Great leadership can be the catalyst to great success. In the National Basketball Association, the Golden State Warriors have earned their fourth NBA Championship in the past eight years. Steve Kerr, head coach of the Warriors, exemplifies the characteristics of leadership that could elevate  performance in many organizations.
 
In May 2017 Chris Ballard (no relation) wrote an article in Sports Illustrated, “No Coach, No Problem.” Ballard’s article provided insight into Kerr’s leadership style, illuminating ten characteristics of outstanding leaders. 

1. Respect. Great leaders earn respect and respect others. Players and other coaches respect Coach Kerr highly.
2. It’s not about you. When you make a moment about you and not the team or the organization, you start to lose them. It is always about them, about those you lead. Kerr allowed Sports Illustrated only one photo of himself.
3. Humility and compassion. Kerr: “The people to me who are the most powerful leaders are the ones who have great talent in whatever their field is, great conviction in their ability to teach it and act it, but an awareness and a humility and compassion for others” (p. 30)
4. Nurture freedom, build trust. Coach Kerr has built a culture where players are participants willing to share ideas. It’s not “my way or the highway” but the opposite. The players trust each other and the coaches and vice versa.
5. Empower. Kerr’s leadership is highly participative, not hierarchical. Regardless of minutes played, every player is part of the process, the flow, and ready to step up when called.
6. Grit. Out of high school Kerr only had one scholarship to a major college basketball program. Ballard noted that as an NBA player for 15 seasons, Kerr only started 30 games. Success goes to those who persevere.
7. Communicate. Kerr has conversations with players where as he puts it, he may “overcommunicate” and sometimes he writes notes to players. Players know where they stand; what they need to do to improve.
8. Know your people. Warrior player Draymond Green: “He knows me . . . That’s his thing. He has this feel for exactly what each player needs” (p.32).
9. Perspective: Kerr: “Take things seriously, but not yourself.”
10. Live your core values: Kerr: “What I learned from all the coaches I talked to was that your entire process has to reflect your core values” (p. 34). Kerr’s core values: joy, competition, compassion, mindfulness.

Chris Ballard summed up Kerr’s leadership as follows: "You want to lead like Kerr? Just be humble and grateful, curious and self-aware. Communicate, value family and empower others. When bad things happen, keep a broader perspective. Most of all, create something bigger than yourself . . ." (p. 35).

Ballard, C. (2017, May 29). "No coach, no problem." Sports Illustrated, 126 (15), 28-35. 
 
Image, “Steve Kerr,” by Keith Allison.
Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Kerr_(16453076458)_cropped.jpg
Used with  permission:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en 

Modified from my blog of 6/15/2017.© John Ballard, PhD,  2022. All rights reserved.
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Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

What do you bring to your job? Make a list of what you think you bring to your company. Your list might include  experience, education, attitudes, knowledge, skills, abilities. These are your inputs to the job as you perceive them. 

​What do you expect from the job? These might include company’s benefit, pay, opportunities for growth, fair treatment, good working conditions, a satisfying job. These are your valued outcomes.  While these inputs and outcomes listed may be easy to identify, others are not. For example, what did you list about your level of effort?
 
Everyone in the office marveled at Karen. If there were a superwoman, she was it. She got the toughest assignments and made them look easy. Admired by all, praised by her bosses, Karen was a wonder. Her co-workers were amazed how anyone could work so hard all the time. Karen knew how others viewed her – and she thought, “If they only knew.” Karen was a hard worker, a smart worker, with outstanding organizing skills – and while occasionally an assignment would cause her to turn up her effort, most of the time she was on cruise control with plenty of energy to spare. “If I worked as hard as I could, they would be amazed”, she thought.
 
Do you give 100% on the job? My guess is that if you do, you’re on your way to burnout. People work at different levels of effort. Some people give so much at the office there is nothing left when they get home. Others moderate their efforts so the job gets done but there is energy for other activities after work. Many of us find a happy medium that satisfies our employer and ourselves. Few people give it all each and every day.
             
