We’ve proven we can work from anywhere. You can run a business, buy groceries, and order lunch, all without ever looking another human in the eyes. But something’s missing – HUMAN CONNECTION. Eye contact, unplanned conversations, the “got a sec?” chats that spark big ideas.

Let’s be real: human connection drives performance.

Face-to-face conversations – without the filter of a screen – promote collaboration, innovation, and trust.

• MIT research shows that in-person interaction drives team creativity up by 15%.
• Harvard Business Review found that companies with a strong human connection outperform peers by 20%.
• Body language, facial expressions, and personal stories – these shape dialogue in a way video never will.

This isn’t about going back to the office 5 days a week. It’s about making real connections a strategic priority:

• Sync in-office days so teams are together, not just online at the same time.
• Prioritize leaders’ time to coach, mentor, and model real collaboration.
• Redesign meetings to spark dialogue, not just share updates.
• Use office time for “connection ROI” – relationship-building that fuels results.
• Build rituals that bring people together – Monday huddles, Thursday coffees, Friday reflections.

Now is the time to turn ideas into action. At PeopleThink, we help you reignite connection, collaboration, and purpose in the workplace. Explore our Team Tune-Up and Keep It Real Leadership programs that are designed to cultivate more engaged, high-performing teams.

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Human Connection: The Workplace Advantage That Still Matters Most appeared first on PeopleThink.

Self-awareness is the foundation upon which trust is cultivated, decisions are made with more clarity, and personal and professional goals can be achieved. It involves understanding your strengths, limitations, values, beliefs, and emotions and how these factors influence your behavior, interactions, and decision-making with people around you. Being self-aware can help you to communicate efficiently, resolve conflict, and overall, be a successful leader.

Here are four steps to start your self-awareness journey:

• Understand Your Strengths and Limitations: Understanding your competencies, accomplishments, and those behaviors or beliefs that have worked against you is the first step on your journey to becoming a leader. Recognizing your limitations allows you to work on them and seek support or assistance where necessary.
• Embrace Your Authentic Self: Authentic leadership is built on being true to yourself. Self-awareness helps you understand who you are and define your values, allowing you to lead with authenticity. This is an extremely important step in clarifying who you are or want to become as a leader.
• Work on Your Emotional Intelligence (EI): Leaders with high EI can understand and manage their emotions effectively, which is essential for building strong relationships and leading with empathy. It allows you to empathize with the people you lead, fostering stronger connections and trust.
• Prioritize Self-Development and Growth: Self-awareness is an ongoing process that allows you to develop and grow as a leader continually. By recognizing areas for improvement, you can actively seek out opportunities for personal and professional development.

Self-awareness is a fundamental aspect of effective leadership. It enables you to understand yourself, your emotions, and your impact on others, ultimately leading to more authentic, empathetic, and successful leadership.

With the Keep It Real Leadership program, you can get the right coaching to help you through your self-awareness journey! Keep It Real Leadership is a human-centered program that nurtures leaders to embrace their strengths and deliver on their goals. Together we can take your leadership journey to the next level!

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Self-Awareness is a Super Power! appeared first on PeopleThink.

According to LinkedIn, the benefits of self-reflection for leaders are:

• Strategic thinking
• Self-awareness
• Nurturing empathy and relationships
• Learning and growth
• Enhanced decision-making

But what exactly does self-reflection look like?

Making time for self-reflection may seem awkward at first (especially if you are an extrovert), but it’s worth it to take the time. Here’s how that might look.

Let’s use the example of the behavior “impatience.” You’ve gotten feedback from others that you tend to be impatient with people who don’t think and speak at the same pace as you. You know this about yourself and even, on occasion, cut someone off by saying, “just get to the bottom line.”

Next, you have to take the time to look inside and ask yourself why you react that way, how it impacts those around you, and what you can do to change the behavior. Self-reflection means being vulnerable, being willing to admit the behaviors that are working against you, and clarifying a plan to move beyond the behavior.

Self-reflection is also a way to ensure that you are living and working according to your values and what you want to achieve. It’s a way to level set if you’ve gotten off course.

