Think about your family, organizations you volunteer with, the company you work for. How would you rate communication in each of these groups? Do the members of each of these groups communicate effectively with each other, or is something lacking? We learn to communicate from a very early age, learning to listen and speak as an infant and later on learning to read and write. However, even though we learn to communicate very early in our lives, many people have difficulty communicating effectively. As an HR professional, one of the complaints I hear most often from employees and leadership within
I was sitting in a multi-day training with a group of executive leaders. I had yet to put my finger on what was missing with this team, when a question was asked that made me realize, these people don’t know each other. Through this question, it became apparent that they aren’t “allowed” to put their guard down and be real. They don’t feel like they have permission to be vulnerable. Some of these people had been working together for ten plus years and were hard pressed to name any of their colleagues hobbies much less their co-workers spouse and/or kids’
She looks like a precious angel doesn’t she? They both do, actually, but that’s my three year old, loving on my niece before her baptism. Picture perfect. Flash forward to lunch after the baptism at my brother and sister-in-law’s home. My husband and I refused to make a special lunch for our kids, telling them that could eat what was prepared. Beef tenderloin, homemade rolls, green bean and roasted potatoes. For this 30 something, the lunch was a major treat. For a three year old, who just wants a peanut butter and jelly, not so much. But, if we had
My 1st grader comes out of school most every day chomping on bubble gum. When I was a kid in school, gum at any grade level was strictly prohibited, so this peaked my interest. “Where and how did you get bubble gum?” I asked one day when he got in the car. “I turned my penny in for it, my teacher gave it to me.” He said. Interesting. “How’d you get the penny?” I asked. “I helped clean up,” he said. I realized his teacher was using a method that is hot in HR now regarding employee rewards and recognition.
Is our elusive hunt for a work-life balance causing us undue stress in our lives and the lives of those around us? Generation X introduced the philosophy of the work-life balance in the 1970’s, and organizations and employees alike have spent the last few decades searching for that balance. But can anyone say they’ve found it? The major flaw with the work-life balance philosophy is that it’s based on the premise that your work self and your life self are two separate entities and to achieve balance, you must maintain that separation and seek a level of equality between the