So am I advocated coasting in our jobs? Of course not. Over time an employee will settle into a level of effort consistent with what’s needed to get the job done and individual factors, such as one’s need to achieve. This level will vary with each person, the job, and the situational factors of the job. But if you give your very best each and every moment of every day, there will be nothing in reserve when it is needed. There are times when we turn it on and other times when we work less hard. Employers and managers who push employees relentlessly will likely pay the price in stress-related medical costs, absenteeism, and turnover.

Revised from Decoding the Workplace, Chapter Seven, Organizational Socialization.

Image, "Superwoman", by Saydung89. Obtained from https://pixabay.com/vectors/superwoman-heroine-mother-woman-5709443/

© John Ballard, PhD, 2022. All rights reserved.
__________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.
 
 

“Soft skills.” Do you, your colleagues, your organization use that term? Through study and practice we learn “hard skills”, often technical, sometimes quantitative, skills essential to accomplish job-related tasks. On the other hand, we have come to understand that success on the job, good performance, even promotions often come down to “soft” skills, those related to interacting and working with people. I agree with Jennifer Parlamis and Matthew Monnot (2019):
 
“We need to retire the term ‘soft skills.’”
 
What words come to mind when you associate to the word “soft.” Parlamis and Monnot stated that “the word ‘soft’ is often used as a pejorative term”, e.g., soft on crime, soft sciences. They noted that synonyms for soft tend to be derogatory, such as “weak”, “dull”, “wimpy.” They argue that the set of skills we refer to as “soft” be reframed with another term and suggested “CORE skills” for Competence in Organizational and Relational Effectiveness.
 
There is another reason for eliminating “soft skills” from our vocabulary. Given a list of words and asked whether a word is associated more with men or women, the word “soft” will be associated more with women. I have tried this in the classroom and both sexes, nearly 100%, associated “soft” with women. Soft is a sex-role stereotype. It can affect hiring, performance appraisals, promotions. It is time to stop using the term “soft skills.” Furthermore, there is nothing soft about them.
 
I propose we use the term “relational skills” in place of “soft skills.”
 
I have used “relational skills” for decades across all aspects of my professional life. While people will not instinctively know what CORE skills are (or are already using CORE in a different context), they will intuitively understand the meaning of “relational skills”. [For an in-depth discussion of relational practice and implications for women, I recommend Joyce Fletcher (1999). ]
 
Concluding:
 
1. Using the term “soft skills” has negative implications. “Relational skills” is more descriptive and free of those implications.
 
2. For more on unintentional sex-role stereotyping in the workplace, see this blog.
 
3. The choice of our words and phrases in our conduct can be important. As a young child our daughter asked, “Dad, why don’t you ever call me and my brother kids?” To which I replied smiling, “When you act like baby goats, I will.”
 
Fletcher, J. (1999). Disappearing acts: Gender, power, and relational practice at work. The MIT Press.
 
Parlamis, J., & Monnot, M. J. (2019). Getting to the CORE: Putting an end to the term “soft skills”. Journal of Management Inquiry, 28(2), 225-227.
 
Image, "Team", by geralt, Obtained from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/team-people-silhouettes-drawing-123085/

© John Ballard, PhD, 2022. All rights reserved.
__________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a massive, uncontrolled, unplanned experiment. Millions of people left their offices to work remotely, mostly from home. In a March 13 New York Times report, Emma Goldberg shared research findings. Here are some facts and statistics gleaned from her article.

• Because of the pandemic, 50 million workers in the United States “left their offices.”
• For white-collar workers: Pre-pandemic 6% worked from home; during pandemic, 65%. (Gallup)
• Nearly 70% “reluctant to return” to office jobs (FlexJobs).
• Reasons working remotely preferred: safety, quality time with children and pets, flexibility for other activities, casual dress, no unnecessary office interaction (results of NYT survey/interviews) 
• Knowledge workers: % agreeing remote work beneficial (Future Forum):

            86% Hispanic
            81% Black
            75% White 

• Desire to work remotely “most or all of the time”, global survey (Future Forum):

            50% Mothers
            43% Fathers

• Increase in “sense of belonging at work” for knowledge workers working remotely (Future Forum)

            24% Black
              5% White
 
Youngjoo Cha, Indiana University sociologist: “We had a nationwide experiment in telecommuting. These conditions challenged the notion of ideal workers.”
 
