news & updates

Keep up with the latest developments in coaching, team development, and onboarding. Our News and Updates include News, Newsletters, Press Releases, Blogs, and More. Filter by our three areas of expertise. 

Select a Topic

Service Type

Type:

Coaching, Teams

News

It’s wishful thinking to imagine difficult conversations will never arise in the workplace. As inevitable as it is uncomfortable, you’ll likely have to initiate a challenging conversation with a colleague sooner or later. Whether dealing with differing opinions, navigating sensitive topics, or addressing conflict, finding the right way to approach this tough task will help you improve the likelihood of a successful outcome.

When Are Challenging Conversations Necessary?

As much as you may try to avoid getting stuck in a difficult conversation, many issues within the workplace will not dissipate if they’re not addressed. Still, simply ignoring the problem at hand is the way that 53% of employees choose to handle a “toxic” situation. Only 24% of employees would choose to address the situation directly. Avoiding a challenging conversation can prolong the problem, lower team morale, and hurt business productivity.

For context, let’s imagine a scenario warranting a difficult workplace conversation. You and a colleague may share responsibilities–whether that’s managing client communication, handling administrative tasks, or producing certain deliverables–but you find them delegating tasks to you. Maybe they’ve started to hand off client onboarding, report generation, or other tasks they also should be managing. As your workload increases, finding the right way to discuss this imbalance with your colleague can help you remedy the situation and come to a mutually agreeable resolution. Without the right communication skills, you could be among the 49.7% of individuals who don’t report a positive outcome, such as increased stress levels, resentment towards your colleague, or lowered performance as you struggle to get all the tasks done.

Preparing For a Successful Conversation

Challenging conversations are difficult for a reason, but taking the time to prepare can help you effectively communicate your point of view without sounding accusatory or aggressive. Here are a few steps you can take to make the conversation productive and successful:

  1. Determine Your Talking Points: Start by jotting down the key points you’re looking to communicate with your colleague. This can help guide the conversation, but remember, you don’t need to prepare a script. While you can try to predict what your colleague might say, the real-life conversation may not go as planned. Instead, approach the conversation with a flexible mindset and have a variety of potential responses ready to go. This will help you maintain a forward momentum throughout the discussion.
  2. Focus On The Facts: Many workplace issues can stir negative feelings and strong emotions. While you want to convey to your colleague how the issue is affecting you, you’ll also want to focus on the facts of the situation. By focusing on the facts, you can help to separate what might be assumptions from the truth. Armed with facts, this can help you support your argument and avoid making the matter too personal.
  3. Seek Understanding Over Agreement: When dealing with some challenging situations, it can be difficult to see eye-to-eye. Many workplace conflicts stem from misunderstandings, so establishing a mutual understanding between two individuals can ensure you’re not missing out on vital information. During the conversation, ensure your colleague feels heard and has the chance to express their perspective as well.
  4. Work Together to Find a Solution: These conversations are not about who’s right and who’s wrong. If your conversation has been successful and productive, it should result in actionable steps you and your colleague can take together to resolve the issue. You can also seek to agree on a timeframe for a follow-up meeting to revisit the situation and ensure everyone is on the same page.

 

Difficult Conversations Pay Off

Even with the best preparation, tough conversations will never be fun. Still, they can have a significant, positive impact on colleagues and the larger organization. These benefits can include:

● Strengthening workplace relationships and fostering an environment of trust
● Clearing up misunderstandings or misconceptions
● Reducing workplace stress by de-escalating issues
● Improving productivity and collaboration by removing roadblocks
● Enhancing communication skills

Thus, individuals within an organization need to identify when there is an opportunity for them to address issues with a challenging conversation. Not only will they be able to seek a better outcome for themselves, but these colleagues can also drive valuable change within the organization.

For leaders who are unsure where to start tackling their team’s issues, Connect the Dots can help teams develop new tools to engage and be productive with their teammates.

Contact us to learn more about our team development and performance solutions.

News

Brenda was part of a panel discussion with Washington University colleagues Andrea Kressel, Cynthia Marich, and Philip Payne, Ph.D. The panel topic is: The great disconnection: What leaders in academic medicine need to know and do to engage and develop talent.

Click to view her presentation.

