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Bullying and workplace incivility is not just wrong, it’s counter-productive In 2010, the World Health Organization released a research bulletin that established bullying as a serious health issue. WHO defined bullying as “repeated exposure…to physical and/or emotional aggression, including teasing, name calling, mockery, threats, harassment, taunting, hazing, social exclusion, or rumors.” We have heard a …

Bullying in the workplace: What it is and how to stop it Read More »

Recently, I’ve been coming across a lot of interesting research on empowering leadership, psychological empowerment, and affective commitment in the workplace. So far, I’ve written about how psychological empowerment can increase affective commitment, and how affective commitment can increase employee retention rates. It turns out conflict management may have a role as well. Some definitions …

Creating a great team culture means you have to manage conflict Read More »

No such thing as “generations” A few years ago, I was doing research for a workshop on intergenerational conflict, and I found out something that really surprised me. The concept of “generation” and the associated labels we use – Baby Boomer, Millennial, etc. – is actually ill-defined and has little scientific basis. We say that …

Let’s End “Generationalism” Read More »

In a previous article, we talked about how increased affective commitment, or how emotionally invested an employee is in the organization, is related to reduced turnover. In general, you can increase an employee’s affective commitment through support and opportunities for learning and growth. But what does research say about what specifically leads to affective commitment? …

If Affective Commitment Increases Retention, What Increases Affective Commitment? Research Says it Could Be Psychological Empowerment Read More »

Policy Does not Necessarily Kill Creativity “The policy states that…” A couple of years ago, the director at my son’s early education center suggested that I contact the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to offer my workshops as part of their Professionalism continuing education track for early childhood educators. She explained that there weren’t …

How to Be Creative While Still Following Policy Read More »

In one of the workshops I teach, Professional Conflict Resolution and a Culture of Conflict Acceptance, I ask everybody to write about a conflict they have had recently that elicited strong, uncomfortable feelings. One of the most common conflicts I hear about involves the writer not being able to meet a deadline because a coworker …

What to do when an employee can’t meet deadlines: 6 steps, plus natural consequences Read More »

If it was affordable, I believe that most employers would offer paid sick leave because of the long-term benefits. The up-front cost will ultimately pay off, although the benefits can be hard to quantify. Currently, eleven states and multiple jurisdictions require paid sick leave, but the policies vary a great deal and can often conflict …

Paid Sick Leave – An Ideal, and Potentially Complicated, Policy Read More »

This article is part of the Human Systems Organizational Health Leadership Principle series: 15 principles that relate to the overall health of your organization. Other Human Systems Leadership Principles are contained in the Change Management, Community Embedding, Mutual Empowerment, and Ethics categories. Today we are looking at HS Leadership Principle #9: The organization provides a …

Let’s Jettison the Performance Review: 4 Steps to A Better System of Validation and Feedback Read More »