The New York Times surveyed over 700 people and interviewed over 25. Here are some comments from interviewees:

• “I won’t be going back to the office. Ever.”
• (After receiving promotion and pay raise): “If I had continued going into the office, there might have been some excuse around likability".
• “There are still a lot of spaces in a lot industries where just being a woman of color is an outlier. The side conversations, the pre-meeting conversations, the post-meeting conversations, the inside jokes – they all subtly add up to tell you that you don’t quite fit.”
• “What a relief not to have to go in day after day, week after week, and fail at making friends and having fun.”
• “I feel  a little bit depressed when I wake up at 8 a.m., go to my coffee table, sit there at my computer on Zoom from 9 to 5, and then just close my computer and haven’t left my tiny studio all day.”
• “Not one single person who re-enters the office in the next three months is the same as the one who left.”

 
Full-time U.S. remote workers (Gallup):

• 2019 4%
• 2020 May 43%
• 2021 December 26%

 
My take-aways:
 
1. Employees want flexibility in times and places to work.  For many jobs working remotely is possible. Management attitudes though could be a limiting factor. In a March 2021 blog I discussed published remarks in The Wall Street Journal from 19 CEOs. The majority felt remote work was problematic – less quality, less productivity, less innovation. Organizations will make different decisions; some based on data, some on managerial preferences.
 
2.  One result, as discussed in another blog, may be a two-tier workplace. Peter Cappelli of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School addressed this in an August 2021 Wall Street Journal article. He argued,  “face time still matters” and “on-site employees will get the bulk of the attention – and the promotions.”
 
3. A contribution of this March New York Times article is to bring individual differences into the remote, hybrid, office discussion. Those of us who are more introverted may be more comfortable with less in-person interaction, less chitchat. In other workplaces racial, ethic or gender differences may make remote work more desirable. For example, as the article mentioned, women tend to be more comfortable than men in offices that are warmer. As Parkinson et al. stated, “the associated impacts of this pervasive overcooling on well-being and performance are borne predominantly by women.”
 
4. This time of remote work has highlighted issues that have been understated or ignored. If leaders attend to the lessons of the pandemic years, organizational decisions can be made that should benefit both the organization and its employees.
 
Goldberg, E. (2022, March 13). "Who is the office for?" New York Times. Online March      10: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/business/remote-work-office-life.

Parkinson, T., Schiavon, S., de Dear, R., & Brager, G. (2021). Overcooling of offices reveals gender inequity in    thermal comfort.Scientific Reports, 11. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03121-1

Image, "Remote Working", by kreatikar, Obtained from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/remote-working-freelancer-network-4561363/​

© John Ballard, PhD, 2022. All rights reserved.
__________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

​​World events can affect people in the workplace. We are still experiencing the effects of COVID-19 and its variants.  Remote and hybrid work are more common now. Organizations can develop policies to deal with health issues such as those associated with the pandemic. More difficult are recognizing and addressing stress and mental health issues, especially those stemming from seemingly remote world events.
 
Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian military forces to invade Ukraine. The individual impact of this and subsequent actions by the EU, NATO, and others varies widely. Imagine a continuum. On one end are those affected directly for whom this may even be a life or death situation. On that end of the continuum may be U.S. companies, such as in the tech sector, with Ukrainian operations that have a large number of employees there. For them it has been decision time. Do we stay or do we go?
 
Then there may be colleagues of Ukrainian descent, which you may or may not know, who struggle with the realities of what is happening in their ancestral homeland, and possibly to relatives and friends in harm’s way. Intrusive thoughts, perhaps grief, and concerns may affect the ability to focus, to work normally. Over a million U.S. citizens are of Ukrainian descent.
 
Images and media coverage of war affect many. From seeing the bodies of soldiers, and civilians, to the destruction in once peaceful neighborhoods. Troubling events may trouble the mind. Some will simply ignore the media coverage because it is too upsetting.
 
