Employee wellbeing: building a psychologically safe place for all
Creating work environments that allow employees to be themselves.
Personal development: is passion a key ingredient for a successful career?
It’s a widely held myth that passion is essential when trying to forge a successful career, but it takes a little more than this for our brains to master new skills. One of the implicit assumptions about work is that we should be passionate about what we do. A lot of anxiety and dissatisfaction occurs […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How to create a healthy feedback culture
The giving and receiving of constructive feedback should be embedded into workplace practice, but to succeed it requires a culture built on self-compassion. The importance of developing a feedback culture at work and how it supports professional growth is often discussed, yet still not fully understood. One of the reasons it’s so hard to achieve is because for […]
Groupthink: how to avoid the follower mentality
Businesses must remain vigilant against the dangers of groupthink and create a workplace culture that encourages and listens to diverse opinions. Back in 2007 I ran a session for senior traders in a financial services organisation. A participant was presenting a project about a complex new financial product to the room. As the presentation rolled […]
The danger of cognitive biases in the aviation industry
At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. If you’re an academic with a relevant story, please get in touch on academicscorner@hrzone.com. We all make decisions every day. Get up now or grab an extra few […]
How women can succeed: changing gender perceptions
Many acknowledge there is a gender diversity problem in Britain’s boardrooms, in fact less than 5% of executive directors at FTSE 250 index companies are female. But what are the reasons for the imbalance? Perhaps men have better leadership qualities? Our latest research suggests not. Indeed it shows that, contrary to popular opinion, male and female leaders […]
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 […]
How to help your employees become more resilient
In order to help employees manage stress, organisations should create a culture of openness, provide effective training and role-model healthy working practices. Resilience training has never been so popular. We’re all expected to ‘do more with less’ and no organisation can afford to allow ongoing workplace stress to impact the bottom line. A variety of useful techniques can be […]
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 […]
What are the legal implications of managing mental health in the workplace?
With an increasing number of organisations implementing initiatives to support employee mental health and wellbeing, what are the legal implications to be aware of? Recent tribunals have queried the actions of a ‘reasonable employer’, putting management and often named individuals at risk of legal action. Mental health is the largest single cause of absence in […]
The workplace showdown: me vs you
We all have to work alongside difficult people from time to time. But what is the best approach to dealing with your workplace rival? If your career were a movie you could rewind, erase and skip to the highlights to create a perfect cinematic experience. But your biopic is incomplete; one pivotal scene is missing. […]
Why it’s time to humanise the workplace
How often do you have meaningful conversations with colleagues at work? If the answer is ‘rarely’, then find out why it’s time to make a positive, conscious change in the way you approach workplace relationships. Mental health seems to be top of the HR agenda at the moment. This is thanks in part to the efforts of Prince William and others […]
If we’re okay, why are mental health absences going up and up in organisations across the UK?
Dealing with mental health issues effectively in the workplace is a complex issue, so opening the channels of communication is the crucial first step every business should take. “Do you want to hurt yourself or anyone else?” “Err no, I just want to stop feeling this way.” An awkward silence. End of conversation. If talking to a […]
Relationship intelligence: “We need to put the human element back into the workplace,” says Esther Perel
In her closing keynote session on day one of UNLEASH 2018, renowned psychotherapist and author Esther Perel warned us not to forget the value that human relationships bring to our professional and personal lives. What better way to illustrate the importance of humans as social, collaborative beings in today’s technology-driven workplace than to have renowned […]
How mindfulness practice has changed my life – a personal story
I have dreadful memories from when I was 4 or 5 and onwards of feeling terribly frightened and anxious about anything and everything. Going to sleep was the worst. Ideally I would have liked to stay at my mother’s side day and night. I didn’t want to go to school because I was feeling scared […]
Why do unethical practices go unpunished in business?
There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. In a competitive trading environment, ethics can sometimes take a […]
Stress in the workplace: four ways HR can help alleviate this prevalent employee burden
Stress in the workplace can reduce productivity and negatively affect staff health. But with the right support system in place it can be managed to create a better working environment for everyone. According to a survey by online work management platform Wrike, 94% of workers experience stress, with almost a third describing their stress levels […]