News

How Organizations Can Address Current Challenges and Anticipate the Next Ones

There is a trend according to recent Gallup data that employees are feeling more disconnected, underappreciated, and burned out.  The “false proverb” about work has been revealed and organizations must respond or face another round of turnover or quiet quitting.  We tackled this tough topic in our recent CHRO networking event. Following is a summary of our discussion.

Discussion Points


Discussion Themes from the data:

All our participants agreed that the data supports what we’re seeing.  And leaders don’t know how to respond or help their employees manage workloads and shifting priorities.  We continue to have to do more with less and help our leaders lead in this environment.

Burnout has always been present, but the causes are what is changing. Some managers are “frozen” and don’t know how to help burned-out employees, especially those who are new to people leading.

Engagement surveys bring a “thread” of unfair treatment that may or may not be what most organizations are experiencing.

Mental health has become the number one cost driver in health care for most organizations.

Many factors are contributing to the “broken workplace” including that people are quicker to change jobs, there are five generations in the workplace, and added societal and economic pressures.

 What is the role of the leader in employee’s well-being?

Leaders must play many roles – teacher, coach, parent, confidante and counselor.

Leaders are having conversations about “well-being.”  This is challenging because we have conditioned leaders to stay away from personal topics to avoid legal issues.

We must help leaders get back to basics and focus on the things that are important – reduce the noise!

Need additional support?


As your leaders continue to stretch themselves to navigate new and challenging dynamics, coaching support can help them do so more effectively. CTD’s on-target® and quickconnect® coaching models give you the flexibility to invest in targeted coaching at any level.

Effective onboarding is another tool for organizations who want to differentiate themselves as an employer. Check out our solutions for leadership and all-employee onboarding that provide a branded, customized experience for your new hires. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you about your specific leadership development needs and a custom solution. For more information and to learn about our full range of other services, please visit our website.

Onboarding

News

Erika will be a featured speaker at the Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues address the topic: Onboard Like a CEO: Strategies from the corner office to engage and develop your new hires

Description:

Onboard new hires like a CEO? What would an “executive experience” look like and how could it impact your new hires’ engagement levels? Per Gallup, 88% of employees don’t think their current organization is good at onboarding and 76% of HR don’t think they are doing a good job at onboarding employees. Robust onboarding addresses organizational challenges – attracting top talent, engagement, productivity, and high turnover . You’ll get six strategies “borrowed” from executive onboarding you can implement immediately, including how to quickly build organizational knowledge; build key relationships and deliver timely feedback to adjust and avoid negative turnover.

Teams

News

Brenda will be part of a panel discussion with Washington University colleagues Andrea Kressel, Cynthia Marich, and Philip Payne, Ph.D. The panel topic is: The great disconnection: What leaders in academic medicine need to know and do to engage and develop talent.

Description:

Recent years have served as an accelerator for organizations to transform traditional workplace norms to more holistically support today’s workforce. Organizations can no longer argue that productivity decreases in the hybrid setting. Skilled knowledge workers in a healthcare and academic setting are in demand; if they are not entrusted to personalize and adjust their workdays, they will go elsewhere. To manage effectively, Peter Drucker writes, “means to face up to the new realities. It means starting out with the question, ‘what is the world really like?’ rather than with assertions and assumptions that made sense only a few years ago.”

Learning objectives:

  • Define leadership traits and competencies needed for successfully managing today’s academic healthcare workforce, including managing ambiguity and instilling trust in colleagues and employees
  • Address gaps that exist in much of the academic health workforce to support professional development and career transitions
  • Provide current academic healthcare workforce data to support how to lead today’s knowledge workers
  • Discuss tools that align most effectively for a hybrid workforce

Onboarding

News

Brenda Hampel & Erika Lamont, co-founders of Connect the Dots Consulting, were recently featured on the podcast series: Innovating Leadership: Co-Creating Our Future as onboarding experts.

More than 40% of new leaders fail within 18 months. Why?

Don’t blame the leader; look at the organization instead! Most organizations don’t onboard a new leader well, if at all. They assume a person’s success at one company will automatically transfer to theirs – but there are far too many variables at play to bank on that. Instead, an onboarding plan that goes beyond HR protocols and benefits sign-up is necessary: a plan that considers company culture, history, team dynamics…even quality of life differences if the new leader is coming from out of town!

Brenda Hampel and Erika Lamont of Connect the Dots share tips, tricks, and outright wisdom from years of experience helping organizations maximize the success of their new leaders.

