In January of 2019, Meghan M. Biro hosted a Reflektive webinar focused on the major trends driving performance management in the coming year. A nationally recognized HR and technology analyst, Biro is the founder of TalentCulture and the host of the twitter chat and podcast #Worktrends. She regularly writes for Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post.

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Biro outlined five trends she predicts will shape performance management in 2019. They include:

• Check-ins and increased communication
• Employee driven self-service tools
• People-centered analytics
• Polls and surveys
• Technology that makes people the cornerstone of performance management systems

The current state of performance management

Deloitte’s 2107 Global Human Capital Trends study reveals some telling statistics about performance management:

• Over 70 percent of companies surveyed are in the process of changing their performance management processes.
• 83 percent of companies report new performance management processes improve the quality and frequency of conversations between employees and management.
• 93 percent of survey respondents report modern performance management solutions are simpler and less bureaucratic.

Traditional performance management, characterized by formal performance reviews, isseen as archaic by managers and employees alike, who increasingly expect a digital culture that facilitates frequent check ins and instant feedback.

As Biro notes, modern performance management transforms culture “from a noun to a verb” by granting employees increased autonomy and supporting relationship building at all levels of an organization.

Check-ins

While many companies continue to rely on formal performance reviews, it’s increasingly apparent employees find such reviews ineffective and anxiety inducing:

• 61 percent of employees feel their company’s performance review process is outdated, generic, infrequent, or incomplete.
• Over 50 percent of office professionals want monthly performance check-ins.
• 94 percent of employees would prefer managers address mistakes and development opportunities in real time.

In addition, almost 50 percent of employees feel uncomfortable raising issues with their managers between formal performance reviews, allowing problems to fester for months or losing valuable windows of opportunity.

Check-ins are the opposite of top-down performance reviews, increasing communication with an organization. Check-ins  focuses on development, alignement, growth, and dialog instead of corrections, rankings, and managerial judgement (whether real or perceived).

With check-ins Managers have the opportunity to track projects, deal with roadblocks, provide in-the-moment coaching, and collaborate with employees. Employees, for their part, appreciate the informal, honest approach characteristic of check-ins, which provide opportunities to collaborate with managers without the artificiality of performance reviews.

Employee driven and self-service tools

Access to employee-focused self-service tools is expected by today’s workforce. Such tools benefit both employees and managers.

An employee self-service tool should, ideally, offer a simple dashboard through which the employee accesses all data relevant to his or her job and position. Self-service tools should be usable on mobile devices, and allow employees to take steps such as:

• Request time off
• Submit expense reimbursements
• Check vacation and sick days
• Receive  information on health and retirement benefits
• Request meetings and feedback
• Check employee directors
• Access online training
• Review procedural steps
• Read company newsletters

The increased use of chatbots makes it possible for employees to gain quick answers to questions that would otherwise create busy work for HR and managers, who can instead focus on more complicated issues.

From a managerial viewpoint, employee-driven tools bring multiple benefits, including:

• Reducing repetitive, time consuming questions
• Freeing up time and energy to focus on larger issues
• Offering a team-based environment
• Empowering employees to manage needs and perform independently

When integrated into employee workflow and aligned with company values, self-service tools foster a strong culture and people-centric environment. A focus on employee driven processes greatly improves your employer brand in today’s transparent job market, making it easier to attract new talent. Put bluntly, if you don’t provide employee driven options, your workforce will find employers who will.

Polls and surveys

Polls and surveys allow managers to quickly gauge overall employee sentiment and receive feedback. Employees who may be reticent about expressing concerns and criticism directly to managers are more likely to do so through anonymous polling. The responses from polls can be used to direct and drive strategy if the right questions are asked at the right time.

Respect your employees’ limited time and energy when creating polls. Short surveys with a few questions are more likely to see responses than long, complicated polls that cut into work time.

By acting on the information gathered from polls, managers create a transparent, collaborative workplace culture in which employees know their opinions are valued.

Performance management and data analytics

Employee data can be leveraged well beyond HR administration into strategic talent decision making. With check-ins, employee driven processes, and the results from polls and surveys, performance management systems can create predictive pictures based on data, while also:

• Optimizing human capital by positioning people in the best places to perform.
• Reviewing employee and project progress over time.
• Determining employee engagement.
• Calculating what percentage of projects are completed on time.
• Identify which employees perform above or below expectations.
• Identifying which employees use check-ins, and which seem reluctant to do so.
• Predicting who is most likely to stay in their current positions based on performance, and who is most likely to leave.
• Showing where bottlenecks occur in workflow.
• Identifying departments with the highest attrition rates.

When the right questions are asked, human capital data reveals the strength of your corporate culture while improving recruitment and retention rates.

Performance management technology

The four trends above require the right technology. Even check-ins benefit from a communication hub for scheduling meetings and recording discussions, especially when dealing with global offices, remote teams, and off-site contractors.

Performance management technology improves the employee experience at every point of contact and throughout the employee lifespan. It frees managers from administrative busy work so they can focus on coaching, developing, and leading.

Unlike traditional “job-based” career paths, the focus of performance management is the empowerment of employees and management alike, allowing individuals to explore new roles, learn new skills, and continuously reinvent themselves. Performance management acknowledges your people are your most important resource, and that building relationships creates the powerful, integrated workplace culture needed for success.

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Emotional intelligence (EQ) is increasingly seen as an important trait in the workforce that matters as much, if not more, as IQ. People with strong emotional intelligence tend to be happier and more successful in life, and are better able to manage stress and interpersonal challenges. So what is emotional intelligence, anyway?

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What is emotional intelligence?

