Reaching for the stars: skills advice from a NASA astronaut
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which took place on 20 July 1969, astronaut Dr Story Musgrave explores how his thirst for learning has led to an extraordinary career. Even in our current world of uncertainty anyone can go the distance, he argues, but it requires embracing a new set […]
Recruitment: how aligning words and actions to values can ensure candidates are the ‘right fit’
Consciously or not, your recruitment process is values-based, but are you communicating the right values to potential new hires? Here, we look at how to be more deliberate with your words and actions throughout the process to ensure the right message is conveyed. Let’s start by replaying a conversation we’ve had many times with leaders […]
Digital transformation: balancing AI and EI in the digital workplace
As artificial intelligence advances, it’s the human qualities of our employees that we will value the most – and those with the right mix of soft skills will be most in demand. The attitudes and behaviours needed to thrive in the modern workplace are changing. With digital transformation, increased automation and artificial intelligence (AI), skills-based […]
Leadership skills: the role of conflict in collaboration
Conflict doesn’t have to be a bad thing – indeed, some of the best innovations come from situations where there’s a divergence of opinion. Here, leadership strategists Mandy Flint and Elisabet Vinberg Hearn explain how leaders can approach conflict constructively, and encourage their teams to do the same. Conflict is often seen as something negative, […]
Ethics in the workplace: an introduction
Ethics is an increasingly critical talking point in the modern world. So is it time we placed greater importance on these conversations within our businesses? Introducing his upcoming nine-part series on ethics in the workplace, Luke Andreski sets the scene for why a robust moral code and set of values is essential for organisations – […]
Ethics in the workplace: what’s the point?
In the first article of this nine-part series on ethics in the workplace, Luke Andreski opens his discussion with a brief look at the nature of ethics and why ethics are important for businesses and organisations of all kinds. Ethics and morality are important. They are important whoever we are and whatever we do. This […]
Dig deeper: how to take our humanity out of hiding
Our inability to re-humanise our workplaces stems from three detrimental behavioural traps. How can we release ourselves from these harmful habits and get back in touch with our humanity? We’re not making sustainable shifts towards human-focused workplaces because we’re staying superficial when we need to dig deeper. If you’ve been involved in personal development for […]
Celebrating individualism in the workplace
The whole may be greater than the sum of its parts, but that doesn’t mean we should view and treat our workers as one and the same. Allowing your employees’ idiosyncrasies to shine in the workplace is key to creating a thriving culture of creativity and entrepreneurialism. Workplace culture is on nearly every people professional’s […]
It’s not JUST emotions: putting energy and feelings at the heart of your work
For centuries we’ve been in denial about our human nature when it comes to work. Some of the most basic norms of the workplace are incompatible with peak human performance. Sitting down for large portions of the day, lack of natural light and air, wearing restrictive clothes and shoes, and being separated from our families […]
Recruitment: five problems with competency-based interviewing and a few solutions
It’s time to give traditional competency-based interviewing the sack. Here’s how to recruit better using more in-depth, conversational techniques. Most of us are familiar with competency-based interviewing, having either been on the receiving end of it as an interviewee, or as the person asking the questions. Questions like these are among the most common: […]
De-stressing the business: getting managers and workloads in check
Stressful working environments harm employee wellbeing and productivity. To get a handle on this, businesses need to address their management style and how they approach workloads. A recent CIPD study has revealed that poor management and heavy workloads are the biggest causes of workplace stress. These findings will raise some important questions for businesses, but […]
Nudging: what HR professionals should understand about behavioural science
Getting people to change their behaviour or make certain choices requires a ‘nudge’ – but how can HR teams make sure that they are not only nudging effectively, but ethically too? You may have noticed that there is a buzz around ‘nudging’, or behavioural economics as it is more formally called. You will doubtless have […]
Behavioural excellence: an essential quality in high performance leaders?
How do certain behavioural qualities set top leaders apart? Charlotte Dennis and Sarah Wall, of leadership development training company, LeadEQ, explore… Technical excellence is a given for all senior leaders, yet when it comes to soft skills many reach a tipping point in their career when they find that they do not have the capabilities […]
Leadership: confidence is king when it comes to crowning successful leaders
A lack of confidence is a career killer for those in leadership positions, so it’s essential that others see you as confident if you want to get ahead, according to new research. Confidence is a critical state for leaders. Whilst competency criteria may not explicitly require it, confidence is the prerequisite for success. An apparent […]
Soft skills: how different perceptions impact workplace conflict
Workplace conflicts are often about differences in perception. Getting around this is about figuring out how to reconcile the two perspectives. Interpersonal conflict at work is surprisingly common and yet this can be a difficult fact to swallow, for employees and managers alike. Where is the conflict coming from? What is fueling it? What can […]
Leadership: why HR has a responsibility to build a sense of belonging among employees
It’s been proven that individuals and teams perform best in environments where they feel a sense of belonging. Leadership teams should be doing everything they can to help encourage this. A mountain of research spanning almost 200 years and looking across multiple cultures and contexts demonstrates beyond doubt that the single biggest predictor of our […]
Three ways to develop a sense of belonging in the workplace
Within any organisation, the need to feel like part of a team and to develop a sense of belonging is a vital to ensuring a comfortable working environment, and to a certain extent, increasing productivity. Whether you’re a new starter though, or simply joining a new team within a company that you’ve worked in […]
When resilience training isn’t the answer
Resilience training can be hugely beneficial for many – but it has a time and a place. Are some managers offering this training as a solution to a difficult situation just to avoid conflict? Have you ever witnessed someone being asked to go on a resilience training course after bringing up a workplace issue or conflict […]
What’s the point? Why HR should embrace absurdity at work
What does it mean to describe something at work as absurd? And why should HR consider the impact of absurd actions in the workplace? Tom Calvard, lecturer in HRM at the University of Edinburgh Business School, and Dawn Chow, lecturer in the School of Business at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, explore the different […]
Minimise threat and maximise reward to accelerate change
Discover why it’s important for businesses to develop a sound understanding of neuroscience principles to help employees through periods of change and uncertainty. Is there a leader today who is not involved in a change situation? Most leaders have some form of change project or programme going on. With the amount of uncertainty and the challenging […]
