Latest news with #EmployeeEngagement
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Building A High-Performing Team: 3 Positive Psychology Strategies
Diana Lowe, CEO of Blue Light Leadership, helps organizations transform employee engagement through Positive Psychology and Coaching. When I started working with a client whom I'll call "Dylan," he was newly promoted, full of energy and ready to make his mark. A bright, ambitious manager at a fast-growing software company, Dylan had just stepped into a hybrid team leadership role. The team was diverse, scattered across time zones and juggling complex deliverables. He knew one team member well from a past project, but the rest? He couldn't quite figure them out. What motivated them? What did they value? What were their strengths, and what environments helped them do their best work? He quickly realized that if he wanted to level up as a leader, he couldn't do it alone; he needed his team to level up with him. Sound familiar? If you work in an environment where your team's performance directly affects your own, you're not alone. In today's hybrid workplaces, team dynamics are more complex—and more critical—than ever. Building a high-performing team isn't just about assigning tasks and tracking KPIs. It's about understanding the psychology of what helps people thrive. Based on evidence from positive psychology, here are three foundational strategies to help any leader—new or seasoned—develop a high-performing, engaged and resilient team. 1. Lead with strengths, not just skill sets. In my experience, too often managers focus solely on what someone can do (skills) and not what energizes them (strengths). According to research from Gallup, "people who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job." Dylan began by running a simple strengths assessment with his team. The result? Conversations shifted from performance reviews to potential. He found that one team member, who had been dragging on sprint reviews, lit up when facilitating cross-functional brainstorms. Another, who seemed disengaged, had a talent for writing user-focused documentation that had gone unnoticed. Try This: Use tools like VIA Character Strengths or Gallup CliftonStrengths to identify natural talents. Then design work in a way that activates those strengths weekly. 2. Cultivate psychological capital (PsyCap). PsyCap is the science-backed inner resource of high performers; it includes hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism (HERO). Teams high in PsyCap show better collaboration, performance and innovation—even under pressure. (For further reading on this concept, check out the book Psychological Capital and Beyond by Fred Luthans, or other writing by Luthans.) Dylan began using weekly stand-ups not just to check status, but to foster optimism and hope. He asked questions like "What went well this week?" and "What small win are you proud of?" These micro-moments helped his team build resilience and confidence over time. Try This: Integrate HERO moments into regular meetings. Celebrate progress, talk about lessons learned and build a shared language of growth. 3. Understand what makes people tick through values and ideal work conditions. We all have different drivers—autonomy, impact, creativity, structure, etc. But leaders often manage people the way they want to be managed, not how their team needs to be led. Dylan took time to ask each team member two powerful questions: • "What conditions help you do your best work?" • "What matters most to you in a team?" The answers helped him flex his style. Some team members thrived with structure and weekly check-ins. Others preferred flexibility and async tools. Instead of managing to the middle, he began leading to the individual. Try This: Conduct short one-on-ones focused on work style, values and energy drains. Use the insights to adjust workflows, recognition and expectations. Final Thought Dylan didn't change everything overnight; it took time. But by anchoring his leadership in positive psychology principles—strengths, PsyCap and values-based management—he helped his team not only perform better, but trust each other more deeply. And in doing so, he became the kind of leader people want to follow. If you're building a high-performing team in a hybrid world, the secret isn't in doing more—it's in doing the right things more intentionally. Start with who your people are, not just what they do. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AIR Communities Named Real Estate Top Workplace Winner by Energage
DENVER, July 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apartment Income REIT LLC ("AIR" or "AIR Communities") has been named a Real Estate Top Workplace winner by Energage, a purpose-driven company that helps organizations turn employee feedback into business intelligence. AIR was one of only 23 companies in its size category to earn this prestigious industry recognition, which celebrates organizations that have built people-first workplace cultures within the real estate sector. "Being recognized as a Top Workplace in Real Estate affirms the intentional AIR culture that we have built together. It's an honor to be a stand-out among our industry peers," said Beth Harmon, Senior Vice President of Human Resources. "This award celebrates our investment in professional development, competitive benefits, and creating an environment where each teammate feels valued and engaged. We know that prioritizing our teammates creates positive