License micro-training for your LMS today

Research from the Universities of Bath and Sheffield in the UK found that your two to three times more likely to achieve your goals by writing down “goal implementation” instead of “goal intentions.” Learn why this simple but powerful technique is so effective.

It would be nice if you could just pick up the phone or drop by an office and reach key decision makers at prospect companies. But that’s not the way it goes. More often than not, you find yourself dealing with a gatekeeper … someone who is very protective of the boss’s time and trained to screen out unwanted sales calls. Every once in a while you can use your charm to navigate your way past gatekeepers, but when faced with a real professional, friendly chit-chat and small talk won’t get you anywhere. This Quick Take will give you the insights you need to work through the most tenacious gatekeepers. You’ll learn the #1 mistake most sales people make when faced with gatekeepers, the one skill gatekeepers take the greatest pride in and the thing that gatekeepers fear most – and how to use it to your advantage.

Research from Baylor University reveals that the key to overcoming call reluctance is shifting from “self-focused attention” to “task-focused attention.” Learn how this insight can vastly increase targeted call volume and boost sales.

A study on the concept of “buying schema” reveals the key reason why prospects tune out your message, when it’s a good idea not to meet buyers’ expectations, and how to get buyers to really listen to what you’re saying.

University of Georgia research found that the way many salespeople start a cold call is consistent with behavior psychologists call grandiose narcissism. Find out why this is such a common problem, and learn the three steps sellers should let prospects know before they say anything else.

Research shows that many salespeople make two critical lead management mistakes - they underestimate how many potential buyers they have and dismiss high-value leads long before they should. The “Rule of 45” explains why.

Research from MIT shows the best times for salespeople to make prospecting calls. But the real secret to success can only be revealed in a Time Optimization Plan. Learn how to create one so you can maximize your efficiency and results.

Stanford University researchers examined how likely people are to say “yes” to a second request after they've said “no” to a first. The results reveal a psychological insight every sales professional must understand.

Sometimes the best way to reach the C-suite decision-maker is to go down and sideways through the organization before you try to go up. Research from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University explains why.

A study in a major medical publication shows how confirmation bias causes doctors to diagnose patients incorrectly. Learn how confirmation bias also causes salespeople to “misdiagnose” buyer commitment, resulting in sales that waste time but never close.

An in-depth study of sales pipelines at a Fortune 500 company revealed some surprising results. Learn why more leads on the front end can result in fewer sales on the back end - and questions you can ask early in the process to protect your valuable time.

A study reveals the main reason why salespeople avoid awkward questions, why and when prospects are most willing to disclose valuable information about themselves, and the best way to structure your questions to avoid resistance.

A massive study on discovery calls conducted by the research lab at the software company Gong.io found that uncovering four customer problems, instead of just one, drove success rates from 53% to 85%. Learn the details of these surprising results - and how to achieve them.

The founder of the Toyota Motor Corporation developed a time-tested method for to getting to the root cause of problems. Find out how top sellers apply this technique to discover needs that buyers may not even be aware of.

Researchers in the Psychology Department at Harvard wondered what went on in people’s heads when they were asked certain kinds of questions. Find out what questions light up buyer's brains and why some “stupid questions” aren't stupid at all.

Exit interviews are supposed to reveal useful information you can use to improve your company and your retention rates. Learn the psychology behind why they seldom work and a technique to get far superior results.

Research at Facebook looked at the key factors that led to high employee retention. They found one management behavior had a greater impact than all others. Learn how to tap the power of this finding to retain more of your top performers.

What does it take to be a credible sales leader? Is it charisma? Raw intelligence? Some intangible trait that some people are born with and others are not? The fact is, credibility often boils down to one key factor. In this program you’ll discover what that is and learn: Why 'leadership skill' is NOT what gets people promoted into management, the number one source of credibility for sales leaders, the key to increasing, and sustaining, your credibility as a leader and just how fragile credibility can be.

University of Missouri researchers found that when the interviewers formed a favorable first impression of a sales job applicant, they fall victim to “confirmation bias” and starting selling the job instead of qualifying the candidate. Learn how to avoid this trap and make better hiring decisions.

