Behavioral science
Embracing the Power of Ambivalence (via HBR)
“Emotional ambivalence is the simultaneous experience of positive and negative emotions about something. It’s what we think of as being “torn.” As organizations develop ways of working that better consider the collective needs of our society, it’s critical for leaders to adapt and evolve expectations, structures, and reward systems in ways that support employees’ increasingly complex emotional lives. Drawing on the collective insights from their previous and ongoing research, the authors offer six critical leadership lessons for building cultures and structures that encourage emotional ambivalence and harnessing its benefits as we establish a “new normal” in the second half of 2021.”
Leadership
Managing Through Crunch Time — Without Burning Out Your Team (via HBR)
This post has some concrete techniques that leaders can use during crunch time based on studying military leaders.
How to Influence Without Authority (via Software Lead Weekly)
A playbook blogpost from Atlassian about three different roles one can play to influence without authority: psychologist, pitcher, and activist.
Organizational change
The Secret Behind Successful Corporate Transformations (via HBR)
“The implications of our findings are clear: Companies have a better chance at success if they focus on their people during transformation. What’s more, the type of employee engagement made the difference between top-tier performance and not. Companies that prioritized attributes that are fundamentally related to employee engagement, such as diversity & inclusion, in addition to traditional benefits, such as compensation or health care, saw stronger reputations and greater financial returns than other organizations. The firms that listened with intention to their employees and matched their company engagement accordingly achieved transformational success.”