, and ready to tackle new challenges because they'll be in a supported environment.

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8 Golden Principles for Creating a Feedback Culture | Emplo

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Feedback's power is impressive. It can aid in molding employees and guiding them toward a fulfilling career path. It can improve motivation and engagement. However, for many offices around the U.S., feedback can be a scary word associated with stressful annual meetings.

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John Doerr is an evangelist of OKRs, which he learned as an intern in Intel four decades ago. He explains what OKR is and how he has used it in running his business. He explains how important OKRs are for organizations to achieve their goals.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2018/04/24/john-doerr-kpcb-okr-measure-what-matters-book.html

In this article, John Doerr gives his insights on OKRs and how he learned them. He believes that every type of business can utilize OKRs for tracking, focusing, and alignment.

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John Doerr, the chairman of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is a fervent evangelist of OKRs (objectives and key results), a management tool he learned as an intern at Intel Corp. from its legendary leader Andy Grove four decades ago.

In a new book, "Measure What Matters," Doerr talks about OKRs and how they have been adopted by everyone from Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to Bill and Melinda Gates at the Gates Foundation and rock star Bono at his One Campaign to end extreme poverty and preventable disease.

In advance of the book's release today, Doerr spoke with the Silicon Valley Business Journal to explain more about the power of OKRs and why he believes every business can use them to be more successful. We'll have more from Doerr - one of the most prominent Silicon Valley figures in venture capital - this Friday in our weekly print edition and also online.
What are OKRs (objectives and key results)?
It's a simple goal setting system that works for companies and teams and even individuals. You write down and share with everybody, transparently, your objectives. These are the goals, what you want to have accomplished. Then you do the same with your key results, which is how you're going to get it done.

An objective might be to build the world's best browser. And then the key results would be ship 20 million of them by the third quarter, with 10 times higher speed and four major distribution deals.

The objectives are the "whats." The key results are the "hows." Really good objectives are significant, concrete, they're action-oriented and inspiring. Key results are specific and time bound. They're aggressive, but realistic. They're measurable and verifiable.

At the end of a period of time, you can be sure a key result is going to be done or not done, and they get graded. In the end, though, these grades don't count for anything. It's very important that you not use OKRs for bonuses or for promotions. They're used for focus, for alignment, for commitment, for tracking.

If you're getting 100 percent of your OKRs done, that's not good. You probably weren't aggressive enough. A good grade at Intel or Google would be 70 percent.

I want to hasten to add they're not a silver bullet. They're not a substitute for a strong culture or even stronger leaders or good management judgment. They're not easy to do. But when they're implemented faithfully, and they do get adopted, the system always works. I've never seen it fail.
You write that when you did your first OKR at Intel, you typed it on an IBM Selectric and posted it on your cubicle. Transparency is an important part of all this, right?
Yup. Andy Grove's were posted on his cubicle, too.

What really makes or breaks this system is whether or not the leader, the CEO, the general manager or the department head, is personally committed. When that's the case, this system can take your team to the mountain top. I don't want to dwell in history, but I'm quite convinced that if Intel did not use OKRs, they would have lost the microprocessor wars to Motorola.
When was your "ah-ha moment" with OKRs?
At one point in my career at Kleiner, I took a sabbatical. It was supposed to be for just a year but it went longer. I went to work at Sun Microsystems, leading their desktop computer division. Suddenly, I had almost a thousand people reporting to me. I wanted that experience. I wanted to get outside of my comfort zone, because at Kleiner I was trying to coach entrepreneurs doing the same thing. OKRs really saved me. I used them to organize staff meetings, to do one-on-one reviews, to structure our organization. That's when it really came home how useful and powerful this kind of goal setting is.

Now, OKRs, I'm going to add, are not the only tool in the toolkit of this handbook. Another one is CFRs (conversations, feedback, and recognition). They're a sibling of OKRs.

If the objectives in OKRs are the goal posts at the end of the football field, and key results are the markers in between, CFRs are what you do in the huddle and how you call the plays. The two combined together are really potent.
Do you have to have OKRs for CFRs to work?
No. You do not. OKRs with CFRs is the best thing going.
CFRs are a reaction to and an alternative to the annual performance reviews that have been so prevalent, right? What's wrong with the annual review and why are CFRs better?
The first thing wrong with the annual review is that it's annual.

The second thing wrong with it is it's almost always backward looking.

The third thing is that it takes a lot of time to dredge up the facts of that review. Usually you're combing through emails or other reports.

The fourth problem with them is all the data shows they're tremendous de-motivators. The number of people who quit or move on after an annual report - good or bad - is unreasonably high.

Another problem with them is they take so much time.

On almost every count, they fail. But some companies aren't willing to ditch them. So they combine an annual review with a lighter touch and more frequent one-on-one style feedback.

But I think we're entering a really interesting era at this moment in time in several ways. I believe these approaches and techniques - now that we have the cloud and shared collaborative social systems - can really improve the people science. Not just better analytics, but actually getting greater performance, higher performance, higher commitment, out of teams.

Every business I've seen benefits from a stronger team and stronger leaders. They are just now getting modern tools to help them do this.

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John Doerr writes "Measure What Matters," gives guidance on how to set goals at work - Silicon Valley Business Journal

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John Doerr, the chairman of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is a fervent evangelist of OKRs (objectives and key results), a management tool he learned as an intern at Intel Corp. from its legendary leader Andy Grove four decades ago.

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With the changing workforce demographics, it is more important to use the organization’s internal communication to align everyone. This is a key function of every business.

This article from Sina Kaye Lockley identifies the reasons why utilizing internal communication is important. One of the reasons she cited is providing purpose to everyone. Through communication, goals and plans are expressed including how employees contribute to achieving goals. Employees are more engaged when they feel like they are working in a purpose-driven organization.

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/why-internal-communications-is-more-important-than-ever

#townhall

Internal communication should be a business priority as this helps in bringing together employees of different backgrounds and different demographics. There are also other reasons why internal communication is important. This article gives a detailed insight into the benefits that a good internal communication in an organization brings.

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Workforce demographics are changing. Each successive generation from Gen X onward has been more and more discerning about the ways their employers talk and listen to them. They have less time for office politics and they demand increased collaboration, transparency, and feedback. They're working differently, and they require tools that can set them up for success in this new environment, where internal communication plays a greater role than ever before in aligning people behind common goals. Here are seven reasons why internal communications is a key business function and is more important than ever before.

See How Innovative Communicators Are Aligning their Multi-Generational Workforces

1. The Drive for Purpose

2. Remain in Control of the Message and It's Origin

3. Empower and Support Middle Management

4. Keep the Brand Promise and Satisfy Your Customers

5. In a Crisis, Internal Communication Rules

6. Create a Better Work Environment

7. Limit Rumors and Enhance Transparency

1. The Drive for Purpose

As kids we would ask our parents the question "Why?" at least 250 times a day. (Sorry, Mom.) And it seems not much has changed in that department. The quest for a sense of reason and purpose has stayed with us into adulthood.

This certainly applies to our working lives. As employees, we want to understand our goals, know the plans for getting there, and be confident about the value of our contributions toward those plans. We want to feel valued, listened to, and part of the team. This is especially true for millennials and Gen Z, who rely heavily on feedback and interaction. Having grown up in the age of social media, they're used to a constant flow of likes, sharing, and comments.

But purpose isn't limited to showing employees their goals; it also includes visualizing the actions that each and every person can take in order to contribute. For example, it's highly effective and motivating to regularly post and share information about what a team or a company has achieved. Reaching set goals together increases the feeling of teamwork and progress.

Create great goals that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

73 percent of employees who say they work at a "purpose-driven" company are engaged, compared to just 23 percent of those who don't. In addition, a recent global survey of 26,000 LinkedIn members, taken by the research firm Imperative, found that 73 percent of its participants want a career in which they feel that their job matters.

A well-functioning internal communications system can motivate employees to work toward common goals. By letting them in on the "why," companies can significantly engage them in the "what."

2. Remain in Control of the Message and It's Origin

Employees should never learn about important company news from an external source. But having news and information easily accessible on our smartphones and in other mobile channels anytime and anywhere is a situation that intimidates many companies. The only way to deal with it is by learning to match and even exceed that external speed and to make internal points of view readily available-not just during times of crisis, but also in day-to-day operations.

Two main ingredients are needed to ensure that information comes from the right source, is timely, and reaches all employees:

First, a well defined but flexible and fast editing process with a short approval chain up and down the hierarchy. Designing such a structure is similar to the challenge companies faced a few years ago when they had to define processes for social media to respond to a critical tweet within minutes or hours-not days.

And second, organizations need to establish fast, interactive, and reliable channels to reach all employees. Fast and interactive means digital-and today digital means mobile. As in many other cases, a combination of new procedures, skills, and technologies are needed to create trust and transparency. This enables companies to remain in control of the messages they send, instead of leaving information susceptible to individual interpretations.

3. Empower and Support Middle Management

Most companies cascade information top-down through their hierarchies. The trickle of information often results in delays, limited feedback, and a complete dependence upon the individual communication efforts of each person in the chain.

Plenty of messages are going out-the problem is that most of them aren't reaching the people who actually do the work. Internal communication can make this chain much more effective.

Empowering middle management at all times with the required resources and information available will allow them to be the best possible leaders and communicators for their staff. In addition, providing information that isn't team-specific through a location-wide or central communication channel will lighten the burden on middle management.

Internal communication presents a valuable opportunity for companies to understand their workforce better and, in doing so, train better managers. This is especially important for millennials, since they often feel ill-equipped for their new roles.

Millennials Feel Unprepared for Management Positions

Although millennials have the highest number of college graduates according to a recent Randstad and Future Workplace study, many feel unprepared to solve conflicts, negotiate, and manage other people. They believe they lack the required soft skills and aren't capable of overseeing older generations.

Good internal communication helps on several fronts, not only to better understand a workforce, but also to enable two-way conversations.

4. Keep the Brand Promise and Satisfy Your Customers

Your customers expect your brand to keep its promises. Always.

This is true for consumers and business customers alike. How do companies make sure that this works in a large distributed organization with hundreds or even thousands of middle managers? They do it through internal communications with your frontline employees.

Clearly-communicated goals, well-trained and informed staff, and happy faces will significantly improve a customer's encounter with the brand and, it stands to reason, enhance revenue.

Customer experience is the most pressing mandate for marketers. It was the top area of marketing technology investment in 2016, and it led innovation spending again in 2017. A Gartner survey has found that 89 percent of companies were expected to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience, versus 36 percent in 2013. In addition, 50% of consumer product investments are being directed to customer experience innovations.

Great brands are built from the inside out. Start with your employees and their satisfaction and confidence will be mirrored directly onto your customers.

5. In a Crisis, Internal Communication Rules

Timely and careful communication is key to mastering an internal or external crisis. The way that your employees and external stakeholders view an incident (negatively, neutrally, or positively) is a major factor in whether or not the incident develops into a full-blown crisis. However, internal crisis communication research has found that managers often communicate significantly less with employees during a crisis.
The mobile communications app of Nebraska's Adams Land & Cattle has become an instrumental piece of their crisis-intervention planing, particularly with regard to weather.
Not only can internal communication help you steer people's perceptions about a situation, but it also supports short- and long-term crisis management. Short-term management addresses the incident itself, while long-term plans are more focused on preserving the company's reputation and enacting measures in order to prevent negative situations from repeating. By putting organizational structure, plans, and channels in place before a crisis hits, internal communication will allow you to handle crisis situations, no matter the size, reputation, or industry of your company.

6. Create a Better Work Environment

A better work environment will help companies on two fronts: Avoiding high turnover rates, and attracting new talent.

Turnover rates are increasing and cost the American economy $3 billion annually. Millennials in particular are known to job-hop. Up to 40 percent say they're willing to change their position within the next two years. It's now the company's job to make them stay. "Good internal communication provides constant feedback and purpose which increases employee engagement which in turn decreases turnover rates, ultimately saving the company money."

Whether you're trying to attract talent or retain it, employees need to know their employers. A well-functioning internal communications system and the open work environment it creates will give your company an edge in today's highly competitive market.

Ultimately, there's no better advertisment for your brand than happy employees and happy customers.

7. Limit Rumors and Enhance Transparency

Informal communication has its advantages and disadvantages. Grapevine word-of-mouth can sometimes help employees to interpret managerial information; it often reaches those who might have otherwise missed the original transmission; and it's more flexible than formal communication. In addition, the grapevine helps to improve relationships between employees and it spreads knowledge and tips that can make work more effective.

On the other hand, informal communication can distort the meaning of information; it supports rumors and misunderstandings; and it's difficult to control.

Good internal communication can help increase the advantages of informal communication. It will slow down the rumor mill by communicating frequently and immediately, and it will help employees to interpret information as well as instructions.

Employees put a high premium on transparency in their interactions with different levels of management, going as far as naming it the top factor in determining their happiness and satisfaction in the workplace.

Providing both-a rumor-free environment and transparency-is central for a generation of employees (and customers) who are skeptical to the core.

Conclusion: IC Enriches Employees' Lives

Effective internal communication is a powerful force that leads to a 40 percent increase in customer satisfaction, a 30 percent increase in profitability, and a 36 percent increase in the overall performance of a company. Talking to employees no longer plays second fiddle to external communications. It's a key business function that inspires and aligns your whole organization. Internal communications professionals need to raise the bar and confidently put their ideas on the boardroom agenda.

A 2016 Internal Communication Survey found that IC budgets are more likely to be growing than shrinking in the years to come. In fact, 87 percent of the participants expected budgets to either remain at present levels or increase. With the top-down communication hierarchy slowly unraveling and younger generations moving in, internal communication and employee engagement are two topics that should be at the top of every company's list of priorities.

How is your organization dealing with the changes in internal company communication? Drop a comment in the section below. We'd love to hear from you!

Feel free to contact us if you'd like more information on how to elevate your internal communication. You might also be interested in the following articles:

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7 Reasons Why Internal Communications Is More Important Than Ever

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Workforce demographics are changing. Each successive generation from Gen X onward has been more and more discerning about the ways their employers talk and listen to them. They have less time for office politics and they demand increased collaboration, transparency, and feedback.

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One-on-one meetings can be challenging for both employees and managers. For the latter especially, there may be a lot of information to be discussed. So, how can you rock this kind of meeting instead of being stressed out?

This article gives some tips to handle one-on-one meetings. An important step is to come to the meeting prepared with an agenda and a few guide questions to cover every area. One interesting tip pointed out was to allow personal conversations to happen. Creating this connection and relationship can humanize you as a manager. You’ll also feel less nervous with the next one-on-one meetings.

https://www.kayako.com/blog/one-on-one-meeting/

#oneonone

Conducting one-on-one meetings can be nerve-wracking. However, there are steps that you can take to ease the stress a little bit and make it more productive as it is enjoyable on your part. One tip provided by the article is to allow personal conversations as this lets you be familiar with your employees on a personal level. This builds connection and humanizes you as a boss, as well.

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Let's just say it: one-on-ones are nerve-wracking.

As an employee, when someone drops a one-on-one meeting on your calendar, it can mess up your whole day.

As a manager (new or otherwise), you can struggle trying to come up with the most perfect and productive way to use your time: you need to get to know the status of what your employee is working on, how they feel, any bumps in the road coming up-it's a lot of information to cover!

I want to take a little bit of the stress out of the equation for you and help you rock conducting one-on-one meetings with employees.

Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda

Have a list of your one-on-one meeting questions ahead of time. In fact, maybe even have a set of categories that you cover every single time. A good example of this could be:

What things are working and not working?

How is your workload going?

What are your personal development goals and how are they going?

Bring a case or a ticket to talk about.

Of course, you can talk about things outside of these categories, but having something regular and planned on your one-on-one meeting agenda helps to keep you away from that dreaded first five minutes of awkward silence. It also helps to build regularity and lets both you and your employees prepare for the meeting and have meaningful conversation.

Leave time for personal conversation

For me, one of the main things that I try to focus on during one-on-one meetings with staff is getting to know them personally.

Hopefully you already have some context into what they are doing professionally, so try to leave some time to create personal connections. This can happen at the beginning of the meeting, or at the end, but no matter when it happens, remember to share a little bit about yourself as well.

Create a relationship with your employee that humanizes you right off the bat, and they will feel less nervous in meetings to come.

Set expectations

One to one meetings are not meant to be stressful. Almost everyone has had the experience where a C-level reaches out and says "hey, let's have a 1:1" without any other context. You sit there and think to yourself "am I going to be fired? Did I do something wrong?" and you fret away until you actually get to the meeting just for it to be a (usually) trivial and simple thing.
DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR EMPLOYEES.
Set expectations for what the one-on-one meeting is going to be about, or at least give them some context.

For example, instead of just saying "Hey, do you have a second to meet later? I put something on your calendar for 4." You could say "Hey, I'd love to chat about that blog post you wrote. I have some suggestions for how you could do it better in the future. Do you have a second to meet later?"

Put your people at ease, otherwise they won't come to your meetings with their game faces on.

Be respectful

Your employees' time is just as valuable as yours is. Don't use time in a meeting just because you have it. Having a one to one meeting with a manager is meant to be a time for your employees to feel like you are hearing them and their concerns, but that doesn't mean that you need to drag out the meeting beyond the time it needs to take.

If you notice that you are filling time with conversation just to take the full amount of the meeting, stop. After the meeting, evaluate what you could have done differently, or if there is something you need to add to make it a more full meeting in the future, but do not add additional fluff just for fluff's sake.

Also, don't spend 30 minutes of time talking about your amazing weekend getaway, just to leave your employee wishing that you'd spent more time discussing OKRs.

Pick a good cadence

Similar to the above, there is nothing worse than having a meeting every single week and not feeling like you need it. Effective one-on-one meetings cover a large amount of information, and always feel needed.

If you find yourself not getting any real updates with your meetings, play around with the cadence. For example, I will have meetings with some employees for an hour every two weeks, or every week for 30 minutes. Try to find what works for you and stick with it. No one likes a bloated calendar full of unnecessary and meaningless meetings.

The space matters

Pay attention to what environment you meet your employees in. Whether you are remote or in-person, the environment in which you meet your employees is important.

If you are a remote-friendly company, find a great online service that will allow you to have face-to-face videos whenever you need. Make sure that it is reliable for you: imagine if you were in a meeting with one of your team members in person and ran out fifteen minutes into the meeting with no explanation? That's what it's like when you get disconnected from a video chat while remote.

One-on-ones done remotely are just as awesome as one-on-ones done in person, but you need to be considerate of the same things: is the room and environment where you are conducting the one-on-one steady? You wouldn't have a one-on-one in a place where you were going to be interrupted, so you should do the same when conducting them remotely. Make sure you have good headphones, a steady internet connection, and a private room so you can devote your attention to your employee.

Ask about their career

Where does your team member want to go in their career? So many people view support as a stepping stone to other options; by talking about their career regularly, you can help show them that they can keep working in support if they want to.

A good way to do this right from the beginning of your relationship is to have them come up with development goals and list them as items to discuss in each one-on-one. Even if you don't discuss them every single time, having them listed where ever you keep the agenda for your one-on-one means that you (and your team member) will always be thinking about what they can do to advance further in their career.

A final say on acing one-on-one meetings

One-on-ones do not need to be tricky. Follow the guidelines above and you are already off to a great start with one-on-one employee meetings.

Remember: the goal with one-on-ones is to better understand your employees needs and career growth as well as build a relationship with them. Use your time wisely and expediently, and you'll be rocking it out in no time.

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Rock Your next One-On-One Meeting: For Employees and Managers

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One-on-one meetings don't have to be nerve racking or painful. With the right structure, a manager can help an employee develop and achieve their goals. Prepare for a one-on-one meeting with an agenda. Leave time for personal conversation. Set expectations. (%date%)

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Different companies have different problems with feedback. Others have too critical feedback going on, while some may have too much kindness which can prevent better success. The article highlights that to create feedback and change, it must start with the people. It gives three actionable steps to create this culture and integrate it into the organization.

https://www.reflektive.com/blog/culture-feedback-neuroscience-2/

#feedbackculture

Different organizations tend to have different feedback problems. However, creating a culture of feedback needs change and it has to start with the people involved. Amy Johnson writes the three easy steps to build feedback culture in any organization.

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Your company has a feedback problem.

Maybe the problem is "too much" feedback - too much critical feedback, that is.
SEE ALSO: Why your company needs organizational agility
At other companies, a culture of kindness can cause employees to hold their feedback in, rather than sharing ways to drive better success.

Changing even one aspect of company culture is a marathon, not sprint Click To Tweet

A good start is to create a sense of trust by encouraging a growth mindset. That is, your organization should be one in which people are encouraged to believe that they can learn, improve, and grow, that their abilities aren't fixed. An essential component of fostering this mindset is meaningful positive feedback.

Unfortunately, it isn't as common as it ought to be. Indeed, 37 percent of managers in the Zenger/Folkman survey admitted they never offered positive feedback at all.

To be effective, positive feedback needs to be an end in itself. It shouldn't be a prelude to, or balm after, negative feedback. This arrangement can make genuine praise sound hollow, or dull the effect of the critical feedback you need someone to hear.

To ensure that people hear and appreciate positive feedback, Batista recommends:

Starting small. We miss opportunities to provide positive feedback every day because we have this idea that only big wins merit discussion. When we see any behavior we want to encourage, we should acknowledge it and express some appreciation

Praising effort, not ability. Growth mindset research suggests that praising persistent efforts, even in failed attempts, helps build resilience and determination, while praising talent and ability results in risk-aversion and heightened sensitivity to setbacks.

Change Is About People

Whatever combination of feedback is right for your company - annual reviews, quarterly check-ins, a combination - it's unlikely to be effective if your employees don't feel that the organization is a safe place for offering and getting feedback.
Watch the webinar: Training managers to lead effective 1x1s
If you're making a big change in how feedback is given, it's important to pay attention to " people's readiness for a challenge and their emotional state in a given interaction," according to Ed Batista, executive coach and an instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

"When you sense someone starting to bristle, set aside the feedback for a moment, and show them that you have their best interest at heart."

It will make a big difference if you and your team know each other as individuals. You don't have to be bosom buddies, but you need to trust that feedback is coming from a good place.

Employees giving and receiving feedback need to be able to talk about their emotions. It is, Batista notes, "a critical feature in any group that aspires to share effective feedback, not only because feelings are at the heart of most difficult feedback, but also because feedback inevitably generates difficult feelings."

If you're doing it right, people will be able to talk about "ugly" feelings like embarrassment, disappointment, and frustration, even anger.

The First Three Steps

1. Think of feedback as a retention funnel. Consider all the stages of the employee journey, and how you want your team to feel about their job and the organization at each stage. Where and when does feedback need to happen in order to facilitate those goals?

2. Once you know the goals, create a framework for your new feedback-rich culture. Everyone needs to know who is giving and who is receiving feedback. How often should it occur? Under what circumstances? What is the goal?

3. Commit to a culture of feedback by giving everyone a common language for both providing and responding to feedback. Train folks how to give and receive feedback. If your team isn't in the habit of providing feedback to each other, starting with a regular schedule can help. Normalize the process.

That commitment includes ensuring leaders set the example. If leaders aren't on board or appear exempt from the new initiative, their behavior gives the lie to the whole enterprise.

"Employees are more sensitive than leaders to gaps between espoused values and actual practices," according to research from Harvard Business School. There are few things more likely to induce resentment than being asked for feedback you know won't matter.

Integrating Feedback

Once you've hit the third step, there are two major ways to integrate feedback into the culture: building your own programs and incorporating outside tools.

Programs might include weekly one-to-ones between managers and employees or scheduling regular feedback sessions at specific project milestones that allow teams to align on group objectives, create agreements, and share individual objectives.

An active, ongoing approach to feedback makes an organization more agile and adaptable, with each employee on a clear growth path.

Simply incorporating a framework for feedback into a regular meeting can work. The " Stop/Keep/Start " framework has people offer feedback on three questions:

What should I stop doing?

What should I keep doing?

What should I start doing?

HR tools are another way of normalizing feedback. For example, 1×1 Agendas and the ability to request feedback from team members are key features of the Reflektive performance management platform.

Quick team- or company-wide polls can be used to gather feedback, including whether or not employees feel they are getting enough or the right kind of feedback. They can also measure workers' sense of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness, i.e. the SCARF model, five qualities that help shield us from a threat response.

One study even found a perception of fairness produces reward responses in the brain similar to the brain's reaction when eating chocolate.

Share the results of feedback with employees. Was a decision made as the result of feedback? Have there been improvements in performance? Public recognition of feedback reinforces its value and helps sustain the habit.

It's okay to get it wrong sometimes when you're working to create a culture of feedback, but remember, changing even one aspect of company culture is a marathon, not sprint. Listen to how employees are responding to feedback and adjust accordingly.

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3 Easy Steps to Creating a Culture of Feedback | Reflektive

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This is part two of a series. Find the first post here. Your company has a feedback problem. Maybe the problem is "too much" feedback - too much critical feedback, that is. SEE ALSO: Why your company needs organizational agility At other companies, a culture of kindness can cause employees to hold their feedback in, ...

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Team meetings can be challenging. Some participants tend to have wandering minds while others are very engaged in them. Other meetings are longer than they need to be. Despite all of this, meetings are still an essential part of cooperation.

For a collaborative team meeting to work, David Trounce suggests avoiding some deadly sins. He includes smartphone addiction and off-topic conversations as two of the deadly sins that can kill healthy meetings. Using the phone during a meeting can be disrespectful and disruptive. Off-topic subjects are irrelevant and unproductive.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/7-deadly-sins-staff-team-meetings/248537/

#teammeeting

For a collaborative team meeting to work, everyone needs to be involved. However, there will be challenges that you need to overcome. David Trounce calls these challenges the deadly sins of team meetings. He lists the seven different sins that organizations need to avoid to make meetings more productive.