University of Pennsylvania research reveals why some salespeople handle rejection so much better than others. Unsuccessful people engaged in negative self-talk, seeing their failure as personal (their fault) and pervasive. Successful salespeople did the opposite, framing failure as something external to themselves and related to the specific situation. Learn how to coach your people using this powerful insight.

Researchers from Columbia University found that there's a right way and a wrong way to deliver employee praise. This Quick Take reveals their findings and shows managers how to avoid the common mistakes that can cause praise to backfire.

Research from Northeastern University reveals the link between vulnerability, trust and performance. Learn why leaders who show vulnerability have teams who are more likely to feel safe, take risks and learn from past mistakes.

Research from the University of Illinois reveals why it's critically important for leaders to show people a fact-based plan during a crisis. Learn five key elements of an effective plan.

Researchers from Stanford University show that it's extremely difficult for experts to transfer their knowledge to non-experts. So how can your struggling salespeople learn from your best? The answer: role plays - but only if you do them right.

A study conducted by Huthwaite, a leading sales consulting firm, examined more than 35,000 sales calls and found that pushing a sales team to work harder, make more calls, get more meetings, and close more deals can actually depress results. Learn the behaviors that can help your team avoid this dangerous trap.

A study reveals the critical importance of a single managerial behavior – predictability – that can reduce stress, improve team morale, boost productivity and reduce employee attrition. In an uncertain environment, this is about wearing your game face and keeping people calm and focused.

Researchers from Stanford University examined a phenomenon called the competence trap - which suggests success in one area often blocks success in another. Learn why the root of this problem is all about expectations and metrics.

The coventional wisdom 80-20 Rule says that the best 20% of your salespeople generate 80% of your results. That makes it tempting to offer huge incentives for top performance. But national analysis from the Sales Leadership Council says this could be a costly mistake.

Learn why saying 'You have a bad attitude’ is the worst possible thing to say to somebody who has one. Instead, focus your feedback on specific behaviors that people can actually change.

There is one thing all successful leaders get that failed leaders don’t. They know they can’t achieve breakthrough organizational results by themselves. That wisdom is often hard-earned because most leaders started their careers as individual high performers who moved mountains all alone. But they figured out at some point that the key to their success as a leader was their team. This program will give you a proven 4-point model for building and maintaining a high-performance team that consistently delivers extraordinary results.

When managers get promoted from the rank-and-file to a leadership role, they often struggle to make the shift from being their colleagues' 'buddy' role to being their 'boss.'' Learn the key pitfalls of this tough transition and how to avoid them.

A study from Harvard Business School investigated the critical factors that make managers successful. The findings showed that credibility as a leader starts with your Confidence Base. Find out how to put this counterintuitive insight to work for you.

Numerous studies have shown the benefits of “productive failure.” People learn more quickly - and more deeply - when they first struggle and fail. Learn why managers must give employees the opportunity to fail safely.

Learn what research from Gallup reveals about the best way to turn around a low-performing sales team; why efforts to improve skill deficits can backfire; and where to focus your coaching efforts to get the best results.

Research from Stanford University shows that bold managers who adopt a “growth mindset,” rather than a “fixed mindset,” are far more able to change behavior and develop their people.

Social Psychologist Angela Duckworth and othe researchers from the University of Pennsylvania investigated the concept of 'grit' and why it is such a powerful predictor of professional success. Learn how managers can apply these findings to build a persistent and passionate team of high-performers.

Researchers investigated the reasons managers and organizations allow goals to drift downward. Learn why this is such a dangerous problem and what steps leaders can take to prevent goals from moving in the wrong direction.

Research shows that leadership is highly situational and that no “one-size-fits-all” leadership style works all the time. Master a repertoire of six managerial styles that will allow you to respond appropriately in a variety of different situations.

A Stanford University study suggests that peer participation in learning initiatives is surprisingly effective. People view peer advice as more “real-world” than that from experts, so they’re more likely to act on that advice.

A study from Erasmus University in Holland reveals why traditional interview questions so often fail to predict future performance. The findings show why “situational interview” questions far outperformed all others in the study, and how to create and use these questions based on the specific job you need to fill.

