Employee Engagement Archives

July 15, 2020March 1, 2021

Predictive Index: Hiring Known

I recently finished the great memoir, Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain, in which he described – in hilarious detail – the personality traits he expects in a sous chef.

“Like the Capo of a crime family or the director of the CIA, I could look across the room at [my sous chef], raise an eyebrow, maybe make an imperceptible move with my chin and the thing – whatever the thing was at the time – would be done.”

Bourdain said a sous chef in his kitchen needed to have mastery of cooking skills,

July 8, 2020July 8, 2020

Navigating Virtual Internships

As summer 2020 officially begins, many managers are launching their scheduled summer internships. While some programs have always been advertised as remote positions, like SHIFTS’s Digital Marketing Coordinator role, managers who envisioned a meaningful office experience for their interns are now faced with a change in plans. Much of the world’s workforce has transitioned to a remote experience. Employers and employees now find themselves distanced at-best, immersed in Zoom, or sadly unemployed. As many have discovered over the past few months, virtual employment is very different than an in-person experience. Due to COVID-19, internships have been no less than modified and many canceled. Managers are rethinking how they will assign tasks to interns, how they’ll track the intern’s progress, and how

in Employee Engagement / Employee Lifecycle / Organizational Design / People Management / Team Development 0 comments

Coworkers social distance during Challenges of Workforce Reimmersion

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020

Finding Humor Amidst the Challenges of Workforce Reimmersion

Accomplished writer and blogger, Jennifer Alsever, finds a respectful way to integrate light humor into her piece about the real challenges of workforce reimmersion amidst COVID-19. Read the full post Keeping the Conversation Going—from 6 Feet Away here, which was published originally for Humans At Work on May 26, 2020.

Now more than ever, the rules of social engagement are unclear with mixed messages globally and nationally. Mavericks of the world may let their mask hang around their necks, they may talk too loud, joke too much, and step

in Employee Engagement / Self-Awareness 0 comments

a team at work figuring out how to keep employees engaged

May 28, 2020May 29, 2020

How to Keep your Employees Engaged

According to talentoptimization.org, there are four primary forces that impact employee engagement: job, manager, team, and culture. Fifty-one percent of employees today are not engaged, while 16 percent are actively disengaged. But why does employee engagement matter anyway?

Disengagement is a widespread issue that causes organizations to lose billions of dollars to poor productivity, absenteeism, poor client service, safety issues, and toxic workplace cultures. Disengaged employees do just enough work to keep their job, while engaged employees are more likely to stay at your organization longer, become a top performer, and potentially recruit your next great hire.

May 5, 2020June 8, 2020

Five Mandates of Highly-Effective Teams

My family owns a lake house in a gated golf community. For the first 20 years the resort existed, it thrived. Most of the owners had primary residences elsewhere and used their lake homes or condominiums at the resort for weekend golf outings or boating on the lake. The resort had golf and tennis professionals, who organized tournaments and gave lessons. The restaurant had fine dining and a pub, and they catered weddings and events.

The resort’s next 20 years were tumultuous. It underwent several management changes and the community’s population shifted to working class homeowners and renters.

remote employee focusing on productivity

April 29, 2020May 4, 2020

Successful Remote Employees Do These Three Things

Working remotely is a new concept for most of the workforce. I’m not talking about those who are self-employed or those who launch a startup out their garage. I am talking about individuals who are employees of an organization, those who are part of a team and report to a manager, but they do so from a home office. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of you out of office buildings and into your home offices for the foreseeable future, I want to share some things I’ve learned about remote working that — if both employees and organizations act intentionally – could make full-time remote employees successful.

in Employee Engagement / High Performing Teams / Self-Awareness / Uncategorized 0 comments

pasta corbonara like a good team is hard to get right but worth the effort

April 23, 2020June 8, 2020

Cooking Up a People Management Strategy

I’ll bet no one has ever told you that effective leading is like making a good carbonara? You don’t believe me? Let’s step into the kitchen to learn more about leadership and managing people.

To create a silky carbonara sauce, you combine egg whites and pasta water in the correct proportion to egg yolks, pork fat and cheese. The egg yolks act as an emulsifier to bond the pork fat and cheese into the pasta water and egg white sauce. When done with the right timing, the proper heat, and quick whisking, you produce a creamy, flavorful sauce that perfectly coats the pasta and pancetta. If, however, you misstep on any one of these factors, you get pasta with scrambled eggs. Yuck.