On the other end of the continuum, there will be people who do not care about Ukraine, out of sight, out of mind.
 
The war in Ukraine can impact the mental health of employees. Recognize this possibility. Acknowledge what is happening as you see appropriate. If possible, make sure employees are aware of the availability of mental health resources.
 
It has not been business as usual during the pandemic. It is not business as usual with a war in Europe.  

Image by Danielhadmanphotography. Obtained from https://pixabay.com/photos/veterans-day-anzac-day-anzac-4653833/
 
 © John Ballard, PhD, 2022. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook, paperback, and audio CD. ​

My annual blog about the importance of reading books, modified from my previous January blogs. 

My experience is the best leaders always have a book they are reading. Reading is essential to lifelong learning, which is essential to our growth.

What role do books play in your life? In your learning? My guess is that for many, we just don’t have enough time. Making time to read books is important. I usually have several books in my study that I am working through. On long trips I enjoy audiobooks. I have friends who like audiobooks best. Currently the audio version of my book Decoding the Workplace outpaces the other formats.

How do you nurture book reading in those who do not enjoy reading? As leaders, we lead by example. We talk about books we are reading, we share stories, we talk about how books have affected our lives. I'm often asked what book influenced me the most as a manager and consultant. Easy to answer: Peter Drucker's Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, and Practices. I came across this book as a young manager when I was first building consulting capabilities in my teams. I have returned to it for knowledge, wisdom, and ideas throughout my career.  

In 2021 two books had the most influence on me. The first is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor in the second century. Meditations is just that, a book of reflections written by Marcus Aurelius. These were notes he made for himself. They were never intended to be shared or published. The first chapter consists of remarks about people for whom he was thankful. For me the book really begins in the second of the twelve chapters. Aurelius reflects on many aspects of human behavior, temperament, personal conduct, human relations, death. In his youth he was schooled in Stoic philosophy which he integrated into his life. Thus it is not surprising that Meditations is considered a great work of Stoicism. I read Meditations slowly, digesting, highlighting, and thinking about passages as I read them. The wisdom and insights in Meditations remain relevant in the 21st Century. 
 
The second book is Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life, the memoir of Donna McKechnie, dancer, actor, and singer. McKechnie was a dancer on a 1965-66 TV musical program Hullabaloo, segments of which stream on YouTube. In 1976 she was awarded a Tony as Best Actress for her role in A Chorus Line. I was curious how she went from a TV program to starring on Broadway so I checked out this book. Imagine my surprise to learn she was on Broadway even before she was a dancer on Hullabaloo. Apart from the story of McKechnie’s fascinating life, the book took me into the world of theater, learning about acting, dancing, and the lifestyle of performers. Sometimes a book expands your horizons, takes you where you’ve never been. Time Steps was like that for me. 

As we begin 2022, here are a few of the books I am reading or are on my reading list:

• Now Comes Good Sailing: Writers Reflect on Henry David Thoreau edited by Andrew Blauner
• The Saturn Above It: An Anthology of Short Fiction about Space edited by Karen Stevens
• The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman 
• The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson
• Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys by Michael Collins
• A Short History of War by Jeremy Black
• The Experience of Leadership: Proven Examples from Successful Leaders by Fred Stuvek, Jr. (I contributed a chapter to this book and am now reading the other chapters.)

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them," Mark Twain. 

Or as the comedian Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”   
 
What are you reading?
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Aurelius, M. (2020). Meditations: The philosophy classic. John Wiley & Sons

McKechnie, D. (2006). Time steps: My musical comedy life. Simon & Schuster.

Image, my photo. 
​
© John Ballard, PhD, 2022. All rights reserved.
 _________________________
Decoding the Workplace “deals with principles and practices that are timeless . . . Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Now also available as an audiobook, paperback, and audio CD. ​

My most popular blog of the past nine years discussed differences between authentic and servant leadership. Thinking about giving and kindness of leaders, I researched and found few academic journal articles. However, I did find an interesting reference to James Hunter’s “The Servant.”  

