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Organizational Change

By Madison Hanscom, PhD The extent to which individuals can “bounce back” to how things were pre-crisis describes their resiliency. It is beneficial to have a workforce of resilient employees who can recover quickly from difficult times. Not only is this better for the company (e.g., financially), it is better for the people (e.g., psychologically). We often place onus on the individual to be resilient. We might think, “they just need to get over it”. But researchers have shown that others in our environment can have an impact on our resiliency, and this includes leadership. After or during a hard event, employees

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By Madison Hanscom, PhD There are a great deal of conflicting perspectives when it comes to leadership training. Many individuals do not think it is worth the time because they believe leaders are born and not made – that genetics and personality are more influential in determining a great leader than the knowledge, skills, and abilities someone can build and sharpen during training. Others think training is a valuable tool that leads to a better workforce. But what does the research say? A group of researchers (1) decided to dig deep into questions about leadership training by conducting a meta analysis on

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By Madison Hanscom and Brie DeLisi When it comes to occupational safety, planning and procedures are incredibly important. They may be a legal requirement in some respects, and they also provide a guideline for the workforce to be aligned on mission, goals, and activities. When taking on a culture change approach for achieving better workplace safety, planning and procedures will be a critical component. Planning will help to bring implementation strategies for improving safety performance to life. It can also help to identify key priorities. Procedures will provide guidance and direction for everyday functioning along the way. However, this is not enough

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By Madison Hanscom, PhD Respectful treatment is not always the norm in every work group. There are countless individuals who are required to interact with other workers and leaders who are rude, sarcastic, judgmental, and disrespectful. Incivility can be as subtle was a snarky remark, or as obvious as aggression. Kindness really does matter at work. People thrive professionally and personally when they are surrounded by supportive colleagues they trust. When workers perceive to be in an environment that is civil (norms supporting respectful treatment among workgroup members) they are less likely to suffer from burnout and have higher job satisfaction (1). The

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By Madison Hanscom, Ph.D. As many businesses are considering (or have already decided) moving some employees to a permanent telework model after the COVID-19 outbreak, the question comes up often — will flex work change my culture? So, yes, the culture can change when entering a more flexible environment. Though the extent to which the culture will change depends on several factors. For example, how large is the change? If the company is moving to a 100% remote model, this will have different implications than if moving to a 50% telework model. How strong was the culture to begin with? If the

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By Eric Michrowski There's an old aphorism that is apocryphally attributed to Abraham Lincoln, which deals with the subject of cutting down a tree. 'Give me six hours to chop down a tree,' the saying goes, 'and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.' Various other versions of the saying exist, changing the times involved, but all with the same central thesis: use the majority of the time allotted to prepare for the task. Lincoln – or whomever the anonymous woodcutter at the root of this statement is – has oft been credited with an insightful observation about the necessity

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