Eighty-six percent of employees say they’re most productive when they work from home, as cited by Fundera. Seventy-seven percent of employees report greater productivity while working off-site, according to the Remote Collaborative Worker Survey by CoSo Cloud. Sixty-four percent of global business leaders said flexible working had a positive impact on productivity, Condeco reports. Telecommuters are 14% more productive than their office-bound colleagues, according to a study released by Stanford University. Research found that working from home increases job performance and productivity while also decreasing the number of sick days taken.

4 Networking Tips For Introverts (and Extroverts, too!)

Do you go to networking events?

And are you an introvert?

If you are, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed. How will you manage in a large, crowded space?

Good news! It doesn’t have to be scary or impossible to navigate.

To those who say otherwise, I say “B.S.!”

No. Not THAT B.S.

Here are my 4 “B.S.” networking strategies for #introverts.

Be Still
Be Strategic
Be Seen
Be Sticky

Plan Regular 1:1 Meetings

To unleash the potential of the people you manage, you must engage and bond with each person individually. There simply is no hack or shortcut for building real connections. That’s why it is critical that, in addition to morning huddles, you need to plan regular one-to-one meeting time (1:1s) with individual team members to check in on a more personal manner.

As a manager, you can use 1:1s to ask your team members about their wellbeing, their experience working with the team, and their career goals, as well as get updates on their progress and any challenges they may be experiencing with current projects, so that you can course correct as needed.

4 B.S. Networking Tips for Introverts

Do you go to networking events?

And are you an introvert?

If you are, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed. How will you manage in a large, crowded space?

Good news! It doesn’t have to be scary or impossible to navigate.

To those who say otherwise, I say “B.S.!”

No. Not THAT B.S.

Here are my 4 “B.S.” networking strategies for #introverts.

Be Still
Be Strategic
Be Seen
Be Sticky

How to Receive Feedback Like a Boss, Part II

The next time that someone approaches you with some unwanted feedback consider the following:

Listen to understand – Hear them out without interruption. Mirror back what you heard and ask questions for clarification. Also ask for examples so you know more clearly when and in what way this is happening. If there is something that you disagree with, hold it until the end. This way you validate them and open further lines of communication. It’s always best for the concern to come directly to you rather than to others.
Respond carefully – Try to avoid sounding defensive. Leave your ego to the side and accept warranted concerns as well as viable advice. If you are unsure about the validity of feedback or what to do with it, ask for time to respond. Make sure to get back to the other party in a timely fashion and with a real game plan (see below). And then ask for feedback about the plan.

5 Tips to Increase Workplace Engagement

The statistics about worker disengagement are staggering. We read all the time about how workplace engagement levels are low here in the U.S. and even lower around the world. Loss of productivity is estimated to cost employers hundreds of millions of dollars annually, if not billions. And it all stems from how disconnected folks feel from the people working around them, the work that they do each day, and the purpose that it serves to them and to others.

Workplace connection results in many benefits, including stronger communication, greater synergy, enhanced anticipation of others’ needs and worries / concerns, and, last but certainly not least, increased worker engagement. When we feel connected, we operate with a sense of purpose and utilize our many talents and abilities to advance that purpose, consciously as well as subconsciously.

The need for connection at work is perhaps stronger today than ever before. It has become an expectation, especially amongst younger workers, that the workplace be a source of meaning and intention, not just a place at which to collect a paycheck.

Are our phones to blame, or are we?

I used to think that our phones were making us antisocial. Go on a train or walk into a room with lots of folks and you'll see almost everyone trained on their screens. This is so disheartening. And so common. But then I see pics of folks 50-100 years ago going off to work or waiting in line, each with a newspaper open before them. No conversation. No connection. Times, they really haven't been a 'changin.

It Needn't be Lonely at the Top

Loneliness is, in a relative sense, measured in the eyes of the beholder. Some argue that the loneliest professionals in the world are those who toil in isolation, with limited opportunity for interpersonal communication. Yet there are others who weigh loneliness not by the frequency or infrequency of their interactions with others but rather with the quality of such exchanges.

Is it Father's Day or Father Day?

How did you spend your Father’s Day?

Full disclosure: I’m one of the purists (if I can call my self that) who says that “every day is Father’s Day”. So, in my house, there’s no big celebration, no gifts of ties or toolsets.

Instead, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. Putting together my kids’ pool, that is.

Pools, even the inflatable variety, take real work to assemble and properly fill (I did well on the former but not so great on the latter – hard to get it all even and fully balanced, but that’s for a different post).

But the weather was hot, and the kids were pining for the pool, so out went dad in his finest shmatas (Yiddish for upscale yard attire) for hours of fun in the sun (before the real fun began, of course).

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