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Meetings are difficult at the best of times.

There are few meetings where the participants would not rather be doing something (anything!) else and whose minds are not wandering on to more exciting things.

Meetings are typically longer than they need to be, littered with irrelevant and tangential conversation, high in self-importance, and low on productivity.

Nevertheless, they are a necessary part of cooperative labor.

Just as a ship requires rudder, so to successful businesses need the inescapable concept of a hierarchy, and those hierarchies require cooperation and synergy in order to function.

And so, it should not surprise us to learn that inefficient meetings contribute to lower productivity and in poor collaboration.

If you want to maintain a healthy and collaborative environment for a meeting, here are the seven deadly sins you'll need to overcome.

1. One-Upmanship

Reality Check: There will always be someone in the room more competent than you.

Irritation: There will also be someone in the room who suspects they're more important than you.

If you had pneumonia, this person has had double pneumonia.

If you have written a 2,000-word paper on why content marketing matters, there will be someone else in the room who has written a 3,000-word paper on the same subject - and they'll make sure you know about it.

Kind of person I have in mind is the kind of person who is always looking to outdo someone else in the room.

This search for significance, when verbalized, is so destructive to collaboration.

Tell such a person that you are in 10 acres and they will tell you about the time they owned 20.

Mention that you've been turning up at 7:30 each morning to get your work done, and this person will no doubt want you - and everyone else in the room - that they have been known to turn up at 6 o'clock.

Overcoming this culture in a meeting is not something you can do with a hint or sudden suggestions.

People need to be told - whether directly or indirectly, and in the midst of the group so as not to alienate any one member, - that the point of the meeting is not for them to grandstand and show for their excellence.

Dishing out a few examples like the one I have given above is usually enough to make most sycophants pause, even if it's only for a moment.

And, at that moment, the rest of us have an opportunity to contribute without fear of being doused in the watery words of another's one-upmanship.

2. Smartphone Addiction

Is it OK for people to be tapping away on their smartphones during a meeting?

My answer is no.

It's usually disruptive and often downright disrespectful.

I will make a couple exceptions.

If someone in the meeting requests a piece of information that could be easily gathered on the spot by using the device.

If people are using their device as a calendar and organizing events that are relevant to the agenda.

Beyond that, smartphones, tablets, and laptops should be put away.

This constant need to busy ourselves with trivialities or worse still, engage in conversations via the phone when we're being spoken to directly in a meeting, is counterproductive.

It's rude, it's annoying, and the best way to deal with it is via a direct conversation with everyone in the room
Rule #1: When we meet we put our phones down, and we only pick them up for the sake of the agenda.
3. Off-Topic Conversation

Few things are more painful in a meeting then redundant or irrelevant conversation.

I'm talking about the kind of meeting where discussion about administrative budgets is railroaded by someone who wants to talk about the cost of the canteen lunch at their kid's school.

This self-important desire to be at the center of every conversation is a huge weakness in otherwise productive meetings.

From a survey of senior managers in a range of industries in the United States:

It's no wonder that so many employees, especially those in senior management, find meetings to be an unproductive and miserable experience.

You're talking about ways to measure client-based outcomes and in a bizarre twist of reality, this triggers someone in the room to start talking about the time they fell off their bike.

Want to have a fruitful meeting? Cut the storytelling down to only that which illustrates the point at hand.

4. Lack of Oxygen

Just as important as the conversation and culture are the physical environments where the meetings are held.

How many have sat in stuffy, windowless offices yawning through long speeches and wishing they were somewhere else?

The physical nature of the workplace has a real impact on staff job satisfaction and retention.

People need air to breathe in order to think. They need some visual distance to dream and plan.

Lack of oxygen and a lack of light are not conducive to healthy meeting practices or positive and engaging outcomes for workers.

If you don't want your stuff to wither like a hothouse flower give them air, light, and water.

5.Narcissistic Interjection

Some people cannot help but continuously interrupt the thoughts of others.

We have a rule in my house - one which I hope my kids will cultivate throughout their lives.

That rule is: Don't be the person in the center of any room unless it's absolutely necessary, and try and be the last person to speak.

But you get these people, lacking self-control, who have to interject.

It's not that they want to respond to every statement or question. These people don't even let you finish. They are interjecting to either finish your sentence or correct it or steer the conversation to something of greater interest to themselves.

This kind of self-absorbed narcissism is never appreciated.

It is rarely helpful and tends only to exhaust for the rest of us who have to endure your constant interruptions to our thoughts and our speech.

Whether it's true impatience or self-absorption really doesn't matter.

The effect is entirely negative full stop it undermines.

The creative expression of others and treat the thoughts and ideas of others as unimportant.

6. Lateness

You know who you are. You couldn't turn up in time to save yourself.

Why?

Because your mind resembles the sock drawer of Krusty the Clown.

As my mother used to say, "Unpunctuality is the sign of a disordered mind."

Many of these late-comers add insult to injury by also being excuse-makers.

The bus, the alarm, the flat, the kid.

There is something ugly about making excuses in order to justify yourself.

How about a simple apology.

You were late.

Apologize, get over it, and get on with it.

Don't hold up our meeting with your long-winded explanations and self-justifications on why you can't keep a schedule.

7. Pessismism

Ah, the pessimist. It doesn't matter who had the idea or how suitable it is for the occasion; the pessimist will always see the downside and aim to bring everybody else down with him.

Playful: "I thought we could have a hangi for the staff Christmas party."

Painful: "Hmm, yes but we must consider the hygiene implications of sticking our beef in the dirt."

Smiler: "I think some plants in the office might improve the ambiance."

Sour: "Well I'm not watering them. Who's going to water them? These ideas always end up in the compost."

Happy: "I thought that now might be a good time to audit our marketing budget, and look for ways we could increase our marketing efficiency."

Hung-up: "We're all gonna die."

Nothing brings down the tone or enthusiasm of a meeting quite like the pessimist.

Sure, there needs to be a series of checks and balances, I understand that. But these miserable folk and not only down on themselves and counterproductive they tend to reduce the productivity of everybody else around them.

Conclusion

Poor meeting practices and sub-par meeting cultures like the ones outlined above are detrimental to creativity and innovation.

They tend to inhibit collaboration and foster resentment within the company structure.

Knowing this and identifying the roadblocks to effective meetings is half the battle won.

The other half of the battle is getting everyone to ditch their self-important agenda in favor creating a positive and productive work environment for everyone involved.
More Agency Resources: Featured Image and In-post Photos: Created by David Trounce using Pixabay, Pexels CC0 License, Wiki Commons and Canva, April 2018.

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The 7 Deadly Sins of Staff Team Meetings

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Meetings are difficult at the best of times. There are few meetings where the participants would not rather be doing something (anything!) else and whose minds are not wandering on to more exciting things. Meetings are typically longer than they need to be, littered with irrelevant and tangential conversation, high in self-importance, and low on productivity.

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OKRs for Organizations who Want to Focus

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OKRs for Organizations who Want to Focus

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There are distractions everywhere and it’s easy to lose your focus. This even rings truer for organizations. However, having an objective could mean like having a North Star. There is a direction you’re following with every step.

This is what OKR is about. According to Hai Habot, OKRs force everyone in the organization to focus on the necessary things that need to be accomplished while making everyone accountable for their own objectives.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Startup_and_IT/30346909

#OKR

Implementing OKRs in the organization can be helpful in letting everyone focus on their objectives. This ensures that the necessary things are accomplished and everyone is accountable.

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You could easily spend months on something that doesn't matter, or on something that doesn't make you happy. Most of the time, the problem isn't even your job or your colleagues. It's because you aren't clear on your objectives and you can't isolate what matters from what

doesn't. Knowing your objectives is like having a North Star you can follow.

This principle is at the core of the "Objectives & Key Results" (OKRs) system, which was made popular by Google. The company reached a stage in its development, about a year into its existence, when it needed a better way to manage itself as it kept

growing. They chose OKRs and have been using them ever since. OKRs had actually been around for a long time under other names, like strategic

planning execution.

But to this day, this incredibly

powerful tool, although increasingly popular, remains misunderstood.

OKRs is often confused with key performance indexes, or KPIs. KPIs tell you how you're doing. It's a benchmark. But the O in OKR, which stands for objectives, leads to the question, "What are we trying to accomplish?" It starts at the top, where the answer might be something like, "Make our shareholders more money". Then it gets passed on to the level below, where the OKR for the head of

marketing, for example, might be, "Be the number one brand in our field".

In the end, every level of the

company defines concrete objectives that support the top-level objective.

That's why at Google, employees' OKRs are accessible by all their

colleagues. You can look up the CEO's OKR or your boss's at any time. This allows employees to know why they're coming to work in the morning. Everyone knows how their OKRs feed into the company's.

This isn't to say KPIs are bad. Actually, KPIs and OKRs work really well together. KPIs allow you to benchmark how you're performing on your OKRs. But OKRs force you to ask, "Why?" Are you pursuing objectives what will "move the needle" for your company? Are you supporting the business's growth?

Before even jumping into OKRs, start-ups and large organisations alike should therefore be careful that they've worked out the fundamentals of their strategy. But even when that is clear, there are four common failures to watch out for when implementing OKRs.

One, not being clear enough and not being accountable enough. Two, not knowing who owns the OKRs. Three, leadership not following up. And four, choosing the wrong

OKRs.

The objectives should not be too easy - they should be inspiring. Moreover, the reason behind each objective should be clear. Let's say your objective for your website is "achieving a 20 per cent conversion rate". Why? Why does this matter? If I ask a company "why" and they can't answer, then the objective is wrong.

This is why OKRs aren't a standalone topic. They are an extension of growth. OKRs force you to focus on the tangible things you need to accomplish to say you have met your objective. And if every team in your company does that, everything falls under the same objective. That's the beauty of this

system. Everyone is accountable and everyone works in unison.
Hai Habot is a tech executive from Silicon Valley. Has been practising and teaching OKR at top accelerator programmes, including Google Launchpad and dtac accelerate.

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OKRs: How organisations can keep focused as they grow - The Nation

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You could easily spend months on something that doesn't matter, or on something that doesn't make you happy. Most of the time, the problem isn't even your job or your colleagues. It's because you aren't clear on your objectives and you can't isolate what matters from what doesn't.

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Karl Sun writes about OKRs, a system for goal setting that he learned when he was still working for Google. Even 15 years later, he still uses this system at his own company.

Sun notes that Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is an effective methodology that sets and communicates goals by connecting every objective to results that are measurable. He also outlines the benefits of OKRs, such as encouraging accountability and aligning everyone in the organization. OKRs have played an important role in his company and helped everyone stay on track.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlsun/2017/05/16/the-idea-i-stole-from-google-or-how-i-learned-to-love-okrs/#9979fd76a2fc

#OKR

Karl Sun, who worked for Google before starting his own company, recalls how OKRs (Objective and Key Results) helped Google to grow. OKR is a method for setting goals that he now uses with his own company. He also discusses the benefits of using OKRs and how to get started with it.

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During Google's first year, investor John Doerr pitched the idea of using an organizational system called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for goal setting. He presented it as an effective way to both set high level goals and also measure progress toward these goals in a quantifiable way. I'm sure he made a pretty persuasive pitch, because they were quickly adopted across the entire company and, during my first week at Google, I found myself outlining my very first set of OKRs.

The OKR system is an effective way of setting and communicating goals within an organization by connecting company, team, and personal objectives to measurable results. It pushes your company and employees to stretch and grow while staying focused on a defined and collective goal.

My Google OKRs were just the first of many. Fast forward 15 years - today, every new hire at Lucid Software spends a portion of his or her first week watching Google Ventures partner Rick Klau present John's original slides in a YouTube video (which you can view here).

When I left Google to start Lucid Software, I didn't take OKRs with me because it was what I was used to-I did so because the system had been so successful at Google. I firmly believed it could produce the same benefits at Lucid-and the system hasn't let me down yet.
Benefits of OKRs
Setting stretch goals: OKRs establish a clear and simple pattern for setting goals within your company at the individual, team, and organization levels. When you write an OKR, you solidify a goal and draw a line in the sand. At the end of the day, you can measure yourself against this line to define your success. In contrast, without setting objectives in advance, you are stuck trying to justify your accomplishments.

At Google, we were constantly reminded that OKRs are specifically designed to push you, not t o make you look good. In other words: Goals should be hard-not slam dunks. Write them aggressively.

Promoting accountability: At Google, we made all our OKRs public. We are doing the same at Lucid by having every employee upload their personal OKRs to our internal wiki. Doing so promotes accountability and transparency and makes that line in the sand even more pronounced. It's easy to forget about goals that only you know about-it's a game-changer when there are others (sometimes hundreds to thousands of others) also holding you accountable.

In addition to their public nature, OKRs promote accountability because they are graded each quarter. Google uses a scale from 0 to 1. You're not supposed to crush it with consistently perfect scores-once again, these are stretch goals, so if you hit between 0.6 and 0.7, you are making good progress. In fact, if you are easily hitting all of your OKRs, you have either reached superhero status or are sandbagging.

However, it's important to always go back and account for why you fell short on an OKR, especially if you score below a 0.4. Life happens, and priorities change-but you need to be honest with yourself about the root cause.

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A Goal-Setting System I Learned From Google (And Still Use At My Current Venture)

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During Google's first year, investor John Doerr pitched the idea of using an organizational system called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for goal setting. The idea was so good that I stole it, and I've been reaping the rewards for the last 15 years. Read on for a CEO's quick guide to OKRs.

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Town hall meetings have been around for decades. This kind of meeting aims to have space and time for leaders to talk to their subordinates and vice versa. A real town hall has a lot of giving and taking. The function of the modern town hall meeting is still similar to the original ones. With the use of modern technology, there’s already a new trend of town hall meetings.

One interesting function noted in the article is building necessary connections. Through town hall meetings, employees can shake up their schedules and connect with colleagues. With an effective town hall, participants feel inspired by collaboration and communication.

https://www.tgdaily.com/social/5-important-functions-of-modern-town-hall-meetings

#townhall

Town hall meetings done in organizations have evolved from old town-hall style ones that started decades ago. There have been recent changes with modern town hall meetings. They now have new roles to fill aside from just providing an avenue for leaders to talk to subordinates and vice versa. Check the list to find out what these new functions are.

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Town-hall style meetings have been around since humans decided to start gathering in centralized locations to discuss important matters. Their premise is simple: It's a time and space for leaders to communicate with constituents, partners and employees; for individuals to commune with the large group and vice versa. A true town hall meeting includes plenty of give-and-take between participants at all levels.

Thanks to advances in modern technology, town hall meetings have been trending toward interactivity, efficiency and culture-building. Consider these five important functions of modern town hall meetings next time you're planning and executing a large-scale meeting for your organization.

Fostering Company Community

Company culture has become somewhat of a buzzword in the corporate world. Why? Because organizations have realized poor company culture is associated with high turnover rates and decreased productivity. Conversely, strong company culture often entices employees to stick around and grow with the organization, plus encourages strong new candidates to apply.

As much as leaders like to believe they can forge company culture by sheer willpower and programming alone, it actually takes a secret ingredient: sense of community. As the Workforce Institute writes, "Communities are successful because their members are successful. For a community to thrive, it needs care and attention. This means building and growing a community is about people, not programs."

Town-hall meetings are the perfect time to establish a living, breathing community-one that reaches well beyond mere goals and objectives written in a memo.

Expanding Top-Down Communication

How connected do employees feel with the leadership? Town hall meetings are a great time to break down barriers between high-level employees and everyone else, whether leaders take the physical stage or reach employees via live videoconferencing technology. But truly innovative organizations push past a traditional top-down model of communication and decision-making. How? By getting interactive.

Gathering Valuable Feedback

Employees are full of insights, opinions and bright ideas. Town halls are the perfect time and place to solicit them. Integrating interactive Google Slides into a presentation deck, for instance, allows companies to gather feedback on the spot. As long as employees have access to a web-enabled device, they can anonymously contribute to polls, word clouds and Q&A sessions. Organizations can then refer to this collected intel long after the actual town hall meeting ends.

Brainstorming New Strategies

To put it plainly, town hall meetings are a great time to ask: "Here's where we stand, but where are we headed? How can we get there?" One nonprofit community advisor demonstrated this principle in action for Government Technology: After two bike-related deaths within a week in a Colorado community, a town hall meeting helped organizers hold a brainstorming session. Thanks to electronic polling technology, they walked out of the meeting with a concrete list of actions, some of which the community has since implemented to boost bike safety.

Building Valuable Connections

Town hall meetings are a great chance for employees to leave their workspaces, shake up their daily routines and connect with new colleagues. You want participants to leave the session energized and inspired- not drained and relieved it's over. Make sure your organization is creating opportunities for employees to communicate and collaborate, whether it's a five-minute icebreaker activity to kick off a presentation or breakout sessions to cap off a keynote speech. Interpersonal connections within a business only strengthen its fabric, so it's worthwhile to prioritize social growth and, yes, even just plain fun.

It's time to take advantage of the full breadth of what a great town hall can catalyze: a sense of community, a forum for feedback and a place to actively shape the future of your organization.

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5 Important Functions of Modern Town Hall Meetings

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Town-hall style meetings have been around since humans decided to start gathering in centralized locations to discuss important matters. Their premise is simple: It's a time and space for leaders to communicate with constituents, partners and employees; for individuals to commune with the large group and vice versa.

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How to Make Town Hall Meetings More Interesting

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How to Make Town Hall Meetings More Interesting

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Town hall meetings are good methods for employees to listen to the organization leaders talk. This is also a platform for bringing together everyone and providing learning to participants. Sometimes, town halls become too dragging and leaders just share slides of information and figures. To make town halls effective, Alison Davis suggests different tips such as showing short videos, changing the room arrangement, and encouraging participation. Doing so makes town halls more memorable and meaningful.

https://www.inc.com/alison-davis/18-ways-to-make-employee-town-halls-more-engaging-in-2018.html

#townhall

Town hall meetings are beneficial to the organization. It brings together everyone, including leaders and employees. Instead of just letting town halls go its own course, there are ways that you can do to make it more effective and interesting. These tips from Allison Davis will give you some ideas on making town hall meetings more memorable for everyone.

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If your organization holds employee town hall meetings, chances are you're already planning your first session of 2018. That's why it's a great time to resolve to make next year's town halls more energetic and engaging.

After all, town halls are a valuable way for employees to hear from leaders, which builds trust and confidence. And town halls share content employees can't receive anywhere else, which provides valuable learning. Plus, town halls bring people together from various locations and functions, so they create a sense of community.

It's clear that town halls have the potential to be a dynamic, interactive form of communication. However, too many become data dumps, with senior leaders sharing slide after slide of facts, figures and statistics that employees will forget five minutes after the session is over.

Town halls are such an important part of an effective internal communication program that it's critical to do them right. Here are 18 ways to improve your next town hall:

1. Set tangible, specific objectives. Having a clear focus will help you design the town hall to be more purposeful. For example, choose objective like these: "create learning about an issue that's vital to the organization" or "motivate employees to take action."

2. Design every research tool--from post-event surveys to an annual communication audit--to measure how well employees think you've achieved your objectives.

3. Build a story arc. A "story arc" is a term that fiction writers, Broadway playwrights and Hollywood screenwriters use to describe the ups and downs of a narrative. For a town hall, a story arc describes the emotional lows (discussing a serious issue) and highs (celebrating success) that create energy.

4. Create a "run of show" document that choreographs what will occur and when. Town halls are too important to manage loosely--the best sessions run with military precision. The most important element: every segment starts and ends on time.

5. Eliminate every piece of information that's not essential to tell your story. Town halls don't happen very often, so it's tempting to want to talk about everything that has happened since the last one. But, there's a limit to how much information people can process before they suffer from overload.

6. Limit your agenda to no more than three key topics (yes, only three) and keep the level of detail to a minimum. Fewer, more focused topics will help keep employees interested.

7. Include financial results only if you bring them to life for employees. Dense charts don't create understanding. Relate numbers to what the organization needs to work on next.

8. Go deep instead of covering a wide range of topics. For example, instead of reiterating all seven strategic initiatives, focus on one strategy. Invite an internal expert to explain what it means. Create a breakout session where employees share their perspectives on the issue.

9. Bring a fresh and unexpected element to every topic. For example, don't review safety statistics; develop stories about how employees have taken steps to improve workplace safety.

10. Show video only if it's very short and action-packed. Ever look around the room when a long, contemplative video is being played? Employees' eyes literally look glazed over. Video should be no more than two minutes long--and every second needs to be as fast-moving as a Michael Bay movie.

11. If using PowerPoint, create a lot of slides--with one concept per slide. I'm not sure why the rule for presentations became "less is better." With fewer slides, presenters tend to cram more information in each slide and employees quickly get bored of watching the same slide for minute after minute. By creating lots of slides with one idea per slide, you give employees something new to look at and keep your deck moving forward, both of which will make for a more engaging presentation.

12. Change the way the room is arranged. Most of the time, seats are set up theater-style, with chairs in straight rows. The problem is that arrangement sends a signal to people that their role is to observe and listen. We think of concerts, plays, movies, sporting events--all experiences where people aren't participants, but audience members. If possible, set up round tables, with employees sitting in a semi-circle around one side of each table, facing the leaders.

13. Put tables (and chairs) close together. As every stand-up comedian knows, wide-open spaces make people stiff. So bring employees in as close to speakers as possible. A little crowding is a good thing.

14. To encourage employees to participate, take a vote. The safest way for employees to participate is as part of a big group. Use audience response devices or text polling to ask employees their opinions on key issues. If you don't have access to technology, you can still ask employees to share their viewpoint. The simplest approach? Call for a show of hands.

15. Instead of calling for questions, coach leaders to pose a question. Even in the most open, supportive culture, it's risky for employees to expose potential ignorance by asking a question. But if the leader poses a question--like "What are the obstacles to achieving this objective?"--employees have the opportunity to participate from a position of strength.

16. Allow plenty of time for participation. Most town halls and other leader venues are too heavily weighted toward presentations, leaving only a few minutes at the end for Q&A. Once employees start to watch the clock ("only 10 more minutes"), they're discouraged from participating. You need enough time to set up the discussion, facilitate dialogue and build momentum.

17. Make sure every person has an equal experience. Even if some employees attend in person and others join via web meeting or teleconference, make sure everyone has a chance to participate. Assign a facilitator to manage each remote location--and a partner facilitator who sits in the main location (where the leader is.) The remote facilitator is responsible for collecting employees' questions and comments--and feeding them to his or her partner facilitator via chat, text or email.

18. Practice, practice, practice. Especially if you're trying new techniques, make sure you test everything: seating, tech, transitions, confetti. And, yes, your leaders are busy, but they need to do a quick dry run to make sure they're comfortable before the show starts.

Every improvement will make your next town hall a more meaningful, memorable experience.

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18 Ways to Make Employee Town Halls More Engaging in 2018

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If your organization holds employee town hall meetings, chances are you're already planning your first session of 2018. That's why it's a great time to resolve to make next year's town halls more energetic and engaging. After all, town halls are a valuable way for employees to hear from leaders, which builds trust and confidence.

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One-on-one meetings are quite different from the typical conversation between two people. This kind of meeting has its own structure and purpose. One-on-ones are made to benefit the employee. Hubspot gives a few questions that can be useful in conducting one-on-one sales meetings. One interesting question is asking the employee how his previous week went. This question encourages dialogue and is a critical aspect of the coaching part in meetings.

https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/magic-questions-for-your-one-on-one-meetings

#oneononemeeting

Sales one-on-one meetings, or even all one-on-one meetings, should focus on the employee. This should be used for coaching and providing encouragement and support. This article lists some interesting questions that managers can use for one-on-one meetings that provide structure and makes meetings even more effective.

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One-on-One Meeting Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't. Admittedly, the title sounds pretentious. After all, who am I to suggest you don't know something?

However, most people do know the difference between an effective and an ineffective manager. What separates the two?

In my experience, one thing great managers understand that their ineffective counterparts do not is the value of one-on-one meetings. In fact, you might be surprised to know that the vast majority of managers do not meet individually with employees on a regular basis.

But there is some distinction between an effective one-on-one meeting and two people who happen to have a meeting of some kind. Simply passing in the hallway and talking together doesn't qualify as a one-on-one. A meeting to discuss a current project might involve just two people, but that doesn't qualify either.

The one-on-one meeting has a very distinct purpose and structure, and it is designed specifically to benefit the employee, not the manager. Yes, the manager does benefit as well, but the intent of the meeting is to help the salesperson reach his or her potential through coaching and accountability. That's the critical difference.

Here are three magic questions I've structured my one-on-ones around for years that keep the focus squarely on the rep.

One-on-One Questions

1. "Tell me about last week."

The primary objective of one-on-one meetings will vary depending on the salesperson's specific situation and level of experience, but the mechanics of the meeting are fairly consistent. In fact, my one-on-one meetings for 30 years have started with one very simple phrase:
"Tell me about last week."
I know it sounds ridiculously simplistic on the surface, but trust me, there is a lot behind the curtain. You see, the real objective of a one-on-one meeting is to encourage dialogue.

Like any effective sales call, a sales manager should ask good questions and listen carefully. Unfortunately, in my opinion, too many one-on-one meetings become one-on-one beatings, where a manager focuses solely on numbers, constantly corrects behavior, dictates activity, and solves every problem.

But being a sales manager isn't just about sales forecasts and KPIs. In fact, the critical aspect of sales management is actually the coaching and leadership involved. The one-on-one meeting provides a prime opportunity to instill confidence, demonstrate support, provide encouragement, and tune in to motivation. Done well, the dialogue created in consistent one-on-one meetings allows the effective manager to transform potential into top performance.

