Reflections – August 2018

Aug 31, 2018 Jordy Zagdanski Category: Reflections

Here at Reflectivity, we are avid readers. Here are our recommendations for the month of August, along with our reflections on them.

Too Much Team Harmony Can Kill Creativity

“Conversely, when teams and organizations enjoy too much harmony, they will gravitate toward inaction and complacency.”

It may not be that harmony has been achieved at all. It is more likely to be apathy which masquerades as harmony.

Creating an environment that is psychologically safe should allow for constructive debates where people are not complacent. Disagreement does not necessarily result in conflict.

Workplace Culture Trends: The Key to Hiring (and Keeping) Top Talent in 2018

This article highlights that the largest skills shortage is for soft skills, but does provide any details about those soft skills. We outline a list of skills on our People Skills Pyramid https://reflectivity.io/people-development/

Also, the purpose of the article is about hiring and keeping top talent. Should that be the primary motivation for having a great place to work? Or should it be that you strive for a great place to work that leads to hiring and keeping top talent?

Build Self-Awareness with Help from Your Team

“95% of us think we are quite self-aware, but only about 10-15% of us actually are.”

Having a team environment that encourages open, honest and constructive communication leads to the highest performing teams.

“On high-performing teams, peers feel accountable for each other’s success, and willingly provide both generous support and candid feedback to help each team member be at their best.”

Why Company Culture Is Overrated

“At most organizations, culture is over-hyped, under-managed, and of little tangible value.”

Culture needs to be demonstrated through decisions, behaviours and actions. It is not sufficient to say “these are our values”.

“Establishing a durable, impactful culture that helps attract and retain top-flight employees and actually draws customers to your door is not for the faint of heart. Anything less than a full commitment is destined to create more problems than value.”

4 Ways to Create a Learning Culture on Your Team

A learning culture is essential for individuals to achieve their potential. It is also greatly beneficial for companies to make them “more likely to be market leaders in their industries over an extended period of time.”.

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Key Takeaway:

“What you know is less relevant than what you may learn, and knowing the answer to questions is less critical than having the ability to ask the right questions in the first place.”

Employee “poaching” is good business–here’s why

Focus on building an environment where employees will thrive. Encourage healthy debate, collaborate on complex issues, coach instead of telling people what to do, and provide feedback that is constructive and actionable.