Are you feeling the heat in your workplace? | August Newsletter
Is your business stuck in a heatwave?
?Did you know heat waves affect our behavior even if we're spending our days in air conditioning??
Irritability rises as our mental acuity falls. Anxiety and stress shortcircuit our intentions. Unseasonably warm weather suppresses the ability of supportive brain chemicals, like serotonin and dopamine, to regulate our mood, cognitive function, and ability to embrace a challenge, even if we're mostly in a climate-controlled sanctuary.
Now, our point is not to raise awareness about heatwaves and our well-being (although it's worth thinking about), but to consider if there are unknown barriers in your organization that are stifling creativity, hindering problem-solving, and driving conflict.
If we continue the analogy, our goal in leadership, talent management, and HR is to create consistency: a (relatively) constant and predictable temperature. If temps rise because of increased workload, change, customer demands, or market forces, the heat may increase but we try to keep the environment as safe, predictable, and nourishing as we can.
Video: What's your team's temperature?
We often use the word climate to describe the mood or feeling within a team. With that in mind, how can we check the temperature??
Need an iced coffee break?
What does hiring for culture-fit really mean?
When we hire we seek to forecast a candidate's potential. With all the information at our disposal, why does it seem harder than predicting the weather?
Is there a dark side to teamwork?
The answer is rooted in culture and may hinder your ability to keep top performers.