Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they continued to say “We should do x…?”  Whether in the workplace or at home, the blaming power of “we should” needs to be stopped.  “We should” is an opportunity to either complain or share an idea without actually doing anything. For example:

Participant observation is a qualitative technique of field research where the investigator gains acceptance into a group by building rapport, establishing trust, and sharing in the group’s activities.

There’s always room for more. More work. More recognition. More love. Always.

Communication is the keystone of all relationships, yet we rarely address communication beyond how we perceive it. There are four frames of communication, which should be analyzed when addressing communication in the workplace: Individual, Interpersonal, Group, and System.

Screenshot from The Assistant, featuring Julia Garner. Everyone, from the assistants to the producers to HR cover for the film mogul. It’s this complicity that you see wear her down. How have the others remained complicit in their leader’s behavior and at what emotional and ethical cost?

I love goal setting. It gives me purpose and a guide for the year to come. But one thing I don’t do is to check on those goals regularly. Learn how I give myself mental space to achieve.

Giving the tried and true paper planner another try.

When an entire organization has the same rulebook, you may be excluding needs related to a particular demographic, which can lead to an unfair work environment. But how do you ask employees what they need and how they work best, without creating chaos?

I’m guilty of using a thesaurus or too many words with the intent of sounding important and smart. Guess what? It sounds neither important nor smart. It requires too much thinking to get to “the ask.”

You know who's the best at using marketing jargon? Marketers who write job descriptions for their department.

Even in the most vision-driven organizations, with employees deeply connected to the vision, the work environment may be toxic. A valuable mission does not replace the need for workplace culture improvement.

Most organizations use their mission statement to explain why they exist, which is actually your vision. We believe the mission explains how your organization will achieve its vision.

We believe most organizations get the vision wrong. They focus the vision on where they want to be in the future (i.e. the leader in xyz industry) rather than how they want the future to be for the groups they are serving.

Tests are no good if you get the results and then forget about them. The first step is to make plan with your team on how you would like to move forward.

Many are surprised at what a personality test teaches them about themselves and their co-workers. More importantly, taking a test makes you pause and think about your own behavior. Understanding why you or a peer behaves in a certain way can pave a new path for improved communication and help limit judgments.

Ignoring a toxic culture is easier than changing it, however to put it into terms that employers might resonate with, companies cannot afford to not address workplace toxicity. The loss of revenue due to turnover and staff absences alone is reason enough.

Saying thank you is one of the most effective and simple things you can do.

Developing self-awareness is a continual opportunity for growth. Many people underestimate the benefit of acknowledging their own feelings, motives, and desires, and how these can affect business relationships and team dynamics.

Professional goals are measurable. Here’s how to break them down.