Psychology today defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others.” By being aware of their moment-to-moment emotional states, emotionally intelligence people are able to relieve stress, empathize, communicate effectively, and manage conflict successfully.

Is EQ more important than IQ?

In his 1996 book Emotional Intelligence, psychologist Daniel Goleman argues IQ–as it is currently measured–offers too narrow a view of a person’s capabilities. It’s now estimated IQ accounts for only 10 percent of a person’s chance of success in life. The remaining 90 percent relies on emotional intelligence, according to Harvard University.

Examples of emotional intelligence

People with high emotional intelligence display a number of positive traits, including:

• Emotional self awareness
• Self-control
• Trustworthiness
• Conscientiousness
• Adaptability
• Successful relationship management
• Innovative thinking
• Commitment
• Optimism
• Empathy
• A willingness to collaborate and cooperate
• Clear communication skills
• Leadership

People who possess high emotional intelligence are sought after in the workforce. They are better prepared to navigate complex social and political environments, forge strong relationships, motivate others, and clearly communicate than people. Traditional IQ is important, of course, but without emotional intelligence the benefits IQ brings to a workforce is limited.

Developing emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is not an immutable character trait. With practice, anyone can improve their EQ by being mindful of their emotions.

Byoberving their emotions, people learn to control and manage them. Doing so takes practice–initially you may have difficulty tracking emotional reactions from moment to moment. With time, however, you’ll find it becomes easier to both identify the emotions you’re feeling and to manage them.

Try to identify how specific situations affect your emotional state. Does making a presentation make you nervous? Does applying for a new position fill you with a fear of rejection? How do you react to difficult coworkers, delays in production, or any of the thousand little challenges that make up the workday?

By identifying your emotions you develop the ability to control them and change the way you think about situations. Your newfound emotional awareness helps you see how other people react emotionally, increasing both your empathy and your understanding of others. Ask yourself why people feel and act the way they do, and how their emotions in a given situation match or differ from yours.

One of the simplest ways to improve emotional intelligence is to pause. Before you speak and act, pause to evaluate your own emotional state and that of those around you. This simple act (easy in theory, challenging in practice) can greatly improve your emotional intelligence.

How does this help you succeed in business? Your ability to recognize subtle emotional signals increases, improving personal and professional relationships. A calmer mind helps control stress, while reframing difficult situations helps resolve conflicts and turns problems into collaborative opportunities.

What is emotional intelligence? It’s a hard-to-quantify trait that helps people lead happy, fulfilled lives. By developing your EQ, you’re making an investment in your career–and yourself.

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According to the Harvard Business Review, fifty percent of the US workforce reports chronic exhaustion. A million people miss work every day due to stress. The result is a significant percentage of the workforce is at risk of burnout.

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What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of chronic stress, causing physical and emotional exhaustion, a generalized lack of accomplishment, cynicism, and feelings of detachment. People suffering from burnout may experience insomnia, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, and difficulty concentrating. Left unaddressed, the stress responsible for burnout can result in cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, substance abuse, and depression.

Causes of burnout

A number of work-related factors contribute to burnout, including overwork, unclear or changing job requirements, insufficient compensation or recognition, unpleasant workplace relationships, and unreasonable amount of overtime. Highly engaged employees are at the highest risk of burnout.

Burnout does not happen overnight. The effects of workplace stress are incremental, slowly and imperceptibly building up over time. Few people realize they’re at risk until the symptoms of burnout are well-established.

How to deal with burnout at work

Burnout rarely goes away on its own unless steps are taken to mitigate stress. The first–and most intimidating–step is to explain the situation to your boss.

Even if you know how to communicate with your boss effectively, this is a unnerving step to take. Employees suffering from burnout are often afraid of admitting there’s a problem. They often feel they should be able to handle the pressure or should just “tough it out.” Many worry if they admit they need help, their employer will simply replace them with someone who can do the job. 

As a general rule, most managers and business owners would prefer employees speak up when something prevents them from operating at peak performance. Employee retention is less expensive than hiring and training a new employee to perform in a job which has a proven history of burnout.

Each manager is different, of course, but if you approach yours with a clear idea of why you’re burned out, and practical suggestions to resolve the issue, your manager will likely be willing to work with you to resolve burnout issues.

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Even so, you might balk at the idea of talking to your boss about how to deal with burnout at work. To prepare for the meeting, ask a close friend or trusted coworker to help you evaluate your workload and identify factors that need to to change.

Describe your work duties to your confidant. This helps identify which tasks that cause you the most stress, and helps you evaluate whether or not your workload is reasonable. Identify any problem areas so you can clearly communicate them to your supervisor. Questions to ask include:

• Is the amount of work assigned excessive?
• Am I assigned work I am qualified to complete?
• Did I take on too many additional tasks out of a sense of ambition or obligation?
• Are workplace dynamics dysfunctional, and if so, how do they affect my work?
• Is my workload well-structured, or do assignments, tasks, and deadlines need reviewing?

Compare your current job responsibilities to your job description. Are you’re being tasked with work outside your area of expertise, or are you working above and beyond what is expected of you.

With this information in hand, brainstorm out possible burnout solutions. These may range from taking time away from work or re-assigning tasks to other employees. When you do meet with your boss, you’ll be able to make proactive suggestions to help resolve the problem.

How to communicate with your boss effectively

At the start of your meeting with your boss, make it clear you’re dedicated to the company’s mission, but pursuing that mission has led to you feeling overwhelmed and burned out. Ask your boss for guidance on how to resolve the issue, and propose your own solutions.

If you suggest task reassignment, explore which tasks can be put on hold or reassigned to coworkers. Offer to touch base by email with coworkers who take on tasks.

