As employers, it’s your duty to equip your team with the resources to be successful, including ongoing training. While I think everyone would agree that investing money and time on leadership skills, new technologies, product knowledge, customer service and sales skills are all important, there’s one category I would implore business leaders to add to the mix: life skills.
Over the long haul, I do not believe that it’s possible to compartmentalize one’s work life from home life and vice versa. Sure, in the short term you can keep the stresses of a high-pressure job out of the home, but if corrosive job demands persist long enough, eventually tension will spill over. Likewise, an unfulfilled home life will soon adversely impact your office productivity.
Part of the solution is offering employees techniques and strategies aimed to help impact the entire life, not just work life. Workshops structured to help employees both in and out of the office may feel a little uncomfortable for leaders who believe training should be relegated to the conventional. But I would submit they’re of dire necessity for your organization’s health.
In today’s business environment, the line between our professional and personal lives is more blurred than ever. Technology and modern workplace demands put many workers on call nearly 24/7. Look around; notice the many people busy responding to work emails in line at the coffee shop, in their cars at the stoplights or even while walking across the street.
Here are three ways to incorporate life skills coaching into your organization:
What: Offer optional workshops on topics such as stress management, personal finances, setting goals you can keep, organizational skills, work-life balance, self-motivation, healthy eating, etc. Circulate a survey to find out which ones resonate with the team and schedule your first workshop.
Who: Find expert speakers on each subject to educate your team or even better, identify adept people on your own team that would jump at the chance to help impact their peers.
When: Regularly incorporate these workshops throughout the work year. My suggestion is to at least once a month offer an optional seminar for all employees.
Your team already knows that life and work aren’t mutually exclusive. They’ll find that not only are the workshops a nice change of pace, they will thank you for providing the resources and knowledge, too.
By Marty Fukuda
Source: Entrepreneur
CEOs are spending more time on making the business case for their environmental and social commitments, and they’re building more rigorous mechanisms for addressing thorny issues and mitigating PR risks. To avoid communications missteps, CEOs should ensure they have the organizational capabilities and tools in place to monitor and analyze emerging issues and to gauge the sentiment of key stakeholders.
The vast majority of business leaders responding to a recent survey said they’re concerned they can’t train employees quickly enough to keep up with AI and tech developments in the next three years. A similar amount said AI and other tech disruptions will require companies to rethink skills, resources and new ways of doing work.
If you were to ask a random person on the street what an HR professional does, their answer would probably be conflict resolution, or that HR folks deal with employee salaries and benefits. And while that is part of an HR professional’s responsibilities — to ensure employee safety, respect and accountability — that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
