Adaptive Leadership: 3 Ways Play Prepares Leaders for Change
If there’s one thing that 2020 taught us, it’s that change is inevitable. Not only that, but being prepared to navigate the ambiguity that comes along with change is a…
What Is Playful Leadership?
Leadership is a serious subject. Organizational leaders are responsible for making decisions that can significantly impact the people and companies they serve. They are accountable for shaping cultures, setting the…
Telecommuting & Working Remotely: 5 Ways to Sustain Company Innovation
Business leaders recognize the importance of innovation for the long-term success of organizations. In a study by Accenture, 84% of executives believe innovation is key to long-term organizational success. But…
Why Short-Term Motivation Fails but Long-Term Motivation Succeeds
When it comes to motivating employees, most people in the leadership development field refer to Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. This work does an…
Why Short-Term Motivation Fails
What motivates you to go to work every day? Is it purpose? The paycheck? Neither one is right or wrong, but one may be better than the other. When it…
A woman and man shaking hands after performance coaching
Your Guide to Performance Coaching
These days, many people are talking about how coaching is an essential skill for managers and becoming an effective leader. We believe that to be true at Ziksana. However, coaching…
Three Questions to Quickly Gauge Employee Motivation
In our previous articles, we’ve covered how Vision can be your employee’s guidepost for making decisions and how executive teams can align their strategy with their vision. Now it’s time…
Appreciative Listening
How well do you listen?
If you’re like most modern-day workers, you’re probably so torn between emails, smart phones, task lists, and deadlines that your human-listening skills aren’t what they should be. Think about the last conversation you had with a coworker. How much of that conversation do you remember? 50%? 20%?
Now put yourself in the speaker’s shoes. If you’re sharing with your boss, and your boss only remembers 20% of what you shared, then why even bother sharing at all?
At Ziksana, we believe that successful leaders move beyond listening to hear and instead build the skill of listening to appreciate. We call this Appreciative Listening. The goal of Appreciative Listening is to make the speaker feel valued, and truly understood without judgment. By combining active listening with positive psychology, our Appreciative Listening framework makes it simple and even fun to listen to those who we agree AND may disagree with.
National Have Fun at Work Day!
What is National Have Fun at Work Day? When is it?
National Have Fun at Work Day is Friday, January 26th, 2018. For Ziksana, this holiday is the perfect opportunity to share how the power of play can fuel productivity and motivation.
International Have Fun at Work Day!
My father has been working for a major window and door company just outside the Twin Cities in Minnesota for 18 years. He is a software engineer – a mega geek who for the longest time took a break from looking at a computer screen all day by playing on his phone – looking at another screen. This habit gave his eyes and his mind little retreat from technology and information overload. This left him constantly drained and disengaged at work.