If your job offers paid time off, explain you need to take some time to recharge. This does not necessarily mean taking a long vacation. Social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson believes regular long weekends are more beneficial than longer periods of time off work. Be clear (to yourself as well as your boss) that while off work you won’t be using your phone or computer for work purposes. The “always on call” nature of modern work is considered a major contributor to burnout.

Emphasize you pushed yourself beyond your limits in service to the company, and you’re concerned you’ve reached the point where you can not longer perform at peak capacity. Given the fact fifty percent of employee turnover is related to burnout, it’s in your boss’ best interests to work with you to help you recover. It’s a win-win situation: you get the help you need, while the company retains a talented employee (and doesn’t have to go through the hassle and expense of hiring and training a replacement).

Realistically, some bosses aren’t willing to compromise or budge on work duties. They may see burnout as an excuse or an admission of weakness. Discovering your boss thinks this way this isn’t pleasant, but makes it quite clear where you stand.

If your boss refuses to help, your hace several alternatives. Your may need to approach HR with a formal complaint. If you’re unionized, talk to your union representative about how to proceed. If all else fails, it may be time to consider other job options. Most bosses, however, understand burnout is a growing problem in the modern workforce, and are willing to help you recover and return to a more reasonable workload.

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Few employees are happy when performance review time rolls around, and hardly anyone reacts with joy when the boss wants “a quick word.” People’s defenses go up when confronted with feedback. This is unfortunate, as most often, feedback is intended to be helpful. Understanding how to take constructive criticism can help you develop the skills you need for success in your career.

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First off, let’s define constructive criticism and how it differs from mere criticism. Constructive criticism is feedback intended to help you improve and perform at a higher level. Simple criticism is an attack that doesn’t help, and may be intended to hurt. Consider these two responses to employee performance:

• “Jim, your work is fine, but you could increase your productivity by reviewing and following established procedures.”
• Diane, your productivity is subpar. Improve, or there will be consequences.”

The first example is constructive, and provides a way for jim to improve which benefits both him and the company. The second offers no solution to the problem, relying instead on implied threats and intimidation. Diane is given no direction or guidance, and leaves the office feeling angry and demoralized.

A large part of learning how to take feedback is identifying the difference between constructive feedback and unhelpful criticism, and whether what seems to be criticism is intended as such. Diane’s manager may sincerely want to help her improve, but lacks the communication skills necessary to make his point.

Emotional reactions to feedback

Your emotional response to feedback is important. Most people think they’re performing to the best of their ability. When faced with feedback that calls this opinion into question, people often perceive criticism as a threat, and become argumentative, withdrawn, or resentful.

Feedback tends to trigger the brain’s primitive “fight or flight” response. This instinct has served humanity well–it kept your ancestors alive when confronted with predators, natural disasters, and other threats.

Unfortunately, the fight or flight response doesn’t differentiate between the stress caused by a charging rhino and a performance evaluation, and the resulting emotions often influence how we take feedback. One of the first steps in learning how to take constructive criticism, is to identify the emotions generated by feedback, and learn to take a step back from them.

Managing your own emotions makes you more aware of other people’s emotional response. you’ll be better able to understand your supervisor’s emotional state, which influences how well he or she delivers feedback.

How to take feedback, one step at a time

Identify your emotions

Take a moment to identify how you feel when you’ve given feedback. What triggered your emotional reaction? Was it pride, embarrassment, or does the criticism cut close to home? Accept the emotion without judgement and put it aside.

Watch your body language

How your boss perceives your reaction to feedback can affect the rest of the conversation. Scowling, rolling your eyes, and crossing your arms defensively may be tempting, but suggest you’re actively resisting what your boss has to say. Watch your supervisor’s body language as well–it may indicate she’s nervous or uncomfortable giving criticism, which influences how she presents feedback.

Keep an open mind

When confronted with criticism–even well-meaning criticism–it’s tempting to look for reasons why feedback is incorrect. It’s much more beneficial to stay open to the possibility the criticism is valid, and could be used to help you develop as an employee.

Ask clear questions

Ideally, your boss delivers feedback in a clear, easily understood manner, but this isn’t always the case. Ask for clarification or further information as needed. For instance, in Diane’s case the conversation got off to a terrible start. She might be able to turn the situation to her advantage by politely  asking her boss for suggestions on how to improve her productivity, hopefully turning a confrontational conversation into a cooperative one.

Possible questions to ask include:

• Can you explain what you mean when you say x?
• Can you be more specific about x?
• What are your expectations concerning this issue?
• What does the issue look like from your perspective?
• Can you offer suggestions to help me perform more efficiently?

Once you and your supervisor agree on the issue, ask for advice on how to move forward, and thank them for taking the time to provide you with feedback. If its a large issue, suggest a follow up meeting to evaluate how successfully you;ve implemented changes.

Evaluating feedback

Sometimes feedback doesn’t feel right, even after looking at it objectively. Should this occur, it’s helpful to seek advice from a third party. Ask a coworker you trust if the feedback sounds valid to them, and if they’ve noticed the issues your boss brought up.

If there’s little risk associated with following what seems like inaccurate feedback, give it a try anyway–it may turn out you were wrong. If not, you can at least report to your supervisor you took his advice seriously, but it proved infeasible. If you choose not to make changes based on feedback, explain your reasoning to your supervisor, so he or she at least knows you took the feedback seriously.

Ask for feedback proactively

Actively seeking out constructive criticism is one of the best ways to avoid negative emotional response to feedback. As long as you’re not just asking for praise, most bosses respond favorable to employees who seek feedback, and tend to rank such employees higher on performance appraisals.