outcomes not only for them, but also for our residents, communities, and business." Top Workplaces awards are based on feedback from a research-backed employee engagement survey that measures critical culture drivers including alignment, execution, and connection. "Earning a Top Workplaces award is a badge of honor for companies, especially because it comes authentically from their employees," said Eric Rubino, Energage CEO. "That's something to be proud of. In today's market, leaders must ensure they're allowing employees to have a voice and be heard. That's paramount. Top Workplaces do this, and it pays dividends." This latest recognition adds to AIR's impressive track record of workplace excellence. Earlier this year, AIR was named a National Top Workplace for the fourth consecutive year, in addition to being named a Top Workplace in Colorado, Philadelphia, South Florida, and Los Angeles. The company has a decades-long history of regional Top Workplace wins across its major markets, including Denver, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. About Apartment Income REIT LLC (AIR Communities) Apartment Income REIT LLC operates a real estate portfolio of apartment homes located in 10 states and the District of Columbia. AIR offers a simple, predictable business model with focus on what we call the AIR Edge, the cumulative result of our focus on resident selection, satisfaction, and retention, as well as relentless innovation in delivering best-in-class property management. The AIR Edge is a durable operating advantage in driving organic growth, as well as making possible the opportunity for excess returns for properties new to AIR's platform. For additional information, please visit View source version on Contacts Stephanie JoslinDirector of Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
23-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Primer 101: Why, How & When To Join Employee Ownership's Big Mo
It's certainly becoming the Decade of Employee Ownership. The attention toward employee stock ownership plans, or ESOPs, and related avenues such as employee ownership trusts continues to intensify. Private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone are sharing the growth in the value of their portfolio companies with workers across the board. And Congress and more states have taken notice of EO's benefits that align worker and company incentives, with years of research proving its efficacy, including greater top- and bottom-line financial growth. Sounds amazing, and it's hard to know where to begin. Yes, looking at all the alternatives can be overwhelming to business owners seeking a succession plan and companies trying to reward workers by augmenting employee engagement, driving culture and performance, and attracting and retaining talent. ESOPs can take many forms, which highlight the star attribute of flexibility of a well-designed ... More plan, and they gain attention from the associated tax benefits for both sellers and companies. Know this: the broad range of opportunities put together, have the power to transform our economy as they continue to become more widely adopted. Back when I started as an advisor 30-plus years ago, so-called 'plain vanilla' ESOPs were the primary route to consider. In contrast, today's choices include a wide variety of ESOPs, partnering with private equity firms, employee ownership trusts (EOT), stock-based profit sharing, and creative broad-based short- and long-term bonus programs. The right strategy exists for you. Patience and understanding can cut through the justifiable confusion. To help clear up this perplexity and highlight the merits of each type of plan, consider this primer. Use the distinct benefits that different plans afford you, your employees and your corporate performance to guide your decision about where EO aligns with your aspirations. First, consider the ESOP. The tried-and-true structure has existed in some form since the 1950s and is the only tax-qualified U.S. retirement plan that can borrow money. ESOPs can take many forms, which highlight the star attribute of flexibility of a well-designed plan, and they gain attention from the associated tax benefits for both sellers and companies. Plan types include: Now, consider EOTs. While the first EOT was established in Washington state over 125 years ago, they re-emerged in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and have since gained traction across the U.S. – from Massachusetts and North Carolina to Colorado and California. EOTs are viewed as a forward-thinking model for business succession and long-term sustainability. In effect, EOTs are profit-sharing plans that own some or all of a company's shares for their employees' benefit. While they are simpler and less expensive to create than an ESOP, they don't enjoy as many tax benefits. Employee ownership trust participants receive their profit share (think of it as a bonus, W2 ordinary income) rather than through distributions of shares to a retirement account as in ESOPs. As for private equity, after decades of overlooking ESOPs, PE firms have recently become interested in them, recognizing their value as a corporate finance tool, effectiveness in employee engagement, a potential exit strategy for their portfolio companies, investment opportunities to help existing ESOP companies grow, and more. Since then, institutional investors have come to view employee ownership as a strategic approach that can improve company performance and employee