Johnson and Vishwanath (2011) shared Hunter’s thoughts on how love is about behaviors, such as being kind and giving of self to others. Specially Hunter (1998, p. 124) suggested the true leader demonstrates the following behaviors:

1. Self-control (patience)
2. Appreciates others
3. Encourages others
4. Gives attention
5. Acts with respect to others
6. Seeks to meet others’ needs
7. Is honest
8. Forgives
9. Commits to decisions made and sticks to them
10. Seeks “greatest good for others”

My take-away:

Hunter (and Johnson et al.) are talking about servant leadership but regardless, this list makes sense. Each of these activities should increase influence, and perhaps inspire others. 

Consider using this list for a self-assessment as we begin the new year. Rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means “I do not demonstrate this behavior” to 5, “I demonstrate this behavior very often.” Then look at the gaps. Where do you need to change your behaviors or work on some aspect of being a better leader? Self-reflection is at the heart of leader development. This might be a useful exercise. 

Best wishes for the New Year. 

Hunter, J. C. (1998). The servant: A simple story about the true essence of leadership. New York: Crown. 

Johnson, A. C., & Vishwanath, K. R. (2011).  Servant professorship and its implications. International Journal of Education Research, 6 (1), 135-146.

Image, "Team Spirit", by Kalhh. Obtained from pixabay.com/illustrations/team-spirit-teamwork-euro-959269/

Modified from my blog of 12/29/2014. © John Ballard, PhD, 2021. All rights reserved.
 __________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook, and CD, are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

People who exude confidence often seem to be natural leaders. Perhaps it is the erect posture, or the confident tone of voice, or the way the person looks at you and others directly. Some people look and act confidently. Such people often move into positions of leadership.

Connson Locke (London School of Economics and Political Science) and Cameron Anderson (University of California, Berkley) wondered how people who appear to be highly confident affect the behavior of others, specifically in decision-making. Does a person who appears to be highly confident “cause others to participate less, or to suppress their own ideas and opinions’ (p. 42). Studies have suggested that people who appear to be highly confident are more likely to be seen as competent -- people who know their stuff --regardless of whether this is true.

In a series of three different experimental studies Locke and Anderson examined this topic. What did they find?

• On decision-making tasks, participants viewed the highly confident person as more competent and participated less.
• Even when the highly confident person had incorrect opinions, participants deferred.
• When highly confident people sought others’ ideas, the participants were more likely to participate, off-setting the effect of perceived competence.

My take-aways:

1.  We often do see people as leaders, or potential leaders, who carry themselves well, speak with confidence, and look at us while talking. We tend to select and promote these people into positions of power and leadership. Not all perhaps, but many. We may have a stereotype of the leader.  What are the implications for those who do not fit the stereotype?

2.  For leaders recognize you may be perceived as more competent or smarter than you are. You may intimidate others simply by being yourself and suppress participative decision-making. The solution: Genuinely seek others’ opinions and ideas, admitting you do not have all the answers. 

Locke, C. C., & Anderson, C. (2015). The downside of looking like a leader: Power, nonverbal confidence, and participative decision-making. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 58, 42-47.

Image by mwitt337 obtained from https://pixabay.com/photos/meeting-business-architect-office-2284501/

This blog is modified from my blog of February 14, 2015.  © John Ballard, PhD, 2021. All rights reserved.
 __________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook and CD are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

How well do you understand what is going on around you in your virtual, hybrid, or traditional workplace? For most of us, there is a lot of information in our work environment to which we do not attend or do not understand. Active learning is built on the premise that we can learn by being more aware of what happens around us and then reflecting on that information. Most of us are not very good at this. I designed my book Decoding the Workplace to encourage introspection and active learning, to help readers understand what is happening around them in the workplace. 