Target specific issues when you ask for feedback. “How can I improve this task?” or “What’s one thing I’m doing that prevents me from reaching my full potential?” are better questions than “How am I doing?” Evaluate any feedback you receive, put any relevant advice into practice, and circle back to report on your results at a later date.

Learning how to take constructive criticism offers an important lesson: mistakes are not failures, but opportunities to improve. Everyone makes mistakes on the job. Not everyone knows how to take feedback and use it to improve their careers.

A culture is a set of values, beliefs, and expectations shared by a group of people. This definition is as true for a startup culture as it is for the world’s greatest civilizations.

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Humans are social animals, for whom a sense of belonging is essential for well-being. Corporate culture is simply the recognition of this human need, and how it can be positively applied to a workforce. Employees who share the same corporate vision and mission are more likely to give their best to a company, have higher morale, greater job satisfaction, and are less likely to leave the company for other opportunities.

A healthy startup culture is especially important, as a strong, cohesive workforce is well-prepared to handle the uncertainties of corporate growth. This very growth, however, can change startup culture beyond recognition, leaving employees struggling to keep up and wondering whether their beliefs still align with corporate culture. Too much cultural change, too fast, can result in essential talent leaving the company to find employment that better matches their cultural expectations.

Startups need to consider the form they want their culture to take, and have strategies in place to improve team culture during any transitional period. The following tips help grow and maintain a strong, thriving startup culture.

Keeping Goals Aligned with Cultural Expectations

At the onset of any period of rapid change, identify the goals driving such change and how you will achieve them. Consider the effect such changes will have on your startup culture. Will staff have to work longer hours? Will production methods need to change? Will the change see an influx of new employees or a shakeup of current workplace hierarchies?

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Any change can catch employees off-guard if it clashes with their perceptions of corporate culture. Aligning changes with your startup’s culture by creating clear goals and priorities helps employees cope with the change.

Culture is All-Encompassing

Startup culture is more than just your mission statement. At it’s best, culture influences all aspects of the company, imbuing a sense of shared values in staff. Those values should be identifiable in all employee-related processes, from hiring to resignation, retirement, or dismissal.

Culture creates an environment in which employees know what to expect. If you value innovation, employees should have regular opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas. If the culture believes in merit-based rewards, staff should have opportunity to train towards promotions and additional job opportunities.

Transparency and Startup Culture

A strong sense of culture is often the difference between an organized, effective team and chaos. When cultural expectations differ, your workforce’s ability to function as a team suffers.

So how to improve team culture? Communication is key. From the point of hiring, be sure each individual understands the company’s values, goals, and strategies. During periods of growth, regularly talk with the team about company values, how changes affect those values, and any pain point changes cause. Be open to staff ideas: your employees represent the point of contact between your startup culture and customers or clients; they’ll often have suggestions and recommendations you’d otherwise overlook.

Communicate in the manner your team uses best, be it meetings, training activities, email, or texts. Communication ensures no-one is left uninformed during periods of corporate change, and helps resolve disagreements and misunderstanding in their earliest stages.

Feedback on corporate changes can take the shape of an open-door policy, scheduled office hours when employees know you’re available, or round-table discussions. Remember some employees may be concerned about supervisory blowback caused by their suggestions. Anonymous surveys help you gauge how the workforce views both change and workplace culture.

Be Transparent–Up to a Point

Growth periods for startups are volatile times, and setbacks are common. How you communicate setbacks to staff will have a significant effect on corporate culture. Do you tell employees when funding falls through or partners pull out of agreements?

Transparency is a balancing act. You can improve team culture by keeping staff in the loop on important issues, but too much information can leave employees edgy and stressed out–there’s a thin line between transparency and oversharing.

Having said that, if you want a culture where transparency comes from the bottom, start with transparency from the top. If it affects your employees directly, they should know about it.

Incentives and Startup Culture

A startup culture takes time to develop. Until the culture you want is imbued in the company, you may need to use incentives.

Improving team culture with incentives works–if you use the right motivators. Some companies offer financial bonuses, days off, or stock options, all of which are costly options for a startup. Nor are such incentives especially effective: a Willis Towers Watson study reports only twenty percent of employers believe merit pay increases employee performance.

Fortunately, such incentives pale compared to one that’s free to use: recognition. Recognizing accomplishments and hard work is a surprisingly effective way to incentivize your team. Public praise, recognition at staff meetings, even quick talks in the hallway to tell team members they’re valued can make a big difference in building startup cultures.

A healthy company culture increases morale and productivity. In a competitive job market, the right culture can also attract and retain new talent. Don’t overlook startup culture as you build your company–it can make the difference between success and failure.

BONUS PODCAST: HR Happy Hour – Creating a Culture of Performance Based on Feedback

Dealing with workplace conflicts is not a task many people enjoy, as conflict is typically associated with negative emotions. Conflict management skills provide managers with the ability to resolve conflicts equitably and turn disagreements into opportunities.

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Defining conflict

To better understand conflict management, it’s important to have a clear notion of what conflict actually entails. At the heart of any conflict is a disagreement over values, beliefs, and ideas. These factors can trigger strong emotions, especially if one or both parties in the conflict feel their needs are not being met. Often, the issue that seems to generate conflict is secondary to the root cause of such emotions.

Conflict management skills help people take a step back from their emotional responses so they can examine problems both objectively and emphatically. Learning to recognize conflicting needs and a willingness to examine those needs with empathy and understanding leads to creative problem solving and improved relationships.

