The nationwide move to a more remote-inclusive workplace stems from employees’ need for greater flexibility. The effort to balance work and life outside of work is not new. What is new: the weight employees are placing on flexibility. Today, an employer’s long-term success depends upon underestimating how highly flexibility ranks with their people. Flexibility is Key Before…
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Before the pandemic, our calendars were already overloaded with meetings. The COVID hit, and our in-person and virtual meeting became ALL virtual. Staying connected is an admirable intention, but our mania for meetings has had a negative impact: an increase in virtual fatigue and a decrease in productivity. It’s time to stop the madness and…
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What will associations look like post-pandemic? That’s the heart of what we asked hundreds of senior association leaders in the State of Association Workplaces Post-Pandemic Survey. The answers provide Association leaders the unprecedented opportunity to learn from their forced work from home (WFH) experiment. They can now intentionally carve out a future workforce structure that…
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How much do you resonate with the concerns of this person? “I’m scared we’ll remain a remote-only workplace. I feel so depressed and disconnected working from home. I’m an extrovert. I really enjoyed coming into work.” Fear not, extroverts (and social introverts). Our advice will help you feel connected and fulfilled while working remotely, so you can avoid over-sharing with grocery clerks and other random strangers. Extroverts’ Remote Work Struggles and Advantages People sometimes mistakenly believe…
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Last year we started the “etiquette” conversation by addressing Communication Etiquette in a Distributed Workforce. That article highlighted why it is vital to establish a communication etiquette that is accessible and universally applied across your organization. One of the primary methods teams use to communicate is through “meetings.” Since meetings are the lifeblood of remote…
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Remember when you only needed your phone, email, and sparkling personality to communicate at work? Then, one day, a colleague introduced a new tool that promised to free up your inbox and improve collaboration—and it did. Then another tool came along to solve a different problem, and then another, and another. Now, as notification after…
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It’s time to retire the phrase “soft skills.” So-called “soft” skills are essential for all professionals, especially those who work remotely. Remote employees can’t succeed without these competencies. In a remote work environment, miscommunication easily arises when someone lacks the skills to understand the tone of a message or ask for necessary clarification. Someone with underdeveloped teamwork…
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If you do a Google search for the term “middle manager,” you will notice a disturbing theme. The top articles that pop up are: “Why Being a Middle Manager Is So Exhausting?“, “The Miserable Middle Managers,” and “Why Middle Managers Need A Hug.” This past year has been a rough one for many, but the…
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It is vital to establish a communication etiquette that is accessible and universally applied across your organization.
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Let’s be real: managing teams virtually is not the same as managing teams in person. Managing virtually requires leaders to reassess their mindsets, practices, and approaches to working with their teams. In person, leaders can initiate impromptu meetings in the break room, or they can “pop into” someone’s office to ask a question. Once casual…
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