Heartmanity's Blog

Employees across all industries complain about micromanagement. In my work as a business consultant and leadership coach, micromanaging surpasses all other complaints. It is one of the quickest ways to shut down productivity, creative minds, and passionate employees. And it’s one of the leading reasons why employees flee a company.

Micromanagers are not deliberately trying to cause distress in the workplace even though the outcomes are usually fed-up employees and burnout. In fact, people who micromanage rarely intend to disempower those they supervise. They often mean well and don’t [...]

We’ve all experienced the consequences of poor communication or a lack of effective communication in the workplace: strained employee relationships, poor morale, non-productivity, misunderstandings,… the list goes on. It’s a leader’s job to set the tone and standard for communication in any organization.

Effective leaders know that they must set the example for organizational culture. When good communication skills start at the top, the model can promote emotional intelligence and trust throughout an organization.

Mary Parker Follett who was once regarded as the Mother of Modern Management said, “Management is the art of getting things done through people.” Managing people is an intricate dance between art and science. Understanding what motivates employees is key, so they develop professionally, feel fulfilled, meet company goals, and have high performance.

Many companies struggling with employee motivation have a disconnect between how they choose to reward their employees and what motivates them to perform at their best. This disparity is understandable because motivating employees is not cut [...]

A few weeks ago, I was faced with the stark reality of innocent short-sightedness. A woman who had hearing loss asked me to add captions to my emotional intelligence webinar. This omission inspired me to study the subject more closely.

You probably have heard about inclusive workplaces. Thanks to disability rights activists and growing awareness, the term is used more frequently now than in the past. As a result, you might have wondered what it means or how to make your website or workplace more accessible to a wide range of people.

It's been a crazy time for everyone with the pandemic. Not only do we now need to keep up with our work, but unexpectedly we can be required to quarantine due to Covid-19. And if you're a parent, it's even trickier as school shifted to virtual learning so you're responsible for this big change as well. We haven't yet found our new normal so mindfulness is even more important. 

Are you feeling more overwhelmed than usual with work stress? Is multitasking not helping you keep up? Is your mind racing so much at night that you can’t sleep? Yep, it’s time—time to carve out a few minutes daily [...]

Our meritocratic culture emphasizes the importance of packing your resume with job-specific skills along with hard skills like software, statistics, different languages, or coding—but without soft skills (a.k.a. emotional intelligence), that knowledge becomes virtually useless in the workplace.

Surveys show that hiring managers are more likely to prefer candidates who use soft skills to make themselves more likable over candidates with lower emotional intelligence. “Hard skills” may help you get a foot in the door by landing you that first interview, but it’s up to you to hone your soft [...]

Are you fed up with a boss making you jump through hoops only for them to find fault and chew you out? Do long workdays with zero appreciation sound familiar? Did you know that autocratic bosses and managers are one of the leading reasons for leaving a job?

The autocratic leadership style is a one-way street; they often don't listen or respond to their employees in productive ways. Ordering, correcting, reprimanding are common and resentment builds in employees.

Communication is a skill at the root of all relationships. Good communication is essential for healthy relationships. Professional relationships are no exception. Whether between a customer and an employee, a company president and an employee or between co-workers, professional communication in the workplace is a crucial part of the health of any business culture.

A colleague once told me of a bumper sticker that said, “We are all connected.” Such a simple phrase, yet with so much more depth than just those four words.

Now more than ever, “we are all connected.” The simple phrase is a reminder that in a time of great unrest and disruption, our actions and words have far-reaching and lasting effects on those around us. Our world is more culturally diverse than ever, which calls for greater responsibility to tolerate others. Therefore, empathy, acceptance of diversity, and the ability to treat others with respect and dignity are crucial. All skills [...]

The role of a boss comes with great responsibility. Along with responsibility also comes many assumptions and expectations—one of which is that bosses have high skills because of their role. However, employees answer to their boss, a manager, or supervisor, based on their role, not their skills. Another assumption is that just because a person is a boss that they are also leaders, which is not necessarily true. Leadership requires many skill sets and an authentic way of moving and leading. It’s not just a title. And when skill differences vary dramatically in the workplace between [...]