Eighty-six percent of employees say they’re most productive when they work from home, as cited by Fundera. Seventy-seven percent of employees report greater productivity while working off-site, according to the Remote Collaborative Worker Survey by CoSo Cloud. Sixty-four percent of global business leaders said flexible working had a positive impact on productivity, Condeco reports. Telecommuters are 14% more productive than their office-bound colleagues, according to a study released by Stanford University. Research found that working from home increases job performance and productivity while also decreasing the number of sick days taken.

Before judging, pause and ask yourself this question

Oftentimes, we rush to judge others and we assume that people are in full control, and that they're just acting rude, loud, etc. anyway.

But let's remember that we've all had moments where we struggle!

We struggle with our emotional health.

We struggle with the people around us.
We struggle with our finances.
We struggle with our physical health.
We struggle with our circumstances.

We are constantly struggling! And because of this struggle we don't always have the optimum awareness and sense of how we should be interacting with other people.

4 Dangers of Digital Communication and 8 Tips to Avoid Them

It’s no surprise that we use email and text for so many of our communications. It’s often faster, it’s neater, and it can easily be saved for future reference without paper sifting and clutter. Digital communication allows us to send and reply at our own convenience. And you can communicate with several people at one time,

But there are also some serious dangers that, unless managed properly, will turn these advantages into a huge disadvantage.

How Colors Impact Leaders, Especially During Transitions

One of the greatest challenges that confronted me when I assumed the role of head of school was the contrast in personalities between my predecessor and me. In many ways we were polar opposites, including our general affect, how we interacted with others and in the amount of quiet, private time (with the door closed) that we wanted or needed to function effectively in our jobs.

At the time, I really didn’t appreciate this issue. To me, I was who I was and I assumed that everyone else would simply get used to dealing with a new boss. In hindsight, I feel that I could and should have taken more time to understand my personality and, by extension, leadership profile and how that may impact those around me, especially when they were used to something very different. While personality differences between leaders are to be expected, when they represent a major shift then there can be a difficulty in adjustment for everyone involved. And that difficulty became apparent soon enough in my situation.

One of my favorite leadership training sessions is based on the True Colors Personality Assessment. In this system, people generally identify as being one of four colors: blue, green, gold or orange.

4 Networking Tips For Introverts (and Extroverts, too!)

Do you go to networking events?

And are you an introvert?

If you are, you’re probably feeling overwhelmed. How will you manage in a large, crowded space?

Good news! It doesn’t have to be scary or impossible to navigate.

To those who say otherwise, I say “B.S.!”

No. Not THAT B.S.

Here are my 4 “B.S.” networking strategies for #introverts.

Be Still
Be Strategic
Be Seen
Be Sticky

Would You Do It For Free?

I recently attended an entrepreneurship gathering sponsored by a local university. The program allowed each attendee to speak for a few minutes about their company and services. The last speaker was a videographer and web marketer. He spoke with great passion about finding a voice and telling a great story, important components in today’s evolving marketplace. But the line that resonated most with me was his comment about why we are all doing what we’re doing.

Most people in that room had left an established, more guaranteed position in order to venture off into entrepreneurship and follow their dreams. This speaker spoke to a common chord within each of us when he said, “You all love what you do so much that you would do it for free.” That is, of course, if not for the fact that we must put food on the table.

Blazing Your Own Path to Success

Did you ever look around in amazement at people around you that don’t appear to be all that extraordinary yet have achieved extraordinary things? These are people who have greatly succeeded in business, in politics, in the arts, in sports, or in some other space, but in many respects seem pretty much on par with you (or even inferior to you) in terms of their core abilities and talents. How is it, you wonder, that they “made it” in such a robust manner while you continue to middle along in relative obscurity, earning a pedestrian income and feeling somewhat unfulfilled?

The Right Software Can Increase Collaboration

Recent years have witnessed a rise in software tools specifically designed to aid collaboration through video meetings, real-time messaging, and content sharing. Collaboration software, also known as groupware, can help any team, from the smallest startup to the largest enterprise, to share content quickly and easily, in the form of documents, messages, videos, and other formats. Collaboration tools offer, among other things:

Organize discussions into channels, making them easier to maintain and follow
Support voice and video calls, streamlining communication
Integrate with various popular apps (Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, etc.)
Provide easy navigation through documents and other content

Stay positive and be grateful

It's so easy to get down. 😟

To focus on what's not working and what we're missing. 📉

Especially with the utter disruption and pain that is #covid19. 😷

All of us do it, at least on some level.

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