Here are 10 questions as a starting point for self-reflection:

• Am I using my time wisely?
• Am I taking anything for granted?
• Am I employing a healthy perspective?
• Am I living true to myself?
• Am I waking up in the morning ready to take on the day?
• Am I thinking negative thoughts before I fall asleep?
• Am I putting enough effort into my relationships?
• Am I taking care of myself physically?
• Am I letting matters that are out of my control stress me out?
• Am I achieving the goals that I’ve set for myself?

Sometime this week, grab your favorite beverage and set aside some time to reflect on a behavior you want to change or to just do a general reset. Take a pause that refreshes you.

With the Keep It Real Leadership program, you could get the right coaching to help you through your self-reflection process! Keep It Real Leadership is a human-centered program that nurtures leaders to become more self-aware, embrace their strengths, and deliver in their business leaders. Together we can take your leadership journey to the next level!

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post The Art of Self-Reflection appeared first on PeopleThink.

Here’s a reality check. There’s always more to learn.

Stanford University Psychology Professor Carol Dweck has done extensive research on achievement and success. In this work, she discovered that people tend to have one of two mindsets – a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.

People with a fixed mindset believe that their innate qualities, such as intelligence or talent, are fixed traits and that any success they achieve is directly attributable to those qualities. Conversely, people with a growth mindset believe that their innate qualities are just a starting point and that those qualities can be further developed through hard work and dedication.

Dweck found that cultivating a growth mindset can be transformative in various aspects of life, including personal development, career advancement, and — most importantly — leadership.

The best leaders are those who commit themselves to continuous learning and development. Great leaders commit to learning beyond just skills. It’s about identifying and developing the personal behaviors to help you lead effectively.

So how do you do it?

• Adopt the right mindset. Be curious and admit that you still have room for improvement. Recognize that investing the time to do so will not only benefit you but will also benefit your team.
• Reflect and identify gaps. What are the areas you need to develop to become the leader you want (and need) to be? Do some self-reflection to make a list, and then get some feedback from others (here’s where you develop “accepting feedback.”)
• Create a plan. Select one or two areas that you will focus on in the next three months. Do some research to find resources and opportunities to develop and practice those skills/behaviors. Carve out and schedule the time.
• Seek mentorship and coaching. Enroll in leadership development programs, workshops, and online courses. Find a mentor or coach who can provide guidance, feedback, and support in your leadership journey. Regularly engage in mentorship conversations to gain insights and wisdom from experienced leaders.

Remember that learning is an ongoing process, and there is always room for growth and improvement. As a leader, your commitment to learning not only benefits you personally but also positively impacts your team and organization as you continuously evolve and adapt to the changing landscape of leadership and business.

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post The Power of Learning – Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset! appeared first on PeopleThink.

Each generation brings its own particular strengths and “peculiarities” to the team. Stereotypes abound in today’s workplaces, and leaders struggle to determine how best to engage and retain team members from these five age groups.

I personally think it’s simple: value the differences.

As Stephen Covey said, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”

Recognize that each individual brings to the workplace different experiences, knowledge, belief systems, ideas, skills, communication styles, fears, hopes, and dreams. No matter the age or generation, there are differences.

With that in mind, here are my tips for managing and working effectively on a multi-generational team.

• Focus on the VALUE each generation brings to the workplace. Respect the experience of older team members while also valuing the fresh perspectives that younger team members bring. Remember that it’s about talent…not age…
• Acknowledge and embrace the DIVERSITY of the generations. Celebrate birthdays, milestones, and achievements to build a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. Take the time to learn about the characteristics and tendencies of different age groups (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, etc.) to understand their perspectives better.
• Use multiple communication streams to address each person’s style. Recognize that different generations may have varying work styles. Some may prefer face-to-face meetings, while others might be more comfortable with virtual communication. Be flexible and adaptable in accommodating these preferences.
• Learn from the other generations on your team. Create opportunities for team members of different ages to work together. Encourage cross-mentoring, where older employees share their knowledge and younger employees offer insights into new technologies and trends. This can help bridge generation gaps and foster a sense of unity within the team.
• Promote open communication. Create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Encourage open dialogue that respects each person’s viewpoint, regardless of age.
• Keep learning. Each generation has its own values, communication preferences, and work habits. Be open to continuously learning about generational trends and adapting your leadership approach accordingly. What works well today might need adjustments in the future.