And it is this one simple question that gets the ball rolling. By letting the rep start the meeting with their view of the past week, the manager avoids the temptation to criticize and dictate. Just sit back and listen. Very carefully.

In my experience, when the salesperson does most of the talking, the manager will develop tremendous insight into that rep and their attitudes. You will understand why her performance is the way it is. You will know what is creating challenges for her. You will see how she reacts to adversity and failure.

During the meeting, I listen for specific areas that may need to be addressed. For example:

Does she create an effective plan each week; one that is consistent with her overall sales plan?

Is she executing her plan?

Does she have a strong understanding of our sales process?

Is her sales pipeline full of qualified opportunities?

However, I resist the need to correct and criticize every problem I see. Don't jump into major correction during the first two or three one-on-one meetings because you'll want the pattern to surface and become apparent through observation.

2. "What do you think the problem is?"

When it is necessary to address a particular issue, I take a very specific approach. I first tell the salesperson what I am seeing and then ask her for potential solutions:
"Jane, the past couple of weeks, I have noticed you're struggling to follow through on some of your key priorities. What do you think the problem is?"
It's way more work, and is probably less satisfying than jumping in and solving the problem personally, but salespeople approached in this matter begin to understand that they are expected to think, plan, and solve problems. Also, there is an enormous amount of information to be gathered from how the salesperson answers this simple question. Do they make excuses and blame others? Or do they openly talk about issues and ask for help? Then together you can identify root causes and create plans for behavioral change.

When things are going poorly, I may observe poor planning, poor execution, a failure to meet expectations, attitude problems, and so forth. And the one-on-one meeting provides the perfect opportunity to address these issues. I certainly don't want to wait for the end of the quarter or, worse, the annual review!

In those situations when I most definitely want to offer specific advice, I actually ask permission: "I have a couple of ideas that I think might help. Would you like me to share them with you?" You will be surprised at the difference it makes to ask rather than simply dictate next steps.

3. "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"

The review of last week's activity is the perfect set-up for the second phase of the meeting. In each one-on-one, after the rep and I have reviewed the past week's performance, I then ask the following question:
"What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?"
As they tell me about their plan, I jot down a few notes, which I can then refer to in next week's one-on-one meeting. This means that the following week, when they describe their activity, I can compare it to their stated goals and answer some important questions. Did they accomplish what they set out to do? Did they follow through on key objectives? Did they actually work their plan, or did they just tell me what they thought I wanted to hear? Most importantly, I get to evaluate their ability to plan and prioritize, which are critical skills for any salesperson and especially important if they aspire to sales management.

4. "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?"

It's important to get specific about their wins as well as their challenges. This question gets to the heart of both. Alternatively, you can ask your employees to list one thing they'd like to start doing, one thing they'd like to stop doing, and one thing they'd like to keep doing.

For sales, this might look like:

One thing to start doing: "I'd like to start being more proactive about entering prospect data into our CRM. I'm going to do this by blocking off 10 minutes after every meeting to enter data immediately."

One thing I'd like to stop doing: "I've been emailing prospects when I really should be calling them. This week, I'm going to call each of my prospects at least one time before sending a follow-up email."

One thing I'd like to keep doing: "My meeting prep has been paying dividends lately. I'd like to keep my prep work rolling so I'm ready for the different needs each prospect brings to the table."

This keeps your meetings actionable, your reps honest, and their path forward positive.

5. "Do you have any feedback for me?"

It's just as important to ask them for feedback on your performance during your time together. I recommend using the SBI model of feedback. It looks a little something like this:

In a feedback setting, your rep might use the SBI model this way:

Situation: "Last week, we had a meeting with Marketing to discuss the state of our pipeline."

Behavior: "Mark kept interrupting me, and you stepped in and made sure I was able to finish my thought."

Impact: "I felt heard and valued, and it was great to know you had my back."

This ensures, whether the feedback is constructive or positive, it's always specific, which gives you actionable steps to repeat or work on.

The one-on-one meeting has a singular purpose -- to develop the salesperson's potential through the improvement of critical skills. By prompting the rep to lead the conversation, you keep the focus on them. And if you're executing the meetings well, one-on-ones will help you develop your relationship with the salesperson.

If you have questions on how to improve your sales one-on-one meetings, check out my website.

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5 One-on-One Meeting Questions You Should Be Asking

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"Tell me about last week." "What do you think the problem is?" "What about this week? What are your plans and priorities?" "What's one thing that worked and one thing that didn't, last week?" "Do you have any feedback for me?" A few years ago, I wrote the book 1-on-1 Management: What Every Great Manager Knows That You Don't.

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Spending time on one-on-one meetings can be time-consuming when you think about the preparation involved. It can take a great part of your day, especially when you have a few team members. However, this type of meeting is valuable. This allows you to provide timely feedback and support.

When conducting one-on-one meetings, Impraise suggests having a process setup before, during, and even after the meeting. Their guide helps you in preparing, conducting, and finishing your meetings successfully to make every minute effective.

https://blog.impraise.com/360-feedback/how-to-run-effective-one-on-one-meetings-as-manager

#oneonone

As a manger, conducting one-on-one meetings go on top of your other responsibilities. This blog from Impraise suggests that you need to have a structure. Follow this guide to create your own process for an effective meeting.

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Impraise Blog - Employee performance management, reviews and 360 feedback

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified?

It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming. Yet the hour you spend on a session will benefit you and the team a great deal if done right. That is 60 minutes of honest feedback, which is often difficult to seek otherwise. You can also take the chance to offer timely guidance to your team.

If you aren't having one-on-ones with your team, you are missing out. Timely feedback is valuable, and opportunities to motivate and support your people are priceless. So, what do you reckon?

If you would like to give one-on-ones a try today, here is a guide for you. Use it to run effective sessions so you can help your team grow.

Before the meeting

It is important to prepare for one-on-ones. Here are the three factors to consider: the mindset, the schedule and the agenda.

Mindset

Think of a 1-on-1 as a free-form meeting: no fixed agenda and no minute taking. It is not a form of performance review and you should not use the feedback you get here for that purpose. Let a 1-on-1 conversation flow naturally around whichever matters to a team member. You can discuss many things from her short-term goals to her learning plan. If she somehow feels isolated in the team, make sure that she can also talk about it with you.

The employee should be the main focus of 1-on-1 conversations. Ben Horowitz recommends that a manager should only talk for 10% of the time. The rest should be saved for her team member.

Recurring Schedule

When you set up one-on-ones with an employee for the first time, make sure that you explain the concept. Give her a short description, and some suggestions for the first session. Don't forget to mention that the sessions will be recurring. Here is an example:

"I plan to start doing one-on-ones in our team. Just informal conversations to get more feedback from you. We can talk about anything. What is bothering you? Your progress? Or whichever else that you find important. I suggest we start next Thursday, the 20th at 11am. Then we can talk about making it a regular thing. Let me know if you have any questions."

It is advisable that you schedule enough time for these conversations. A session lasting from 30 to 60 minutes is reasonable. Andy Grove, former CEO and Co-Founder of Intel, actually advised to do one-on-ones for at least one hour.

"I feel that a one-on-one should last an hour at minimum. Anything less, in my experience, tends to make the subordinate confine himself to simple things that can be handled quickly."

It is important to keep the sessions on repeat. If your team has five members or fewer, you should do one-on-ones on a weekly base. Otherwise, you can arrange one meeting a fortnight.

These meetings will take up quite a bit of your time, 4 hours a week if you manage a team of four. But don't wait a month till you start the next session. A lot of things can go right or wrong in four working weeks. If you want to make an impact then, it would be too late.

Besides, recurring 1-on-1 sessions help make feedback sharing a routine and a habit. It encourages a culture of continuous feedback.

Last but not least, regular personal conversations help build strong relationships based on understanding and respect. When you listen often to personal issues of an employee, she will like you and trust you more. It is more likely that she will be open for feedback from you. Next time, she will come to you earlier with her problems. It is also likely that she is more motivated to work hard and prove herself.

Agenda is Optional

A general agenda might help get the conversation going in the first few meetings. You can prepare a list of five topics that you are most interested to know. Your employee's happiness at work and her opinions of your management style can make two topics.

Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt used to start his one-on-ones by comparing his lists with the ones prepared by his employees. They then prioritised the items found on both lists because they were likely to be the most pressing issues.

A prepared agenda gives a structure to a conversation. It ensures that every pressing issues will be discussed. Managers should, however, keep in mind to use the list for reference only. You should let the conversation flow as it is to get the best out of one-on-ones.

In the meeting

As the manager, you should take the lead to set up an informal tone for the meetings. Focus on asking questions and listening attentively to understand the feedback. Don't forget to wrap up each meeting and prepare for the next.

Keep It Informal

Keep your 1-on-1 informal and private. It is best to find a relaxing place where you can hold a private conversation. Some ideas are to go for a walk, to have a coffee in the neighbourhood cafe, or to talk over lunch.

Ask Questions

It is a good habit to prepare some questions you want to ask. When conversations come to a certain topic, such as work habits or personal learning, you can use the questions to get the more feedback from your team.

A well-asked question is a powerful tool because there are so many things one does not think of sharing until being ask.

As mentioned earlier, one-on-ones can be about almost anything. However, there are some common topics that managers like to cover. Here is a list.
1. Work habits
You want to understand how each of your team members operates. Once you learn their productive modes, you can support them to work more efficiently. Here are some questions regarding work habits:
2. Team collaboration and relations
You can increase team productivity by improving the interpersonal relationship amongst team members. Ask the right questions to uncover the hidden challenges and opportunities.

Who inspire you in the team? Whose opinions do you respect? What have they done?

Is there anybody in the team that you find it difficult to work with? Can you tell me why?

What do you think about the amount of feedback in our team? When do others give feedback to you? Would you like to hear more feedback from other team member and me?

What do you think would help us work together better? Any suggestions for improvement in the way we work together?

3. Team's happiness
Personal happiness has an undeniable impact on productivity and engagement. When is a better time to dig into a happiness issue than a 1-on-1 conversation? Grab the opportunity so you can help your team be happier at work. Here are some questions you can use:

Are you happy working here? Are you happy with your recent work? Why or why not?

What keeps you engaged with your daily work? What can I do to help make daily tasks more engaging?

What kind of projects do you enjoy working on? What motivates you to work on a project? Can you name three things we can do to help so you can enjoy your job more?

What is the best accomplishment you had since you are here? Do you feel appreciated for it?

What are the things that worry you? Anything on your mind? Have you ever felt undervalued here? Why?

4. Short-term goals
Your team's feedback on their short-term goals will keep you aligned with their progress as well as their frustrations on the projects. It is healthy to address frustrations timely. Ask some questions, like:
5. Long-term goals
Long-term goals are important to a person's sense of fulfillment and happiness. Your team members like to see that they are making progress toward their big life goals. You want to learn about their goals, and whether their current job fits into those goals. Here are some questions you can use:
6. Personal development
You want to find out if your team members take learning and development the same way as you do. Some of the following questions can help you learn more about their motivation.

Do you feel like you are learning at work? What are the new things you learned lately? What are the areas you want to learn about?

Whom in the team do you want to learn from? Whom do you get valuable feedback from?

Do you think that you receive enough feedback? Is feedback helpful for your personal development? What can I do to help you get the feedback you want?

Would you like more coaching? What aspect of your job do you like more help and coaching on?

7. Manager improvement
It is crucial for you to know how your team thinks about you and your management style. It is challenging to get honest feedback specifically about you from a direct report. Set the right tone and choose your questions wisely. Here are some examples:

What can I do as a manager to make your work easier?

What do you like about my management style? What do you dislike?

What is the percentage of my involvement in your daily tasks? Would you prefer more or less?

How can I support you better?

What is something I could have done better? What are the situations that I could have helped more but didn't?

Listen Actively
You should listen to your employee's insight carefully. It is important to remember that you don't just listen to be polite. You want to really understand what is being shared. Active listening involves:

Clarifying questions and reaffirmation bring you closer to what is being expressed. By showing your recognition and respect toward one's feeling, you are to build a stronger relationship with your team.
Wrap Up & Suggest Next Moves
At the end of the meeting, you should wrap up the talking points. It is also essential to suggest an action plan till the next meeting.

After the meeting

Make notes about the discussion points and the action plan. If you have done this already during the meeting, log it on your note system. You want to make sure you can easily review the items and act on what is needed. Make sure you do the legwork before the next meeting.

Also, remember to make it happen for the next meeting! Like we said earlier, it is very important to keep one-on-ones going.

Conclusion

One-on-ones are a great tool for managers and employees. The weekly sessions are for you to check in with the team's morale. They are also about getting to know the people you are working with better. You can also save one-on-ones for higher-level things like career development and continuous learning. Employee's feedback is extremely important for managers. Effective one-on-ones are one of the best ways to get great feedback (as well as give it).

At the same time, feedback shouldn't be given exclusively during one-on-ones. Whether it's following up after your last conversation, or providing coaching on a new project, you want to let your employees know that they can always come to you for advice, even outside of one-on-ones. Using a feedback tool, like Impraise, will ensure you never miss out on the opportunity to give great actionable advice.

You may also be interested in our free step-by-step manager's guide on how to use feedback to motivate, engage and develop your team.

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How to run effective one-on-one meetings

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So you've heard about others doing one-on-ones. Some do a one-hour session every other week with each team member. Counting preparation time, one-on-ones would take up a significant part of your busy schedule. You ponder: Would all the hours be well spent and justified? It is true that one-on-ones can be time-consuming.

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An environment with mentors and feedback enables success and performance for everyone in the organization. Feedback culture is not just one-way, but it is also present everywhere in the organization and even outside of the four walls. This type of culture can be taken everywhere, even at home. One interesting point made in the article was that feedback should be made enjoyable in order for it to work and should be used as a support.

https://www.acuitymag.com/business/feedback-to-success

#feedbackculture

An organization that uses open and honest feedback is setting up themselves for success. The feedback culture is not just limited to the four walls of the office. It is not one-way and can be implemented outside, even at home.

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A feedback culture offers a formidable advantage. Here's how to make it happen.

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Feedback culture can have a direct impact on productivity, retention, business metrics, and others. This article highlights the different practices that you can implement in your organization in order to spark the feedback culture such as doing personal check-ins, having a Yoda, shifting from report-outs, and using the open 360 feedback methods.

#feedbackculture

This article gives some interesting tips on how to fire up a feedback culture in your organization. Among the tips provided were having Yoda and doing personal check-ins. Feedback culture is important in achieving business metrics and performance.

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By Keith Ferrazzi
This is part of our CHRO Community Series, which highlights big ideas from CHROs working to push the boundaries of HR and transform their organization for the better. Our first mini-series focuses on improving feedback operations within organizations.
We all know the importance of honest and actionable feedback. The head coach of University of Louisville basketball Rick Pitino perfectly summed it up when he said, "Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer." The second you feel satisfied with where you are is the moment you get passed.

So while the efficacy of a successful feedback system isn't in dispute-it can have a direct impact on HR and business metrics, including retention, new employee ramp time as well as overall business performance, profitability and share price-designing and implementing one can get tricky.

After establishing clear expectations around feedback through the "three awakenings" (outlined in part one of this two-part series here), it's time to start putting your feedback system into practice. It's important to always remember that no one is entitled to give others feedback; it's a right that has to be earned, and can easily be taken away. Once you have laid the groundwork for the trust necessary to build a culture of feedback, here are four practices you can implement to bring it to life.

1) Start with Personal/Professional Check-Ins

People need to feel psychologically safe in order to open themselves up to speaking and hearing the truth. Without the security of knowing everyone is aligned and working toward a collective success, feedback will sound more like criticism. For example, Gallup showed that there were fewer accidents in hospitals where the culture encouraged staff to provide feedback to leadership and be transparent.

So, what does this mean when it comes to feedback and the workplace? When people feel safe and supported they will proactively give you critical information sooner, priming you to correct course and avoid mistakes quicker.

One practice that helps create that trust and "team spirit" is starting staff meetings with a personal/professional check-in. Each person is given a set time, a minute or two, to share where they are in both their personal and professional lives at that moment. This helps the whole team get a clear picture of what resources are needed where and accelerates intimacy between individuals, encouraging candor and greater feedback fluidity.

2) Have a "Yoda" in the Room

After you have established space for candor, it's time to designate a "Yoda in the Room." Like the Jedi Master, your "Yoda" should be wise, daring and comfortable with telling the truth, even if it's uncomfortable. In meetings, the chosen "Yoda," keeps an eye on the room and takes control when they believe something is not being said or certain voices aren't being heard. This practice helps exercise what I call our "courage-of-candor" and "generosity of truth" muscles.

3) Use Open 360 Feedback Methods

The Open 360 gives team members an opportunity to give input on things they appreciate about their colleagues and things they feel could be changed to increase chances of success. Take care to establish both a space for candor and a "Yoda in the Room." Without the proper groundwork, the feedback will be less valuable, and in some cases could be counterproductive.

When handled properly, though, the open 360 helps build an honest feedback environment that will continue beyond the meetings. However, if you don't have psychological safety, one of two things will happen: Either teammates will withhold feedback that they do not feel comfortable giving, saying only what is allowable in the current environment of safety, or alternatively, they can express themselves, without full permission, in a manner that damages the relationship.

4) Shift Away From "Report-Outs"

Using staff meetings to have your team give reports on what they are doing only reinforces the dividing lines between people and their functions. If you are only thinking about "your" task and objectives, there's no room for teamwork or shared accountability. Plus, in the spirit of honest feedback, they're really boring. That's why we have email.

Instead, share everyone's updates before the meeting, using the scheduled time to focus on a challenge someone is facing that the collective wisdom of the room can solve. Moving away from report-outs not only enables executives to get input from every part of the organization, but also collaborate more effectively; addressing difficulties with diverse but germane perspectives to drive innovation.

Together, these four practices and the three awakenings are the building blocks for creating an effective feedback system from the ground up. It takes time and the willingness of others to commit to it, but once it's embedded in your culture, it's there to stay. Done successfully, the business impact of a company-wide culture of feedback is proven and undeniable.

Photo: Creative Commons

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4 Ways to Ignite a Culture of Feedback | ReWork

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By Keith Ferrazzi This is part of our CHRO Community Series , which highlights big ideas from CHROs working to push the boundaries of HR and transform their organization for the better. Our first mini-series focuses on improving feedback operations within organizations. We all know the importance of honest and actionable feedback.

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There can be both good and bad meetings. For a meeting to work and be effective, there should be an agenda and at least a process. Meetings are typically conducted to give information, promote collaboration, and build strength.

One interesting tip that this article suggested to make meetings more effective is to add a bit of fun. By doing some fun activities, participants will look forward to future meetings. Adding a few games can make boring meetings more engaging.

#teammeeting

Effective meetings have an agenda and a process. They are usually done to provide information and increase collaborations in teams. However, team meetings need to be both effective and fun. One tip noted in the article is to add some interesting games to engage everyone.

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Team meetings. Weekly meetings. Stand-up meetings. Monday morning meetings. You love them? You love them not? Well, you definitely not love them. Right?
It's Monday. You are already pissed with the thought that it is Monday. Having the blues? The start of the workweek brings feeling of anxiety, sadness, depression, and laziness. And there you land on your office table, trying to settle down, and what you hear, " Meeting in the conference room in next 2 minutes ". Do you fear this? Do you feel restless during meetings?

Simplify the way you manage your projects and teams.Switch to ProofHub

This is not the case just with Monday meetings. When it comes to weekly meetings or daily meetings, the feeling is same for many. There are good meetings and there are bad meetings. And bad meetings on a bad day are even worse. But first of all, let's talk about the three main aspects that makes a meeting effective?
Objectives are met
Consumed minimum amount of time
A sensible process to meeting
If the above objectives aren't met in your meeting, there is something that is being overlooked and need to worked on. People are often susceptive that if the meetings are not effective, then what is the point of holding them?

Reasons to have team meetings

I already came across your silent question - what is the reason to have effective team meetings when they are so frustrating? You might want to get rid of these team meetings as much as possible. But for sure meetings cannot be avoided because of some pretty good reasons.

1. To provide information

- Those scheduled team meetings are a perfect example to provide the right information to all members and to make sure that all the main points are explained.

2. To allow for feedback and discussion

- Feedback is not the same as information, it is a reaction to a performance to provide more improvement. Feedback is usually carried forward with further discussions to bring fruitful results.

3. To build/strengthen a team

- A team meeting activity will develop interpersonal and organizational skills to instill a sense of togetherness and commitment.

4. To promote team collaboration

- Team meetings will not only release important information amongst team but will also be helpful in team collaboration which is an important part of workplace.

At ProofHub, we have weekly meetings, everybody gathers in the conference room and nobody seems to be restless. The team leaders have the power to engage and retain the staff and do it well. How do we make the meetings effective and more successful?

From our experiences, here are 5 tips to make meetings effective and fun.

1. Make a connection with everyone in the room

What happens during the meetings in your office? Is the agenda shared? The manager or team leader starts the meeting by reading the agenda and the team tilts their head down having no connection with what is being shared. Meetings are meant to be for face-to-face discussion and not for sharing data. You can share the data with the team in advance so that everyone is aware of it and discuss the things in the meetings. This will make a connection with everyone in the room and will push their minds for brainstorming. This will also save time and will keep everyone on the same page.

2. Add some fun

Meetings and fun? Do you like the combination? Yes, you can add some fun and excitement to your meetings by doing some fun team meeting activity. When a game will be introduced in a meeting this will be like a surprise for the team and they will look forward to meetings in future. A few team meeting games like brain writing, the anti-problem, trading cards, design the box and much more will bring something out of the ordinary boring meetings. Or you can ask someone to share their success story or sponsor some engaging material. You can have weekly/monthly team award during the meeting. These team meeting activity ideas will break up the monotony and engage everyone during the meeting.

3. Link the agenda with your mission

Effective team meetings are not meant just for discussing reports, deadlines, and motions. Many times meetings are often disconnected from the mission and vision of the company. As your company's mission statement holds the key business objectives it needs to be fed directly into your meeting agenda. Every meeting should have a mission related the discussion to keep team members aware of what they are doing and what they have to do for the growth of the company.

4. Encourage Participation

One of the reasons that team members are not participating in the meetings is that they are not aware of the purpose of the meeting. The purpose of your meeting should be relevant and known to all the team members. This will encourage them to participate in the discussions during a meeting and be involved in the decision-making. Give each of them a chance to lead the discussion and put forward their points. If the team is encouraged to participate, they will be genuinely excited about the meetings and will see it in a positive way contributing to the discussion.

5. Make the meeting actionable

So, you have discussed every bit of strategies with the team, what's next? At the end of the meeting give a chance to every team member to put forward their new goals in short. This will provide a recap to them and also you will know what information is retained by them. At the end of each meeting, the managers can also ask certain questions like,

"What are the tasks to be done in the next week?"
"What new strategies did you learn from this meeting."

Ending your meeting with such simple questions will make sure that responsibilities and timelines are clear.

TOO MANY MEETINGS?
It is of no use to bounce from meeting to meetings with no productive results. You probably need to follow the ways of running an effective meeting. Follow the right structure and order, have a solid objective in mind, and a commitment and you are well on your way to great meetings. Try to avoid some of the meeting conducts to keep annoyance away from your team. You will soon gain a reputation for running efficient meetings.

Simplify the way you manage your projects and teams. Switch to ProofHub

If you liked this post, you are going to love these as well -

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5 Tips for running the team meetings most effectively

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Team meetings. Weekly meetings. Stand-up meetings. Monday morning meetings. You love them? You love them not? Well, you definitely not love them. Right? It's Monday. You are already pissed with the thought that it is Monday. Having the blues? The start of the workweek brings feeling of anxiety, sadness, depression, and laziness.

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Effective team meetings are not just necessary for achieving goals. They also open the conversation for solving problems using every member’s skill and experience.

HR Booth lists their own tips in making team meetings more effective. One interesting thing they noted is encouraging feedback on the format, frequency, and time of the meeting. Letting participants have the freedom to provide feedback makes meetings more interesting and effective for everyone involved.

#teammeeting

To conduct an effective team meeting, HR Booth suggests having purpose, agenda, and consistency. Making sure that team meetings are productive will help set up the team’s success by achieving goals through open conversation.

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Effective meetings are not only integral to achieve team goals and successful completion of tasks, but also are reflective overall of team functioning. They also allow for open conversation that draws upon each employee's knowledge, skills, and perspectives to solve problems and to support one another in achieving the team's collective goals.

Here we share with you some key tips to have an effective team meeting.

Purpose

The first thing is to have a purpose. Why is the meeting being held? This could be that you hold monthly team meetings to determine where everyone in the team is or these could be quarterly meetings that are held to discuss the business, goals and tasks.

A team meeting is a perfect opportunity to achieve a lot of things. It is a chance to catch everybody up on what is going on in the overall scheme of things. It is an opportunity to gauge how each individual is traveling and to identify potential problems. It's also a chance to reinforce your mission statement and refocus everyone on the team goals.

Team goals should actually be at the heart of every team meeting. If your goal is to make more sales, then everything discussed at the meeting should reflect this in some way.

Set the Time and Date

Plan ahead and choose a time that suits all of your team, and think about how this impacts on customers - ensure you plan for that. We use a shared calendar in our office, which means we can all see what everyone has on - this is great for planning as we can book meetings at a time we know everyone is available. If you have large teams, or work shift patterns, not everyone will be able to attend so ensure you think about how you can share this message with all your team. In these cases, you might want to vary when you hold the meetings to ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to attend. For example, setting a day of the last Friday of the month will not work if you have staff who never work a Friday.

