Welcome to the July edition. The mission of this newsletter is to focus on the best and most interesting; so here are five articles I’ve found especially useful over the last few months. I hope you enjoy them too.
Our latest research shows that recognition has become a more important element of employee experience, so I found this article by Meghan Biro on “5 Modern Recognition Best Practices” insightful. I particularly appreciate the focus on a “human touch” in an age of AI and technology.
https://talentculture.com/blog/employee-recognition-hr-best-practices-in-ai-age
Tracy Brower in this article on rebuilding trust uses a phrase I really appreciate: “Hopeful Leadership”. In a world where many people feel things are going downhill, a key aspect of leadership is building confidence in a positive future. Perhaps that’s not pointed out often enough.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/05/05/how-to-be-a-good-leader/
I attended a great conference recently on the future of the workplace and I’ve run several projects where we have asked employees what they value about “the office”. Interestingly, it’s less about collaboration and more about connection, and many people come into the office to do “focus work”. All of which is a lead-in to this great article by Mark Mortensen and Amy Edmondson on “reframing” the discussion about hybrid. Their advice is also to focus on value.
https://hbr.org/2024/06/leaders-need-to-reframe-the-return-to-office-conversation
The next article is on goal-setting. I’ve always seen this as a dry topic, but there’s a growing body of research that shows it’s important for motivation and engagement. This article from Nele Van Buggenhout and Jamie Ellis is interesting as it’s about the power of daily habits (and again there’s a lot of new research that shows habit-forming is key in sparking behaviour change).
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/workforce/big-power-small-goals.html
The final piece by Greg Satell is on “changemakers”. He argues that most change efforts fail because leaders approach them with a managerial mindset. By contrast, successful transformations begin with three questions: 1) Where to start? 2) Who to start with? 3) How to sustain? I really like the idea of a “keystone change” as an answer to question one.
https://digitaltonto.com/2024/the-3-pillars-of-the-changemaker-mindset/
Let me know what you think of these articles and if you find them useful.
Best,
Nick
Thanks for compiling key news in bite size format and for using accessible language.