No one enjoys conflict in the workplace, least of all the managers who have to deal with it. And the best way to deal with it is to minimize bad conflict through prevention. “50% of employees say they accomplish less when dealing with an office related conflict, and...
Company Culture Posts
This Was My Single Biggest Mistake in Building Company Culture
Confession time: I made a mistake—one that I’ve been working to correct. I’m hoping that sharing my missteps in building company culture will help save some of you from having to learn the same lessons the hard way. More specifically, my failure to define the culture...
How We Jell at Rackspace [Interview with Juan Montemayor]
The first thing you see on Rackspace’s website says everything you need to know about who the company is and what it offers. Trusted by the majority of the Fortune 100. A leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for cloud-enabled managed hosting. The largest managed cloud...
How We Jell at Growthwise [Interview with Steph Hinds]
It's not easy being accessible. Just ask Steph Hinds. As the Head Ninja at Growthwise, she’s built a successful company by making sure an entire team of accountants, advisors and administrators is consistently approachable and available—at all times, for every client,...
How to Adapt Your Leadership Style to Different Employee Personalities
Once upon a time, there was a young engineer. He spent his work hours in an enclosed cubicle at an office where personal computers and scientific calculators were designed. He liked to work alone, preferring solitude over committees and team meetings. His name was...
An Unusual Example of the Power of Positive Feedback from Johnnie Walker
Positive feedback is a powerful thing. It can turn ill-tempered toddlers into angels. It can transform couch potatoes into recreational athletes. It can motivate an underperforming team to achieve lofty goals. But you may be wondering: What does positive feedback...
How We Jell at Chargify [Interview with Adam Feber]
In our first installment of How We Jell, we talked to Jacob Krall of Fog Creek Software. Today we bring you more communication and collaboration insights from a team leader at another fast-growing company: Chargify... Adam Feber is an inspiration. O.K., so we might be...
How We Jell at Fog Creek [Interview with Jacob Krall]
If you follow today’s fastest-growing startups, you’ve probably read about Fog Creek Software in coveted media clips like this one from Fast Company. The most impressive part? The company is being featured not only for the success of its software, but also because of...
The Power of Positive Feedback to Build A Happy Productive Team
In the early 1990s, psychologist John Gottman wrote a book based on years of research that definitively answered an elusive question: What is the number one behavioral predictor of a successful marriage? The answer: positive feedback. Apparently, the couples that stay...
Don’t Let Remote Work Kill Your Culture Of Camaraderie
True company culture—the kind that's studied, scrutinized and shaped into clearly-communicated core values—is what separates a business that stays afloat from one that rides the waves of success. Culture is what divides the Kip Tindells and Shake Shacks of the world...