It is good practice to allow as much notice as possible for your meeting to allow your employees time to schedule their work oad around this.

Agenda

We also see a lot of good practice with some of our clients, where they send everyone an agenda along with the date the meeting is to be held. This allows everyone to know what will be discussed, and you can also invite agenda items prior to sending this out.

You can also let your people know that following the meeting, there will be some action points, which you can share with the team - this gets them involved and allows you to implement some actions!

Consistency

It is important to be consistent and stick to the date and time. The last thing you want is your people to rearrange their work schedules, make plans for the meeting, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute. We understand that sometimes things can happen operationally, but cancelling team meetings sends out a message that your people are not important which can lead to poor engagement.

Assign a Note Taker

A common mistake committed during team meetings is that no one takes note of the discussions and agreed actions. When this happens, no one remembers what he or she is supposed to do and nothing is accomplished.

To avoid this, why not nominate someone from the team to take minutes or notes of the key points and these should be sent to all team members to remind them of their tasks and responsibilities? This also helps you share the messages with those that couldn't attend the meeting and gives you a tool to follow up with people.

Share all information

A team meeting allows you time to discuss what's going on within the business and allows you to share all key operational things that are occurring.

No matter how trivial you think it is, it is important to share all information about the business with your employees - this could include any planned recruitment, people who are leaving, special offers - involve your team and don't allow a culture of "no one told me" to creep into your business.

Encourage Feedback

We've seen some team meetings where it's the manager or Director sharing information, which is great, but there's no scope to get feedback. Meetings do not only need to be a download of information; you should allow your employees the chance to give feedback. You could also ask for feedback on the formats of the meeting, for instance what could be changed - time, frequency content etc. If you give people the opportunity to contribute, you'll get more out of it.

Many managers make the mistake of assuming that the way they conduct team meetings is effective but it never hurts to ask people what they think.

Key Actions

Team meetings are nothing if employees don't know their key actions. Before you close a meeting, it important to assign all the key actions that are required to be completed by the next meeting and each employee should know the role they have to play to ensure these actions are completed and when. Every employee must have a clear understanding of what he or she must do.

You should conduct periodic checks with your people to see where they are at with things, rather than leave this to the next meeting. This ensures that the team stays on track and if there are delays, these can be addressed immediately. It's also another opportunity to open up communication channels with your people.

1-1 Meetings

You can also follow up by arranging 1-1's with your team. We'll share some tips on effective 1-1s next week, but these allow you the opportunity to ask what they thought of the team meeting and also to obtain specific concerns they have that they feel they could not discuss during the team meeting.

Your Turn

What do you find challenging about team meetings? Do you have some good practice you can share?

Join the conversation and let us know your thoughts.

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The HR Booth | How to conduct an effective team meeting

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Effective meetings are not only integral to achieve team goals and successful completion of tasks, but also are reflective overall of team functioning. They also allow for open conversation that draws upon each employee's knowledge, skills, and perspectives to solve problems and to support one another in achieving the team's collective goals.

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Skills Needed to Lead Effective Meetings

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Skills Needed to Lead Effective Meetings

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Meetings have to be properly managed in order to be successful and effective. Having the following skills, according to Lauren Tucker, makes meetings smoother and ensures that you’re making use of everyone’s time. She notes that preparation, awareness, and communication are all necessary.

Preparing properly for the meeting ensures that you know what the meeting is for. Awareness means being thoughtful to everyone’s experience while communication before, during, and after the meeting reinforces meetings.

#teammeeting

To lead a team meeting effectively, you need to have specific skills. Lauren Tucker suggests different ways to make it smoother and more successful. Among her tips are preparing for the meeting by setting the agenda and communicating before, during, and after the meeting.

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Have you ever heard that familiar phrase, "There is no "I" in team?" I am a true believer in that phrase, I think it is super important to work together as a team to achieve a common goal. But I think when it comes to meetings - whether it's a team meeting or a companywide meeting - it's important to have a "ME!" One person who leads, executes and follows up with the group. So now I say the phrase "While there is no "I" in team meeting, there is a "ME"!

When meetings are poorly managed it can be frustrating for all those involved. It can leave people with more questions than answers. Asking, "what did they do with my time?" OR "Why did we even have that meeting if we got nothing accomplished?" So I compiled a list of 5 ways to ensure your next meeting runs smoothly - feel free to work them into your meetings so you can make the most of everyone's time.

There are a lot of ways in which you can prepare your team for their meetings.

First things first: get an AGENDA!!! Agendas are vital for any meeting. You are not only preparing all the attendees with what is going to be discussed, the agenda helps you stay on track - especially for time's sake. Make sure to share the agenda with meeting participants beforehand too. This way everyone is prepared for what you are going to cover.

A key point in being prepared is to review your agenda over the course of the week and make real-time decisions based on it. For instance, if we have a packed agenda I often table items for later or identify if something needs to be a follow up item. If we have time for discussion and people are interested in it, I try to allot time for that. I am always recalculating so we stay on time, but I try not to make it feel rigid.

Another way to prepare is making sure all your technology works prior to the meeting, have agenda items reviewed and make sure any links or outside materials are easily accessible so trying to find them doesn't disrupt the meeting. There have been many times that the Wi-Fi just doesn't work, or the sound on my laptop has just decided to turn off. Being prepared with technology will help run a successful and smooth meeting for all those involved.

2. Manage Expectations (Be consistent!)

Definitely ask yourself: what do you want to come out of your meeting? If you want to have a discussion where people are engaged and focused, how will the meeting look? What will you get out of the meeting? For example, I ask our team not to bring laptops to the meeting; one, because it helps everyone concentrate by not getting distracted, and two, it also helps to create more genuine and focused conversation. Additionally, I send out discussion topics at 3PM the day prior. I do this so the team is prepared with thoughtful feedback/solutions to discuss - I expect the team to review it prior so we are all prepared and can stay focused.

When you set your expectations, and you stay consistent it not only keeps your team focused, it can help with the flow of your meeting.

3. Communication (Again - be consistent!)

Communication goes with the two items above, but how you communicate before, during and after your meeting can be crucial. Our Chief Community Officer, Amrita Bhowmick, sends us "Monday Updates" to set the team up for the week every Monday around 7am. When my email pings me around that time I know it is the email and I am inclined to check my email for two reasons. One, I want to know what the week ahead looks like, and two, make sure anything that has a deadline is added to my to do list. The best part about this is she is consistent!

Communicate prior to your meeting. Like I mentioned, I send an email out at around 3PM every Wednesday before our Thursday morning meeting. The team is then expected to review the night/morning prior so they come prepared and we can run the meeting within the hour time frame

Communication during the meeting. It can be important to manage conversations during the meeting if we need to move the team along. Bring it back to center, it's ok to interrupt people and just let them know, "we are going down a rabbit hole" or "we can table this and get back to it at the next team meeting".

Communication after the meeting. Similar to Amrita's Monday morning email, I send out a follow up email to our team on Friday mornings around 7AM to communicate any follow ups or action items that may need their attention. I outline what we discussed, not extensively but enough for the team to get a framework for what they need to remember or complete.

All these strategies that fall under communication are fabulous but they must come with a consistent leader. Remain consistent in how you communicate and your team will not only be prepared, but your team will get used to having high expectations from you and will likely align their conduct at meetings with your efficient style and practices.

Being thoughtful about your attendees' experience at the meeting is also vital. Have you ever been in a meeting when someone is having a side conversation? It's so hard to stay on track while that's happening! When you're aware of these potential pitfalls and prevent them from occuring, you create an experience for others in which they can fully digest the content of the meeting.

There are further considerations if you have people joining the meeting via computer or phone. I have to say there are many times that we can forget about the people who have called into the meeting because they are often silent. However, they may have something important to say and they can't seem to get a word in because there is so much great conversation happening in the office. Remain aware of those on the phone, so they feel heard too. Additionally, keep in mind that people who call into the meeting may have challenges hearing, and therefore understanding. Repeating what others say can be a good practice too.

For people who tend to stay quiet, even when they have something of value to say, you can proactively ask them if they have anything to add. Even if they may not, you'll know that they've had a chance to speak and then you can redirect the discussion to someone or something else.

Lastly, be extra aware of those instances that cause people to get sidetracked, have side conversations, or go down a rabbit hole. Sometimes you can avoid them, but if you can't, don't be afraid to interrupt to bring it back to the agenda and have everyone stay focused. This certainly can be challenging, especially if everyone is talking over each other. If you want, feel free to use a bell. Yes, I said a bell. While for some meetings a megaphone might seem necessary (haha), a simple tap of a bell can help bring the meeting back together in a polite but firm way.

5. Own ownership

Owning the meeting may be the hardest of all these practices. You have to make it clear who owns the meeting, who is the leader, who sets the precedence on how the meeting will go. Get there early enough so that you set the tone, when you're late you create another dynamic which can set others off. If you have all your technology set up and you're following all the listed ideas above you are owning your meeting.

Don't be afraid to keep the conversation focused on your meeting objectives (which the agenda will help you do), and while you want to make sure that you have the power you don't want to be rude, rigid or chose sides. It's hard to try to shush everyone up, especially when someone is passionate about a topic or when something is funny and everyone is laughing and joking. It's okay to ring the bell on them, but don't get upset at them either. We are all human.

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Leading a Meeting: 5 skills to help lead an effective team meeting

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Have you ever heard that familiar phrase, "There is no "I" in team?" I am a true believer in that phrase, I think it is super important to work together as a team to achieve a common goal. But I...

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Designing Team Meetings for Participants

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Designing Team Meetings for Participants

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Though team meetings have goals to be productive, there is also another side to the coin. Participants also need to feel like they’re connected. Employees also need to feel like they’re valued once they leave the meeting.

To do this, create a quality meeting experience for everyone in the meeting. Paul Axtell suggests that this can be done by being present and available during the meeting. He also noted that having fewer agendas can make sure that there is enough time to discuss every topic.

https://hbr.org/2017/04/how-to-design-meetings-your-team-will-want-to-attend

#teammeeting

There is another side to team meetings aside from making sure that they are productive. One also needs to make sure that all participants are involved and engaged. Paul Axtell recommends different ways to design meetings to make everyone feel connected and valued. Read the article to know more.

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Executive Summary

Meetings aren't just about delivering results. You also want participants to leave feeling connected, valued, and fulfilled. Of course, you should still be focused on achieving the meeting outcomes but having a thoughtful meeting and a productive one don't have to be at odds. Work hard on being present. Take adequate time to prepare so that you can be available and attentive before and during the meeting. Demonstrate empathy. Observe, listen, ask thoughtful questions, avoid distractions and multi-tasking. Set up rules about avoiding distractions (e.g. no checking email) and slow down the conversation to include everyone. Crafting a quality experience in your meetings takes time, but it's worth it.

Marion Barraud for HBR

There's a lot of advice out there about how to make meetings more efficient and productive. And while it's true that leading focused, deliberate conversations is critical to organizational performance, meetings aren't just about delivering results. There's another outcome that leaders should be paying more attention to: creating a quality experience for each participant.

What is a quality experience in a meeting? I define it as when employees leave feeling more connected, valued, and fulfilled. Of course, you should still be focused on achieving the meeting outcomes, but thoughtful meetings and productive ones don't have to be at odds.

I've worked with managers and project leaders to create these kinds of experiences. We begin by asking people to reflect on their best team experience and answer two questions: What does a powerful group look like? What does it mean to be powerful in a group?

The second question typically elicits answers like these:

"I never left anything important unsaid. When I spoke, I felt like I was being heard, and I believed that what I said had an impact."

"It felt like I was really a member of the group. Everyone seemed genuinely interested in each other and in what was going on in our lives."

"I knew that I added value, both in the meetings and outside of them."

In other words, each group meeting added to the experience of being a productive, valued member of the group.

Here's what I've seen leaders do to create that quality experience:

Work hard on being present. Take adequate time to prepare so that you can be available and attentive before and during the meeting. If you're running late because of another meeting or still thinking about how to conduct this meeting, you'll be preoccupied and not truly available for anyone who wants to connect.

Preparation allows you to relax about leading the meeting and pay more attention to "reading the room" - noticing how people are doing as they walk in, and throughout the meeting.

You and Your Team Series

Meetings

Demonstrate empathy. People associate attention with caring - your attention matters. Observe, listen, ask thoughtful questions, and avoid distractions and multitasking. Empathy is a learned skill that can be practiced by simply setting aside your phone and computer for two to three hours each week and really listening to someone. Meetings can be your primary place to hone this skill.

Set up and manage the conversation. Ask the group for permission to deliberately manage the conversation. It's important to establish some guidelines about distraction. Ask people to:

avoid using technology unless it is pertinent to the topics

avoid any distracting behavior - verbal or nonverbal

listen and respect people when they're speaking

invite others to speak if their view needs to be heard

Include enough time on every topic to allow broad participation. This means having fewer agenda items and more time allocated to each topic. As a target, put 20% fewer items on your agenda and allow 20% more time for each item.

Slow down the conversation to include everyone. I like the idea of social turn-taking, where you have a sense of who has or hasn't spoken and whether the conversation is being controlled or dominated by one or more people. You don't need to set this up as a rule, but you can model it as an inclusive style of conversation, so people become more likely to notice who hasn't spoken yet.

To implement this practice, call on people gently and strategically. By gently, I mean make it feel and sound like an invitation - not some method of controlling participation. By strategically, I mean think through, during your preparation, who needs to be part of the discussion for each topic. Ask yourself:

Who would be great at starting the conversation?

Who is affected by the outcomes and therefore needs to be asked for their view?

Who is most likely to have a different view?

Who are the old hands who might sense whether we are making a mistake or missing something?

Check in with people at specific times. Begin each meeting with a question: "Does anyone have anything to say or ask before we begin?" Ask it deliberately and with a tone that signals that this conversation matters to you. And then wait. Pausing conveys that you're not interested in getting to someplace other than right here, right now - that this conversation matters. Don't spoil your pauses by making remarks about the lack of response or slowness of a response. People often need a few moments to reflect, find something to say, and think about the best way to express it. Just wait.

Once people realize that you are willing to pause, they'll become more aware, and when they have a question, they won't worry that they are slowing down the meeting.

High-quality conversations with broad participation allow people to get to know each other in ways that lead to friendship and collaboration. It's the act of being with other people in an attentive, caring way that helps us feel that we are all in this together. Crafting a quality experience in your meetings takes time, but it's worth it.

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How to Design Meetings Your Team Will Want to Attend

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Executive Summary Meetings aren't just about delivering results. You also want participants to leave feeling connected, valued, and fulfilled. Of course, you should still be focused on achieving the meeting outcomes but having a thoughtful meeting and a productive one don't have to be at odds. Work hard on being present.

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Creative Formats for Effective Team Meetings

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Creative Formats for Effective Team Meetings

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Meetings are sometimes passive with participants zoning out. However, you can be creative with your meeting formats to engage everyone and make it more productive. One interesting format for your next meeting is the wins meeting. This kind of meeting is aimed at celebrating the small wins. Your team can go for drinks and commend members who have had recent milestones.

By making meetings interesting, participants can feel more engaged which makes meetings more effective.

#teammeeting

Team meetings can be rigid and passive. Combat this and start effective meetings by using creative formats. This helps in keeping employees and participants more engaged. Thus, meetings can turn into a productive session for the organization.

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Let's face it-you'll never be able to stop going to meetings altogether. There are times when you just need to gather a bunch of your colleagues in a room (or on a video chat) to hash things out in real time. But chances are you can replace your least productive meetings with more effective ones. Here are three new formats that can help get your team out of a rut and back on track.

1. Goalfest

No one likes status-update meetings. So when design leader Joel Califa was hired as a first-time manager at cloud computing platform DigitalOcean, he decided to try something different. "No one knew what anyone else was doing, and I didn't have a way to measure our team's performance. I wanted visibility," Califa recalls. So he invented a meeting form called "goalfest."

Related: Ask These 9 Questions Before Every Meeting To Avoid Wasting Time

In an hourlong meeting on Thursday afternoons, Califa would gather his team of seven designers, and they'd jump into a shared Google spreadsheet. Everyone would set and share their self-directed goals for the following week and score themselves on how well they completed the previous week's goals, on a scale of one to five. By allowing his team to set their own goals publicly and hold themselves accountable, Califa, who now works at GitHub, found he could make sure the meeting belonged to them, rather than to him as their manager.

Over time, Califa's team added a "lessons learned" section to their shared document, meant to identify patterns in what was and wasn't working-for example: "QA always takes longer than you think," or, "Don't jump into high fidelity too soon." The goalfest meeting format has gone on to be adopted by teams at Facebook and BuzzFeed, and the Swedish design firm Nordnet has raved about it.

Goalfest isn't a passive meeting-it only works when everyone takes part. But Califa thinks it's worth the effort, crediting it with taking his team "from medium performing to high performing" over the course of a few months. He's posted an on example spreadsheet his blog for anyone who's curious about trying it out.

Related: This Silicon Valley-Style Meeting Can Transform Your Whole Team

2. Masterminds

Buffer's workforce is distributed, with staff working remotely all over the world. So the social media management platform has developed a meeting format they call "masterminds," which pairs up two team members for regular coaching and support. The meeting format began as a way for cofounders Joel Gascoigne and Leo Widrich to stay connected and discuss big issues for the business, but they found it so helpful that they introduced it to the rest of the team.

According to Buffer's Courtney Seiter, the format can vary, but one common structure is a one-hour session broken into two parts:

1. 20 minutes to share and celebrate your achievements (10 minutes per participant)

2. 40 minutes to discuss your current top challenges (20 minutes each)

"The goal isn't to solve one another's problems, but instead to gently probe through active listening and asking questions," Seiter told me by email. Similar to "rubber-duck" debugging in programming, this method can generate new ideas and solutions you hadn't been able to see. "It's surprising how often the person solves their own challenge through this process," Seiter adds.

3. Wins Meetings

A 2011 study examined 26 project teams from seven different companies, and found that celebrating small wins can have an outsize impact on team motivation. Since then, several organizations have adapted this idea to hold regular "wins" meetings-designed strictly to recognize small milestones. At my former employer Percolate, the entire team would gather for drinks on Fridays, and everyone would go around and commend one other person or team for a recent "win." We kept at it for years, even as the company grew beyond 150 employees.

This is a popular meeting format because everyone leaves feeling really good about themselves and their teams.

At MICRO, a nonprofit that installs six-foot-tall science museums in public spaces like airports and hospitals, the team gets together for "Formal Fridays," where bragging about an achievement is mandatory. On certain days they might wear black tie, but most days they just wear hats. According to cofounder Amanda Schochet, it's been a fun way to keep their team, which is split between New York and California, connected. As a bonus, they've accumulated a bunch of silly screenshots of the team wearing things on their heads.

Knotel, which operates a network of designed and managed working spaces, uses a wins meeting to reinforce its values. According to VP of Growth Trevor Clark, as the company grew, leadership looked for ways to keep everyone moving fast without falling out of sync on what the company stands for. "We wanted to roll this out in a way so that people understood how these values related to their job-that it was more than just hitting their numbers," Clark explains.

One of Knotel's values is to "don't look away," which simply means to care about the details, even if it just means improving something by another 1%. taking that to heart, Clark noticed that "our one-pager was a little outdated and too filled with jargon. I thought I could improve it and made a 0.1 version that I tested with a client. It worked well, I sent it out to marketing, and now it's getting rolled out across the team." Knotel's wins meetings are designed to recognize contributions like these, which may start small but add up to something significant.

If there's one thing these three meeting formats share, it's the habit of making the meeting valuable for the entire team, not just the organization or the manager in charge. If your meetings aren't giving everyone a chance to feel valued, set their own priorities, and reflect on how they can improve, you might want to rethink your approach.

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3 Creative Meeting Formats To Make Your Whole Team More Effective

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Let's face it-you'll never be able to stop going to meetings altogether. There are times when you just need to gather a bunch of your colleagues in a room (or on a video chat) to hash things out in real time. But chances are you can replace your least productive meetings with more effective ones.

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When scheduling meetings, there should be something worth sharing. This should be the real reason for meetings and not just out of habit or when one is having a false accomplishment. For meetings to be effective there should be an agenda and meeting management.

Robert Gibb of Hubstaff lists the different ingredients needed to hold effective team meetings. One interesting thing he pointed out was cutting down meetings. If the information can be shared in another method, such as email, Slack, or internal memos, then don’t hold a meeting. He also noted that similar meetings can be merged together to save time.

#teammeeting

There are different ways to make team meetings more effective. Aside from having a real agenda, Robert Gibb writes that it is also necessary to cut back on the number of meetings in an organization. He also adds other tips that can help startups have successful team meetings.

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Remote Team Management, Startup Marketing & Growth Blog by Hubstaff

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There are a few reasons teams meet. The first one is out of habit. We put together a schedule for meeting on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. And we meet even when there's nothing to really meet about.

The second reason we meet is due to a false sense of accomplishment. We feel like if we're meeting, we're getting things done. This is far from true.

We've all had them: managers who love having meetings. Any time these managers have a new idea, they want the whole team to meet. There are also those colleagues who want to meet with no agenda, no set end time, and rarely ever any takeaways. I had two years of experience in a setting like this, which led me to the conclusion:

Only have a meeting when there's something worth sharing

The third reason we meet is because we have something worth sharing. This is the only time we should schedule a staff meeting. Knowing this is the first step to having an effective meeting agenda. The second step is preparation and effective meeting management. That's what I'll cover in this post.

From previous managers, I've learned how to do meetings the wrong way. From my current manager, Dave Nevogt of Hubstaff, I learned how to do meetings right. Dave and I only meet when there's something worth sharing, and there's always a takeaway. We also bring ideas to the meeting instead of pulling ideas from thin air and brainstorming in circles.

Even if you think you're already good at running effective team meetings, I'm sure you'll find something here to make them more worthwhile.

How to run effective team meetings

1. Have a meeting agenda with clear objectives

Meetings often stray from their initial purpose. Getting off topic is easy when there are multiple people trying to communicate with one another - especially with a remote team and video conferencing software.

In Soapbox's guide to effective meetings, it's recommended to set goals, write an agenda, collaborate ahead of time, and assign roles before the meeting even starts.

Before every meeting, create an agenda outlining the topics of discussion. Taking a few minutes to do this for each meeting makes a big difference in the outcome of your meetings. It helps you stay on track and constantly reminds you throughout the meeting about what the objective is.

There's a cool startup called Pinstriped that promises to create software that makes creating, and sticking to, meeting objectives easy. They also have a great tagline that we should all burn into our memory...

If you know of any software similar to this, definitely let everyone know about it in the comments. I have yet to find a good solution that is affordable and available.

2. Set an end time and stick to it

Creating a meeting agenda beforehand will help you determine the amount of time to allot for it. When you set a staff meeting with no end time, it's easy to get off topic even when you have an agenda and objective.

The meeting leader (see below) should solicit the help of meeting participants to keep an eye on the time. One of my colleagues at the previous company I worked for would always remind our manager about the time. If it wasn't for her, we would have been in meetings all day. That said, if you're a participant, don't be afraid to speak up and remind everyone of the time.

If you think you're constantly running over end times, you're probably spending too much time in meetings. To gain insight into how much time you're spending in meetings, you can use a time and task tracking tool like Hubstaff. Set up a task for "Meetings" and, at the end of the month, see how much you've spent in them.

Is all that time spent in meetings wasteful or worthy?

Take this guy for example. At the company he works for he's spending 20% of his time in meetings. I told him it was wasteful, and he doesn't disagree. After tracking his time to discover how much time he spent in meetings, he's asking his managers if there are any meetings he doesn't absolutely need to be in. Really good move.

3. Designate a meeting leader

Without a meeting leader, chaos will ensue every time. Your meetings must have a point person - typically the person who called the meeting - to lead a meeting and to keep things on track throughout the session.

The primary roles of the meeting leader include:

Scheduling the meeting and sending a calendar invite

Creating and disseminating the agenda

Assigning talking points or time slots to each attendee

Assigning tasks upon the conclusion of the meeting

4. Cut down on meetings

Many people call meetings without a true purpose.

Before calling a meeting, ask yourself if the information can be shared just as effectively in a different way. Some communication channels include Slack groups, email, internal memos, and project management tools.

The guy I mentioned above who is spending 20% of his time in meetings has a meeting schedule that looks like this...

Based on the post he wrote, he's having too many meetings. And as I previously mentioned, he's making the right move by asking his manager if there are meetings he can remove from his calendar.

Another way to cut down on meetings is to merge similar meetings together. This is a good move if you're a manager and talking about similar topics with different team members. For instance, could you have a group meeting rather than three individual meetings?

5. Cut down on attendees

While merging meetings can be a good idea, having too many people in a meeting can dilute the quality of information exchanged. When meetings have too many participants, you can end up with endless discussions, unclear direction, and too many opinions guiding the decision-making process.

Think of people best suited to attend the meeting, then send out meeting notes or highlights to the entire team if it's relevant.

6. Create action items and accountability

Use the ideas and decisions developed during the meeting to create action items. And when these action items are created, assign them to members of your team. Log them in your project management system and link to the meeting notes so people can refresh their memory about the meeting's details. (Typically, a project manager will follow up by assigning tasks and deadlines after the meeting, but it's on everyone in attendance to take their own notes).

7. Bring solutions to the meeting

Vasily Malishev, the founder of the app development company Messapps, said in a post about remote development that team meetings are more effective when attendees come up with solutions ahead of time.

"The way I see brainstorming," Vasily said, "is it should not be a team meeting where you come up with solutions. Instead it should be a meeting where you choose a solution. I think people should come up with solutions on their own and then discuss them. This way you get more options to choose from and generally save time.