Conflict responses

People respond to conflict in many different ways. Some become guarded and self-defensive, while others become angry and argumentative. Avoiding the conflict is also a common strategy, but ultimately an unhelpful one–unless addressed, conflicts grow and fester, worsening the problem.

Learning to recognize your own emotional reaction to conflict is one of the first steps in developing conflict management skills. Often such responses stem from early life experiences: an extreme example would be a survivor of childhood abuse, who associates conflict with pain, fear, and anger and therefore avoids it whenever possible.

Early life experiences don’t have to be so traumatic to affect how you respond to conflict. A manager whose parents were strict authoritarians will have a very different view of conflict than one whose role models ignored or denied disagreements.

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An inability to  control emotional responses makes communication difficult during a conflict.Once you understand your typical emotional reactions to disagreements, it becomes easier to take a step back from those emotions. Learn to evaluate a conflict objectively while understanding the other person’s emotions and concerns.

Conflict management skills

Conflict management skills boil down to two specific skills: in the moment stress relief and emotional awareness.

Stress relief helps individuals control the stressors triggered by conflict. Stress limits the ability to read verbal and nonverbal communication, and may manifest as agitation, anger, or defensiveness, all of which increase the perception of a conflict as a personal attack.

Relieving stress during a conflict is as simple as controlling your emotional state, and it’s here that emotional awareness comes into play.

Emotional awareness describes a person’s moment-to-moment understanding of their emotional state and the ability to manage those emotions in an appropriate manner.

An awareness of your own emotional state helps you understand what other people feel, and increases your motivation to resolve the conflict in an amicable manner. Healthy responses to conflicts include.

• Empathizing with others.
• Remaining calm, respectful, and nonthreatening.
• Displaying an willingness to move past the conflict without holding a grudge.
• Expressing the firm belief that facing and resolving conflicts is the best course for everyone involved.

Nonverbal communication

Words rarely tell the whole story in any face-to-face conversation. In a groundbreaking study back in 1967, UCLA professors Albert Mehrabian and Susan R. Ferris determined nonverbal communication, or body language, accounts for 93 percent of communication.

What people say during a conflict often conflicts with their nonverbal language. By remaining calm and emotionally aware, managers can better read body language to understand what the other person intends, and respond in ways that build trust.

It takes time to master conflict management skills, but the result is well worth the effort. Every day is filled with minor conflicts, offering countless opportunities to practice emotional awareness.

Practical conflict resolution tips

A number of conflict resolution tips can help managers seeking to improve their conflict resolution skills. Such tips include:

• Avoid focusing on past conflicts or grudges. Concentrate on what’s needed in the present.
• Avoid the urge to punish or override the other party. Confront the problem, not the person.
• Can the conflict be transformed into an opportunity?
• If needed, reach out to a third party who can act as a mediator.
• View the conflict as an problem that requires the cooperation of all parties, transforming the issue from adversarial confrontation to a teamwork opportunity.
• Watch for nonverbal communication–an employee may agree with you verbally while her body language indicates she remains unconvinced.
• Winning the conflict is not the goal–resolving the conflict in a way all parties agree on is.

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What makes a good manager? Technical skill certainly helps; a manager should have a thorough understanding of what his or her department does. Experience is certainly a factor; the greater a manager’s experience before and after entering management is a valuable asset. Neither of these factors is as important, however, as people management skills.

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A manager’s people management skills can mean the difference between a productive, motivated team and a team plagued with confusion, anxiety, and subpar performance. Fostering and developing the following people management skills are in any manager’s best interests.

Communication

The ability to communicate clearly is one of the most important people management skills, and it’s become even more important in the digital age, where employees are connected to work through mobile devices at all times. A manager’s communication skills affect his ability to persuade others, forge working relationships, advocate for his department with upper management, and deliver clear instructions or feedback.

Communication skills come into play whether you’re meeting face-to-face, sending an urgent text, or composing an email. Be sure you’re saying exactly what needs to be said.

Patience

Patience is a vital trait in a manager. When setbacks and obstacles arise (and they will) a good manager remains patient and calm. This is easier said than done, of course.

The good news is patience can be improved. Every day offers multiple opportunities to practice patience. Examine your reactions when confronted with minor inconveniences (traffic, long grocery lines, that guy manspreading on the subway). Examine your emotional state and work on staying calm. It’s surprising how simply recognizing emotions helps your manage them.

Lead by example

Acting as an example to her team is one of the most important people management skills a manager can cultivate. Behave and work in the way you want your team to act and work. Team members are likely to mirror the behavior of an honest,hard-working manager with a healthy work/life balance. On the down side, they’re also likely to pick up on a manager’s less desirable traits.

Trust

Micromanagement develops when managers don’t trust their team members to do their jobs. When you delegate a task, you need to trust team members to handle it. Team members appreciate being trusted with responsibility, and are more likely to trust managers who trust them.

Honesty

An honest manager tells it like it is to team members, whether the news is good or bad. Honesty breeds transparency in the workplace and builds respect with both your team and upper management.

Relating to others

The ability to relate to others is vital for managers who need to understand other people’s behavior. Being able to step back, put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and consider their side of an issue is a major part of any successful conflict management system.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share other people’s emotions, and is considered a sign of high emotional intelligence. Empathy lets managers understand what team members are feeling during high stress deadlines or personal crises. During such times, it’s your job as manager to help the team navigate and work through such issues.

Active listening skills

A good manager listens more than he talks, and really hears what’s being said. Active listening helps avoid misunderstandings and resolve conflicts.

Like patience, active listening is a people management skill you can develop with practice. When you listen, don’t interrupt the speaker. Think about what the person has said, and what you want to say, then respond. Active listening helps you understand the other person’s point of view, so you can make better decisions.

