Weekly Hotlist: Employee Engagement Depends on What Happens Outside of the Office

 

January 20, 2015 Employee Engagement Depends on What Happens Outside of the Office By Susan LaMotte So stop only considering 9-5.

Decision making How to Break into Your CEO's Inner Circle by Jacques Neatby Five habits to cultivate. Employee retention Prevent Your Star Performers from Losing Passion in Their Work by Michael E. Kibler Partner with them on both their personal and professional goals. Innovation The Capabilities Your Organization Needs to Sustain Innovation by Linda Hill What sets companies like Pixar apart. Time management Workers Are Bad at Filling Out Timesheets, and It Costs Billions a Day by Gretchen Gavett Professional services, take note. Innovation Why Nordstrom's Digital Strategy Works (and Yours Probably Doesn't) by Jeanne W. Ross The importance of integration. Innovation Why English, Not Mandarin, Is the Language of Innovation by Bill Fisher It's the standard for global business, information exchange, and technology. Communication 4 Strategies for Women Navigating Office Politics by Kathryn Heath For one, recruit helpers. Strategy Any Value Proposition Hinges on the Answer to One Question by Frank V. Cespedes Sell it for more or make it for less?

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FEATURED PRODUCT Well-Designed: How to Use Empathy to Create Products People Love HBR Press Book In this refreshingly jargon-free and practical book, product design expert Jon Kolko maps out this process, demonstrating how it will help you and your team conceive and build successful, emotionally resonant products again and again. The key, says Kolko, is empathy. You need to deeply understand customer needs and feelings, and this understanding must be reflected in the product. In successive chapters of the book, we see how leading companies use a design process of storytelling and iteration that evokes positive emotions, changes behavior, and creates deep engagement. Here are the four key steps: (1) Determine a product-market fit by seeking signals from communities of users, (2) Identify behavioral insights by conducting ethnographic research, (3) Sketch a product strategy by synthesizing complex research data into simple insights, and (4) Polish the product details using visual representations to simplify complex ideas. Kolko walks the reader through each step, sharing insights from his fifteen-year career in product design along the way. Whether you're a designer, a product developer, or a marketer thinking about your company's next offering, this book will forever change the way you think about--and create--successful products. Buy It Now

FEATURED PRODUCT HBR Guide to Coaching Your Employees HBR Press Book When you're swamped with your own work, how can you make time to coach your employees—and do it well? If you don't help them build their skills, they'll keep coming to you for answers instead of finding their own solutions. Got a star on your team who's eager to advance? An underperformer who's dragging the group down? A steady contributor who feels bored and neglected? You'll need to agree on goals for growth, motivate your people to achieve them, support their efforts, and measure their progress. This guide gives you the tools to do that. You'll get better at (1) Matching people's skills with your organization's needs; (2) Creating realistic but inspiring plans for growth; (3) Customizing your approach; (4) Prompting with questions before you dispense advice; (5) Providing the support your employees need to achieve peak performance; (6) Giving them feedback they'll actually apply; (7) Tapping their learning styles to make greater progress; (8) Giving people room to grapple with problems and discover solutions; (9) Engaging your employees and fostering independence. Buy It Now

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