Opinion piece by Kim Harrison

Written and posted 16 Oct 2018

It happens both ways. People dread receiving feedback – but they also dread giving it. Typical feedback conversations, like annual performance reviews, are dreaded by all. For instance, in a 2015 survey of 2,058 US workers (HBR paywall), over a third (37%) of bosses reported they are uncomfortable giving direct feedback/criticism about their employee’s performance […]

Written and posted 16 Oct 2018

If you want a high performing organization, you need to engage and inspire your middle managers. They are the key to employee engagement, according to research conducted for the UK Chartered Management Institute. But middle managers need good lines of communication from top management in order to engage their own staff. Unfortunately, good contact from […]

Written and posted 12 Sep 2018

A wildly misused word is “disaster.” (“Crisis” is another similarly misused word, but that’s the subject of other discussions.) “Disaster” is used in the public arena to describe almost any negative situation. News media and social media use it to exaggerate, especially where images are available to dramatize. Common use of the word today is […]

Written and posted 11 Sep 2018

As the business world becomes more complex, decision-making is becoming more complex as well. Just think of the complexities in dealing with risk, issue and crisis decision-making these days. And if you are a member of your organization’s executive team – a role requiring you to confront operational problems – many decisions would be even […]

Written and posted 10 Sep 2018

Most managers and team leaders don’t know how to manage their staff well. Research consistently shows this. For instance, global surveys by Gallup performance management consultancy show that around 85% of all employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. An astounding figure! Likewise, many senior communicators don’t know how to draw top […]

Written and posted 10 Sep 2018

The rise of social media and online commentary avenues like blogs and websites mean that bad news travels a long way quickly. Such bad news is often inaccurate or sensationalized. Companies worldwide consider reputation damage as their top risk management concern, according to Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey in 2017.  Reputation risk leads to share […]

Written and posted 10 Sep 2018

To boost your impact and reach, you can use many tools to optimize your headlines and create better search engine visibility. Image: BigTunaOnline/shutterstock.com Such tools include advanced search engine marketing tools like Moz Keyword Explorer and the Google Keyword Planner, but these are probably more sophisticated than you need. Other free tools include: Sharethrough Headline […]

Written and posted 21 Aug 2018

New research has found that people who receive appreciative emails feel much more grateful than is generally realized – they love getting such “thank-you” notes. Researchers quoted in the New York Times said people under-estimate the positive feelings such responses bring. They also over-estimate the extent to which such notes might appear insincere or might […]

Written and posted 21 Aug 2018

As communicators, we focus on convincing reporters of the merits of the news angle we are pitching in our press release. But we lose sight of the fact that those reporters then need to sell the story to their own editors and chiefs of staff, who in turn have to get support for our story […]

Written and posted 18 Aug 2018

Headlines are the most important part of any written content. Advertising legend David Ogilvy pointed this out decades ago, and his words are still quoted. Ogilvy said in his classic book Confessions of an Advertising Man in 1963: On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.” But […]