Interest in others

Some managers forge friendships with their team members, while others prefer to relate to their teams on a strictly professional basis. No matter which style you prefer, it’s helpful to take some interest in your team members’ lives.

Expressing interest in others helps build connections. Be aware of and recognize important events in each team member’s life. A simple congratulations on a successful engagement proposal, for instance, shows you’re aware of your team as individuals.

Recognize achievements

Recognizing achievement is one of the simplest, but most effective people management skills for managers who need to motivate their teams. Make a point to celebrate an individual’s performance in team meetings, department newsletters, or in casual “water cooler” moments. For many employees, such recognition can be more effective than financial incentives.

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Adaptability

The only constant in business is change, and managers who have a difficult time adapting to change are at a serious disadvantage. Being adaptable means being willing to change course if needed. Iit means recognizing team members may take a different approach to a task than you would, and that there are a multiple ways to reach a goal.

Decisiveness

People management skills emphasize listening to others, being open to ideas, and a willingness to change and adapt. When push comes to shove, however, you’re the one who makes the decisions that guide your team.

Accountability

Finally, a good manager is accountable. Being willing to own your mistakes (or take the blame for the team) isn’t a sign of weakness–it’s an admission no-one has all the answers all the time. A willingness to take responsibility for your actions builds respect with your team–and with upper management.

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Managers are human, therefore they make mistakes. This isn’t always easy for a manager to admit, which is in and of itself a mistake. No-one thrives in management without learning to identify and correct their own mistakes. Below are twelve of the most common mistakes managers make, with suggestions on how to avoid or correct them.

SEE ALSO: The Ultimate Guide to One-on-Ones

Not connecting with the team

Managing projects through email and task management projects has made it possible for managers to control teams without physically interacting with them. Just because something is possible, however, does not mean it’s advisable.

To keep your team motivated, you need to understand them as individuals. What motivates them? What do they value? What are their personal interests? In short, what makes them tick? Without this understanding managers struggle to deal with motivation and morale issues.

A quick daily “checkin” meeting helps managers and team members share successes, discuss problems, and build relationships. One-on-one weekly meetings offer managers opportunities to build relationships with team members while providing and receiving feedback.

Getting too chummy

Most managers want to be seen as friendly and approachable, but this need can lead to problems. The manager who’s too chummy with his team canundercut her own authority. Friendliness needs to be balanced with professionalism–when push comes to shove managers must not allow friendship to undermine their authority.

If managers and team members are friends out of office, that’s fine. Both parties need to understand how their relationship outside the office differs from their work relationship and respect that difference.

Not listening to team members

Not listening to team members is surprisingly one of the most common mistakes managers make. Caught up in their vision for a project, managers may choose not to hear team members voicing concerns or suggestions. Focused, attentive listening to team members provides important–sometimes crucial–information managers might otherwise overlook.

Micromanaging

Few teams enjoy the attention of a micromanaging supervisor, and most managers would deny they’re guilty of managing every tiny detail. despite this, micromanaging remains a common managerial problem.

SEE ALSO: Managing a Multigenerational Workforce in the Age of The Millennial

Micromanaging is especially common in new managers promoted from lower positions. Their knowledge of their previous responsibilities makes it tempting to oversee their old positions, dividing their attention and, frankly, making life difficult for the team member who stepped into the new role.

New managers need to shift from being task-oriented to coaching-oriented, and this takes time. Finding a mentor among management peers helps make this transition easier–and keeps you from driving your team to distraction every time a task needs completion!

Reacting instead of planning

Reacting and micromanaging are closely related, and both are common mistakes managers make when they’re finding their feet in their new roles. Reactive managers swoop down to resolve team crises, often working long hours to solve problems immediately.

The problem here is twofold. One, by resolving every crisis, managers prevent team members from developing the skills needed to fix problems themselves. Second, the manager who brings personal attention to every negative issue risks burning out early into his or her career.

Instead of reacting, managers should take the time to anticipate possible problems, resolving them before they start and helping team members develop their own crises-resolving skills. Doing so limits managerial responses to only the most serious of setbacks.

Going power crazy

That may sound a little extreme, but managers need to be aware of the temptation to go on power trips. A manager operating on a “my way or the highway” mentality or who refuses to own his own mistakes can quickly erode team member motivation and morale. A little humility goes a long way–as does taking responsibility for your own mistakes.

Ill-defined goals

You may have a clear understanding of your department’s goals, but do your team members? When employees don’t understand what they’re working towards it’s easy for them to become stress, confused, and demoralized.

Provide your team with both department and personal goals. Examine how each team member contributes to your goals and set individual priorities for them. Managers need to remind team members why what they do is important.

Not advocating for the team

New managers may focus so much on their team they forget to “manage up,” or use their influence to advocate for their team with those further up the management chain.

Talk to your superiors about your department, and its importance to the company’s overall mission. Use shared goals to forge connections with other departments, and talk up your team whenever appropriate. Doing so allows your team (and you) to extend your influence further up the corporate hierarchy.

Emotional managing

As team leader, a manager needs to remain calm even when everything seems to be falling around about them. Teams look to managers for support and guidance, and managerial emotional responses determine the team’s emotional state.

Consider the environment and attitude you want to cultivate in your team. Developing your emotional intelligence helps you manage your emotions so you can remain calm and positive in a crisis.

Money is not motivation

While financial reimbursement is one of the chief reason employees work, it’s a mistake to assume money is their only motivator.

Employees are motivated by multiple factors. Improvements in their work/life balance, recognition for a job well done, increased responsibilities, or a chance to develop a new skill can often motivate employees more than financial incentives.