"If we have a problem, I ask team members to come up with 5-10 solutions. At the time of the meeting people will present their solutions on Slack with a brief description of the solution and its main advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the number of solutions, we can either discuss it or maybe use a poll on Slack for everyone to vote."

Stop wasting time on too many meetings

Before putting the measures mentioned above in place, track your time for how you're currently running and attending staff meetings. Then, after following the advice here, track your time again and compare the numbers - just like Matt Ragland did at his company.

How much time did you save? I'd love to see the numbers in the comments below.

Robert Gibb

Rob manages the Hubstaff Blog and helps SaaS startups scale their content marketing initiatives. He loves working remotely and is traveling the world with We Roam in 2017. Feel free to pitch him a story for the blog and catch up with him on Twitter.

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7 Ingredients for Effective Team Meetings, Distilled from Years of Torture

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There are a few reasons teams meet. The first one is out of habit. We put together a schedule for meeting on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. And we meet even when there's nothing to really meet about. The second reason we meet is due to a false sense of accomplishment.

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Simple Steps to Make Team Meetings Effective

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Simple Steps to Make Team Meetings Effective

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Team meetings can be challenging to conduct. You either love them or hate them. There are meetings that can be too short and rushed, while others can be long and dragging. There needs to be a happy medium.

Paul Slezak recommends five steps to make meetings more engaging that help drive results. Among his recommendations are having a sense of purpose and an agenda. He also notes that encouraging participation is important to let everyone be involved in decision-making.

#teammeeting

There needs to be a happy medium between long but dragging meetings and short yet rushed ones. To achieve this, Paul Slezak lists some simple steps to make team meetings more effective. He wrote that effective meetings can increase the organization’s profitability.

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Team meetings. You either love 'em or you hate 'em. Right?

I once had a manager who would sit at the head of the boardroom table every Monday morning and the first words out of her mouth were " Okay, guys, a fast game's a good game, so let's make it snappy! " (She would then skull a can of Pepsi Max!).

While we were usually always done within 30 minutes or so, it often felt very rushed and pretty superficial. On the other hand, I have also taken part in way too many meetings that were still going two hours later, discussing things that really didn't need to be raised with the whole team present.

So what's the happy medium?

How can you conduct a meeting that engages, inspires and actually achieves results? Here are five steps that might help.

1. Have a Purpose

The first thing is to have a purpose. Why is the meeting being held? Is it just because you always have one, or is there an actual reason for dragging everyone into a room or on to a call and putting the outside world on hold for an hour?

A meeting is actually a perfect opportunity to achieve a lot of things. It is a chance to catch everybody up on what is going on in the overall scheme of things. It is an opportunity to gauge how each individual is traveling and to identify potential problems. It's also a chance to reinforce your mission statement and refocus everyone on the team goals.

Team goals should actually be at the heart of every team meeting. If your goal is to make more sales, then everything discussed at the meeting should reflect this in some way.

2. Have an Agenda

If you have a purpose, you must have a meeting agenda. This is a list of the things you want to cover in the time available. Looking at your agenda will give you a rough idea of how much time you can afford to devote to each item, because time is an important element of team meetings.

They should start on time and only go for the allotted time. If some items on the agenda require more time than is available, they should be moved to the next meeting or, if urgent, a separate meeting should be held with those immediately involved.

Meetings should also be held regularly. Whether it's every Monday morning (the ideal time to plan the week ahead), or every day, they should be held when you say they will and everyone should be encouraged to arrive punctually.

Meetings that are called at the last minute or constantly postponed are an indication that you do not have respect for your team.

3. Encourage Participation

If the purpose of your meeting is relevant to those in attendance (and if it isn't, they shouldn't be there), then you want them to participate in the discussion and be involved in the decision-making.

You can do this by going around the table to get everyone's input. You can also mix up the roles, so that it is not just your jaw flapping all the time. Rotate the chair, so that those who wish to can lead the discussion.

People will become genuinely enthused about your meetings if they are encouraged to participate and can see that something is actually being achieved. They will begin to take ownership of the meetings by turning up on time and contributing to the discussion.

4. Take Minutes

Someone should be assigned to take the minutes at every meeting (ideally someone different each time). The minutes are your record of what was discussed and decided at the meeting and they help to set the agenda for the following meeting.

A copy of the minutes should be shared with (and be accessible to) everyone who attended the meeting. This serves as a reminder of what was discussed and prompts those who were assigned tasks during the meeting to set about accomplishing them before the next meeting. At RecruitLoop we use Asana to keep track of all meetings.

5. Use Technology

With the growing trend towards a more mobile workforce, holding regular face-to-face meetings is becoming less desirable for many teams. In this case, technology can be utilised to conduct virtual meetings via phone and video links.

People can participate from various locations, using their smart phones or tablets to log into a central meeting site. At RecruitLoop we either use Skype or Zoom.us for our team meetings since our team spans five countries.

If we are doing a 'virtual' meeting, even attendees in the same office log in to the technology separately so nobody gets preferential treatment.

Effective team meetings can benefit everyone by:

Keeping individual team members in the loop;

Providing valuable clues to potential problems that you can then head off; and

Helping to raise morale and engender a greater sense of teamwork.

In short, effective meetings can increase your team's productivity and your organisation's profitability.

So what are you waiting for? Name the date, send out the invites and get working on your agenda, because it's time to hold a meeting and start communicating with your team!

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How to Run Effective Team Meetings in 5 Simple Steps

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Team meetings. You either love 'em or you hate 'em. Right? I once had a manager who would sit at the head of the boardroom table every Monday morning and the first words out of her mouth were " Okay, guys, a fast game's a good game, so let's make it snappy!

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Study Shows Best Leadership for Startups

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Study Shows Best Leadership for Startups

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Leadership can be detrimental to the organization’s success and overall satisfaction of employees. A study was conducted by Oakland University that examined the relationship between small startup leaders who are the managers and CEOs. They compared transactional and transformational leadership styles.

Transactional leadership is focused on the day-to-day activities in reaching organizational goals. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, encourages engagement and motivation through a shared vision. According to their study, effective leaders are passionate about challenging their goals. They also need to know which style is most suitable for their organization.

#effectiveleadership

A study conducted by Oakland University found that how leadership can affect the startup. This focused on the different leadership styles used in organizational settings. It differentiated transactional leadership from transformational and how these two can help propel startups.

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Study examines best leadership styles for entrepreneurial startups

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Leadership determines a company's success and employee satisfaction. But which style of leadership is most effective for entrepreneurial startups?

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Chess is about strategic planning. There are chess tips that leaders can apply to their own businesses as Rafi Chowdhury writes. He notes that in business and in chess, moves count.

According to Chowdhury, leaders learn that they need Plans A, B, or C. There will be problems along the way and you need to adjust plans accordingly. This is something that chess players practice. Having different moves and plans is necessary to play the game well.

#effectiveleadership

Chess and leadership can be quite similar. According to Rafi Chowdhury, both need logic. He notes that leaders can learn a lot from the game of chess. One of the tips he mentioned is the importance of having multiple plans. There should be more than just Plan A. Businesses tend to have problems and you need to adjust plans accordingly.

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In chess and in business, every move counts. Here's what startup CEOs can learn from this game of logic.

I have loved chess since I was a child. My grandfather used to play with these beautiful wooden carved boards and pieces. I can't remember any single day when I wasn't playing the game.

Even now, before starting my day, chess has to be my wake-up coffee. When I need focus, chess comes to my aid as a shield. This game is more like a therapy and strategy planner for me.

However, if you look at it theoretically, chess is all about strategy planning in the field. When I first thought about being an entrepreneur, the game held my objectives. The meetings, contracts and competitors are all like any game of chess.

Let me tell you the six most basic chess tips that helped me when I started my own business.

1. You Need Purpose

Purpose is a small word, with a lot of theory in it. In chess, every move counts. Each piece has its own place and importance. You can't run a company without careful planning and approach. There are people better than you, some are the big sharks in your field and successful too.

Thus, every move, innovation and setup is going to count. You can't own a million dollar company without having an insight and purpose. Planning with your resources to build a strong force is going to need a purpose. So, see what your purpose is, and how you can effectively use it.

2. Make Plan A, Plan B and Plan C

Now, here is something interesting. Every problem has a solution, and every solution has a problem. At the start, your business will face a lot of problems, mainly with cash and target audiences. Your competitors are doing everything that they can to reach your customers. If you aren't doing anything different then you are already losing the game. In chess, players always have a plan A, plan B and a plan C. Therefore, your business moves also need to be redefined with plans.

You might be a very good player, but in the end, it's not about playing well, but winning on your terms. So, counterplan every new idea or policy or even a product.

3. Every Piece Is Important

Your king, queen and knight are valued pieces, but what about the pawns? Or is the rook there for decoration? When it comes to chess, not a single piece is out of line. Each of them has their own value and game-changing ability, just like the idea of your business approach. Every employee and customer is important. Your competitors are essential, but so are your employees and customers.

Most people who consult with me are worried and focused on their opponents. But that's not the way to deal, either in chess or business. Playing safe is not an idle line. It has meaning, to go with the theme of being overly-cautious. Look out for assets in your employees and life-long customers in every sale.

4. Learn From Your Mistakes

You made a mistake. So what? Everyone does that. One fail move doesn't imply that in the end, you will lose the game. Every mistake teaches you something. If you lose a piece on the chess board that means that you have to be careful with the rest. The actionable-item here is additional strategic forecasting.

Samsung had a disaster with Note 7 last year. Did the company close? No, they emerged with Note 8 and more gadgets to win their customers. So, if you face failure, emerge-out with more options, and learn from your mistakes. Nothing is permanent, not even a missed business bid.

5. Consider The Whole Board

You have a board full of chess pieces. Maybe you get to do the opening and make the first move. Are you planning to just go about it without thinking? No, that is a wild mistake. You have to settle down, think about your options, and then make the first move. Every opening is a blessing in your business, but again, you have to play safe.

Consider your options, finances and the ability to meet deadlines. Seizing every opportunity without a backup is not healthy. The learning curve works best by seizing the right opportunity and then making a well-planned move. Analyze the situation, see the pros and cons - and then bid. Use your business tools effectively. Calculate the loss of sales, and then see if you can offer any deals or promotions to cover for them.

6. Don't Stall After Temptations

When I first started playing chess, I was very tempted with moving the queen and king. This usually led me to either lose all the pieces or sometimes the whole game. My king used to be snatched, and boy, that did hit hard. I learned from that the need to gain focus. The ins-and-outs of my game needed to be reformed. And only then was I able to protect my king.

It's the same with any startup business. You have to look for ways that can engage the entire board. Usually, competition magnifies the playing ground, but if you lose focus, you won't win. Your ability needs to be reformed to seize extra chances for beating your opponents. Use resources effectively to get to your customers. Try SEO, social media, word-of-mouth and content marketing to reach your customers. Be available where they are. That's how your business will grow to the next level.

6. Apply Chess Techniques, But Know Your Business Too!

Real-life business isn't just a game of chess. Not all your competitors will play nicely. They will attack whenever they want and will ruin your reputation at any cost. But chess teaches you how to focus, play defense, and plan your moves.

Every game of chess starts with a new strategy. Each of your pieces plays their part to let you win. The more focused you get, the more you learn. Similarly, you get to apply these tactics in your new startup or a fresh campaign. You see your rivals and study their playing pattern. Your thoughts get organized with a purpose to win. And, even if you lose, you will do that with a grace.

See, not all the games are about winning, but also about learning from your mistakes or your opponents mistakes.

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What Startup Leaders Can Learn From Chess

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In chess and in business, every move counts. Here's what startup CEOs can learn from this game of logic. I have loved chess since I was a child. My grandfather used to play with these beautiful wooden carved boards and pieces. I can't remember any single day when I wasn't playing the game.

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In Silicon Valley, the environment is constantly changing. There is a widespread adaptation of technologies, it is now important to keep up with the change.

Forbes collected some insights for 2018 from different startup leaders. These leadership tips can be applicable to seasoned CEO to those who are just starting their ventures. Among the tips noted are making integrity a key point and going global in the business.

#effectiveleadership

Leadership in a startup can be challenging. This is especially true with constant change in the business. Gene Banman writes some tips for startup leaders in 2018. He includes making the business global in order to stay competitive with the global market.

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The Valley's ecosystem changes and evolves constantly. I started my career back in the early days of Sun Microsystems when the Valley giants were Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Today, I run a software startup and the giants of yesteryear have given way to Facebook and Google. Nearly 25 years ago, we were just being introduced to the World Wide Web and software was delivered to the masses via CD-ROMs and floppy disks. Today, we see the widespread adoption of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

With ever-increasing pressure on CEOs to move quickly, keeping up is mandatory. The startup world has, for decades, moved fast. But now in our always-on, constantly connected world, it's moving even faster. Whether you are starting a brand new venture or you are a seasoned CEO with many startups under your belt, here are some insights and tips for startup leaders in 2018:
1. Don't Become Global -- Start Global
The global economy is not going away. Our economies, supply chains and workforces are only becoming more intertwined with little respect to borders. As such, CEOs can and should create a global business at a company's inception rather than focusing most, if not all, efforts on the United States. There are promising markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and other regions. Be coordinated and diligent in going global at the outset. With such a large concentration of companies in Silicon Valley, it's important to spread tech companies out beyond the Valley so as not to limit startup momentum and potential growth. Startups should explore the possibilities of other innovation clusters such as Tech City UK, Paris-Saclay, Israel, Bangalore and Beijing. Sales are often easier to close away from the hyper-competitive tech centers in the U.S.
2. Experience Is Back In Vogue In Silicon Valley
Don't discount being an experienced CEO or bringing one on to lead your company. In an industry all-too-frequently stereotyped by the hoodie-wearing tech CEO, there is a resurgence of the experienced leader throughout Silicon Valley. While innovation will always come from all types of backgrounds, companies and VCs are recognizing the value of having leadership teams in place with proven track records in the industry -- both from a technical and a business perspective -- and that can make consistently measured decisions based on that experience.
3. Make Integrity A Central Talking Point
2017 may well have been the watershed startups needed to realize that running a company is about far more than providing employees with great snacks, gourmet cafeterias, posh gym memberships and flexible work hours. Amid the ongoing fallout from the scandals at companies such as Uber, CEOs and other executives must place integrity and honesty at the forefront of their companies' ethos, creating and supporting more initiatives to inculcate and sharpen these qualities and (hopefully) turn the tide of the perceived ( negative) culture of Silicon Valley. If everyone at the top becomes more aware and makes the behaviors of integrity and honesty a priority for both internal and external communications, 2018 could well be a turning point for the tech industry in restoring its reputation.
4. Don't Be Afraid To Be Fiscally Conservative
In recent years, there has been an explosion of VC financing in Silicon Valley. It seemed that every startup was being funded in rounds of eight or even nine figures. What was already a highly selective process (securing VC funding) is becoming even more selective. What we're starting to see now is still more money being put into startups but fewer overall VC funding deals . What this means is that it's time to focus more on running the businesses and creating solid products than on offering the coolest, craziest, headline-grabbing perks. Close your deals now, conserve your cash and keep your runway long. This is what will lead to a strong, stable company in the long run.

Experience, a global mindset, honesty, integrity and a bit of fiscal conservatism when running a company never go out of style, regardless of the era you're in. But even more so today, with such a focus on "growth at all costs" and our connected world, by following these tips and tricks, you'll be on a steadier, more stable path in building and growing your startup.

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From CEO To CEO: Top Tips For Startup Leaders In 2018

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The Valley's ecosystem changes and evolves constantly. I started my career back in the early days of Sun Microsystems when the Valley giants were Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Today, I run a software startup and the giants of yesteryear have given way to Facebook and Google.

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What are the Key Components of Effective Leadership?

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What are the Key Components of Effective Leadership?

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Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the president of Standford University, talks about the elements that make up effective leadership. He is a pioneering neuroscientist, co-founded two startups, and is the research head at Genentech.

Among the key components of leadership according to him are people, team, and decision-making. It is important to hire and keep the best people in the organization but ultimately, it is more important to set them up for success. Create space for growth. Work on the spirit of the team through communication and creating an atmosphere of mutual respect. If you cannot be sure that you can make the right decision, better make good decisions.

#effectiveleadership

The Stanford University president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne discusses the different elements that make up an effective leader. He recalls his experiences both in the academe, research companies and in startups that all relate to leadership. He notes that effective leadership often starts with the people and in enabling them for success.

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Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne tells students that life is long and lived in chapters. Some of his include being a pioneering neuroscientist, head of research at Genentech, a co-founder of two startups, and president of two leading research universities. He shares what he's learned about how to lead organizations that turn discovery into real-world impact.

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Elements of Effective Leadership | Stanford eCorner

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Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne tells students that life is long and lived in chapters. Some of his include being a pioneering neuroscientist, head of research at Genentech, a co-founder of two startups, and president of two leading research universities. He shares what he's learned about how to lead organizations that turn discovery into real-world ...

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The Behavioral Patterns that Sabotage Leadership

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The Behavioral Patterns that Sabotage Leadership

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Not everyone is fit for leadership. However, those who do lead have to be aware of the behavioral patterns that can set them up for failure. Often, leaders can feel isolated and this can make feedback more challenging.

According to Raul Villacis, there are common patterns that leaders can succumb to. These patterns can lead to financial and personal losses. One pattern Villacis identified is falling into the pit of comparison. When leaders start to compare themselves to others, this hinders momentum and creativity.

#effectiveleadership

Leadership can feel challenging and isolating. Though leaders can do their best in their roles, there are some thought patterns that can hinder their success. Raul Villacis has identified the different patterns that interfere with effective leadership.

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Image credit: Thomas Barwick | Getty Images

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Over the past several years as a coach of high-level, male entrepreneurs, I've watched men subconsciously setting themselves up for failure. Unaware of the behavioral patterns sabotaging their growth, they head down paths of misguided thinking and flawed execution.

Those in leadership positions are especially susceptible to these patterns. Once they head down a path, they can sometimes feel isolated, making feedback from others hard to obtain. While not everyone is called to lead, those who do lead need to become aware of their subconscious patterns so they can avoid the pitfalls that could lead to huge personal and financial losses.

Through my work, I have discovered nearly 80 percent of these patterns are related to mindset. When the leader of an organization isn't operating at his peak, the company culture will feel the impact. This will eventually trickle down to the company's clients, affecting their trust in the organization and its capacity to deliver.

A leader's mindset goes beyond telling people what to do. It's exuding confidence so the team knows they will win regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes those wins come as learning experiences. Here are four of the most common harmful patterns I've seen among the leaders I've worked with.

Pattern 1: Hiding doubt and fear.

Everyone experiences doubt and fear, but leaders process it differently. While a leader may be confident and fearless most of the time, it can sneak up on him when he is trying to hide his weaknesses. Even if he has led the team to victory in the past, he may begin to doubt his capacity to do it again. Once doubt sets in, he will put up a front hoping no one notices, but in the end, they always do.
Related: These Artists, Authors and Leaders Battled Self-Doubt Before They Made History
Leaders don't hide. I teach my clients to break the pattern through authenticity. Share your doubts and fears with your high-level team members. Frame the conversation so as to avoid building fear among your peers. Ask them questions to get useful feedback you can use to implement new strategies for growth. You can turn doubt and fear around, but only if you expose it and gain support for your vision.

Pattern 2: Harboring guilt and shame.

A big lie we tell ourselves is that to lead we must be perfect. Perfection is the lowest standard because it creates an impossible game to win. Sometimes the guilt of being less than perfect can creep in from past failures and affect current success.

One of my clients didn't realize he was carrying the guilt and shame of a past failure into his new and thriving business. Once he realized his past didn't define his future, he began to grow, using the knowledge he gained from the past to propel himself forward. As a result, his team saw an immediate shift in his leadership style. His newfound style energized them, causing them to generate increased revenues for the company.
Related: 5 Different Leadership Styles Every Good Boss Needs to Have
There are no perfect leaders. Letting go of guilt and shame for your failures is the key to breaking this pattern. Define the future you envision and focus on progress and the impact you are making. Are you a better person in spite of your mistakes?

Pattern 3: Playing the comparison game.

This is probably the main pattern that sabotages great leaders. Comparing yourself to others only serves to squash your creativity and momentum. This pattern has stopped me in my tracks many times.

As a coach and leader, I want to provide useful content, books and videos for my followers and clients. I used to believe looking at what others in my industry were doing would give me great ideas, but I learned I needed to forge my own way. I broke the pattern by focusing on myself and the leader within, using that inspiration to create some of my best work.
Related: To Become a Leader Stop Schmoozing Others and Focus on Yourself
There will always be haters. Remember, focus on you and your company. Keep one eye on what makes you unique and the other eye on the market. Comparison will lead you to failure, but when you decide to lead you can't let criticism knock you down. Use the pain of criticism as fire for growth. Criticism is the price you pay to be a leader.

Pattern 4: Needing to be in control.

Some leaders believe they need to be in control of every aspect of their business. They believe being in control will help them avoid mistakes. Unfortunately, this may be true as long as you want your company to remain small. You can't carry the weight of the world and row the boat at the same time if you want to sail around the world successfully.

There will be no time for innovation and growth. The key to breaking this pattern is trust. Others may not do things the way you do, but empowering others to work your business is a sure way to create progress. Others on your team might even do things better than you and that is when you will truly reap the rewards of letting go.

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Let Go and Lead: The Patterns That Sabotage Effective Leadership

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5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Over the past several years as a coach of high-level, male entrepreneurs, I've watched men subconsciously setting themselves up for failure. Unaware of the behavioral patterns sabotaging their growth, they head down paths of misguided thinking and flawed execution.

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Leadership is not for everyone. Often, it needs a different kind of responsibility. Cronofy interviewed eight different startup leaders to know their thoughts about leadership and what their tips are to others who want to follow this kind of path.

According to Mark Sanders of Accelerated Places, humility and decisiveness are two of the most important qualities of an effective leader. Anthony Broadbent from Salary Finance commented that arrogance can be detrimental to being a leader.

#effectiveleadership

Different startup leaders weigh in their comments and thoughts on what makes an effective leader. They also leave advice and tips for those who want to be startup leaders. Check out this survey done by Cronofy to know what it takes to be a great leader in a startup.

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From 8 people who've done it

Being a leader is about so much more than being in charge of people. It's a whole new level of responsibility that not everyone is cut out for.

We wanted to see if there were any common threads shared by leaders from different startups in the UK, so we sent out a questionnaire to some of our friends at Accelerate Places.

Here's what they had to say.

What one quality do you feel is most important to be an effective leader?

"Probably listening. Part of being a leader is assimilating inputs from all sorts of sources and distilling the patterns and insight from it. Your team are inevitably closer to customers, delivery, billing, in fact pretty much any aspect of the businesses. Unless you're properly open to listening to what they are reporting to you, both directly and indirectly, you will struggle to help them effectively navigate the business." -  Adam Bird, Cronofy CEO and co-founder

"Humility. You need to defer to your team as much as possible whilst providing a strong vision for them to get behind.

You can't, and shouldn't, know every little detail of everything but you need to know enough to create a cohesive team. You have to realise that you are as dependent on your team as they are on you, if not more so." - Garry Shutler, Cronofy CTO and co-founder

"There are a lot of qualities that are important when you want to lead. And there are many different types of leaders. Some lead by example, others excel at delegating and using the strength of their team. As a leader you want to be honest, approachable and inspire your team. But I believe that it all start with being a good communicator. In a professional environment you meet and work with people from varied backgrounds who have different motivations and skills. As a leader of people it's a critical part your role to to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals who work with you in order for them to achieve their full potential. It is also your job to motivate your team by understanding what matters to each of your subordinate. I have found that being able to explain how specific projects fit into the company's wider strategy isn't always as straightforward as it seems. I don't think there is such thing as too much communication but never forget to listen more than you talk and ask your employees for their opinion!" - Jérémy Bourhis, Cronofy Marketing Manager

What one trait do you feel is the most detrimental to a leader?

"Dogmatic self-belief. Part of being an entrepreneur is harnessing your ability to see the world differently and navigate a contrarian approach to success. Being repeatedly told your wrong by customers, investors, journalists can make you put up barriers. It's crucial these barriers are down when leading your team. You have to be able to listen and be humble to properly guide them." - Adam Bird, Cronofy CEO and co-founder

"People managers need to understand that they have hired employees for their expertise in a specific area. I think some managers feel like they can only lead successfully if they are involved with every project or task that their team works on. In my experience this is a recipe for disaster. You want your team members to feel empowered and show that you trust them by giving them responsibilities. Micro-management doesn't help subordinates feel like they are being valued. It can also lead to burnout as there are not enough hours in the day for one person to do the job of three or four." - Jérémy Bourhis, Cronofy Marketing Manager

What's the best piece of leadership advice you've ever been given?

"Everyone is making it up. The only way to train for leadership is to attempt leadership. No matter how confident and adept other people appear, they're all just making up as they go along. Each challenge is different. Only by jumping in feet first will you start to acquire the necessary skills and become more able to cope with the challenges of leadership." - Adam Bird, Cronofy CEO and co-founder

"Consensus is preferable but not required. I try to encourage the principle of "disagree and commit".

"A level of conflict is healthy, it means you've avoided complete groupthink which helps generate more diverse ideas. However, once a decision is made, everyone should commit to it regardless of which side of the fence they were on. And no "I told you so"s allowed down the line, they aren't helpful and are generally negativity bias in action." - Garry Shutler, Cronofy CTO and co-founder

"When I was promoted as a people manager I was told that I had to understand that leading people is really a full-time job, not an add-on to my existing one. This is especially true if you have been promoted from another position within the company. There can be a temptation to continue doing what you are comfortable with and just add the people management part on top of it. That simply doesn't work. You are no longer a Digital Marketing Executive, you are the manager of a marketing team. Let go on some of the day-to-day task and delegate these tasks to your team. Your team will rely on you for advice and guidance and you need to be there to help them make the decision that will help the business achieve its objectives. Leaders can't lose sight of what really matters, the people they work with." - Jérémy Bourhis, Cronofy Marketing Manager

What alternative(s) would you suggest to someone who wants to progress in their career without becoming a traditional people manager?

