Triadic relationships are common in the workplace. For example, two employees, Sharon and Mark, may share negative feelings about a third employee, Kathy; Kathy, in return, has negative feelings about both Sharon and Mark. An alternative triad involving these individuals is that Sharon and Mark have completely different feelings about Kathy: Sharon is a clear […]
Read More… from Unbalanced Relationships Hurt Performance, But Don’t Stick Around
The concept of agility — an approach to innovation and development based on shorter project timeframes, focused targets and ‘sprints’ — was first conceived in software development companies. Metaphors such as SEAL teams are used to describe these fast-moving, nimble project teams. This attractive concept is spreading to more traditional companies and industries, although with […]
Read More… from Ignoring Collaborative Demands Sinks Agile Teams
Despite the focus by managers and thought leaders on the power of employee engagement to improve individual and organizational results, the world of business seems to continue to be befuddled by how to get employees more engaged. A new study explores the question of engagement at the team level, since in a world in which […]
Read More… from Shades of Grey: The Nuances of Team Disengagement
New research demonstrates how leadership humility positively influences the performance of a group or organization. Specifically, the research, based on two laboratory studies and one field study, shows that leadership humility leads to collective humility on the part of the group he or she is leading, which in turn leads to a group focus on […]
Read More… from Leadership Humility Is Contagious-Resulting in High Performance
In the business literature, diversity is often painted as a magic elixir that brings different perceptions and knowledge to a team or an organization, which then effortlessly leads to greater innovation and better results. The truth is more complicated. A new study, based on a survey of 326 individuals working on a total of more […]
Read More… from Without Team Identification, Diversity Fails
Conversations with new people are an important part of most people’s social and professional lives. After such conversations, people often seem to underestimate whether the other person in the conversation enjoyed the conversation and liked them. A series of five studies confirmed what the researchers call the ‘liking gap.’ In the first section of the […]
Read More… from Why Workplace Conversations Are More Successful than You Believe
The ideal candidates for a new job are highly competent and highly sociable. They are knowledgeable and skilled in their fields while at the same time have collegial and easy to work with personalities. Nobody is perfect, however, and many candidates will be stronger on one dimension than the other — they will come across […]
Read More… from Why Competent Jerks Get Hired
In the 21st century interconnected, global, cross-functional, flat-hierarchy, silo-busted world of business, collaboration and teamwork are viewed as one of the foundational pillars of success, at both the organizational level and individual level. Such is the generally accepted wisdom. Even collaboration, however, is not immune to the dangers of ‘too much of a good thing.’ […]
Read More… from Too Much of a Good Thing: Collaborative Overload
What makes a good leader? The answer is often given in the context of the leader’s impact on followers — a natural response since the effectiveness of a leader is defined not by what he or she does, but by what he or she is capable of getting others to do. For this reason, theories […]
Read More… from Understanding Follower Attitudes Helps Decipher Leadership Success
The quality of the relationship between a leader and a follower or subordinate can have a major impact on the satisfaction and happiness, and ultimately the performance of that subordinate. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory is the theory that studies leader-follower relationship quality and its impact on the success of the individuals involved and the organization […]
Read More… from Why You Need to Mend Any Poor Relationships With Your Employees