Leading a team with people of different ages can be both rewarding and challenging. Remember, effective leadership involves understanding and respecting individual differences while fostering a cohesive and collaborative team environment. By embracing these tips, you can lead a multi-generational team to success.

Till the next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post Valuing Generational Differences appeared first on PeopleThink.

A few years ago, SMITH Magazine published Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book, inspired by a six-word story said to be written by Ernest Hemingway (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) was a compilation of six-word memoirs submitted by SMITH readers.  Since then, SMITH has come out with additional six-word books on a variety of life topics, including love, Dads, and work. 

So, I’ve been thinking. With the new year starting, and all of us hoping for a huge improvement over the  past two years, how would you say what you hope for in 2022 in only 6 words?

To give you some inspiration, here are a few examples from the original book:

It was worth it, I think. – Annette Laitinen

Many risky mistakes. Few regrets. – Richard Schnedl

I’m the fine print. Read closely. – Kristina Grish

And here are a few we’ve come up with related to PeopleThink’s focus areas.

Leadership:
Inspire. Support. Let them surprise you.

Communication:
Two ears. One mouth. Use proportionally.

Teams:
I set the vision. They execute.

People:
Every person is different. Adapt accordingly.

OK. Now it’s your turn. Let’s hear YOUR six words on what your HOPE is for 2022. Please comment and share…

Till next time, keep it real.

Karen

The post You Have 6 Words – What’s Your Hope for 2022? appeared first on PeopleThink.

January is traditionally the month when we think about what we want to do better, do more of, or do less of in the new year. Usually this is in the form of a list of resolutions or goals. And often it’s a dizzying array of things we want to accomplish by year end: 12 months and so much to achieve!!

I say, it’s time to take a different approach. Instead of torturing yourself with a laundry list of resolutions and goals (although there is nothing wrong with goals) let’s do this: Keep it simple. Keep it real.

What does that mean?

Keep it simple means thinking about one theme that you want to define your year. What is most important to you? How will you define success – for you – come December? What will be your guide – your personal mantra – as you navigate work and life throughout the year?

Keep it real means being true to who you are. Developing a better understanding of yourself and how you interact with and are affected by people and situations around you. Celebrating what makes you unique. Making decisions that align with your values. Recognizing your strengths and admitting to those areas where you still need some work.

As he accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes recently, Tom Hanks shared his personal mantra for his success in the movie industry: “Show up on time. Know the text. Come with a head full of ideas.”

Simple. Real. 14 words. And easily translatable to any industry, or to life in general: Be on time. Be prepared. Be ready to contribute.

So how about it?  What will be your theme for the year?

Your assignment is set aside about 30 minutes this week to create your own personal mantra. Try for 20 words or less.

Remember, keep it simple. Keep it real.

Till next time,

Karen

The post Keep it Real in 2020! appeared first on PeopleThink.

Before we finish 2019 and embark on the new decade, I encourage you to set aside some time to reflect on what you’ve achieved and what you’ve learned, and how you will incorporate that into your plan for the future.

Find a quiet place, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, a pen and notebook and think through the past year, or if you like, the past decade. Here are some self-reflection questions to get you started.

-What was my greatest accomplishment this year?

-What was the most important thing I learned?

-What was a challenge I overcame, and how did I do it?

-What was a new skill(s) I developed?

-Was there an area of my life I neglected (e.g., too much work and not enough play)?

-Am I making progress toward my goals?

-Does my work, my employer, my life align with my values?

Based on your responses to these questions, identify at least one thing you’re going to STOP doing, one thing you’re going to START doing, and one thing you’re going to CONTINUE doing. Write them down. Assign a date. And post your list somewhere you can refer to it often.

