Performance
May 18, 2021
Myth #1: Brain cells die off as we age. Brain cells, or neurons don’t necessarily die. In fact, neurogenesis is the process of expanding neurons as we age. Myth #2: Brain development ceases in childhood or early adolescence. It’s true the greatest neural development occurs in our youth. However, we can continue to build mental capacity as we age. Myth #3: We can’t change our brain or who we are. There are steps we can take to maintain and enhance our brain health, or cognitive fitness. Rodney Gilkey and Clint Kilts describe these steps in a Harvard Business Review article […]
April 20, 2021
Many studies have shown sleeping on it has benefits. In one study subjects were asked to convert a string of digits into a different string by applying two principles. No one was told about a third secret rule that could provide a shortcut to the answer. One group went to sleep for eight hours following the training. The second group remained awake all night. The third group was trained the next morning and remained awake for eight hours before being re-tested. The group that went to sleep following the training was twice as likely to gain insight and use the […]
December 17, 2020
Companies started throwing out performance rating scales and stopped ranking people from best to worst more than ten years ago. The first lesson learned is conversations about compensation and conversations about performance improvement are two different conversations. Companies that still combine these conversations spend too much time looking backward. Tip #1: The compensation conversation stands alone. Compensation is based on the contribution to the company. That contribution is defined by the execution of the position’s purpose, the well-written job description. Performance standards should clearly define the expectations and behaviors. Tip #2: Mitigate biases. There are so many ways bias creeps […]
November 10, 2020
Most people initially react to adverse life events with a sense of uneasiness and negativity, but over time seem to adapt. People somehow “bounce back” from tragedy and trauma. Early resilience researchers Garmezy and Masten defined resilience as the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging circumstances. Resilience is measured by how quickly and strongly we respond to adversity. There is a difference between resiliency and resilience. Ego resiliency is a set of traits of resourcefulness, sturdiness of character, and flexibility in response to circumstances. Resiliency signifies a personality trait. Masten cautioned against using the term […]