"Project leadership is where I've seen many people flourish. Especially those that have come through a more technical career path. There are many moving parts to projects and leading a team to a clearly measurable deliverable is a different set of skills to that required to take people on a longer journey." - Adam Bird, Cronofy CEO and co-founder

"Figure out what you're really good at and develop that skill (assuming it creates value)!" - Mark Sanders, Accelerate Places

"A leader doesn't have to be managing people to be recognized as such. And there is no shame in not wanting to manage people. That's not something that everyone want to do but I believe that businesses need to be better at providing alternative career paths so employees can continue to progress in the organization. You can hold a leadership position in a company through your expertise in a specific areas that are critical to the business' mission and be someone the rest of your team or the business as a whole looks up to and listen to." - Jérémy Bourhis, Cronofy Marketing Manager

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a leadership role?

"Find a coach. Someone who you respect as a leader. It can be a very lonely position and being able to discuss and share, in confidence, the inevitable challenges will give you important support." - Adam Bird, Cronofy CEO and co-founder

For more insights on what makes a great leader, check out our guest post for TechDay.

This story is published in The Startup, where 266,600+ people come together to read Medium's leading stories on entrepreneurship.

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How to Be a Great Leader in a Startup - The Startup - Medium

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From 8 people who've done it Being a leader is about so much more than being in charge of people. It's a whole new level of responsibility that not everyone is cut out for.

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How Leadership Communication Can Lead to Better Teams

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How Leadership Communication Can Lead to Better Teams

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Project Aristotle, led by Google, aimed to find out the traits that helped in building better teams in Google. The study then gave helpful tips such as having a sense of purpose, dependability, and impact on others.

The conclusion of the research was that effective teams communicate and this should start with leadership. Communication is the key to achieving leadership success. Face-to-face communication is more effective than text-based ones. Aside from that, having more exchanges and interactions can lead to strong leadership and great financial performance.

#effectiveleadership

Effective communication that starts with leaders can help in developing effective teams. Communication can lead to leadership success and it can be a foundation for great team performance. Read this article to know more about how leadership communication can help teams.

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Google's Project Aristotle studied the characteristics that create effective teams at Google and offered tips for helping teams take action to increase team effectiveness:

Psychological safety: Team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable. (Actions: Solicit input and opinions, and share personal and work style preferences.)

Dependability: Members reliably complete quality work on time. (Actions: Clarify roles and responsibilities, and develop concrete project plans to provide transparency into every individual's work.)

Structure and clarity: Members have clear roles, plans and goals. (Actions: Regularly communicate team goals, ensure team members understand the plan for achieving them, and ensure team meetings have a clear agenda and designated leader.)

Meaning: There's a sense of purpose in the work or the output. (Actions: Give team members positive feedback on something outstanding they are doing, offer to help them with something they struggle with and publicly express your gratitude for someone who helped you.)

Impact: Work is making a difference. (Actions: Co-create a clear vision that reinforces how each team member's work directly contributes to team and organization goals, reflect personally on how work impacts users or clients and the organization, and adopt a user-centered evaluation method.)

In other words, the best teams communicate effectively. And it starts with leadership. In a Quantum Leadership Group survey of 195 leaders in 15 countries over 30 global organizations, communication was involved in six of the top 10 leadership competencies. Unfortunately, in a recent study by Clear Company, 86 percent of employees and executives cited a "lack of collaboration" or "ineffective communication" as the source of most workplace failures.

Communication is critical for leadership success, but most leaders don't communicate or collaborate well. Communication is "a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior," according to Merriam-Webster. The key word is "exchange."

One reason why communication is ineffective is because we rely too much on email, which is often misinterpreted. Humans are much better at communicating and interpreting tone in vocal messages than in text-based ones, and face-to-face requests are 34 times more effective than emailed requests.

What can leaders do to be more effective communicators? Here are three tips.
Have More Exchanges.
"Great leadership is practiced one conversation at a time," wrote Tacy M. Byham and Richard S. Wellins in a CLO article. Great conversations impact the bottom line. In fact, a DDI and The Conference Board study found "that organizations that value interactions are 3½ times more likely to have a strong leadership bench and twice as likely to be among the top financially performing companies."
Seek Mutuality.
Mutuality is seeking mutual purpose and an understanding that leaders and employees are working toward a common goal. Both parties must care about the interests of the other person, not just their own. Communication often fails because people jump to the worst possible conclusion about another person without considering the other person's circumstances or point of view.

According to psychologist Judith V. Jordan, the main channel for mutuality is empathic attunement, the ability to understand another person's momentary psychological state . "It is a process during which one's self-boundaries undergo momentary alteration," says Jordan, "which in itself allows the possibility for change in the self. Empathy ... always contains the opportunity for mutual growth and impact."
Communicate With Intention.
Communicating with intention penetrates both sides of a listener's brain. According to neuroscientist Sophie Scott, we divide a person's message into sections and store (remember) each part in a different part of the brain. The words are stored and processed in the left temporal lobe. The vocal dynamics - how the words are delivered - are stored in the right side of the brain, the area also associated with music and images. The words alone are not enough. Lack of vocal intention will cloud your message and leave your audience confused at best and unmoved at worst.

As management guru Peter Drucker said, "Communication always makes demands. It always demands that the recipient become somebody, do something, believe something. It always appeals to motivation." We all communicate every day of our lives, whether we choose to or not, and we all want something as a result of the messages we communicate.

Effective leaders must motivate a team, facilitate change, define a culture or overcome adversity. Great leaders must be great communicators. They have to create a vision that others will follow. Their words must be supported by strong and active intentions, and their objectives must be clearly defined, appealing to the aspirations and emotions of their team members. Without intention, employees will not understand a leader's ideas and will not champion their proposals. And teams will remain ineffective.
David Lewis

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Effective Leadership Communication Creates Effective Teams - Training Industry

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Google's Project Aristotle studied the characteristics that create effective teams at Google and offered tips for helping teams take action to increase team effectiveness: Psychological safety: Team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable. (Actions: Solicit input and opinions, and share personal and work style preferences.)

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Leadership Traits that Boost Startup Growth

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Leadership Traits that Boost Startup Growth

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The startup culture and scene is quite different from the other organizations and companies. Often a startup either has the “it” factor or they don’t. For some startup leaders, they might struggle with orchestrating their teams and dealing with people. However, there are ways to grow the startup and make an impact on employees.

Sweta Patel writes that leaders who provide value to audiences and customers can help in taking the company further. Doing this will help your customers change their perspectives and will make them want to come back.

#effectiveleadership

There are certain leadership skills that help in propelling the growth of a startup. According to Sweta Patel, some traits like focusing on value and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit can encourage customers to come back and ensures that the company’s best interests are in mind.

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Startups either have that "it" factor or they don't, and some founders spend so much time trying to figure out exactly what that "it" factor actually is. They want to be successful, but when they follow the money they end up losing sight of their original mission. They want to be able to grow and scale quickly while creating an inclusive culture.

After working with hundreds of startups, I noticed something.

There are two kinds of CEOs: ones who leave their job because they're sick of it and envision starting something new, and those with an MBA degree who want to build their own startup straight after that. Therefore, many startup CEOs struggle with people-centricity and what it really takes to orchestrate a team. Leadership is not taught in these areas, and many times the chemistry just doesn't exist within the team itself. This can cause a business to fold.

It's not easy to manage a team and ensure everyone is happy, but there are ways to help your company grow outside of the "hustle" and "task over humanity" approach. Here are some tips for startup founders to make an impact within their organization and ultimately become memorable leaders.
Focus On Value
Providing value to your customers and your audience will take your company much further than trying to get them to check out your company through promotion. Most people don't want to be bombarded with promos. Instead, they want something that is insightful or changes their perspective. They want something that will bring more awareness to them and what they're doing. Money likes those who like what they do.

When I first started my business, I didn't do it for the money. I had a hunger to help businesses turn their target audience into passionate buyers and believers. I had already built a strong track record of helping companies achieve their goals, including my own. After a while, I decided it was time to venture out and focus on being the best provider. For me, it's never about getting new clients. It's about providing value in ways that make them want to come back. These companies usually refer me to other clients as well. As a leader, your end goal is to be the best provider and bring value to everything you put your hands on.
Get Your Team To Think Outside The Box
We all have to get a lot of different tasks done, but what are you doing to help your team think better? It requires letting go of control, trusting your team and basically getting out of their way. When I was working in my first startup, my boss would follow me around like an ex who won't let the relationship go. It made me feel nervous and I would drop everything to make him happy, which meant I wasn't getting my actual work done. I realized this environment wasn't for me. I felt like I was stuck in this box that didn't allow me to spark my creativity and spread my wings. We could have done amazing things, but limited thinking got in the way. I eventually left and gained greater perspective. I wanted to work in a place that encouraged more freedom. Those are the kinds of places that spark the most creativity. Thus, I decided to advise startups that had a more flexible policy and watch them succeed.
Listen And Actively Ask Questions
Throughout my experience with startups, I've run into many entrepreneurs who just simply want to give their two cents on everything. Unfortunately, this creates a roadblock for effective communication among a team because employees are not able to provide their opinions and feedback. Ultimately, the team could not even be listening to the speaker at all.

Listening is essential to effective communication. The art of listening is magical. It gives people a sense that you actually care about what they are saying. One of my mentors used to always tell me that, "If someone is nodding their head while you speak, they are not listening to you." Everything is going in one ear and coming out the other. If you want to be an effective communicator, then you have to learn how to listen and ask first. I used to have a habit of being accusatory and jumping to conclusions without listening. It didn't work for me, so I had to change my mentality to support my goals. I had to focus on the end result and whatever it would take to get to that point. This resulted in a happy team environment instead of the hostile-feeling team environment I was working in previously.
Encourage An Entrepreneurial Spirit
Think of an entrepreneurial spirit as the water that makes a plant grow. When I transitioned into the startup world, I left being CEO behind but I never lost my entrepreneurial spirit. I love pouring my whole heart and soul into my endeavors, so that came easily for me. And besides, the companies I worked with that came from an entrepreneurial background had more success than those that didn't.

Adopting an entrepreneurial spirit means that you constantly keep the business's best interests in mind. You act with confidence, knowing that if the company succeeds, so do you. We all want to be a part of something greater than ourselves; that's why we are all entrepreneurs at heart. Companies that nurture this spirit will have a better chance at succeeding because they are developing a fully invested team that is committed to propelling the business forward.

Whether you've worked your up to a CEO position and are venturing out to create your own startup or you're a recent graduate with an MBA eager to start your own company, juggling an entire team, fostering good company culture and being a lucrative leader is difficult but worth it.

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Four Leadership Skills That Drive Startup Growth

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Startups either have that "it" factor or they don't, and some founders spend so much time trying to figure out exactly what that "it" factor actually is. They want to be successful, but when they follow the money they end up losing sight of their original mission.

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Startup Leadership vs. Traditional Leadership

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Startup Leadership vs. Traditional Leadership

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Good leaders often have to deal with different cultures and perspectives and bridge these into one. Though leadership style varies, they need to set a vision and define goals for the organization. Another factor that makes leadership different is the organization as well. Leadership from startup organizations and from traditional companies also tends to be different.

JustScience identifies what makes these two leaders different. Often, startup leaders have to navigate in a more modern workplace. One of the factors they identified is the leaders’ primary role. Those who are in traditional companies usually only delegate and supervise. There is can be a feeling of disconnect. For those in startups, they need to work closely with subordinates. They know all the activities to analyze the growth.

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The traits between startup leaders and traditional leaders are usually different. Although leadership styles also vary from one person to the next, startup leadership tend to be more modern as they adapt to the fast changes in the workplace. This article identifies the factors that make these two leadership styles different from the other. Read this to know more which leadership style is better.

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An efficient leadership style must include setting a vision, defining the goals the company wants to achieve, motivating the workforce to implement and execute the plans, and responding to market forces and other changes. While the goals of every company may be ultimately the same - to do exceedingly well as a business, there are a lot of differences in the leadership styles in a startup company and a traditional company to achieve these goals. Let's find out how.

Leadership Traits At Startups v/s Traditional Companies

1. Attitude: The leaders in traditional companies believe that they have the ultimate authority over everyone. The longer the tenure of these leaders, the higher up the ladder they get to climb. Most of the traditional companies only have one leader in a community. Whereas in a startup, there is collaborative leadership. Everyone in the team takes a collective decision and comes up with the best ideas to tackle a situation. This helps in team building and equal participation fosters better results.

2. Information Retention: When you are a part of a startup company you are at the apex of something amazing and more transparent as compared to a traditional company set up. Since everyone works on the same project, open information sharing is considered critical to the functioning of the business. Of course, some confidential details are not to be shared. In a traditional company, information is retained mainly by the leader and released only on a 'need to know' basis.

3. Primary Role: The primary role of the leaders in larger and more traditional corporations is sometimes only confined to delegating authorities and supervising the work of the subordinates. In many such cases, the subordinates develop a resistance or disliking to their leaders when they feel the leaders are not aware of the processes in detail to get the work done and are not involved much. As far as a startup is concerned, a leader is expected to work closely with his subordinates and colleagues to collectively achieve the goals of the company. This way, not only does the leader get to keep a tab on all the activities of the teammates, but also gets to analyze the growth of all his employees.

4. Calling the Shots: A leader in traditional corporations often takes decisions without taking any inputs from the teammates or subordinates working on the project. In a startup company, a leader is compassionate and considers the opinions of all the stakeholders and investors involved in taking any decisions. This may not be always possible in the case of a larger organization because of the number of people involved.

5. Growth: For a leader in a traditional company to come at par with the top heads of the company, it may take many years. But the career growth is a lot faster for leaders in a startup company. Take the example of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He could not have become the CEO of a company straight out of college, could he? Startups provide that acceleration to a leader to excel along with their team by working in close co-operation.

6. A difference in Focus: Leaders in a traditional company focus on the organizational performance and expect positive results from their workforce. Apart from this, leaders in a startup also focus on developing the knowledge of their staff and train them so they can better support the project of the company. The leaders at startup companies can't afford to go wrong with the choices they make and so their commitment levels to training and providing support to their team members is very impressive in comparison with already established corporations that may miss this enthusiasm.

Conclusion

The landscape of the modern workplace is now evolving at a fast pace and the leaders need to adapt themselves accordingly so as to continue to remain the guiding force and inspiration for their team members. The need of the hour is to focus on the enhancement of the skills of the team members so they can perform to their best levels and stay motivated. Encouraging participation instils a sense of belonging and self-respect in the individuals and lets them know their opinions are valued. They can thrive best in such a positive work environment and give their best in every project they are a part of. Leaders of today need to become more expansive so they can also develop internally as well as externally and push the organization in the right direction at the same time. Charismatic, transformational and transactional leadership models exhibit the traits of a good leader that can effectively manage its subordinates as well as handle all the challenges with their teams by their side. Effective leadership must bridge the boundaries of people with different perspectives and cultures.

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How Is Leadership Different At Startup Companies Than With Larger, More Traditional Corporations? - JustScience

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An efficient leadership style must include setting a vision, defining the goals the company wants to achieve, motivating the workforce to implement and execute the plans, and responding to market forces and other changes.

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Leadership and management are two different things. Leadership comes from the Greek word that means pathmaker while management comes from a Greek word that means pathfollower. Leaders also tend to do the right thing while managers tend to do things right.

This article from identifies the five different practices that help one become a more effective leader. These leadership practices were developed by Posner and Kouzes from Tom Peter’s original work. Among the practices mentioned are challenging the process, enabling others, and encouraging the heart.

#effectiveleadership

There are differences between just being a manager to being a leader. This article identifies what makes these two different and what are the practices of an effective leader according to a study.

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In any senior manager's career, the transition from manager to leader can be a tricky one.

In any manager's career, the transition to leader can be tricky. How do you lift yourself up from the operational to the strategic? What are the secrets to providing visionary leadership? How can you inspire and lead change in your organisation? One practical answer is Kouzes and Pozner's Leadership Practices. This article explains the model and how it can help you transform your own impact as a leader.

Management vs Leadership

Managers at all levels are now expected to be able to step up to be leaders in a range of circumstances. It's not simply something expected of CEOs or the most senior managers.

There are a host of definitions of management and leadership - and certainly too many to mention in this article. At =mc we often use two of the simplest definitions offered by management guru Peter Drucker:

Leadership: from an ancient Greek word meaning pathmaker

Management: from an ancient Greek word meaning pathfollower

Drucker also speaks about managers doing things right, and leaders doing the right thing.

At =mc we've translated Drucker's ideas onto some key activities shared by managers and leaders, such as planning, resources, and people management.

The implication of the pathmaker/pathfollower distinction is that as managers we have to be concerned with organising stable systems, ensuring quality, and identifying and implementing best practice. Whereas as leaders we need to be concerned about creativity and innovation, making positive changes and seeking to challenge and push boundaries.

And with the 'do the right thing' distinction we can see the importance of choice and vision. At the same time once a choice is made it's essential that 'things are done well' - that is, the choice is executed well, and that others are engaged in delivery.

However, even this approach doesn't necessary help us to indetify what exactly we have to do. And that's where Leadership Practices comes in.

Five practices of effective leaders

If you think there are a lot of definitions of leadership then you might be very concerned by the number of models there are to explain what leaders actually do.

However, there is a practical model that works effectively within a range of public bodies and charities we've worked with. The model is Leadership Practices, developed by two researchers, Kouzes and Posner, from original work by Tom Peters.

Kouzes and Posner's research was carried out over an initial five year period with over 1,000 high performing leaders - and importantly with their 'followers' too - establishing what made them successful.

Combining the two perspectives, the research project involved asking leaders and followers questions around:

what qualities individual leaders believed they needed when they were at their most successful

what qualities those who were being led believed were important when they felt themselves being well led

The research team's analysis of the data revealed a pattern of agreement between leaders and those being led about the behaviours that underpinned action when people were accomplishing extraordinary things in organisations. These were then codified as the five practices of leadership. The specific practices needed and their characteristics can vary according to the challenges you face, but at some point you'll have to access them all.

When working at their best, leaders and followers said leaders challenged, inspired, enabled, modelled and encouraged. And they did this through committing themselves to particular sets of behaviour and values. In the 20 years since the model was first developed, Kouzes and Posner have clearly established that these behaviours were an observable and learnable set of practices. They developed training that ensured anyone prepared to spend time developing the practices could become excellent at them. =mc has built on this training and we now use the model extensively in our in-house and open work.

Kouzes and Posner also developed a 360 º Inventory to help establish individuals':

current level of competence - as perceived by them and others - in each practice

where they need to develop to empower their team and deliver for the organisation

Note that Kouzes and Posner call them practices - that is, these qualities only manifest themselves when people actually do them.

The Five Practices

Here in more detail are the five practices and their implications for leaders.

Challenge the process

Kouzes and Posner's research found that leaders thrive on and learn from adversity and difficult situations. They are risk takers who regard failure - where not caused by poor performance - as a useful chance to learn and innovate. They are also early adopters. They seek out things that appear to work and then insist that they are improved. They challenge 24/7.

This practice suggests that we shouldn't be content to do 'business as usual'. As a leader you need to:

Seek challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate, and improve at a personal and organisational level

Experiment, take risks, and encourage others to do so. Create a culture in which people feel able to learn from the accompanying mistakes

Consider what part of your organisation's work you need to challenge - even those parts that seem to work. Do you drive ideas you want to implement and allow others to share theirs? Are you prepared to take risks and allow others to do so?

Inspire a shared vision

Kouzes and Posner found in their research that people are motivated most not by fear or reward, but by ideas that capture their imagination. This is not so much about having a vision, but communicating it effectively so that others take it on board. Great leaders are future-orientated and seek to energise others by passion, enthusiasm and emotion. They want to bring people on board with this sense of shared purpose.

They will:

Create a vision of an uplifting and ennobling future where individuals feel energised by the orgaisational or team vision

Enlist others in this common vision by appealing to their values, interests, hopes and dreams

It's easy to concentrate too much on crafting the perfect words for a vision and mission, and not spend enough time on communicating it. Can you repeat your organisation's mission? How hard do you try to share it with others?

Enable others to act

Leaders don't seek to achieve it all themselves - they achieve results through others. But they do this not by simply repeating the vision mantra - encouragement and exhortation isn't enough. People must feel able to act and then must be supported to put their ideas into action. Collaboration and relationship-based work is central to success.

As a leader you will need to:

Foster collaboration by promoting co-operative goals and building trust between leaders and team members, and between teams

Strengthen others by sharing information and power and by increasing their discretion and visibility

Who in your team or organisation needs help and encouragement to act? What would help them to act? Do you have a systematic process for developing people and helping them grow in confidence and competence?

Model the way

Modelling means being prepared to go first, living the behaviours you want others to adopt before asking them to adopt them. People will believe not what they hear leaders say, but what they see their leaders consistently do. Great leaders should, demonstrate the desired approach, and specifically:

Set an example for others by behaving in ways that are consistent with your values and those of your organisation

Plan small wins that promote progress in individuals and teams, then build on these to maintain momentum

Do you tighten your own budget belt before asking others to cut back on expenditure? If you're in fundraising, do you donate to your own cause as an example of modelling the way?

Encourage the heart

Finally Kouzes and Posner established that people act best of all when they are passionate about what they're doing. Leaders unleash the enthusiasm of their followers with stories and passions of their own. They enjoy celebrating successes - even small ones. They tackle difficult projects recognising others' contributions. They:

seek out and recognise individual and team contributions to the success of every project.

celebrate team and individual accomplishments regularly - and look for engaging and novel ways to do so.

Have a think about your last staff newsletter or conference - did it meet this encouragement criterion? Was it exciting - or dull and safe? What could you do to encourage the heart at an organisational level?

By identifying your strengths and weaknesses across the five leadership practices, it's possible to spot a relatively small number of areas you need to work on. Through awareness, coaching, practice and feedback, you can quickly make the transition from effective manager to outstanding leader.

What's Next?

Kouzes and Posner also developed a 360° assessment questionnaire - the Leadership Practices Inventory. This tool scores leadership behaviour against the five practices. This powerful tool forms an important part of =mc's Strategic Leadership Programme. The course will help you to explore your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and introduce tools, techniques and approaches to develop and communicate strategy and change. View all training programmes.

If you've found this article helpful and you would like more information, please call +44 (0)20 7978 1516 and speak to one of our senior learning and development consultants.

Share Leadership: 5 practices of effective leaders

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Effective Leadership: the 5 practices of effective leaders

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In any manager's career, the transition to leader can be tricky. How do you lift yourself up from the operational to the strategic? What are the secrets to providing visionary leadership? How can you inspire and lead change in your organisation? One practical answer is Kouzes and Pozner's Leadership Practices.

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There is no one recipe for becoming a leader. Often, leadership varies depending on cultures and the situation of the organization. This is the interesting point made in this article.

However, the question still remains on what makes a good leader? According to a study, training and hard work can improve leaders to maximize their potential. By harnessing the values and traits needed to perform their job, leaders can become better. Modern leaders who are in innovative start-ups and companies need to have certain skills as well, such as creative thinking, patience, and servant leadership among others.

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Being a good leader can be different depending on the culture and the company’s situation. Although there is no specific recipe as to what makes a good leader, they can work hard on improving their skills and attributes to become better. This article notes the different traits necessary to thrive as a good leader even in modern times.

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Leadership has become the center of attention for organizations after the global financial crisis in late 2007, highlighting the need for better leaders. However, choosing the right people to lead is not an easy process, even though there are lots of candidates with impressive credentials. Leaders possess significant impact on both their followers and the organizational outcomes. A successful leader will help his followers improve their skills and performance levels and therefore enhance productivity inside the company.

There is not a unique recipe for success when leadership is concerned. Different circumstances create different needs and therefore require different styles of leadership, a phenomenon called situational leadership. For instance, a company will require a different kind of leader on a period of growth, when it is hiring stuff, than a crisis period, when it is cutting down budgets and laying people off . Moreover, different cultures may show a preference to specific leadership characteristics. For example, people in the UK prefer leaders who seek to inspire them around a vision, care about their well-being and value their input. On the other hand, Islamic nations like Turkey and Qatar want their leaders to focus on procedures, status and safety of individuals and groups.

A very intriguing question regarding the concept of leadership is whether all those traits that distinguish leaders from other people are gentically inherited or can they be cultivated through experience and hard work. In other words: Leaders are born leaders or they become in the process? Recent studies indicate that only 30% of what makes a good leader depends on genetics, while the rest depends on skills which can be learned and improved through training and experience. Furthermore, according to Andersen's observations, there is a 10-15% of the population that does not have what it takes to become leaders, no matter how hard they try and how well they train themselves. The remaining 85-90% can improve their leadership skills and become good leaders. Marshall Goldsmith and Howard Morgan conducted a research, in which 88,000 managers who attended a leadership development training were closely observed. Findings of the study suggested that those managers who reflected on their experience of the training program and tried to implement what they learned became more effective leaders. Therefore, leadership is not only a matter of good genes but it also requires a significant amount of training and hard work for potential leaders to exploit their full potential. The purpose of this article is to explore those characteristics a leader should have in order to be considered succesful.

