A new workweek is upon us. How are you doing? Are you ready for what’s ahead? Have you bought into the pattern that Mondays are supposed to be horrid and a sluggish way to start the week? Are you someone that needs some motivation to get moving that even coffee can’t address? Worse Worse yet, are you filled with dread or anxiety? It’s true. We expect the worst, and we get it. MORE

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…. 1. Is it normal to complain about coworkers behind their backs? wanted to ask about office norms when it comes to expressing irritation about colleagues. I’m currently working at my first job, and will be leaving in a couple of months due to studying. One of the things that really bothers me about this office is the amount of complaining about people behind their backs that goes on – I understand venting, but a lot of this has a really catty, high school vibe to me. No, it’s not normal. ” 4. Please let me back into your life.” MORE

A hilarious break in a busy day happened one day when staff members dropped off in my office a policy entitled “Undead Rising and Zombie Attack Situation.” The well-written policy stated its purpose is to provide guidelines for decision making to protect the safety of customers, staff and resources in the event of a rising dead […]. Planning Contingency Planning Disaster Strategy Workplace MORE

I recently came across this wonderful infographic by Kakie’s Corner which effectively breaks down Change Management into 3 simple phases.  For all you change managers out there, print this table out and consider it your bible. In order for a professional to be able to help a company with organizational change, he’ll have to navigate his way through these 3 critical phases. MORE

This is the time of year where the last thing you want to do is get out of bed, get dressed and drive to an office. Why not stay home, or better yet, head to the beach, set up your laptop and work from there? For many of you, stuck in a traditional office environment, teleworking conjures dreams of a seaside bungalow where your biggest worry is spilling a mai tai on your keyboard. Sound familiar? MORE

It’s no secret that HR departments understand why they need to focus on better employee engagement but the focus has now shifted to how to actually make change. Here are two changes that can be made to help increase employee engagement. Stay tuned next week as we share two more. Change takes time but you can start engraining some of these behaviors in your workforce starting today. Enable better employee performance. We know that managers don’t believe annual reviews are an accurate representation of the employee. Implement employee-created, agile and transparent goals. MORE

We’ve talked often about individual engagement. But what about teams? That’s what this reader note is all about. Hi Sharlyn. What are the most important questions a company should ask to know if the team is engaged? What are the tale-tell signs that company should look out for on disengagement? think this is a great question. So much of the work we do involves teams. Is the team leader engaged? MORE

You can safely assume that all employees in your organization are responsible for at least one time-consuming task that they consider loathsome, inefficient, and possibly nonessential. Rather than question the task itself—or empower employees to focus on high-value work—we’ve trained our people to stay busy and “just get it done.” Feeling brave today? MORE

Last week, during an internal team event, we organized an interesting activity. Team members were asked to form a human chain by holding hands. round hoop was then passed through one end of the chain and participants had to pass the hoop through themselves to other end without breaking the chain. The team that passed hoop across in least time would win. Timeless Qualities of True Leaders. MORE

Your culture is either moving toward the future, or it isn't. Are you still clinging to miles and teaspoons MORE

As with any outdoor music festival, you hope for sunny weather, but what you hope for does not always happen. Yesterday was one of those days at Bluesfest. It rained pretty much the whole time that I was there but the rain did not dampen my spirits, nor the attendees, nor Bluesfest volunteers. Everyone I […]. Business Lifestyle Bluesfest events music music festival Ottawa Ottawa RBC Bluesfest The Cult The Lumineers MORE

A ROCKSTAR company culture leads to ROCKSTAR employees. Great company culture is really important, and not just the visible components, but it’s the invisible components which really matter. The attitude of employees towards one another and towards the organisation are extremely important. Three main questions come to my mind when thinking about culture: What exactly is culture? What is Culture? MORE

Many organizations go for the one-a-year big hoopla or think driving employee happiness takes expensive outings. But remember, it's really the little gestures that make the biggest impact on employee engagement. If you're running out of ideas of how to sprinkle some happiness into the workplace, check out this infographic put together by CareerBliss : Employee Engagement MORE

In case you didn’t think it before, it’s time to get moving. Physical inactivity has been named as the largest public health crisis of the 21st century in both the UK and in the States , both pointing to the damages that sitting down too long can do to our health and wellbeing. Wellbeing MORE