engagement. We are excited about this growth in offering broad-based profit sharing and wealth building strategies to workers who would otherwise have had no chance at economic participation in the growth of the companies they work for. Illustrating the EO momentum, Expanding ESOPs, a nonprofit coalition of over 80 organizations, is working to dramatically scale the adoption of ESOPs among larger companies, with a particular focus on the partial C-Corp ESOP model to exponentially increase the number of workers who are owners, creating wealth and retirement security for an under-saved population. Another non-profit that helps companies implement employee ownership models is Ownership Works. It often assists companies that, for a variety of reasons, would be unlikely and unable to form an ESOP. Many private business owners prefer to sell to PE. O.W. bridges that opportunity of broad-based wealth sharing by facilitating broad-based ownership into dozens of private equity acquisitions. It works with PE firms along with public companies and family-owned businesses in applying employee ownership models that align owners' and employees' interests. A win-win in my book. Whew! That'd a lot to absorb, and we hope this primer helps. Through our decades of work as well as our proprietary research involving 310 company founders and C-suite executives, we know the challenges of getting your arms around the multifaceted subject, but also the value that comes from picking the right structure. These business owners and leaders tell us that networking with their peers and their advisers' expertise help them grasp the intricacies of employee ownership, and ESOPs in particular. That knowledge led them to overwhelmingly agree that employee ownership is a winning strategy. The benefits of preserving their company's legacy, improving their financial and operational performance, significant tax advantages including gift and estate planning opportunities, all while delivering their employees meaningfully better jobs, incentives and wealth creation. As I said above: win-win.
Forbes
15-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
When Technical Brilliance Becomes A Liability
Diana Lowe, CEO of Blue Light Leadership , helps organizations transform employee engagement through Positive Psychology and Coaching. getty Zara was a senior leader with a track record that turned heads. She delivered results, met every metric and outperformed peers in her technical domain. But behind the numbers was a mounting problem HR couldn't ignore: She dismissed input from peers, labeled colleagues as 'incompetent' and operated with a my-way-or-the-highway mindset. To HR, coaching was a strategic intervention. To Zara, it felt like a punishment. For her team, it was the final hope. This isn't a story about personality. It's about mindset—and how evidence-based coaching can help shift deeply entrenched attitudes, protect organizational culture and turn a high performer from a liability into an asset. What often presents as a 'difficult personality' is, in truth, a set of cognitive and emotional patterns shaped over time. Zara hadn't become rigid overnight—her views on competence, control and value had been reinforced over decades. The problem wasn't capability. It was mindset—and that's where HR-led coaching interventions can have transformational power. Here are three tools from positive psychology and behavioral coaching that helped shift Zara's perspective and her impact—and how they can help other leaders do the same. 1. Cognitive Reframing: Challenging The Internal Narrative When Zara claimed, 'No one here knows what they're doing,' we paused to examine the thought beneath the thought. Was she feeling unsupported? Out of sync with the culture? Holding others to an impossible standard? Using cognitive-behavioral techniques, we challenged absolutes and helped her develop a more accurate—and empowering—narrative: 'I hold high standards, and I'm learning to communicate them in a way that elevates others.' The Takeaway: Use cognitive reframing to reduce interpersonal friction, shift conversations from confrontation to collaboration and enhance team psychological safety. 2. Strengths-Based Coaching: When Assets Become Liabilities Through the VIA Character Strengths assessment, Zara identified her top strengths: leadership, prudence and fairness. While these traits had helped her rise, their overuse had a cost. Fairness became rigidity. Prudence morphed into micromanagement. Leadership leaned into control. By connecting these strengths to emotional intelligence and self-regulation strategies, she began to use them more intentionally—and more effectively. The Takeaway: Lean on strengths-based development to increase leader self-awareness and transform perceived weaknesses into refined leadership behaviors. 