In my chapter in the newly published book The Experience of Leadership by Fred Stuvek Jr., I emphasize the importance of being prepared to lead, regardless of whether you plan or desire to be a leader. One of the rules-of-thumb I discussed is the value in reflecting and being introspective. Here is an excerpt:
_________________________________

Carla was great at her job but did not interact much with her office colleagues. She was often the last to know new information about what was happening in the organization. Every day she brown-bagged her lunch and ate alone at her desk. Others also brown-bagged but ate together in the conference room. After reading about informal networks in the workplace and their impact on work, Carla reflected on the brown bags. She knew that she tended to be introverted and liked the quiet lunch in her office, but she wondered if it might be better to join the others in the conference room. So she tried it and to her surprise through others she became more in the loop at the office. As a result she became even better at her job. 
 
I developed this habit of reflecting and being introspective in my youth and have continued through a lifetime. Emerging from these moments have been insights which I bounced off close friends. I have not always been successful in being a better me but taking the time to think about situations and actions increased my effectiveness. The best leaders have self-knowledge. Know yourself. 
 
There is also a benefit to taking time to reflect and think about where you are going. As an adult I made goals and have reviewed and revised annually. This holds true also in leading organizations. We have a tendency to be reactive, not proactive. 

As a young officer I realized I was spending my days reacting, not planning. I could not get ahead of the curve. One day when I came to work, I told my secretary I did not want to be disturbed, to hold all calls unless from they came from very high in my chain of command. I went into my office, closed the door, and spent the entire day in my office thinking about our mission and what my part of the organization was really about. That day I developed an idea of where I wanted us to go and how we might get there. At the next meeting with my teams, I shared my thoughts, got their thoughts and feedback. Working together, we focused on more effective, meaningful training. With better skill sets came more success at our primary mission. And with that came promotions and recognition for my teams. If you understand your priorities, you make time to reflect – on your work and your life. 
__________________________________

Ballard, J. (2021). Be prepared to lead. In F. Stuvek, Jr., The experience of leadership: Proven examples from successful leaders (pp. 79-94). Triumvirate.  

Ballard, J. (2015). Decoding the workplace: 50 keys to understanding people in organizations. Praeger.

Image modified from media kit for The Experience of Leadership courtesy of Fred Stuvek Jr. 
 
Blog © John Ballard, PhD, 2021. All rights reserved.
 __________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook and CD are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.

People have informal networks and informal groups at work and elsewhere about which you may or may not be aware.The importance of these informal groups and networks should not be underestimated. In your workplace, physical or virtual, do you know who knows whom well? Do you know where there are relationships away from work? Even if you do not know an informal group exists, it can affect your work or your career. 

I returned to my office on a Monday after a week on a consulting trip. A casual acquaintance dropped by. After some small talk he remarked, “I heard your team did a great job last week. Sweet.” I thought we did but how did he know? Turns out a member of my team attended the same church as my casual acquaintance. They talked on Sunday. I had no idea of their relationship. 

Think about the relationships you have at work. Formal relationships are defined by the organization and are usually involuntary, for example you and your supervisor or the people with whom you are required to work. Informal groups or networks tend to be voluntary. They may or may not include people in your formal groups or networks.

Informal groups and networks in the workplace help get work done. Can you identify your informal groups in your work?

• To whom do you go when you need work-related information? 
• Who comes to you for information? 
• Who can you count on to help you sort out a work-related problem? 
• Who do you need on your side when advancing an idea, initiative, or work-related issue? 

These informal networks naturally arise out of individual strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. They exist on your first day of work but usually no one tells you about them. To identify informal groups and networks you observe, make mental notes, and learn by trial and error. Observe how informal communications flow, who listens to whom. Knowing the informal networks and groups around you can potentially increase your effectiveness and how you are perceived by others in the workplace. 

Image, "Meeting", Peggy_Marco. Obtained from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/meeting-collaboration-meet-people-1015591/ 
 
This blog is modified from Decoding the Workplace. © John Ballard, PhD, 2021. All rights reserved.
 __________________________
Decoding the Workplace “Is this a must-have for managers and would-be managers? Yes.” Academy of Management Learning & Education, June, 2018. Available as ebook, hardback, paperback, audiobook, and audio CD. The best-selling audiobook and CD are narrated by Timothy Andrés Pabon.