An Agile team is really an asset for any company to have. A “team” in the Agile sense is a small group of people, assigned to the same project or effort, nearly all of them on a full-time basis. It goes a little deeper than this, as they really have to work well together to be a high performing team. It takes motivated workers who strive towards unity and customer satisfaction (even if the “customer” Read more…
Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve had a significant innovation for your company? You know the one where you are pumped to get things up and running. But before too long, you are stuck in a myriad of dysfunctional patterns, conflicting priorities and business politics that prevent effective collaboration and real progress. The project stalls, then eventually falls over. What are some of the common pitfalls that every leader has fallen into? Read more…
“Equality” is a word we’ve heard more and more lately, and it shouldn’t just be a buzzword. People have taken to airing grievances, concerns, and examples of inequality on social media over the past few years, and it’s not something in which your company wants to be on the wrong side. But, inequality shouldn’t just be addressed based on fears of lawsuits and public scrutiny – it should be addressed because it’s the right thing Read more…
Although pretty much everyone is now working remotely, that’s not to say they’re doing it well. In the hasty response to get things up and going (which, let’s face it, we really didn’t have a choice, did we?), many factors were overlooked altogether. No matter how fast companies were able to set up their remote employees, productivity dropped significantly. It’s not that people weren’t working, it’s just with schools being shuttered, internet bandwidth issues, and Read more…
Remote work is often touted as the ultimate benefit for employees. But remote work can be just as good, or even better for the employer. It can be used to attract talent that would usually not be willing or able to relocate. A robust remote work program has the potential to increase productivity, creativity, and be a boost for savings in a previous centralised working environment. Technology such as video conferencing, chat tools, and cloud Read more…
With the advent of the modern workplace, employees are starting to feel like they are just another transactional resource. Organisations have become so reliant on technology and automation, particularly for communication, that opportunities to connect and care for one another are decreasing. In our culture, we are caught up in the ‘busyness’ of life, we barely have time to think about and care for ourselves, let alone our teammates. This is true of people who Read more…
Remote working can provide a lot of flexibility that takes a large amount of strain off of employees. Some prefer remote work because of the autonomy it can give them over their schedule, they don’t feel the stress of driving into the office, and it allows them to attend to matters in the home much more easily than if they were kilometres away. There are certain personality types that really thrive in this setting, and Read more…
Whether public or private, consumers care very much about company stances on certain political, social and cultural issues. Money talks, and consumers want to know that who they’re supporting with their hard earned money in turn supports the issues they care about. If customers feel a business isn’t “doing the right thing”, they’re very quick to announce evidence on social media of this transgression, and few are forgiving. There are “right and wrong” ways that Read more…
Imagine your place of work in ten years from now. Chances are it’ll be extremely different from today. That is thanks to the fast-evolving technologies that are changing the way we work, the dynamics of the workforce and the concept of the workplace. This is even more applicable considering the recent push we have had to reimagine how, why, and where we work. To stay relevant and at the forefront, you will need to envision Read more…
Summer breaks are great, aren’t they? Surely you’re not too old to remember how you spent a few weeks out of school, swimming, hiking, or riding bicycles with your friends around the neighborhood! You may reminisce on Summer as a great pastime before adulthood took over and you worked most of the year consistently, but you may see it a little differently now. More than likely, when you were a child, if a parent was Read more…
Human resource management technologies have exploded over the past few years and show no signs of slowing down. The demand for automation and tools to help HR teams enhance productivity is driving astronomical investment in software platforms worldwide. These platforms are multifunctional and ready to be utilised. As business becomes more international, with geographic borders less of an obstacle, companies who are not implementing these tech advances are struggling to manage their operations. It might Read more…
With the changing world and shifting workplace behaviors, the workforce has also become increasingly more diverse, and these trends towards diversity will probably continue in the future. Increasing diversity along ethnic, racial and gender lines. Efficiently managing diversity has mostly been identified as one of the five distinctive features of a company that makes onto Fortune Magazine’s list of 100 best companies. Diversity issues have multiple implications for HR professionals. First companies need to address Read more…