People and Teams
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How to Give Tough Feedback It's not easy to give tough feedback. But delaying, withholding, or sugarcoating critical feedback is ultimately a disservice—to the individual, the team, and the work involved. Giving timely, constructive feedback is one of the most important roles of any manager. Here’s how to handle these delicate situations. |
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Why We Need to Stop Calling Them Soft Skills People often focus on hard skills for career development, but soft skills are just as important—if not more. Soft skills require practice and they are crucial for professional success, so we should stop referring to interpersonal skills as soft. They’re hard, human skills, and they can set you apart in your job. |
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How Creative Would You Get to Land a Job Interview? In order to be invited for a job interview, some people have done things like sending a lottery ticket, doing a back flip into the room, and writing a resume on a bar of chocolate! But before you go the creative route, it's important to tailor your approach to the prospective employer. You don't want to be gimmicky. |
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The Black Swan Myth Actually Devalues Expertise People love to hear how someone with no formal training solved a problem that stumped experts because they weren't tainted by years of experience. These "black swan" stories are the exception, though, not the rule, and they can be dangerous because they trivialize hard work and study. Most times, you want an expert. |
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6 Ways to Build Strong Relationships on Your Project Team When you form a new team to tackle a major project, the project's success hinges not just on the technical savvy of the team members, but also—and especially—on how well the team members get along. How everyone communicates and collaborates can make or break your project. Here's how to build strong team relationships. |
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To Be a Good Leader, Become a Better Servant Wanting to serve others—not wanting them to serve you—is one of the best signs of an effective leader. Being a leader is also not about doing more of the work or being the most technical person on your team. Rather, it's actually about giving up some of your work to help others grow. Here's what else good leaders do. |
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Beware Confidence Masquerading as Competence Self-confidence is essential to tackling difficult problems. Where we need to be careful is not being falsely overconfident. What’s behind that overconfidence can either help or hinder your solving issues and achieving a good result. Here's how to make sure that confidence is backed up by competence in your team. |
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Are Headphones Hindering Your Office Communication? With all the chatter going on in offices, people often turn to headphones to block out the noise and be able to concentrate. Noise-canceling headphones block out distractions, but they can also block out communication. It may be a good idea to set some boundaries for their use so employees can still collaborate. |