Too often we rush into planning for the future without taking the time to reflect on what we’ve learned from the past.

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.” – Margaret J. Wheatley

Till next time,

Karen

The post Pause and Reflect: What Will You Stop, Start, Continue? appeared first on PeopleThink.

Often the work we need to do to achieve our goals involves changing our habits – either eliminating habits that work against our intentions, or creating new, more supportive ones. Either way, it involves change. And change can be difficult.

For example, maybe one of the things you want to do in the area of “eating healthier” is to limit dessert after dinner to weekends. No more weekday after-dinner sweets! But you’ve been having dessert after dinner since you were a kid. The meal just doesn’t feel complete without it. How do you make that change (and stick to it)?

In his best-selling book, Atomic Habits, author James Clear says, “Bad habits repeat themselves not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change…You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

The human brain is wired for immediate gratification. You know that piece of cake after dinner isn’t contributing to your long-term health (“a moment on the lips, a lifetime on your hips”) but oooooh, is it good! As Clear says, “the consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate.”

To break or establish habits and achieve your goals, you need to change your systems. “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results,” Clear says.

Our habits are behavior routines that have been repeated so often that they become automatic. To change them, we have to become aware of them and replace them with good habits.

Clear says that employing the first three laws of behavior change – make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy – will increase the chances of performing a new behavior. The fourth law – make it satisfying – will make it more likely that the new behavior will be repeated, and thus become a habit. When you want to eliminate a behavior, i.e, change a bad habit, you flip the process: make it invisible, make it unattractive, make it difficult, and make it unsatisfying.

Turning the new behavior into a (good) habit comes from making incremental improvements every day. And the best way to do this is to add “a little bit of immediate pleasure to the habits that pay off in the long-run and a little bit of immediate pain to the ones that don’t.”

Success in nearly every field, Clear says, requires you to ignore an immediate reward in favor of a delayed reward.

“Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement.” – James Clear

Till next time,

Karen

The post To Change Your Habits, Change Your System appeared first on PeopleThink.

Certainly, there were things in the past year we’d all rather forget. And yet, you are doing yourself a major disservice if you don’t pause to reflect on – from a personal and professional standpoint – some highlights of your year. What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What challenges did you overcome? What new skills did you develop? Taking stock of these items will not only improve your view of the past year, it will also help guide your thinking as you plan your goals, intentions, whatever you want to call them, for the new year.

So. Grab a tablet, a pen (or your laptop), and a beverage of your choice. Find a quiet place and allow yourself 30 minutes or so to list out the following for 2018:

What I accomplished

What I learned

A challenge I overcame and how

A new skill(s) I developed

Once you’ve made your list, give yourself some time to reflect on (and feel good about) all that you’ve achieved. Focus on the positive! Then, as you plan for 2019 (and you are developing a plan, right?) let your list help guide your intentions (that’s what I like to call them) for the new year.

I think we’ve all figured out that New Year’s “resolutions” don’t work. They are typically too broad (lose weight, get out of debt, win the lottery) and not tied to specific actions or deadlines. Research shows that 80% of them are abandoned by February. So why bother, right? Wrong!

I suggest a different approach. First of all, keep it simple yet specific. Second, keep it balanced. Too often we focus so much energy on changing one aspect of our life that we totally neglect the other aspects. For example, there’s that promotion you want, so you put 110% of your energy into doing the work, gaining the visibility, and finding the opportunity that will get you there. Pretty soon you’re skipping the gym, eating junk food at the office for dinner, and saying “no” to time with family and friends. “Vacation? Not happening!” And do you get the promotion? Maybe. But at what cost?

Here’s my guide for creating a simple plan that will help keep your life balanced and moving forward. It’s called the Circle of Life. As you consider your intentions for 2019, think about the eight aspects of your life illustrated below. Where do you spend the most effort? As you look back on 2018, what aspect did you neglect or ignore? How will you change that this year?

Now make one or two intentions for each aspect. Make them simple, make them specific, and write them down! Include due dates wherever possible.