Traits and attributes of a good leader

A significant aspect of a leader's character is his personal values. To begin with, integrity can be viewed as the cornerstone of leadership, building strong relationships between leaders and employees which are based on mutual trust and collaboration. Leaders who possess integrity treat their followers with honesty and justice, by following up on their promises and not making discriminations in their judgments. Moreover, they are consistent on their core values, demonstrating them through their everyday actions. They also possess a strong ethical code, which helps them distinguish right from wrong on a moral perspective. A strong negative example is Jeff Skilling, the CEO of Enron, whose lack of integrity resulted in the collapse of his company and his imprisonment for mass fraud.

Another important characteristic of great leaders is humility. Leadership is an ongoing process of learning and experimenting. Therefore, leaders should be open-minded to reflect on their mistakes and learn from others in order to improve. They need to put their egos aside to admit their flaws and work on them. To achieve that, they should seek for feedback from their followers and fellow leaders. As Narayana Murthy, co-founder and executive chairman at Infosys, stated, in order for sustainable corporate success to be achieved leaders should recognize that there are smarter people who do things better, both within and outside the company and learn from them.

When it comes to leadership empathy can prove to be a significant asset. It is very important for a leader to understand what his followers are experiencing and share their feelings and emotions, especially when bad news is concerned. However, just being able to understand how someone is feeling may not be enough. Good leaders should act in a compassionate way to try to comfort their followers and reduce the pain they might be experiencing. Taking time to listen to their fears and concerns is a good step towards that direction. Being empathetic will make followers more loyal and trusting to you, since they will feel that you care for them and their interests.

As Ronald Reagan once stated, ''To grasp and hold a vision that is the very essence of successful leadership''. Leaders should possess a vision, a destination which will give meaning to other people's hard work and sacrifices. Everyone wants to have a purpose in their lives, which will keep them in line and motivate them. Equally important with having a vision, is the leader's ability to communicate it effectively to his followers. An effective leader carefully explains the vision to his people and convince them for its importance, so that they become committed to it and work hard to reach it.

All successful leaders are passionate about achieving their personal and team goals. Passion relates to a person's drives, motivating him to exert the necessary effort in order to be successful in his field. Without passion, a leader will not only fail to perform under the expected personal standards, but he will also fail to contribute to his team's goals. How can a leader persuade his followers about a vision if he does not feel passionate about it in the first place?

For leaders to reach their vision they should be effective decision makers. Good judgment is the compass for leaders to reach their goals. They should assess different situations and decide the best course of action, while being under constant pressure and sometimes having to face tough decisions, especially in periods of crisis. It is crucial to be able to control their emotions and not let them interfere in the decision-making process. As far as decisions are concerned, stereotypes may be a dangerous trap, clouding the leader's judgment and therefore need to be dealt with. Good judgment is often the difference between success and failure for a company.

Leaders will probably need to make tough decisions at some point in their careers, which may result in conflicts. They also need to take risks with a certain amount of personal cost and to stand up for their opinions even if everyone is trying to shut them down. This attitude of a leader standing up for what he belived is right, even though the vast majority is against him and his ideas can be seen in the ''12 Angry Men'' movie, where a jury tries to prevent a miscarriage of justice by persuading his colleagues to reconsider the evidence and change their preliminay guilty vote. Making difficult decisions demand courage from the leader, as the case of Judith Mackay, world's leading voice in the anti-smoking initiative, illustrates. Judith fought for what she believed and managed to create a generation of anti-smokers, even if she had to deal with death threats, friends turning their back on her, public humiliation and countries in the midst of civil war.

In addition, it is very important for leaders to demonstrate exceptional communication skills, which will help them build connections with their followers. Given that we spend around 80% of our work day involved in some form of communication, it would not make sense if we did not try to achieve the best outcomes from this. To do so, we need to start listening carefully to what other people are saying and try to open productive dialogue with them.

Leaders should lead by example. As role models for other people, leaders should jump into action, understand what is expected of them and live up to those expectations. Through this, not only they will inspire other people to participate actively in the process, but they will also show them the way to be successful. As John Furlong said: ''People will do anything for you if they see a good example to follow''. A very strong example of leadership by example can be found in ''Endurance'', a documentary movie about Sir Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. In this move, we witness Shackleton's struggle to lead his 28-man crew to safety, after his ship ''Endurance'' was crushed in the park ice.

Leaders in start-ups and other innovative companies

First of all, the most crucial attribute a leader should possess in modern enterprises is the ability to think outside the box. Leaders often face situations which are not part of their standard routine and demand an alternative course of action. In cases like this, they will have a whole team waiting for them to take quick and effective decisions to solve the problem in hand. It is vital for them to be creative and come up with innovative ideas, since according to Aubrey Marcus founder of Onnit, innovation is our only chance to solve the challenges modern companies are facing.

An effective leader will also need to be patient to achieve his goals and reach his vision. '' If your vision is bold enough, there will be hundreds of reasons why it 'can't be done' and plenty of doubters '' stated Dan Brian, COO of Whip Clip. That is especially true with start-ups, which usually do not generate profits in their first years of operation and may also need a substantial funding from investors. Leaders should not be discouraged in case their companies demonstrate losses in the first years and should instead continue to work hard to turn things around. Moreover, they should be prepared to get refused by a lot of investors when they try to secure funding for their company. They should not give up and continue to pursue their goal. Patience also extends to their followers. It is common for leaders to get overwhelmed by their passion and expect immediate and top quality results from their team and, thus get frustrated when they realize that people in their team cannot live up to their expectations. Instead, they should take the necessary time to explain to their followers what is expected of them and provide them with the necessary guidance.

Furthermore, leaders create their followers and there is always a danger for them to become too focused on the presented task in expense of their team and individuals. As John Adair's Action Centered Leadership Model states, equal attention should be given to the three circles (task, team, individual), although sometimes one of them may require our focus. Thus, in order to create exemplary followers, who will be ready to take initiatives and solve corporate problems, leaders should encourage them to express their opinions and show them that they value their input, even if it sometimes challenges them. Leaders should respect the contributions of their people and make them feel significant members of the organization. Exemplary followers are important assets for start-ups and innovative companies, as innovation is a democratic process and every member on a team should be able to contribute to it.

In challenging periods, when things are not going according to plan and the future of the company looks clouded, people tend to lose their faith in the vision and start to panic. It is a leader's job to have confidence in his vision and his ability to turn things around and pass this confidence to other members of the team. As the captain of the ship, a leader should maintain the team's morale and calmness and convince them that things are going to get better if they keep working hard. However, doing these things, he must first be confident himself that his plan will eventually work and that he has what it takes to succeed.

Finally, in start-ups and innovative companies there is a strong need of servant leadership, where leaders operate more as supporters instead of supervisors. Leaders should be ready to delegate responsibilities and give control to their followers, while at the same time providing them with help and guidance whenever needed. For this to happen, there should be a change in the traditional hierarchical way many leaders are thinking.

To sum up, being a leader is a tough challenge, as it bears increased responsibilities and expectations. Leaders are supposed to make a difference in business environments, facing periods of crisis, inspiring their people to embrace their vision and helping them to achieve their potential. Their success is now measured not by how they perform individually, but mostly by how their people perform due to their presence. As Dennis Peer stated: "One measure of leadership is the caliber of the people who choose to follow you".

For leaders to make a difference to their companies, they should first realize their own strengths and weaknesses and be ready to work hard to improve. Keeping an open mind to admit possbile mistakes, realizing that you are not the smartest person in the room and asking for feedback are necessary steps in the path of self-awareness, a path all leaders should cross. Since in leadership there is not a guaranteed recipe for success, a try and error process is required for leaders to find out which style is suitable in which occasion and they often need to change their leadership views in the process.

Finally, it is very important for leaders to discover their core values, as they are the driving forces which shape their behavior. Bearing in mind that their values are going to be tested and they may face decisions challenging them at some point in their career, they should decide if they are ready to make compromises on them. If that is not the case, then they should choose to join companies whose corporate values are on the same side with their own personal ones.

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What makes a good leader? - Startup Pulse

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Leadership has become the center of attention for organizations after the global financial crisis in late 2007, highlighting the need for better leaders. However, choosing the right people to lead is not an easy process, even though there are lots of candidates with impressive credentials.

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Self-awareness is a necessary step in becoming an effective leader. This skill helps in laying the foundations of social and emotional intelligence. There needs to be an innate awareness of one’s own feelings in order for self-control and empathy to work.

This article gives an interesting insight into how self-awareness can improve leadership. Incorporating mindfulness training can boost leadership effectiveness quickly and more successfully. According to the study conducted, this is due to how mindfulness enhances self-awareness and how this also affects emotional and social competencies.

#effectiveleadership

According to a study conducted on 42 leaders across 11 different countries, formal mindfulness training can greatly improve leadership and efficiency. This is also linked to other necessary skills such as empathy, teamwork, and self-control. Read this article to learn more about how self-awareness helped leaders in their workplace.

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"I think the more a person is comfortable with themselves, and comfortable with what they know-or in a lot of cases for me in this job, every day is what I don't know...makes it easier to see what's really important and what's not."

-Senior legal counsel for a leading healthcare product manufacturer

Developing emotional self-awareness is a crucial first step in effective leadership because it lays the foundation upon which emotional and social intelligence is built. We can't develop skills like emotional self-control, empathy, or teamwork unless we are aware of our own feelings and how they influence our thoughts and behaviors. Emotional self-awareness also helps leaders link their emotions to the effectiveness of their interactions with others.

I examined the relationship between emotional self-awareness and leader effectiveness as part of a University of Pennsylvania leader mindfulness study involving 42 participants from 11 countries. The study included the use of the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) model developed by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis to identify the presence of emotional and social intelligence competencies that have been empirically linked to increased leadership performance. Study participants linked improved emotional self-awareness to a number of positive changes, including:

100 percent reported a significant improvement in workplace effectiveness.

79 percent mentioned more effective workplace relationships.

86 percent described an improved ability to identify and manage their emotions.

81 percent linked improved emotional self-awareness to a reduction in stress.

The results of this study also align with other research indicating that improvements to leadership effectiveness may be achieved more quickly and with a higher rate of success through the incorporation of formal mindfulness training. This is partially due to the role of mindfulness in enhancing emotional self-awareness, and its relationship to other emotional and social intelligence competencies. This complementary relationship helps leaders to identify what types of behaviors are required for specific situations, and strengthens their ability to determine whether or not those behaviors are effective.

The scientific basis for these improvements is believed to be the repeated activation of neural networks through training focused on developing self-observation capabilities. Researchers also indicate that these changes may contribute to an improved capacity for activation of regions of the brain associated with more effective situational stress response and adaptability via neuroplasticity. Many of the same regions of the brain have also been linked to strength in specific emotional intelligence competencies.

Mindfulness aimed at developing emotional self-awareness can be practiced by actively observing yourself when communicating with others. This includes your reactions to verbal and nonverbal forms of communication, and the way those reactions influence your responses. This type of awareness also contributes to emotional self-control, as summarized by a leader who heads strategy and business development for a major global company: "I can really compact the quality of awareness, look at the emotions coming and going just in front of me, and not be swept away by them." In this context, improved emotional self-awareness will help you learn to recognize and better understand emotions as they arise, which reduces the chances of counterproductive reactions. In addition to committing to a mindfulness program led by a qualified instructor, you may also cultivate emotional self-awareness with the help of a coach trained to guide this type of development, as well as using regular 360 feedback to guide your efforts.

You can find more details about Dr. Lippincott's research in a recent Harvard Business Review article, as well as a series of articles at Key Step Media.

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Effective Leadership Starts with Self-Awareness

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"I think the more a person is comfortable with themselves, and comfortable with what they know-or in a lot of cases for me in this job, every day is what I don't know...makes it easier to see what's really important and what's not."-Senior legal counsel for a leading healthcare product manufacturerDeveloping emotional self-awareness is a crucial first step in effective leadership because it lays the foundation upon which emotional and social intelligence is built.

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Creating a Social Team to Boost Employer Branding

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Creating a Social Team to Boost Employer Branding

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Having a social team is about extending the company’s branded message amplified beyond the initial reach. It’s about the shared media that happens when other people also share your own messages. Although this strategy is actively used in consumer branding, this can also be effective in recruiting new talents.

This article from HRbartender gives tips on how to build your own social recruitment army. It highlights the steps that you need to take such as considering your goals and providing your army with training on social media.

#recruit

Although social media is highly used in the consumer-branding side of the business, it can also be used in recruitment. Building a social army for recruiting talents can help in amplifying your employment branding when used the right way. This article lists the steps to take to build your army and improve recruitment.

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about the PESO Model and how it can help frame your recruitment marketing strategy. Today, I wanted to add something to that conversation because there's one aspect of the model that I can see being underutilized and it's shared media.

Shared media takes place when others share the messaging that you're sending out. And obviously, we want people to do that. To be specific, we want our employees to do that. Hopefully, our workforces are engaged and want to see us hire great talent to work alongside them. And hopefully, our workforces have diverse networks with followers who will complement our company culture (and ultimately apply for jobs!)

Joey V. Price spoke about building a social army at this year's Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Talent Conference. That's exactly what I think of when I refer to shared media. It's about having the company's branding messaging amplified and distributed far beyond our initial reach.

When social media was a relatively new concept, many organizations talked about building brand ambassadors - both internal and external - to amplify their messaging. Most of the conversation was on the consumer brand side of the business. But why not for recruiting talent? We need to take advantage of every marketing opportunity.

How to Build a Social Army for Recruiting

Building a social army does mean putting a plan together and not simply hoping that people will just share stuff. Back in the old days, we called that kind of strategy "post and pray". Post a job opening and pray people find it. Today we can do a lot better. Here are a few things to consider:

Think about your social media goals. I've heard quite a few recruiting pros lately talk about social media as just another posting platform. And I'm not sure that's true. Social media has the ability to regularly touch people about the organization's brand. It deserves some serious thought.

Provide employees with social media training. It's unfortunate to say that data breaches are a fact of life. We need to be well-educated on terms of service, privacy settings, and permissions when it comes to social media. These are perfect lunch and learn topics. It's a win for everyone.

Set expectations. By now, your organization probably has a social media policy that's been approved by the legal department. Make sure employees understand expectations and, if the company is going to encourage social sharing, that it's a part of your policy.

Recognize employees who share. Whether it's Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, we have the ability to thank people who share our status updates. If you want employees to share, thank them for doing so! That will encourage them to do it again.

Speaking of employee communications, I know some of you might be saying to yourself, "I would love to do this, but it sounds like a huge time commitment. I just don't have the time. Too many open requisitions!" Well, what if I told you there's a technology solution out there that could help?

Advocacy Software Helps Manage Social Groups

In my last article, I told you about HRmarketer's marketing software. They have a new offering that really plays into the social army strategy. It's called Advocacy.

I had a chance to use the Advocacy software as part of the blogger team for SHRM's Annual Conference and Expo in Chicago. SHRM used the software to keep bloggers informed of press releases around the conference and blog posts related to speakers, events, etc.

One of the great things about using the software was that this information wasn't junking up my email inbox. Everything was in one place and I could go in once or twice a day to make sure I had the most current information.

Apply this to your recruiting efforts. The company's social recruiting army - recruiters, hiring managers, and employees - can have regular access to information that they can share with their connections, friends, and followers. As talent acquisition pros, you only have to send the information out once to them and they can receive and share it at their convenience.

I'm not going to tell you everything that the Advocacy software is capable of doing, you can check it out for yourself by requesting a demo. But if the reason keeping you from building a social recruiting army is the time it would take to communicate with others, this is an option.

What Got You Here Won't Take You to the Next Level

Companies looking to find the best talent can't do it alone. They need the efforts and networks of hiring managers, and employees. Developing a plan to increase the amount of shared media makes huge sense in today's digital world. And the best part is that shared media is a very cost-effective way to get your messaging out.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the Wynwood Art District in Miami, FL

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Build a Social Recruiting Army to Amplify Your Employment Brand

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about the PESO Model and how it can help frame your recruitment marketing strategy. Today, I wanted to add something to that conversation because there's one aspect of the model that I can see being underutilized and it's shared media.

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How Employee Appreciation Helps Staff Retention

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How Employee Appreciation Helps Staff Retention

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Having employee appreciation programs may seem unnecessary. However, for organizations with high turnover rates, this can be worth it. In a study done by OC Tanner, 79 percent of the employees left their companies because of the lack of appreciation. Engaging and recognizing employees can be helpful in improving staff retention.

Rosie Powers highlights the different ways that employee appreciation programs can help improve employee retention. One strong point she noted was that it’s often not just money for people. According to Boston Consulting Group, employees ranked relationships, work-life balance, and recognition as higher concerns than their salaries.

#engage

This article shows how appreciation can mean so much to employees. The numbers are staggering when it comes to how the lack of appreciation can drive employees to leave their jobs. Implementing employee appreciation programs can make a difference in retention and keeping employees happy.

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Lack of appreciation was cited as the main reason for 79 percent of employees who left their jobs during a decade-long study conducted by O.C. Tanner. Employees want to be recognized for the work that they're doing. And if they're not, they're willing to leave to find a job that does.

This paints a bleak picture of employee retention, but workplaces can adapt by engaging with and recognizing employees with appreciation programs. In fact, a survey of 614 employers found that turnover rate was 13 percent lower at companies with recognition strategies.

Why are these programs so successful? Here are our thoughts:

1. It's Not Just About Money

Although salary can be a major contributor as to how valued an employee feels at their company, it's not the main cause of staff turnover. More than 200,000 employees worldwide ranked recognition, relationships, and work-life balance as higher priorities than salary in a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group.

This is because workplace morale centers around day-to-day interactions and tasks. An employee is still likely to leave a job, even if they believe they are being paid fairly, if their day-to-day experiences at their workplace are mostly negative. Recognition programs are a way to explore the daily experiences of employees, highlighting achievements in challenging situations that would otherwise be viewed negatively.

2. The Employee-Company Connection

No workplace is without its challenges. But employers can build positivity around these situations by acknowledging the challenge and recognizing employees who navigate it. This, in turn, lessens negativity in the workplace and creates happier employees. One study found that happy employees can be up to 20 percent more productive than those that are unhappy.

Productivity is not the only benefit here, though. A happy employee is more likely to stay in a job that they enjoy, in part because of an elevated feeling of self-worth in relation to their ability to contribute to the company. This establishes a direct connection between the employee and the company that is crucial to retention. Employees that feel intrinsically fulfilled with their work in relation to the success of the company are more likely to stick around.

3. Strengthening Peer Culture

Employee recognition programs don't just strengthen the relationship between a manager and an employee - they build bonds among coworkers too. While an employee/manager relationship is important for a healthy work environment, employees are more likely to directly relate to their peers and socialize with them. In fact, TINYpulse's 2018 Report on employee recognition and appreciation found that 70 percent of employees credited their peers for creating an engaging environment, while other office amenities only accounted for 8 percent. Encouraging coworkers to recognize each other's achievements can ultimately lead to a happier work culture.

This culture can also lead to stronger collaboration between peers. Coworkers who have taken the time to recognize each other's strengths in the workplace have an advantage when taking on large-scale projects. Employees feel empowered by their identified strengths and can take on delegated tasks in a positive light, which shows a direct correlation between workplace culture and increased productivity.

4. Creating Future Leaders

Mid-level management can be tough, depending on the workplace. Being in the middle of organizational leadership and employees can create stresses that are both professional and personal. Employee appreciation programs are a perfect place for these roles to be recognized by both sides - from those being managed as well as higher-level leadership. Mid-level managers that are recognized are more likely to stay in their role, creating loyalty for the company and ultimately a path for them to advance into leadership roles within the organization.

This is especially important for the health of a company, as high turnover rates at a managerial or leadership level can have severe consequences. Entire projects and/or office culture can be altered with the departure of a leader. Although new employees in these roles can provide a fresh perspective, a revolving door of people in these roles creates a lack of consistency and costs time and money. In fact, when an employee leaves, it can cost companies 150 percent of the annual salary associated with the position to replace them, according to TINYpulse's 2018 Report. Recognizing and nurturing employees to grow into leadership roles provides organizations with a steady executive team, and less hits to company budget.

5. A Culture of Heroes

Recognition also creates an opportunity to publicize the importance of an individual employee's work with regards to the overall success of the company. Recognition programs can give employers a platform to show this, making the employee the "hero." Stories such as these are far more likely to be remembered than a standalone bonus.

The concept of creating heroes can multiply the positive effects of recognition. Not only does the employee feel rewarded by their managers, but congratulations from their peers makes for an even more positive experience. This also creates a sort of exclusivity around these "heroes" - coworkers may admire how their peer handled a tough situation and strive to be more like them when faced with challenges going forward. This type of recognition can have a domino effect for employees pursuing success in the workplace - TINYpulse's 2018 Report found that employees that are well-recognized rate their coworkers 13 percent higher than less well recognized coworkers.

The hero image, however, needs to be done with caution. Mass publicizing of an employee hero can make them feel odd in relation to their peers, if done inauthentically. Some gamification recognition platforms have emerged as an answer to this, allowing employees to be recognized in a way that is still public but less brazen. For example, a total number of "likes" for a given achievement can still create the hero domino effect without the risk of intimidating peers.

6. Engaging Employees in Culture

Creating recognition programs in coordination with employee feedback gives staff an opportunity to play an active role in company culture. Strategies for engagement could include an employee culture committee, or surveys about staff preferences for implementing recognition programs.

Employees engaged in the process feel more connection to it, a sort of co-ownership of the program rather than a top-down approach to implementation. As stated earlier, the power of peer-to-peer culture is as important, if not more important, than the relationship between managers and employees. If employees feel as though recognition programs, and ultimately office culture, are guided by peers, they are more likely to participate and strive for achievements relating to their day-to-day work.

7. Creating Professional Growth

Employee recognition programs can be an opportunity to offer professional development, another contributor to staff retention. Professional development as a part of recognition can make an employee feel even more valued - not only is their employer recognizing their achievements, but they are also investing in their professional growth.

Professional development also creates the opportunity to retain staff by promoting from within. By offering training to current employees, employers allow staff to adapt to changes in an organization. This gives employees the skills they may need to apply to a new position within the company, furthering current retention.

8. Solving Other Problems

Effective employee recognition programs can also serve as a cornerstone for addressing other issues in a company's culture. In "The Carrot Principle," author Adrian Gostick identifies four key areas for effective leadership: goal setting, communication, trust and accountability. If an organization is struggling in one of these areas, it can be difficult to think how recognition will have a direct correlation with these issues. But in fact, it does. One study found that even in workplaces where there may be a low opinion about a given part of these "Basic Four" principles, strong employee recognition leads to higher engagement. This engagement, in turn, creates a forum for addressing these issues.

For example, if communication is viewed as a pain point at a company, employees who feel recognized and rewarded by their work are more likely to participate in efforts to improve communication. Their positive views of their contributions to the company can lead them to want to take part in improving processes, such as communication, to make their work easier and more effective.

Remember to Be Authentic

It's important to remember that there's not a one-size-fits-all employee recognition program. Every organization has a different culture. As Sabrina Son wrote on TINYpulse blog previously, recognition programs need to account for these, or they can feel inauthentic and even become detrimental to workplace culture. Gallup found that recognition tools implemented without consideration of company culture were ineffective, as they were only used by employees already highly engaged with the company.

Ultimately, employee recognition programs have a strong correlation with staff retention, if done in consideration of a company's culture and values.

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8 Ways Employee Appreciation Programs Drive Staff Retention

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Lack of appreciation was cited as the main reason for 79 percent of employees who left their jobs during a decade-long study conducted by O.C. Tanner. Employees want to be recognized for the work that they're doing. And if they're not, they're willing to leave to find a job that does.

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There are different kinds of employee bonus programs that an organization, no matter the size and income, can implement. Even if your company is too small, just having a simple bonus program can increase employee morale and productivity.

Rebecca Messina suggests that the bonus program should focus on employees while promoting good behavior and rewarding the top performers. She lists the different options for organizations such as performance-based bonus, sign-on bonus, spot bonus, and others.

#reward

Small organizations don’t have to fear employee bonus programs. Implementing such programs can help improve overall productivity. This article gives tips on creating a bonus program that suits your organization including the different programs that you can implement.

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If you think your business is too small for an employee bonus program, consider these two questions:

Have you noticed less productivity or a decline in employee morale?

Are employees underperforming, or have they stopped meeting their goals altogether?

If you answered "yes" to either of these questions, it may be time to step things up around your office.

So, how can you show employees just how much you appreciate and value them?

A meaty bonus program could do the trick.

But, before you hit the ground running, take a moment to dive into what kinds of bonuses are out there, as well as what goes into creating a bonus program. This way, you can feel confident you're choosing the program that's right for your company.

Employee bonus program basics

First things first: How are employee bonuses defined?

Generally, a bonus is a form of pay outside of an employee's base pay. It's usually given after the fact to reward specific behavior or for a specific purpose. Bonuses can play a role in the attraction, motivation and retention of employees.

As a business leader, when you hear the phrase "bonus program," many thoughts can run through your mind. That's because there are multiple programs available - with many being centered on a cash reward.

No matter what type you choose, a good bonus program should:

Focus employees on common business goals.

Reward and retain top performers.

Promote desired employee behaviors.

Increase organizational commitment to goals.

Link supporting rewards to organizational success.

How employers benefit

A good bonus program can inspire better morale and more productivity. But another key advantage is the program's ability to boost earnings for your company.

When you give your employees an incentive to really push and achieve their goals, you're actually helping them achieve your goals as well.

As a result, they receive a portion of the gain as a reward for their part in the company's ability to meet business goals. It's a win-win situation.

That's why, when creating a program, you want to make sure it's designed not only to make employees happy, but it should also be aligned with the objectives of the company. Because at the end of the day, goals for your bonus program should be focused on what drives success in your business.