A wise manager discovers what motivates each team member most effectively. Sometimes a quick chat in the hallway to thank an employee for a job well done makes more of an impression than financial rewards.

Failure to provide feedback

Of all the mistakes managers make, this is one of the most serious. Providing constructive criticism to employees can be difficult, but is absolutely vital if your team is to develop and evolve.

Providing feedback is a skill that can be developed. Remember not to simply criticize. Offer solutions to help improve employee performance, and communicate clearly to ensure employees understand how they can improve.

Feedback is not a one-way street. A good manager listens to criticism from his or her team, evaluates it, and makes changes if the feedback is valid.

Failure to grow

As a manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure each member of your team reaches his or her full potential. You’re part of that team, and your growth is as important as anyone else’s. Look for areas of weakness in your management style and develop them. If you have difficulty dealing with conflict, take a conflict management course. Ask your mentor or supervisor how you can improve. Take steps to grow as a professional and a person, and you’ll be able to overcome any of the common mistakes management makes.

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With 3.4 million Americans now working remotely for at least half the work week, managing remote teams has become commonplace. Remote team communication has become easier with the development of online tools and workspaces, which also offer opportunities to assess remote work performance.

While many of the practical challenges of working with remote teams have been overcome, companies still struggle to build culture with out-of-office employees. Below are eight ways to include remote employees in your corporate culture.

Everyone on the same page–or spreadsheet

Ensure all employee have access to the same tools and processes, whether they’re in-office or working remotely. With the advent of online workspaces and project management systems, there’s no reason your remote team can’t access all the data and tools they need as quickly as on-site staff.

Work output is what counts

One of the most common complaints about managing remote teams is the belief that remote employees won’t work as hard as on-site staff because “no-one’s watching them.”

First off, let’s admit that just because an employee is in his cubicle doesn’t mean they’re being productive. Presence does not equal productivity. The manager who thinks they have to see employees to ensure productivity has some serious trust issues.

Instead of measuring presence, measure results–for both in-office and remote workers. If a remote employee produces the end results you need in a timely manner, do you really care if she prefers to work late in the evening? Does it make her somehow less valuable than the on-site employee who’s in his cubicle everyday but produces twenty percent less?

Provide the tools needed for success

An on-site employee can be confident his employer will pay for everything he needs in order to perform his duties. No-one expects him to haul his own laptop, headphones, office chair, and printer into work every day. The same cannot be said for remote workers, who are often required to provide the very same items on-site staff take for granted.

Seeing this as “the price” for working at home isn’t fair, and leaves remote teams feeling like second-class citizens in your corporate culture. Treating remote workers the same as other employees levels the playing field, and invests in their success. Providing them with laptops or other office equipment shouldn’t be seen as unusual.  

Remote work is not for everyone

Remote positions can help you retain valued employees when they move out of town, or attract talent from across the nation (or indeed the globe). Having said that, a large part of managing remote teams is understanding remote work is not for everyone. Some people are simply better suited for remote work than others.

Reduce the risk of matching the wrong person to remote work by clearly laying out expectations at the start of the job. Use remote team communication tools to check in frequently.

Remote teams communication

Video conferencing, Skype, texting, email, and other electronic media make remote teams communication much easier today than it was twenty-odd years go, yet it remains common for remote employees to feel isolated.

Schedule regular virtual meetings with your remote staff to keep them informed of what’s going on in the company. Ensure they have the same opportunities to discuss changes and provide feedback as on-site staff.

Not all office communication is productive, but this doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Water cooler and coffee break chats are rarely about work, but they build important bonds between employees. Arrange time where remote teams can chat with their on-site colleagues, not about work, but about mutual interests, or have video-conferencing lunches (if you provide food for your local staff, it’s easy enough to find a local delivery service to feed your remote team).

Onboarding is extra important

Most employees are introduced to their new company’s culture while onboarding, so why not provide the same introduction for remote workers? Set up daily morning meetings to touch base and introduce the remote hire to his or her on-site coworkers (more flexible work arrangements can come into play once the employee settles into her new position).

In addition to managers and supervisors, assign the new hire a mentor who performs similar tasks and can answer questions about the company’s cultural expectations. Remote employees should know who to contact for any answers they may have.

If possible, arrange for remote employees to visit company headquarters. During these visits the focus should be on the employee forging relationships with on-site staff, rather than work.

Managing remote teams relies on a strong start for out-of-office employees. Sending a welcome package containing some branded office gear helps make new employees feel like they’re part of the company.

Remote training

Remote teams value opportunities to develop new skills as much as on-site staff. Pay for remote employees to take online classes, share e-books, or drop books you’d like them to read into the mail to help remote employees advance their careers.

Offer equal advancement opportunities

Remote staff can feel like they’re operating at a disadvantage when competing for advancement opportunities. Ensure your remote staff have access to future career opportunities to reinforce they’re as valued as any other staff member.

DOWNLOAD THE E-BOOK: 51 Hacks to Become a Better Manager

Employee experience and engagement are at the forefront of every HR leader’s mind; whenever Gallup releases its employee engagement research, we are reminded of the consistently low levels of engagement that continue to burden organizations and leave HR teams scrambling.

With only 34 percent of workers feeling engaged, enterprises face real problems with productivity, turnover, and a host of other factors that cost them dearly. As leaders seek to remedy this situation via new ideas to improve engagement, it can be helpful to learn from those who have successfully engaged their workforces. This is where the TED Talk becomes an invaluable resource. The following five talks provide insight and inspiration to improve your employee engagement.

