Responding to questions on proposed tightening of Employment Insurance requirements, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said to reporters, “There is no bad job, the only bad job is not having a job.” ” When invited to discuss the topic on CBC … Continue reading →

As budget constraints in the public and private sectors puts pressure on workgroups, some pull together to thrive while others stumble. The difference between these two outcomes is often a matter of workgroup resiliency. defining quality of a resilient … Continue reading →

Last week’s episode of Mad Men had a lovely little scene in it that perfectly demonstrated the power of having an atmosphere of support in the workplace. Peggy was considering doing something in her personal life that would have been … Continue reading →

Workgroups become resilient through a shared understanding of the challenges they face. People have a persistent and compelling tendency to make sense of their experiences. Life is complicated and vital information may be hard to find. People rarely have more … Continue reading →

Improving the social dynamics of a workgroup is a challenging task. Social behavior resists change. Encounters with other people have a potential to become emotionally charged. It reflects ingrained habits with a long history of repetition. Ideally, members of workgroups … Continue reading →

Usually the most involved people have the greatest energy, with involvement increasing one’s involvement and involvement in turn making people energetic. When these two qualities work together people become engaged with their work; when they are missing, people feel burned … Continue reading →

In April I’ve attended conferences in Zurich (European Association of Organizational Health Psychology) and San Diego California (Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology). Both events were occasions for entering a temporary community. An international conference brings together people with a shared … Continue reading →

Last month we had a poll on the ideal quantity of meetings in the work day. Meetings can be a useful tool for engaging a group of people but they can also feel like a distraction from the “real” work … Continue reading →

People enjoy contributing to their workgroup’s mission. If this attitude is unusual in your workplace, it may reflect some serious shortfalls in how people are recruited or managed in their work. Despite a general willingness to participate in the workgroup’s … Continue reading →

After a spate of recent disciplinary cases involving academic dishonesty, a local high school decided to have an open discussion with students and teachers about the subject of cheating. The school promised amnesty and encouraged students to be honest about … Continue reading →

The workaholic configuration combines great activity with low enjoyment. They spend more time at work than absolutely necessary. Sometimes they spend much more time at work than anyone else wants them to. There is clearly a generous amount of energy … Continue reading →

The pivotal issue influencing employees` engagement with their work is the balance of demands to resources. Increasing resources or reducing demands improves that balance, allowing people to devote more time, energy, or materials to doing the necessary work. resource-rich … Continue reading →

It is one thing to have energy; it is another thing to devote that energy to your work. In contrast to the chronic exhaustion and cynicism of burnout, some people maintain their cynicism despite feeling fairly energetic. Maybe the work … Continue reading →

In recent days I have heard about a couple of situations where good employees have been turned off from their work because of poor communication of bad news on the part of their superiors. In both cases, it was the … Continue reading →

Burnout is one of many psychological connections with work. People develop connections with their worklife that resonate with their experiences within those environments. Although fraught with change, workplaces actually have many stable qualities. For most people, going to work tomorrow … Continue reading →

People expected the worst. The Canadian federal budget, released on 29 March 2012, was rumored to be grim. The Conservative government would drastically reduce the size of government. The event was something of an anti-climax. There were cuts but they … Continue reading →

This season’s initial episode of Mad Men opened with a scene of employees from a rival ad agency throwing water balloons at civil rights protesters outside of their building.

A recent blog considered questions about the existence of burnout. Despite decades of research evidence tracking the syndrome and its impact, some dismiss it as reflecting laziness or malingering.

With job burnout, at least you have company. Both research and observation confirm that the experience of burnout is not randomly distributed about an organization. It tends to cluster.

For people who have experienced burnout it is very real. It is something they hope to avoid in the future. Others do not believe in burnout. They hold this view despite others describing the experience and accepting the diagnosis. They … Continue reading →

Recently Twitter and various media outlets were abuzz about an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times. The article was essentially an open resignation letter written by Greg Smith, an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs.

Tracking the #worklife hashtag on twitter on Tweetdeck creates a column inhabited by two very different worlds. Worklife is Grim One world is populated by people who feel worn out by their jobs.

Sometimes coworkers are too much with us. Even with good collegial relationships, their presence can be too much with us. But in some lines of work, people go for extended time between opportunities to converse with colleagues.

When working with organizations on CREW projects, people talk about psychological safety. They do not actually use that term, but they do talk about feeling vulnerable when at work.