Popular bonus programs

There are many different types of bonuses, including performance-based bonuses, spot bonuses, sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, project-based bonuses and referral bonuses. This is why it's so critical for your business's leadership to work together to determine what kind of bonus (or bonuses) will work best to motivate your employees.

Here are a few options below:

Performance-based bonus: This bonus focuses on performance and is given to help encourage an employee, team or company to achieve a specific goal or objective. Generally, performance-based bonuses are awarded for achievement over the course of a specific length of time, i.e. annually, semi-annually, etc.

Spot bonus: A spot bonus is used to show immediate recognition for outstanding contributions of individuals or teams. It's based on direct observation and/or feedback from others for exceptional effort.

Basically, it's a quick way to say "thank you" without having employees wait until year-end bonuses are given out.

For example, employees may receive a spot bonus when their performance goes beyond expectations on a specific assignment, task or goal. They could also contribute in such a way that significantly impacts the company's objectives, making them a good candidate for this kind of reward.

Or, maybe an employee consistently demonstrates extraordinary efforts above and beyond the normal responsibilities of the position they were hired for. This can spur a spot bonus as well.

Sign-on bonus: A sign-on bonus is used to attract applicants to join your company. They are given upon hire and not based on performance. In some cases, they're used for high-demand skills and key talent requirements.

This kind of bonus will typically be a lump-sum payment that the employee receives on their first paycheck or after a brief period on the job.

Retention bonus: These bonuses are used to retain critical employees during a transition period, such as a merger or acquisition. They are a promise to pay an employee a pre-determined amount upon the occurrence of a specific event or date.

Bonus amounts may vary depending on the employee and their contribution to the achievement of business objectives.

The retention bonus is also usually a lump-sum payment, with the employee generally receiving half of the bonus on their paycheck beginning on a specific date, and the second half on another date designated by the company.

Referral bonus: These reward current employees for referring job candidates who end up being hired. They serve as an incentive for employees to help you find good job candidates.

Project-based bonus: These are used to reward employees or teams of employees for completing a special project on time, under budget and within all performance criteria established at the beginning of the project.

They're based on project metrics and may be used to encourage project team members to meet deadlines.

The project-based bonus is also typically a lump sum paid to team members as a designated amount determined at the end of the project.

Non-cash rewards: Sometimes, a big cash reward may not be possible for your company. No worries. You can still show your appreciation without spending loads of money.

Some budget-friendly benefits may include: extra time off, flexible hours, gift cards or telecommuting opportunities - just to name a few.

Creating and tailoring your employee bonus program

First, you want it to meet your company's business strategy and compensation principles. Also, creating the right program depends on your expectations, what you're trying to achieve and your company's particular situation.

For example, if you're looking to increase revenue and you already have a team to do it, then you can set forth specific objectives and action steps for accomplishing that particular goal.

However, if you know you need to hire more staff before you'll have the right resources to make it happen, then you may consider rethinking the details of your bonus program.

Whatever you decide, below are a few things you should keep in mind:
1. Really know what drives employees
When building a program for employee bonuses, don't just come up with something you think will work. Instead, consider what type of reward will be the most effective in motivating employees to produce the results you want for the company.

Is a year-end bonus enough to keep employees encouraged? Or should you consider more spot bonuses? Do your employees value time off more than cash? Should you increase PTO and work-from-home days?

Take some time to find out what truly matters to your employees to ensure better chances of a successful bonus program.

2. Be very clear about eligibility

This is where you drill down and pinpoint who can be included in the bonus program. Create goals that are challenging but achievable. Specify the fact that employees who directly and indirectly impact the goals may be included in the program.

Also, be sure to identify things like eligible positions, length of service, statistics and so on. For example: "You must be a full-time account executive, hired on or before June 1, 2018."

Make it clear how performance will be measured, so there won't be any confusion about eligibility requirements. Bottom line: If they don't achieve the goals, there shouldn't be questions when bonus time rolls around.
3. Communicate requirements and expectations
Communication from management is crucial. This is particularly true for frontline supervisors managing employees who may not have access to technology to review their goals. Managers may need to have regular meetings with employees and make sure everyone is on the same page.

For instance, if an employee's goal was to complete 12 training sessions in a year, but it's June and they've only completed two, then that's when a manager should have a conversation.

Employees shouldn't miss out on a bonus simply because they were unaware or didn't understand exactly what was expected. Communication and clear objectives are key.
4. Document your program
You don't want to make a big deal about announcing the employment bonus program, get everyone excited, and then receive 100 emails with questions about how it works.

That's why it's good to create a program document that serves as a reference for employees. The documentation should include everything employees need to attain their goals.

Creating bonus program documentation eliminates surprises and confusion when bonuses are issued. Employees will have known ahead of time what was expected of them in order to receive a bonus.

Also, if there are any issues or problems regarding the bonus program, an employer can refer to what's in the program documentation. For instance, if an employee is terminated or resigns, are they still eligible to be paid part of their bonus?

What does the program documentation say? Was bonus payout addressed?

Many questions can come up, so it's good to include some standard verbiage in your employee bonus program documentation that addresses any terms and conditions that apply to your program.

The best program is the one that works for your business

Taking the time to carefully choose the employee bonus program that's most effective for your company and team can help ensure its success for years down the road.

It's also a good idea to regularly re-evaluate your bonus program to make sure it still correlates with your company's goals and works well for employees.

Want to learn more about how offering a robust employee benefits package can cultivate a happier, more productive workforce? Download our free e-magazine: The Insperity Guide to Employee Benefits.

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Employee bonus programs: What's right for your company? - Insperity

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Thinking about adding an employee bonus program to your company's total compensation package? Not sure where to start? There are myriad options when it comes to employee bonus structures, and they don't have to break the bank. These tips can help you determine what's right for your business.

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Feedback is one of the most-talked-about topics in HR and business. However, there are more reasons why this should be so. According to a survey of a thousand managers and employees, they are open to feedback and think that it is important to improve performance.

This article shows the different numbers of feedback that practitioners should be familiar with. These statistics are about how people actually want more feedback and how having in-time feedback conversations can change people’s real-time performance.

#feedback

There is no need to highlight how important feedback is in every organization. As it turns out, in a recent survey, managers and employees want more feedback in the organization as they think that this is key in improving performance. For more numbers on feedback, this article highlights the different statistics that recruiters should know regarding the importance of feedback.

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Recruiting News and Views @ RecruitingDaily

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So you've put your best efforts into finding the perfect hires, after the endless screening, endless interview processes, reference checks and finally decisions are made! Managers are happy, new employees are appointed and excited about joining a new organization. How do you ensure your hard work doesn't go to waste? There is nothing more disappointing for a recruiter than finding out their great hire left within 6 months of joining.

During the hiring process, we are focused on the attraction experience, giving the candidate a taste of the organization that entices and attracts. Throughout that hiring process, we ask for feedback and managers openly offer feedback on candidates; feedback flows naturally throughout the process. However, all too often, that natural flow of feedback stops when the candidate moves from the attraction experience of recruitment to the engagement experience of being an employee and here's where the problems start.

Chances are your candidate has joined your organization because they saw an opportunity to develop, to grow and progress their career. If these are the key drivers for joining, they continue to be the key drivers for staying, yet we often lose sight of that in organizations. We stop giving feedback, we let the candidate sink or swim in their new environment. A new culture can be daunting for a new hire and this is the time that they really need feedback and lots of it. We tend to automatically worry about giving and receiving feedback as we assume nobody wants to hear how they are getting on. Well, the good news is that fear is unfounded! According to a recent survey of 1,000 employees & managers about their feelings on feedback, it turns out they are open to wanting more feedback, they think it improves their performance and they value it highly.

People want more feedback:

60% of employees and managers surveyed would like to receive feedback on a weekly or daily basis. Waiting for a probation review or a monthly 1:1 is not enough. It's easier to understand how we need to improve when we are told in the moment and ideally as early into our career as feasible.

Feedback from every direction:

4 out of 5 employees and managers believe feedback from a colleague is just as valuable as feedback from their manager. In the modern workplace of cross-functional agile teams & remote working, a manager is only one stakeholder in an employee's performance and development. Employees recognize the value in getting more feedback, from multiple sources helps build a real picture of their strengths & weaknesses.

In-time feedback changes real-time performance:

7 out of 10 employees believe that good feedback can be more effective for their development than a training or learning course. And they aren't just looking for praise and re-enforcement. They want constructive feedback, so they can improve areas of weakness. In fact, 74% of employees believe feedback that gives direction to improve is more valuable than praise.

Aligning your attraction and engagement experience:

So having created an incredible attraction experience, its time to ensure our onboarding experiences match. While our candidates may have been wowed by the great start, we need to focus on ensuring the employee experience continues to deliver. Getting a strong feedback culture in place from the outset can make the difference between your great hire staying or leaving. Let's keep our best hires in-house with great feedback practices.

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The numbers on feedback to understand > Recruiting News and Views @ RecruitingDaily

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So you've put your best efforts into finding the perfect hires, after the endless screening, endless interview processes, reference checks and finally decisions are made! Managers are happy, new employees are appointed and excited about joining a new organization. How do you ensure your hard work doesn't go to waste?

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Key Factors in Building a Culture Committee in Your Company

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Key Factors in Building a Culture Committee in Your Company

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Company culture is constantly evolving, especially in the changing times. However, one of the constants to company culture is how having proactive champions and involved senior management can help HR. This is where a culture committee comes in.

A culture committee is made up of cross-functioning teams that discuss and plan everything about the company’s culture. Having a committee ensures that there is no stagnancy in the drive for better company culture.

Rob Seay highlighted the five factors that are needed to create a successful committee. These are a representation, purpose, leadership buy-in, commitment, and curation and iteration.

#engage

A culture committee is a new take in building and sustaining great company culture. Having a committee from different teams ensures that there is progress and drive in the company. To create a successful culture committee, make sure that you have these five ingredients as highlighted by Rob Seay in this article.

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There comes a time in every HR practitioner's career where you realize you just can't drive company culture alone.

Modern conceptions of company culture are in a state of transition. For as many companies out there that recognize the importance of senior management and proactive champions in driving culture, there are just as many that are eager to push the work off to HR. As I'm sure many practitioners are aware, when just one department in the company is driving key cultural initiatives, the well of ideas can dry up quickly.

The need for a more holistic, organized, and thoughtful approach quickly becomes clear. If culture is to be strategic, it needs more input, collaboration, and co-creation from the people it's supposed to be helping.

Enter the company culture committee

Culture committees are cross-functional teams of employees that discuss, plan, and proactively drive all matters pertaining to company culture. The committees organically generate employee buy-in for culture, because they're the ones building it. They help the company's central principles and values permeate the day-to-day work experience.

While employee-driven efforts have always been encouraged at companies that understood the strategic role of workplace culture, the existence of company culture committees is yet another sign of the changing times. Increasingly, research shows us that strong company cultures have the competitive edge in the marketplace because they produce more engaged employees. In this study analyzing more than 110,000 engagement surveys over 10 years, companies with engaged cultures saw up to 30% greater customer satisfaction levels.

Committees are the latest way of ensuring the company can reap benefits like this by fighting one of culture's biggest threats: stagnancy. Committees are designed to bring together employees across different departments. This ensures new ideas come from all areas of the company, and that no one function has too much influence over the direction culture takes.

But that alone does not a great company culture committee make. Reflecting on my own experiences as a champion of company culture across my career, I've identified five key ingredients for successful culture committees.

1. Representation

It is a fact that companies that prioritize diversity perform better than those that don't. But in order to actually make a difference, those faces and voices need to be given seats at the table - and spots on your committee.

The makeup of a culture committee should be representative of the company in every respect possible. Your committee needs diversity across your organizational chart in terms of employees spanning different roles, tenure, seniority, and departments to ensure everyone has a voice, no matter what floor they work on. But you also need diversity in demographic considerations of age, race, and gender to promote inclusivity and a positive atmosphere.

2. Purpose

Company culture isn't all about bake-offs and team-building events. Every component of culture must be motivated by a clear sense of purpose. That purpose, in turn, should be a response of the needs of the business. Likewise, company culture committees must be similarly purposeful in their actions. Every initiative a committee puts together must be planned with intent and forethought. Sure, things can be planned because they're fun, but your committee should have at least a basic understanding of the bigger function these initiatives serve.

For example, to an outsider a committee-organized food drive might look like just a plain old food drive. But from the perspective of the committee, the food drive serves the purpose of invoking employees' sense of charity and compassion through the act of giving. Those feelings can make work more meaningful for emp loyees and engender a sense of company loyalty.

3. Leadership buy-in

Company culture committees are important for securing employee buy-in and enriching culture overall, but grassroots efforts organized solely by employees can only ever get so far. Without sponsorship from a member of the leadership team these efforts will flounder.

Sponsorship from leadership is necessary for a couple of reasons. To get the obvious out of the way, sometimes you need a budget (usually a small one in the grand scheme of things) to run culture initiatives. Unless one of your committee members is in the finance department and has the gumption to do some creative accounting, odds are they won't have the sanctioned access to the company's coffers.

But leadership support amounts to much more than deep pockets. The employees on the committee have obligations to their professional roles. The effort they put in to keep the spirit of culture alive is all discretionary. Support from leaders acknowledges the committee's work is valid. It shows approval of the work they do (and the time they need to do it) because it's necessary for the betterment of company culture. That type of recognition can't come from anybody else.

4. Commitment

It's always easier to see the output of a company culture committee's work than it is the input. A committee deeply embedded into the DNA of a company's culture could have its fingerprints on everything from team-building events to core value statements to even elements of the onboarding process. That all takes considerable time and effort to organize.

Part of HR's job as committee organizer will be to communicate that time investment up front. Every committee member must have a clear understanding of the commitment that is required of them before they join. There should be no shame in turning down someone who isn't a right fit for the team. If a committee member can't (or won't) put in the requisite effort that the rest of the company's employees deserve, there will be a low ceiling on what you're able to accomplish.

5. Curation and iteration

Your committee could be full of genuinely dedicated culture champions, but that commitment can be negated if they can't bring fresh proposals to meetings. Yes, stagnancy is still a risk for culture, even when you have plenty of drivers willing to contribute to its benefit. Culture thrives off the energy of new ideas and lifts from the buoyancy of creative thinking. It's important your committee has policies in place that ensure no one member wears out their stay so fresh blood can rotate in.

For example, we've introduced a system for term limits in our own company culture committee to address just this issue. Each member has a term of 12 months but has the option to participate in multiple and consecutive terms. At the same time, employees who are motivated to enrich our culture but aren't on the committee can reach out to their managers and indicate their interest to join. The leadership team ultimately determines the final nomination and membership status of committee members.

In forming your committee, it's important to remember that culture evolves all the time. Yes, part of that change will be a result of the committee's efforts, but some of it happens naturally on its own. This is because the vitality of culture will always be dependent, in part, by the needs of the business.

As such, a company culture committee must always be in touch with fellow employees to monitor for changes in their culture's appetite. But if you have all the right ingredients, your committee will make sure culture never goes hungry either.

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5 Ingredients for Creating a Successful Company Culture Committee

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There comes a time in every HR practitioner's career where you realize you just can't drive company culture alone. Modern conceptions of company culture are in a state of transition. For as many companies out there that recognize the importance

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Company outing, though this takes time and effort, can be beneficial to the company. It is more than just a fun day. It can also be a nurturing time for everyone in the company as it boosts teamwork, enhances relationships, and inspire ideas.

There are different ways to make your company more memorable to everyone. SnackNation has given different ideas in making company outings more enjoyable, such as ziplining, having a yoga retreat, holding a cooking class, and others. The key here is to create lasting memories that will be unforgettable.

https://www.snacknation.com/blog/company-outing-ideas/

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Making your company outing a memorable experience for everyone can be easy. Though it requires preparation, planning, and effort, it can be beneficial in boosting teamwork and enhancing relationships. There are tons of ideas out there, such as having cooking classes, yoga retreat, photography classes, or even ziplining.

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If planning your company outing seems more like a tiresome chore than a privilege, then it's time to refocus your process with some fresh outing ideas.

Perfecting the art of the company outing will pay off for your company in the long run. Company outings provide more than just a day of fun; they also offer long-term benefits that will nurture the heart and soul of your company.
Why are company outings so important, you ask?
They boost teamwork, as employees step away from their desks and bond with people they don't usually work with. Employees yearn to be part of strong, collaborative teams. According to a Queens University of Charlotte study, about 3 in 4 employees rate teamwork and collaboration "very important."

They enhance (and enable) connections and friendships that produce feelings of happiness and engagement. In a Wild Goose Team Activities survey, 57% of respondents said having best friends in the office makes their work lives more enjoyable, productive, and creative. And according to Gallup, having a best friend at work is a leading indicator of engagement.

They inspire ideas as people set aside to-do lists and reconnect with long-term company goals. It turns out, according to research from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (reported by the Harvard Business Review), that breaks lead to increased insight thanks to a powerful cognitive mechanism: unconscious, or diffuse, thinking. Breaks allow people to leverage powerful unconscious thought processes that make ideas and decisions easier to come by.

They create lasting memories that are hard to walk away from, therefore boosting retention. Relaxation time and positive experiences are a few factors that keep employees coming back to work in the long run.

So are you ready to plan a day of fun that will also boost company performance? Get started with these original company outing ideas. They're all easy to plan, and everyone on your team will be surprised and delighted to do something together besides the annual holiday party.

1. Host a "mini" conference.

Many company outings focus on obvious varieties of fun-picnics, volleyball tournaments, etc. This outing focuses on the fun of learning, which employees find far more invigorating than you might think. To plan this outing, rent a small conference hall or amphitheater and invite guest speakers with expertise relevant to your business.

What attendees will remember: All the amazing things they learned from the guest speakers. They'll also remember having fun while simultaneously feeling productive.

2. Go ziplining.

Ziplines have become fantastically popular in recent years, but you can still find quite a few people who haven't given them a try.

What attendees will remember: Stunning views from their zipline vantage point; they'll also remember that unforgettable adrenaline rush.

3. Visit a trampoline park.

Some employees haven't jumped on a trampoline since childhood. Many trampoline parks are geared toward children, so it's a bold and unforgettable move to rent one for entertaining a busload of adult employees.

What attendees will remember: Disbelief upon discovering that quiet Steve from Accounting can turn a complete flip midair.

4. Go on a yoga retreat.

Many company outings rely on getting employees to communicate more. This company outing invites employees to look inward while enjoying quiet bonding with each other.

What attendees will remember: That moment when the entire team did a flow sequence in (nearly) perfect unison.

Cooking classes are not just for first dates. Cooking together has the same benefits as other, more standard, team-building activities, but it takes a fresh perspective while offering both short-term rewards (delicious food) and long-term benefits (enhanced collaboration). (A team that can create perfectly uniform squares of onion can do almost anything.)

What attendees will remember: Learning new things about everyone's work styles. They'll love finding out that free and creative Brad actually favors precision chopping techniques while deadline-driven Angela loves to take culinary risks.

6. Take a survival preparedness class.

This outing does as much for teamwork development as any competition to build the best sugar-cube igloo, but it offers much higher stakes. A survival class will leave employees with solid critical thinking skills that will come in handy in any time of crisis-inside or outside work.

What attendees will remember: Establishing a company "who's who" when it comes to times of crisis. Survival training reveals who can motivate groups, who is better at planning logistics, and who prefers others to take the reigns in times of stress.

7. Do a trash pickup.

Few companies will be brave enough to offer a day of trash pickup as a fun company outing. But the repetitive physical activity provides plenty of room for deep conversations and team bonding. Plus, employees will get a feel-good high as they do something good for the community and the planet.

What attendees will remember: How much fun it really was to pick up garbage for a day.

8. Take a group photography class.

This outing gives employees the chance to do something they probably wouldn't try for any other reason. Plus, a photography class focuses on hard skills instead of the usual soft skills developed at company outings. (A company-wide photography class can also benefit your business; what company doesn't need more quality photographs for websites and communications?)

What attendees will remember: Uncovering creative sides they didn't know they had. Photography makes a perfect creative outlet for people who never excelled at other art forms, such as painting or drawing.

9. Organize an improv class.

No other company outing will provide as much laughter as an improv class. This company outing will take many employees out of their comfort zones in the best possible way.

What attendees will remember: Discovering new streaks of humor in coworkers-humor that water-cooler banter just doesn't bring out.

10. Paint an urban mural.

Painting a mural gives companies a chance to work together to create lasting art that beautifies the community. (It could also be good advertising for your company.) If you can't get permission from the community, you could also do a mural inside or outside your own building.

What attendees will remember: How they magically created a cohesive design that still somehow reflects everyone's individual talents and styles.

11. Play croquet at a local park.

Employees will get a kick out of playing an old-school game that's relatively rare in the States. Bring picnic blankets, and set up tables with beverages and snacks to make the observation as much fun as the game play. You can even encourage employees to dress up in their croquet best to add an extra sense of ceremony.

What attendees will remember: That time the boss got a croquet mallet stuck in his sweater vest.

12. Give a presentation at a local school or afterschool program.

This highly active company outing idea gets employees sharing skills and knowledge with children, and teaching is a great way to reinforce and deepen existing talents.

What attendees will remember: The realization-thanks to some amazed youthful stares-that they really do have cool jobs.

13. Take a public speaking class.

This activity strays far from the typical company outing material, but at its core, it's similar to the good old "trust fall." Employees will grow closer as they engage in the vulnerable act of public speaking.

What attendees will remember: New skills and priceless encouragement from coworkers.

14. Take a farm tour.

A company outing at a farm will get everyone out of the office and into the country, and it also gives employees an illuminating lesson on where their food comes from. (We're all about making conscious decisions - especially when it comes to our food system. So we especially love this idea.) Bring along a picnic and some games to boost the farmyard bonding even more.

What attendees will remember: Blue skies, live cows, and the revelation that Frank has an intense fear of chickens.

15. Take a field trip.

Instead of planning an outing that focuses on employees' most business-appropriate skills, try something that brings out their inner children. Charter a bus, grab some snacks, and head out for a day at a local museum, factory, or art gallery.

What attendees will remember: Forming the longest single-file line of adults on record, learning that Adrian knows a lot about woolly mammoths, and piling into a bus with people who don't usually leave the boardroom.

16. Go on a hike.

Hiking is a 100% organic company outing idea. The bonding happens effortlessly, nature provides all the beauty and entertainment you need, and you don't need to plan any breakout activities because a long, invigorating hike is really all you need.

What attendees will remember: Having engaging conversations with a variety of different coworkers while enjoying the peace and wonder of nature.

17. Go on a coffee tasting.

Coffee is a classic point of office bonding. This company outing is a crowd pleaser with a bit more flare than a typical wine tasting excursion.

What attendees will remember: The buzz of caffeine mixed with exciting conversations.

18. Volunteer at your local food bank.

Unlike other options for company outings, volunteering at a local food bank is the perfect way to give back to the community. The work is engaging, but not too hard, and there will be plenty of room for quality conversations as employees sort food for distribution.

What attendees will remember: How good it felt to know that a day of work helped provide countless hungry people with nourishing meals.

19. Attend a show at a local theater.

Take a break from baseball games and support local artists by checking out a community theater or musical production. This outing doesn't involve much employee-to-employee interaction, but it solidifies strong community bonds within your company.

What attendees will remember: Taking over a section of theater so large, the manager offered you an honorary sponsorship.

20. Attend a comedy show.

Laughing in a room together is the perfect way to bond. This company outing is easy on employees, but the frequent laughter makes it energizing and interactive.

What attendees will remember: Seeing Carl spit soda on a stranger during a fit of laughter.

21. Take a mindfulness meditation class.

This quieter-than-average company outing will challenge employees in new ways.

What attendees will remember: The hilarity of someone's empty stomach growling in a quiet room.

22. Play a game of capture the flag.

Capture the flag encourages truly health competition better than any other activity out there. This rousing activity gets employees working in tight-knit teams, planning detailed strategies, and laughing their butts off.

What attendees will remember: Unforgettable, high-stakes strategizing that made it feel like beating the other team was the most important thing in the world.

23. Volunteer at an animal shelter.

Employees are sure to bond as they care for adorable animals.

What attendees will remember: The new furry friends that deepened existing bonds with coworkers.

24. Take a woodworking class.

Who doesn't want to pick up a few new practical skills? Choose a class focused on items that could be used in the office (pencil holders, boxes, or tables) so employees can have a souvenir of the outing close by at all times.

What attendees will remember: The smell of wood and the calm, quiet creativity of coworkers.

26. Plan a talent show.

Give employees a venue for showcasing their secret passions by turning your company outing into a star-studded talent show. See if you can find a local venue with a stage, or rent a platform and have your event outdoors.

What attendees will remember: New-found admiration for coworkers with a range of diverse talents―from handstands to ventriloquy.

27. Rent out a roller rink.

Capture the magic of those old-school preteen birthday parties by hosting a company outing at a roller rink.

What attendees will remember: A few trips, some tumbles, and a rare display of backward skating.

28. Have an off-site strategic brainstorm marathon.

Throw out the day-to-day lists and ask employees to brainstorm ideas designed to meet long-term, aspirational business objectives. Employees can work and present in teams, and the entire company can weigh in after each showcase with comments and suggestions. Ask a few Project Managers to record each idea for further consideration.

What attendees will remember: Getting excited by everyone else's ideas-in other words, getting excited to be part of such a vibrant company.

What's the company outing you've always dreamed of? Let us know what you've always wanted to do in the comments below.

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How to Make Your Next Company Outing Unforgettable

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How to Make Your Next Company Outing Unforgettable If planning your company outing seems more like a tiresome chore than a privilege, then it's time to refocus your process with some fresh outing ideas. Perfecting the art of the company outing will pay off for your company