Once you’ve created your plan, keep it visible. Put it someplace where you can see it every day. Schedule time on your calendar once a month to assess how you’re doing. Pay attention to what’s getting out of balance, e.g., when work is eating into your intentions in personal growth or friends/family. Make some adjustments to get back on track.

Taking a look back before moving forward and being more intentional about creating balance in our lives are components of my GET REAL philosophy. So often we burden ourselves with what others tell us we SHOULD do – “find passion in your work,” “lean in,” “keep climbing that corporate ladder,” – that we lose sight of what we WANT to do. We are so focused on the destination that we miss the view along the way.

Here’s to an amazing and balanced 2019! I’m declaring it a year to GET REAL! Stay tuned for more GET REAL developments.

“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” – Neil Gaiman

Till next time,

Karen

The post A New Year: Look Back Before Planning Forward appeared first on PeopleThink.

Here’s what research tells us about laughter.

Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh (I like to call it a “belly laugh”) relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes.

Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.

Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

In addition to these physical and emotional benefits of laughter, there are also cognitive and social benefits.  Humor and laughter contribute to increased creativity, improved problem solving, enhanced memory and increased ability to deal with stress.  They also strengthen bonds with family and friends, increase attractiveness to others, and contribute to happier marriages and closer relationships.

And you might also be interested to know that while you are laughing you are burning calories! A researcher from Vanderbilt University conducted a small study in which he measured the amount of calories expended in laughing. It turned out that 10-15 minutes of laughter burned 50 calories.

Perhaps the best testimony for laughing comes from those who have spent their lives helping us derive the benefits of a chuckle, a chortle, a guffaw, a giggle, a cackle, a crack up, a smile, and a big ol’ belly laugh.  Here’s what a few of them have said….

“Laughter is an instant vacation.” – Milton Berle

“We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.” – Ellen DeGeneres

“If love is the treasure, laughter is the key.” Yakov Smirnoff

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” – Mark Twain

“If Heaven exists, to know that there’s laughter, that would be a great thing.” – Robin Williams

“A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind of system of dividing people.” – John Cleese

“Live by this credo: have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.” – Red Skelton

Till next time…keep laughing,

Karen

The post Laughter Really IS the Best Medicine appeared first on PeopleThink.

Let’s get real.  Just saying “I’m sorry” doesn’t cut it.  Apology not accepted.

While you can’t go back and undo whatever the offense or error was, a few robo-words in response to it do not in any way compensate, nor do they make the offended party feel any better. You need to take ownership, acknowledge the impact of your error or offense, and assure the other person that it won’t happen again.  In other words, you need to be sincere about it. Saying “sorry” and being sorry are not the same things.

This applies to all errors or infractions, not just the big and public ones.

Imagine this scenario.  You’re on a project team with four other people.  The target project completion date is looming, and your deliverable is key to hitting that target. You’ve had a hellish couple of weeks. Family issues, and “fires” in your day-to-day responsibilities have put you behind. You didn’t alert anyone, because you were so sure you’d be able to catch up.  The day of reckoning – the status meeting – has arrived. How do you convey “mea culpa” to your team?

“I’m really sorry, folks. Between family issues and fighting fires there was just no way I could get it finished. I know it puts us behind, but it just couldn’t be helped.”

Or…

“I realize that my slipping this deadline has put our hitting the target date in peril. I should have given you a heads up early last week when I first recognized I might not make it. I didn’t, and I know that was irresponsible. Here’s what I’m going to do to get us back on track, and how I’ll prevent things like this in the future…”

As a member of the project team, which would convey more sincerity to you?

I’m on a mission to encourage more kindness and courtesy in people’s day-to-day lives. Promoting sincere apologies is part of that.  We’ve seen multiple examples of insincere apologies from politicians and other public figures. Enough already.

Let’s move the tide in a different direction by: 1) taking ownership; 2) acknowledging the impact; and 3) assuring the injured party that it won’t happen again.

Till next time,

Karen

The post Just Saying “Sorry” Doesn’t Cut It appeared first on PeopleThink.