By now, many of us who have been lucky to continue working through the COVID-19 pandemic have transitioned to working from home. Those of us who aren’t frontline workers have had to make the quick transition to what was and continues to be a relatively uncertain work life. Nobody was sure back in March 2020 how long this “new normal” … Read More
Pink Shirt Day – Let’s Put an End to Bullying
Wednesday February 24th, 2021 is Pink Shirt Day. A Canadian initiative, the idea began at a rural high school in Nova Scotia when a grade 9 boy was harassed for wearing a pink shirt to school. Two senior male students decided enough was enough, and launched the first Day of Pink to invite folks to take a stand against discrimination … Read More
How to Increase Focus and Productivity at Work
I’m always interested in trying new ways to increase my productivity. In my last blog, I wrote about how to focus on your work, so this time it seemed appropriate to talk about productivity. After returning from a much-needed break over the holidays, I was struggling to keep up with the growing list of things I needed to do. After … Read More
5 Ways to Improve Emotional Wellness at Work
Consider how many times you have approached a colleague and asked them how they are only to be met with the automatic response the vast majority of us have – the typical “Good,” or “Fine, thanks.” Sometimes these exchanges can leave us feeling as if something was left unsaid. Or our intuition may be tingling because we know their answers … Read More
8 Steps for Writing an Effective Email
Email has arguably become one of the mostly widely used forms of communication in the workplace – especially now that so many of us are working remotely. It’s an incredibly handy tool: it’s fast, convenient, and allows you to relay a lot of information with relative ease. But given that email has become such a natural part of so many … Read More
Envision Your Future with a Vision Board
This past winter solstice, which is of course the darkest day of the year, I started thinking about the weather, collective isolation, lockdowns, and how I was going to manage the long haul ahead. Interestingly, I learned that the winter solstice is also prime time for manifesting or channeling our energy to attract what we desire. I believe that when … Read More
How to Understand What Data Really Means
More and more, data is being used to summarize information about our complex world. Whether it’s epidemiologists reporting on COVID-19 or an HR assistant telling us which employees we should be disciplining, when someone processes the data – and does it well – it can be quite useful. But number crunching doesn’t automatically give us accurate or useful results. As … Read More
4 Steps for Increasing Your Resiliency
How do you define yourself? Often the start of a new year encourages us to reflect on the triumphs and struggles that have helped define us. Although this practice can help us create meaning from our experiences and show us what we can do to be happier in the future, many of us are left without answers. Could our lack … Read More
How to Create Meaningful Relationships at Work
[Excerpt from The Culture Question] Once we recognize the value of meaningful relationships at work, the question that follows is, “How do we create and maintain workplaces that foster camaraderie?” Quite simply, social connections at work are fostered in the same way that they are anywhere else – by people spending time together. To build strong relationships, we need time … Read More
How to Promote Psychological Health in Remote Teams
We commit our time, energy, and talent to our workplaces. Therefore, work should be safe – both physically and psychologically. Remote work has presented new challenges to ensuring workplace psychological health. In-person connections and socializing by the “water cooler” now seem like luxuries. More than ever before, workplaces need to ensure remote teams have adequate psychological and social support. This means … Read More