3. Visioning Exercises: Reconnecting To Intrinsic Motivation Using the Best Possible Self exercise, we explored how Zara wanted to be described one year from now. Her answer was not 'the smartest in the room,' but 'respected, inspiring, someone people want to work with.' That shift—from proving to inspiring—became her coaching North Star. Each week, she set micro-goals tied to this future version of herself. The Takeaway: Work on visioning to build intrinsic motivation, align behavior with values and create internal accountability—often more powerful than external pressure. The Multiplier Effect: Why Coaching Relationships Matter None of these tools matter without one essential ingredient: trust. In coaching, insight is just the beginning. Sustainable change happens when leaders feel safe enough to be honest—and challenged enough to grow. In Zara's case, it wasn't one "aha" moment. It was a series of micro-adjustments, made possible by a strong coaching alliance and a safe space to evolve. Why This Matters To A Healthy Company Culture When a high performer becomes a source of disengagement, the cost is steep—turnover, complaints and lost productivity. But writing someone off is often more expensive than investing in behavioral coaching. The ROI is improved retention, revitalized team morale and a transformed leader who becomes part of the culture solution, not the problem. Positive psychology tools aren't soft. They're strategic. And when paired with a strong coaching relationship, they don't just inform behavior change—they make it possible. Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
Cision Canada
08-07-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
McLean & Company Named Winner in Two Categories of the 2025 Canadian HR Reporter Readers' Choice Awards
Global HR research & advisory firm McLean & Company has been recognized by Canadian HR Reporter for excellence in Employee Engagement Surveys and Leadership & Team Development for 2025. TORONTO, July 8, 2025 /CNW/ - McLean & Company, a trusted partner to HR and business leaders worldwide, has been named a winner in two categories of the 2025 Canadian HR Reporter Readers' Choice Awards: Selected by readers of Canadian HR Reporter, one of Canada's most respected publications for human resources professionals, the Readers' Choice Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate exceptional value, service, and innovation across key HR categories. Service provider nominations were open between March 11 and March 28, 2025, collecting audience-guided data on an extensive list of HR industry service providers across Canada. With thousands invited to vote for the vendors and service providers they rely on most, Canadian HR Reporter's recognition stands as a reflection not only of McLean & Company's credibility in the HR space, but of its significant contributions and impact in the field. "This recognition is especially meaningful because it comes directly from the HR professionals we support every day," said Jennifer Rozon, president at McLean & Company. "It truly is an honor to see our work in employee engagement and leadership development resonate so strongly with our community. We remain committed to helping HR leaders solve complex challenges with confidence by equipping them with the research, tools, and expert guidance they need to drive sustainable impact." McLean & Company's award-winning employee engagement survey services are designed to help organizations go beyond measurement. With comprehensive diagnostics, tailored advisory support, and actionable reporting, HR leaders use the firm's employee engagement survey offering to identify real drivers of engagement and build targeted, evidence-based action plans. Clients report increases in participation rates, more meaningful executive conversations, and stronger organizational outcomes. As a winner in the Readers' Choice leadership and team development category, McLean & Company has an integrated approach that combines research-informed frameworks, practical learning modules, and personalized support to help organizations build future-ready leaders and high-performing teams. Whether tackling succession planning, leadership transitions, culture transformation, or team effectiveness, members benefit from resources that are both strategic and immediately applicable. McLean & Company supports HR leaders through a broad suite of services, including diagnostics, playbooks, guided advisory calls, interactive workshops, and professional development programs. With a mission to shape the future of work, the firm remains committed to elevating the HR function through evidence-based insight and practical application. To learn more about McLean & Company's award-winning services, visit here. To view the full HR industry recipient list for 2025, please visit Canadian HR Reporter's official award page. For media inquiries or to connect with McLean & Company analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights on the future of work, leadership development, and employee engagement, please contact Communications Manager Katie Tame at [email protected]. McLean Signature 2025 To register for McLean Signature, the premier industry conference for future-focused HR leaders hosted by McLean & Company from November 2 to 4 at the Marriott Marquis in Houston, Texas, please visit the official Signature event page. Media interested in connecting with McLean & Company analysts for exclusive, research-backed insights and commentary on generative AI in HR, HR trends in 2025, the future of work, and more can contact [email protected]. About McLean & Company McLean & Company pairs evidence-based research and immediately applicable tools with deep HR expertise to position organizations to meet today's needs and prepare for the future. he global HR research and advisory firm's member organizations benefit from comprehensive resources, full-service diagnostics, workshops, action plans, learning solutions for HR professionals and people leaders, and advisory services for all levels of HR, from executive leadership to front-line teams. McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group. [email protected].
