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workplace dynamics Archives

How to Get the Most Out of Coaching

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 at 5:29 pm

Jennifer Joyce, co-founder of LeadershipSmarts, is this week’s guest blogger.

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Coaching is often a pivotal step in a person’s career. It represents a large investment of time, money, and personal work. So how does one get the most out of such an important venture?

During my 15 years as a coach, I have found three keys to creating a successful engagement:

A clearly articulated coaching goal
Specific examples or stories from work, and
A willingness to look at self.

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Workplace Undercover: Lessons for employee engagement — Response

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 9:07 pm

In the previous post, we met Tracy who is having a hard time getting along with Sasha.As Tracy complained to her partner, “how am I supposed to work on a charity event with someone who has nothing to say and has such a superior attitude?”

The response today is by Sandra Lopez, a licensed clinical social worker and consultant.

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Tracy’s scenario is just so typical of what any one of us might encounter. Clearly as she shares her feelings with her partner, we can see that Tracy has become frustrated, stressed, and is even experiencing some sense of helplessness in knowing how to make the situation better. Like many of us in these kinds of predicaments, she has formed negative assumptions about her co-worker. Given the current status of her relationship with Sasha, she raises a good question in wondering how she will survive the stress of working on this charity event.

How do we work through these challenging interpersonal conflicts when they happen? Tracy can relieve a great deal of her stress in this working relationship by consciously using herself to more effectively manage the situation.

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Workplace Undercover: When Coworkers Just Don’t Get Along

Saturday, July 31st, 2010 at 12:07 am

Preface: Workplace Undercover will be a recurring segment of this blog, featuring a workplace scenario and a response by a guest consultant. The scenario below was written by Eillen Bui, our research associate. In the next post, Sandra Lopez, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, will respond.

Tracy walked through the front door of her workplace and passed the desk of her VP’s top assistant. Sasha looked up from her computer but did not even acknowledge Tracy. She just went back to what she was doing earlier.

When Tracy first started working at XYZ Corp., she would always smile and greet Sasha but stopped after a few weeks. Sasha would only acknowledge her with a slight nod of her head and continue working. Tracy didn’t feel as though she should make an effort to keep being friendly to Sasha if Sasha wasn’t even trying to be cordial.

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Chronically stressed or happy at work – Part 3

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 3:09 pm

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the chronic stress experienced by many people in today’s organizations. Much of that stress may be accounted for by tremendous workloads and pressures to produce in today’s organizations.

In Part 2, we talked about one organization, Zappos, an online shoe store, whose CEO seeks to reverse that trend by focusing on employee happiness. In his business model, happy employees provide better service and better service brings and keeps customers.

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Are you experiencing chronic stress at work — Part 2

Saturday, July 24th, 2010 at 12:48 am

In the previous blog entry, I asked, is it is feasible for organizations to pay attention to their employees’ happiness and still produce results considering the tremendous pressures most organizations are under to show growth and cost savings in this economic climate.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, an online shoe store, says he wouldn’t have it any other way. I have long been a fan of Zappos, ordering most of my shoes from them for several years now.

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Are you experiencing chronic stress at work — Part 1

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 11:25 pm

A recurring conversation among my friends and clients is the staggering amount of work hours that people are now putting into their jobs. I talk with people who arrive at work by 6 or 6:30 a.m. and leave by 7 or 8 that evening. Add challenging workplace dynamics to the equation and they feel burned out at home and at work.

Yet with all this economic uncertainty, most are grateful to even have jobs. Their overwork is an undiscussable they wouldn’t dream of surfacing.

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WORKPLACE UNDERCOVER: When you’re the boss and the employee won’t listen, Part A

Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 9:43 pm

Preface: Workplace Undercover is a regular feature of this blog. The scenario below was written by Eillen Bui, our research associate. Responding to this scenario is Stephanie Foy, Project Manager for Leading Consciously and Principal of Foy and Associates.
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The scenario: Kathy was running a little late for her first annual review. She hurriedly pushed the door open to the meeting room and smiled apologetically to her manager.

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