1) The Happy Secret to Better Work

“If we study what is merely average we will remain merely average.” ~Shawn Achor

In his laugh-out-loud TED Talk, Shawn Achor challenges the traditional belief that employees should work hard and achieve success to be happy. Rather, he argues the inverse is true: happiness inspires us to be productive and raises intelligence, energy and creativity. In fact, according to Achor, a positive brain is 31 percent more productive than one that is negative, neutral or stressed.

This TED Talk focuses on how companies can adjust their organizational culture in order to leverage this “happiness advantage.” Achor argues that companies should be wary about implying that happiness comes from success. In that model there is always something new to achieve: once you hit one sales target, you have another sales target to achieve, and the cycle goes on and on. Achor shares specific ways that companies can help employees train happiness, thus engraining positivity into their organizational DNA. In turn, employees’ brains will work better than they could with neutral or negative emotions, sparking a revolution of intrinsically motivated productivity.

2) What makes us feel good about our work?

“The bad news is ignoring the work of people is almost as bad as shredding the result of their work in front of their eyes. The good news is simply looking at what somebody has done and scanning it and say ‘aha’ that seems quite sufficient to dramatically improve people’s motivation.” ~Dan Ariely

In his TED Talk, Dan Ariely argues that people thrive more from a sense of purpose and progress than from happiness. According to Ariely, in order to engage their employees, leaders need to understand the importance of creating an environment where workers care about what they do and feel cared about in return. Sometimes the process of working harder makes people love what they do more, because if things are too easy, there is no pride in the experience. Sometimes, the reverse is true.

Ariely presents two revealing experiments—“The Meaningful Condition” and the “Sisyphic Condition”—to discuss unexpected, nuanced attitudes towards work and human disposition. Ultimately, Ariely argues that in today’s high-pressure, digitized work environment, money is not enough to motivate individuals. While adequate pay is crucial, it doesn’t replace the pride of being challenged, rewarded, and recognized. While even a little acknowledgement can be motivational, its absence can be paralyzing for a business. While Ariely doesn’t propose clear answers in his talk, he does provide powerful food for thought for organizational leaders regarding feedback loops they choose to put into place.

3) Why We Need To Treat Our Employees As Thoughtfully As Our Customers

“Companies spend 1,000 times less understanding and shaping the journeys of the people they depend on most, their own employees.” ~Diana Dosik

According to Diana Dosik, companies spend approximately 1 trillion dollars per year to understand customer behavior, from mapping out customer journeys, to creating personas, to developing content to attract each target demographic. Many enterprises claim it’s the foundation on which their marketing and sales are built. Yet, they spend only 750 million per year understanding employee behavior.

What if companies directed some of that customer-centric energy at understanding and engaging their employees? What are the potential payoffs for a better motivated, more loyal and imaginatively innovative workforce? During this insightful talk, Dosik challenges leaders to turn the tables of customer research and borrow customer journey mapping from their marketing teams to map out employee journeys in their companies, analyzing their pain points and concerns. Adopting Dosik’s methodology can provide answers to the questions that HR managers often face—“How do we improve engagement?” or “Why are we seeing higher turnovers of female engineers?”— and create smarter, more productive enterprises.

4) The Puzzle of Motivation

“If you look at the science, there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.” ~Dan Pink

In this TED Talk, New York Times bestselling author Dan Pink shares the results of several experiments that demonstrate how incentives often have the opposite intended impact, especially in the context of complex tasks. For example, providing money or similar incentives to improve right-brained conceptual tasks typically back-fire; and on the whole, too many organizations base their talent decisions on outdated, unexamined information instead of focusing on intrinsic motivation.

So what does motivate people? According to Pink, for people to feel motivated, they must be interested and feel important. To do so, they need to have autonomy in what they do, when they do it, how they do it, and whom they do it with. Companies should also encourage their people to pursue mastery—the desire to get better and better at something that matters—and to feel a sense of purpose—a yearning to work in the service of something larger than themselves. Pink dives into how companies can integrate these building blocks of motivation into their modus operandi. In his talk, he provides tools to repair the mismatch between science and how we’ve come to do business.

5) Stop Trying to Motivate Your Employees

“The high-performance cultures in the future are going to be those that invest in their people.” ~Kerry Goyette

After three of the last four TED Talks focusing on how to motivate employees, you might be surprised that the fifth one’s title says to stop trying. But once you watch Kerry Goyette’s TED Talk, you will see that it actually builds very naturally on all of the themes in the talks above. Communication is certainly important for leaders; as Simon Sinek argues in his TED Talk, people want to work for people who inspire them. However, Goyette reminds us of the many employers who mistakenly think they can walk into an office, present a rousing speech, and get an entire team of people excited about the work they do in a matter of minutes. But motivation is not one-size-fits-all. Some employees are extroverts; others are introverts. Some are wired for risk-mitigation; others are risk-takers. It’s easy to write off an employee because they don’t fit into a narrow definition of “motivated.” However, Goyette points out that in doing so, leaders might alienate valuable assets and undermine their organization in the process.

According to Goyette, it is critical for leaders to understand the differences in how their employees are motivated when building teams, working with them, and making organizational changes. By matching motivational styles with projects and applying principles of continuous improvement to HR, organizations can unleash the motivation held in every single one of their employees.

These five TED Talks do a great job at not only challenging traditional methods of engaging employees, but also providing concrete steps to implement cultural change in your organization. If you implement even one of the talks’ insights in your engagement strategy, our bet is that the coming year will be more productive than the last in more ways than one.

Having an engaged workforce can make a significant impact on your bottom line. So engaging your employees is something that your company must be striving for. What better way to derive inspiration to accomplish this than from experts who have actually created healthier and happier workplaces for employees?