Here’s what Brenda, Erika, and host Maureen Metcalf cover:

  1. The three main components of a good onboarding plan;
  2. Why overlooking help with personal transitions – including spouse and children – is a key reason for new leaders leaving your organization; and
  3. Why how you handled your workforce during the COVID pandemic is the ultimate litmus test for a leader considering your job offer.

Teams

News

We are pleased to partner with Val Ries, author of Chief Inspiration Officer, to offer a Management Mastery Class for developing your leaders.  We hosted a webinar to review the details of the program and offer pilot pricing.  We are looking for a few qualified organizations to launch a pilot in early 2023.

Please check out the recording for more information and feel free to reach out with any questions.

Onboarding

News

Based on feedback Brenda Hampel, Managing Director, Connect the Dots received in her presentation at a recent conference, many organizations continue to look for effective ways to ensure their onboarding practices meet the expectations and needs of new employees.

Over 75 HR professionals attended her session “Disrupt Your Onboarding Experience,” designed to help participants:

  • Identify the strengths and weaknesses of their onboarding processes and
  • Integrate the newest onboarding technology practices and tools

The presentation included several real-time feedback polls to assess the current state of onboarding at participants’ organizations and help CTD tailor its content delivery.  The following charts outline the feedback we received during the session.

Why “disrupt” your onboarding experience?

HR professionals in attendance were most motivated to improve their onboarding systems to increase retention of new hires and engage employees, and get employees up to speed faster (38% and 33%, respectively).  Getting new hires up to speed and improving ease of manager participation were much less likely to be the drivers of participant’s onboarding focus.  No participants indicated a specific need to address the multi-generational workforce with onboarding.

What is the current state of onboarding in your organization?

All session participants reported that they conduct some onboarding activities in their organizations; however, about half focused mainly on orientation activities.  Nearly 20% also included training activities, and an additional 24% also include some socialization.  Only 10% of respondents reported having a formal, structured process with an onboarding plan, defined roles, and feedback.

What type of technology are you currently using for your onboarding experience?

Over half of participants were not using any technology to support their onboarding processes.  The remaining participants implemented a branded onboarding website (24%) or email and calendar planning only (24%). No participants reported using social media to connect with new hires or linking their systems to existing HRIS systems. 

 

Your Onboarding Experience

Where is your onboarding program hitting and missing the mark? What best-practice updates can you make to better meet your organization’s needs?

Take a look at our onboarding solutions for the new hire as well as for new leader transition to see how we help dynamic companies effectively onboard their team members

 

Onboarding

News

Onboarding expert Jennifer Foster and CVS’s Learning and Talent Professional, Lois O’Brien were featured as presenters at the recent ATD Techknowledge virtual conference where they co-presented: Reimaging the Onboarding Experience: Using Technology for a Hybrid Workforce. Here is an overview of the topic:

The world has changed. Remote work, hybrid workforce, “new normal”—whatever you are calling it, it’s is here to stay. During this session, you will hear how CVS Health is using Connect the Dots’ onboarding technology to meet and exceed the needs of its new hires, regardless of geographic location or where work gets done. You will learn about the current state of onboarding, what new hires are asking for, and how to blend technology with key human interactions to create the engaging and consistent onboarding experience your organization needs to recruit and retain great talent.

Application on the Job:

  • Learn current trends to build the business case for introducing new technological components.
  • Understand how to build an onboarding experience that blends technology and high-touch delivery methods.
  • Create a digital experience that supports a hybrid workforce.

 

You can watch and listen to their presentation by clicking on this link: https://players.brightcove.net/4684385851001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6297673188001

Our team-connect Survey Process

 

We start with thoughtfully diagnosing the team’s current culture by using available data, assessments and interviews.

This provides the team leader with a clear view of what is getting in the way of the team’s success.

We design a series of structured team sessions that:

  • Share the team culture analysis
  • Give team members the opportunity to talk through both processes and behaviors that need to be addressed
  • Productively provide feedback to one another
  • Develop both team and individual commitments that will lead to the team’s desired state

 

Measure progress by leveraging CTD’s team-connect Survey to:

  • Drive accountability and measure progress by collecting team feedback specific to one another’s engagement and behavioral change
  • Provide the team’s leader with a clear understanding of what he/she and the team need from each other to enable and support the team’s success
  • Share team and individual survey result reports