Last weekend I spent some time in the car catching up on a bit of a podcast backlog. One of the things I listened to was an episode of NPR’s This American Life entitled Continental Breakup. The episode was an … Continue reading → Civility Respect Workgroups Avoiding conflict Conflict Decision Making Unintended consequences

In honor of this week’s academy awards, I wanted to spend some time thinking about what awards could be given out at a truly civil and functional workplace. Best Supporting Co-worker: given to the employee who is always willing to … Continue reading → Civility Uncategorized Workgroups Worklife award colleague leader Recognition Reward

Last week I read an article that talked about how people with supportive spouses were less likely to be burnt out at work. Fifty years ago it was far more likely than today that only one half of a couple … Continue reading → Burnout Worklife boundaries Flexibility relationships Support Work Family Work stress

While riding the bus you belong for a moment to a community. When I’m staying in Mexico, 8 km south of Puerto Vallarta, there are two ways into town for the car-less: the taxi or the bus. The taxi is … Continue reading → Civility Respect Accommodation Community Shared experience

Gina was frustrated with one of her employees. The employee, Tim, was ordinarily reliable and good at his job. In January Tim was given a big new project that had features that were unlike anything he had done in his … Continue reading → Civility Respect Worklife Communication Cooperation Partnership Sharing

The most effective way to address complex problems is bringing together different points of view. Health care has a never-ending flow of complex problems.

A defining quality of incivility in contrast to abuse or bullying is “ambiguous intent.” To label a behavior as rude, you do not need to establish that the instigator intended to be rude, or even more precisely, that the instigator … Continue reading → Uncategorized Civility Diversity Incivility Intention Resilience Respect Teamwork

My friend is a middle school teacher. Twice a year, as part of a teachers’ professional day, the school runs a program in which a handful of teachers are selected to teach the rest of the faculty something. The instructing … Continue reading → Areas of Worklife Civility Worklife Community Hobbies Learning Work life boundary

In talking to a couple of friends this weekend in separate conversations, I heard two seemingly opposing statements. The first statement came from Lauren, a teacher.

During a performance of the refined and grand Mahler’s 9th symphony at the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday 10 January 2012 the moment was interrupted by the unmistakable marimba ring tone from an iphone in the front row.

A couple of months ago, we posted a poll regarding how much privacy employees should be afforded at work.

“I really know just how you feel!” It’s great to have that kind of connection with colleagues. Empathy can, however, require a real effort. recent post explored the way emotional contagion contributes to the climate of a team. When … Continue reading → Civility Respect Workgroups Community Emotional contagion Empathy Support Teamwork

A few weeks ago the New York Times ran a profile on the new football coach at Ohio State, Urban Meyer.

Betty had applied for a promotion into a middle management position at the business where she worked. She felt confident and hopeful when anticipating an interview that was a set part of the process.

As we step into the new calendar year and, for many organizations, the first quarter of the fiscal year many of us are starting to think about goals for the coming year.

William is a very smart young man who completed a significant neuroscience research project looking at the way young people learn.

As workplace mistreatment has increased its profile in recent years, it has received a lot more scrutiny. People write about workplace aggression, abuse, bullying, mobbing, social undermining, and incivility. These distinctions make some sense. Mistreatment is not simple.

The New Year brings with it something of downer. New Year’s resolutions are usually framed as self-improvement through self-discipline.

A colleague recently described going into a hospital unit and knowing within minutes that it was a toxic work environment. She came to this conclusion before anyone had spoken to her.

When wrapping up her presentation to the management council, Marjorie, the Director of a continuing care facility, knew that the event had not gone well.

The worst thing a job can do to you is kill the joy of doing what you love. Margaret, a nurse, remembers the day when she lost hope. She had been literally holding the hand of a patient awaiting a dreaded operation

You would think that people working in a civil group would rarely encounter incivility and you would be correct. For the most part. Civility is generally incompatible with rudeness, but it isn't entirely absent

Psychological safety means that people have confidence that they will receive respect and consideration from others. group with a culture of psychological safety encourages open discussion of tough issues

A couple months into their CREW meetings, the people working on the hospital unit were surprised and appalled to hear two of their colleagues shouting at one another. They were right on the unit, by the nursing station, with a physician

I've always liked the metaphor used by psychologist JoAnn Deak of the elastic brain. Deak describes the brain as being made up of many elastic bands some of which have more give in them than others. The more flexible elastic bands

Sometimes relationships get stuck. When that happens, getting relationships back on track becomes a major priority

Several weeks ago we posted a poll on the site asking how you managed the line between personal and professional: are your co-workers your closest confidants or do they barely know your first name? The results are in and it seems that

When working with organizations implementing CREW, I've been impressed by efforts to sustain their gains in respect and civility. Improving the social climate of a workgroup requires time, energy, and money. It requires commitment from

It began in Wisconsin and is gaining momentum across the Midwest of the USA. State governments are considering legislation to roll back benefits for public sector employees. Some of these bills would reduce the power of public sector