In January 2020, we’d heard of coronavirus.

In February, we’d heard it was spreading - still, it seemed, on the other side of the world.

In March, everything started to shut down. On March 30, the governor of my state (Virginia) announced a shelter-in-place order - no one should be leaving their house except for essentials.

…

In January, I wrote a series about how to run great meetings. We covered purpose, timing, acting like a good host, and conflict.

Now it’s time to revisit that with best practices for virtual meetings.

Online Meeting, Same Priorities

Most of what I’ve previously written about still applies:

• When you first decide to hold a meeting, get crystal clear on the point of the meeting - what is the purpose? The goal? Are they the same or different? Tell people! Do not keep this to yourself.

• Does this really have to be a meeting, or should it be an email? Internet memes aside, most of us would prefer to avoid a videoconference for work...

Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.

~ Aristotle, about 2,500 years ago.

But let’s be honest here: a lot of work does not feel like a vocation.

Is there a way to find more meaning in your work?

To feel that you use your talents every day and that doing so makes a difference in the world?

Yes! It’s called job-crafting. This comprehensive article from the Harvard Business Review archive goes over what it is, and two examples of how it has worked in two different industries; plus it was written by the researchers who pioneered the concept.

The concept of job-crafting is so simple, it’s brilliant. Job-crafting was created by researchers Jane Dutton, Amy Wrzesniewski, and Justin Berg. In this video you can hear Dr. Wrzesniewski describe a janitor in a hospital who had “crafted her job,” in terms of how she thought of her work, into something much more important, ambitious, and kind-hearted than what we typically...

Purpose is one of my favorite topics in the field of positive psychology as it applies to working and the workplace. I’ve always felt that whatever my occupation is, it should put some good into the world in addition to pay in my pocket. So it made intuitive sense when I learned that purpose is a key ingredient in happiness, generally, and specifically workplace happiness. 

Psychologists generally define happiness as the mix of positive feelings with a sense of purpose or meaning. Happiness at work, therefore, is not simply that someone tends to feel more positive than negative* emotions at work. Happiness at work is the mix of feeling positively at work while also finding a meaning in your work that has nothing to do with a paycheck or profits. 

What that meaning is can vary widely. Nonprofit or government jobs are often considered meaningful: profit is taken out of the equation (usually - revenue is actually really important for most), so we assume that these jobs...

I’m super excited to partner with PATHZ and Arkin Youngentob, a division of Risk Strategies, to bring you two opportunities to learn to be a better communicator in February.

What you can learn:

• What active listening means

• How to listen to understand

• What curiosity has to do with conflict & communication

• Go-to questions to ask when conflict is brewing 

First up:

Listen! Can You? Listening Skills for Better Problem Solving

Too often, we listen to others while doing something else: composing our response, judging their behavior, thinking about what to eat for dinner, etc. In this live, interactive webinar we’ll talk about what it means to actively listen. That means listening fully, focused on understanding the other person’s perspective, without judgment. This live, highly interactive webinar will include an opportunity to practice active listening with a partner - from the comfort of your own home! We ask that participants use video if...

We all feel like we spend too much of our precious time in meetings. Too often, the weekly and daily meetings expected of us at work drain us of energy, after interrupting us from never-ending task lists.

What would it mean to you if the meetings you participated in provided energy and purpose and direction, rather than just being a big energy suck?

The next time you get to plan a work meeting, avoid adding to employee dis- or un- engagement. Put some effort into make your meeting productive. This is the third post in a series of four about how to run better meetings at work. The topics we’re covering are:

• Acting like a host;

• Purpose;

• Considering timing (this post!); and,

• Preparing for the potential of conflict.

Today we’ll focus on the idea of timing. There are two, complementary ways to think about the timing of meetings: there’s getting the meeting scheduled, and then there’s amount of time needed for the meeting.

Getting the meeting scheduled

...

Like it or not, humans are social creatures. Whenever we gather together for any purpose, we like to feel included. That means feeling welcomed into a space, knowing the names of the people around us, and understanding why we are all gathered together. When you run a meeting at work, it will never hurt you to behave as though you’re welcoming people into your home!

Let’s face it: Meetings that aren’t productive can contribute to employees feeling unengaged or disengaged. But meetings can be productive, especially when you use a little emotional intelligence and give some thought to how you’re going to run the meeting and what people might experience during the meeting.

This is the second post in a series of four about how to run better meetings at work. The topics we’re covering are:

• Acting like a host (this post!);

• Purpose;

• Considering timing; and,

• Preparing for the potential of conflict.

Most modern workers have to be in meetings at least...

You know this: When work meetings aren’t productive, you run the risk of wasting time and contributing to employee disengagement and unhappiness. The truth is, meetings can be productive; they can even contribute to enhancing employee engagement.

This is the third post in a series of four about how to run better meetings at work. The topics we’re covering are:

• Acting like a host;

• Purpose (this post!);

• Considering timing; and,

• Preparing for the potential of conflict.

Most modern workers have to be in meetings at least some of the time; this series is in part inspired by this podcast that posits ways to turn meetings from sources of dread and drain into sources of productivity and energy.

When I started to study happiness back in 2015, I was struck by the definition used by researchers: Happiness is not just the subjective feeling of joy and/or well-being, it’s that mixed with a sense of purpose, meaning, or that you’re participating in something...