‘Silo’ working can often become ingrained in the culture of a department or a whole organisation if left unaddressed, leading to disconnect, frustration and lower engagement levels with the business for many.
‘Silo’ working is unfortunately present in organisations of all types and sizes, where typically several departments, groups or individuals choose not to, or unwittingly don’t (for various reasons we won’t discuss now) share information or knowledge with colleagues.
Expectations: we all have them.
You may, for instance, have an expectation about this post.
But what is an expectation? A hope or desire? A prediction based on facts and historic proofs? A vision of the perfect future, or a bleak assessment of what may come to pass?
I think we can all be in absolute agreement that this year has certainly been a challenging one in so many aspects.
But in this period between Christmas and New Year, many people’s minds will be very firmly focused on hailing 2021 as a fresh start. The ending of a year and the beginning of a New Year is a great time to reflect back on the year just gone and look forward positively to the future, however the end of this year is far more eagerly anticipated than normal. Afterall, 2021 is the year when the vaccine becomes more readily available to the masses, the year we can reconnect again, the year we can finally get back to ‘normal’.
Well, what a year 2020 has been! Somehow, it’s been a year that has dragged, causing monotony in our everyday routines and making us wonder whether life will ever change, yet on the other hand it’s gone by in the blink of an eye, leaving us wondering how it’s December already?! It’s certainly been a rollercoaster.
According to TheKnowledgeAcademy.com’s recent heart rate study, this workplace phrase raises our heart rate the most out of all other expressions. In fact, the phrase “Let’s have a chat” raised respondents heart rate to 147 BPM, an 84% increase on the average resting heart rate, which beats 80 per minute.
December 1st 2020 marks the start of Anger Awareness Week, and it really got me thinking about anger and conflict in the workplace.
Unfortunately, too many of us experience anger and unhelpful disagreements in their working life. But this way of working need not be the norm. Far from it in fact. Rather, I would contend that one never needs to experience conflict or arguments in the workplace. Because if employees and leaders alike follow some simple processes and – instead of focusing on blame – they embrace robust problem solving, they can actually eliminate issues early on, well before they become something bigger. This will therefore remove the potential for conflict altogether and ultimately result in a happy and engaged team.
The ‘Connection Cause’: Six steps to maintain employee connections during a pandemic
Without a doubt, forging strong employee connections, facilitating great company culture and keeping team morale high are all vital elements to an organisation’s employee retention strategy and to ensure an organisation has the best people giving their best work. But how does this look during a pandemic? And is it even possible to maintain strong employee connections and experience during a period of such uncertainty?
During these difficult times, it is essential to focus on longer term rational strategies which will sustain a business. Not only does this make good business sense, but this will ensure the longevity of a business’s most important asset; it’s people.
Now is the time for businesses to double-down on their commitment to health, wellbeing and employee engagement. Those businesses who focus on techniques to give all employees a real voice and allow them to find solutions to the everyday problems they face themselves, and as a team, will certainly win out during these unprecedented times. But how can this be done, especially without breaking the bank?
A great deal of time has been dedicated recently to the topic of ensuring your employees remain engaged during these “unprecedented times”. Certainly, whilst this is a worthy activity and something that needs to be front of all our minds, a topic that hasn’t been given quite so much airtime is that of engaging those employees who are currently on furlough.
Not only is there an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ issue here when it comes to furloughed employees, the legalities of furlough can appear complex and can make even the most highly skilled leaders feel a little unnerved about what they should and shouldn’t do. So much so, that many have been left scratching their heads about acceptable levels of contact with furloughed employees and some have even gone so far as to cut ties completely for fear of making a mistake that later comes back to bite them legally.
