leadercommunicator blog

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best leadership and communication blog posts I've seen recently. As we move forward through the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises, we wanted to share a few of the most thoughtful and compelling resources to help you respond courageously and compassionately as leaders, and take positive action as an organization.

This Week's Round-Up of Leadership and Communication Blogs:

• 6 Ways Humility Can Make You A Better Leader
  By Gwen Moran (@gwenmoran via @FastCompany), Fast Company
  
  Leaders who are humble and admit mistakes outshine others. Use humility to be more effective as a leader in these six ways.
  
  “When we think of traits leaders typically exhibit, many come to mind–including strength, charisma, enthusiasm, and vision. One important component is often overlooked: humility...”
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It’s no secret that employees look for – and want – more meaningful communication and interactions with their colleagues, teams and leaders, especially given the recent events. Research shows that better communication leads to higher engagement, which is linked to increased employee motivation, productivity, sales, and – on the flip side – less absenteeism, turnover and injuries in the workplace.

How do development programs, such as the skills of influence, significantly impact participants and business long term, for the benefit of attendees and their organizations? Changed human behavior is hard to measure but people recognize when their own changes have positive results. Many participants, who went on to be senior leaders, have shared the lessons they learned, from courses I had the opportunity to facilitate earlier in their careers. Not only did they value their own personal results, but as leaders, the new approaches they used cascaded down through their organizations for better culture and business results.

As leaders and communicators, we’re all working to be sensitive and empathetic so employees feel supported and stay engaged during these unprecedented times. Organizations are adjusting to situations in real time as they determine what the future of work looks like. 

To better understand the current environment facing you today, we want to ask you, “what’s keeping you up at night?”

While companies have come a long way in just a few weeks with video meetings, we all have much to learn about how to make video conferences more engaging and productive – and far less taxing for employees.

To help you on that path, we’ve compiled a quick list of the 11 most important tips and tricks to keep top of mind, compiled from our recent experience with clients and our decades conducting meetings of all types for leaders and teams.

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best leadership and communication blog posts I've seen recently. As we move forward through the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises, we wanted to share a few of the most thoughtful and compelling resources to help you respond courageously and compassionately as leaders, and take positive action as an organization.

This Week's Round-Up of Leadership and Communication Blogs:

• 10 Commitments PR Firms Can Make To Advance Racial Equity
  By Arun Sudhaman and Aarti Shah (@ArunSudhaman and @aartishah via @Provoke_News), PRovoke (formerly The Holmes Report)
  
  10 commitments: A call for the PR industry to be serious in their help to dismantle systemic racism. 
  
  “As our reporting has revealed, the industry has made measurable progress in addressing its gender imbalance at senior levels. But, if the PR industry is truly serious about advancing racial equity, then there are a number of commitments they need to make right now regarding their own businesses. With a hat-tip to Kramer and the Call for Change, and based on our conversations over the years with a range of executives, here are 10...”
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In today’s world, we’re faced with a number of new challenges both in the workplace and at home – whether it’s our new working arrangements, impacts from COVID-19, looking inward as we shine a spotlight on societal issues, or something else – and our people need empathy.

It’s a defining moment for companies to examine the actions and commitments that are needed to address diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

With societal issues center stage, now more than ever, companies need to reflect on their culture – and reset if necessary. Starting with the C-suite and in every team across the organization, now’s a time for organizations to reflect, have honest dialogue about how to be better, and come together to commit to actions. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s right for their people, customers and performance.

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best leadership and communication blog posts I've seen recently. As we move forward through the COVID-19 pandemic and social crises, we wanted to share a few of the most thoughtful and compelling resources to help you respond courageously and compassionately as leaders, and take positive action as an organization.

This Week's Round-Up of Leadership and Communication Blogs:

• Beyond Juneteenth: Corporate Leaders Must Pave a Path to Economic Justice
  By Ryan Williams via Fortune (@FortuneMagazine)
  
  Cadre CEO, Ryan Williams, shares his personal history and uses his voice to make and inspire sustained change.
  
  “Juneteenth takes on a special meaning this year as calls for justice have intensified in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd by a police officer who has since been charged with murder. I have spent most of my professional career staying relatively quiet about how race has impacted my life, because it is a deeply personal topic. But in the past few weeks, I’ve realized that my role provides me a platform to share my experiences, personalize the pain witnessed by so many, and be a voice for change...”
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As many of us are spending our days in virtual meetings, we’re realizing the energy drain from staring directly at our colleagues in two dimensions from just a few feet away. That typically wouldn’t be the case in face-to-face meetings where you naturally and easily follow the conversation much like you were watching a sing-along. The conversation is a little like a bouncing ball where you naturally move your head and attention to keep up with the dialogue. There are breaks – both literally and figuratively – in the conversation, which allow for a little recharge of the batteries or at least a few moments to take a breath, reflect, and regroup.