A lot of businesses are helping during the pandemic. This includes an Ontario facility MANUFACTURING THEIR FIRST personal protective equipment masks for health care professionals or this SMALL DESIGNER making cotton masks and donating one for one to at-risk community groups or essential workers. Our Federal government is offering help to manufacturing and automation companies […]
I’m very proud of how our Ontario business community has mobilized. Since launching their ONTARIO TOGETHER portal, “Over 1,200 submissions were received for the first three challenges to support the delivery of mental health solutions to vulnerable populations, ensure the strength of our supply chains and deliver financial advice to the small business community.” And […]
I came across this old article by Susan Mazza in Saba Blog Digest, where she talks about how listening to people shows them you care. It’s also an excellent skill for leaders to have to show their employees they care. Susan’s three tips are below. READ HER ARTICLE. Give someone your full and undivided attention […]
Joanne Trotta has written many excellent articles about the importance of soft skills, such as empathy for effective leadership. She notes, “In my opinion, effective leadership simply does not exist without empathy. I feel this way because of experience: Every leader who has inspired me throughout my life and career has been extraordinarily empathetic.” Read […]
I recently came out of what was supposed to be a project debrief quite shocked. It was a complex project with a lot of moving pieces, and the result was quite amazing. But the external consultant leading the debrief was solely focused on finger-pointing. The value of a good debrief is important, but they should […]
We’ve all worked in environments where there was that one person who seemed to thrive on negativity. It turns out; their impact is even more destructive than once thought. Harvard Business School’s TOXIC WORKERS paper “found that this type of ‘toxic’ co-worker is a major red flag because of their ability to drive other employees […]
We recently facilitated a webinar with Change Management expert and coach Kashmir Birk called Culture is Change: The Use, Abuse and Disuse of Power. He talked about how there is a blind spot in some organizations that allows a culture of abuse to continue by normalizing, protecting and actively promoting the abusers. He offers insights and […]
There’s very good advice found in Alison Green’s ASK A MANAGER website and in her books. Alison’s been answering people’s work-related questions since 2007. She gets questions on topics like how to make your boss adore you, how to take criticism gracefully, what to do when your manager won’t manage, how to not suck at firing people, […]
Professor, author and innovation expert, Barry L. Cross has written a discussion paper for Queen’s University Smith School of Business on the topic of brainstorming and how storyboarding can help make brainstorming sessions successful: “Much of what passes for brainstorming are idea-killing sessions that leave organizations thinking they’re not innovative. The technique of storyboarding can remove […]
Yes, we already posted about advice columnist, Alison Green; however, the biases she lists in her Ask a Manager website are worth their own post: “I believe the whole point of managing is to get things done. Everything else follows from there. I believe that employers and employees should just be straightforward with each other and not […]