A University of Michigan study revealed a method for framing corrective feedback so that it addresses non-productive behaviors head on – but does so in a positive, non-threatening way that’s remarkably effective.

Giving sales reps a pep talk after a failure doesn't hurt, but it doesn't do much good either. Research from the UC Berkeley shows why such “outside validation” doesn't work - and reveals what managers should do instead to get reps back on track.

International research team led by Department of Psychology Chinese University of Hong Kong shows how using a numerical scale to frame reference check questions accurately predicted candidates' future success. Learn how it works.

This Quick Take will show you the number one reason why star sales managers get extraordinary results from their sales reps. If you often feel that you’re constantly drilling your reps on time-tested selling techniques, but that your message just isn’t sinking in, the reason is that you’re not following the simple practice outlined in this program. Less than seven minutes from now, you’ll know the secret, and it will transform the way you train your sales force.

Following up on leads can pose a real dilemma for salespeople. On the one hand, you want to be sure you exhaust every opportunity to convert those prospects into new business. On the other, you don’t want to waste valuable time chasing leads who have no real intention of buying. In this Quick Take, you will learn what a massive research study reveals about how much follow-up it takes to find real buyers, the follow-up “sweet spot” – the number of calls that yielded the best return on time and effort for most salespeople, how much effort salespeople really devote to follow-up, versus how much effort they think they put in, and how to create an optimal follow-up strategy for your sales team.

A legacy research study reveals the real reason buyers react so badly when they feel pressured – they feel they’re losing control. Learn how you can avoid triggering “reactance” and increase the chances you’ll get what you need from buyers.

A leading sales software company conducted a study of 3.5 million sales leads from 400+ companies to find out if texting helps or hurts sales. They found that conversion rates were 40% higher than average when texting was used. But be careful, the opposite can happen if those texts are sent at the wrong time.

Experiments conducted at Ohio State University looked at how stories can connect with people and change their beliefs. The research reveals powerful insights sales professionals can use to craft compelling stories that win buyer trust.

An analysis of 500,000+ discovery conversations found that top executives tolerate only half as many questions as lower-level buyers. Learn what else you must do to sell successfully to the C-suite.

Researchers at Harvard Business School conducted experiments to see how people would respond when given pieces of good news or bad news. Learn how salespeople can use these findings when communicating with their customers and prospects.

Mirroring a buyers behavior is an age-old sales technique. Act as they act and you're more likely to connect. But a studied from Babson College suggests the psychology at work goes a little deeper. Learn what you really need to do to make mirroring work.

Renowned sales researcher Neil Rackham found that buyers don't judge value by how many benefits you pile on, but by how well they fit. Find out why so many sellers get this wrong and what you can do to be sure your efforts to add value don't backfire.

Studies on persuasion and behavior from Indiana, Northwestern and Ohio Universities suggest two powerful ways to harness buyers’ own motivations and get them more committed to buying your solution. Find out how this “repeat and defend” strategy can make your sales conversations more effective.

Anchoring price is not a new concept for salespeople. But research from the University of Idaho suggests that leading with a ridiculously high number may help you increase your ultimate closing price.

Research from the University College of London reveals that avoidance of loss triggers far stronger emotions than opportunity for gain. Learn how to use this insight to get hesitant buyers to feel urgency and take action.

The average salesperson talks over 81 percent of the time in a selling situation. A Harvard study shows it’s because talking about yourself (or your product) is as addictive as gambling and drugs. A sister study shows the shocking truth about how much income people are willing to give up because they can’t stop talking about themselves.

Numerous scientific studies have found that in the early stages of a relationship, the decision to trust someone comes down to two questions. Results also suggest that people make up their minds about these two factors within minutes. Learn how to apply these insights to build trust and win more sales.

Research from UCLA and Georgetown University shows how “benefits overload” can drive a wedge between you and your prospect. Learn how to keep your communication positive and persuasive; and why presenting more than three features or benefits at a time can undermine your sales message.

A research project analyzed millions of recorded sales conversations using interactive voice recognition. The results identified three factors that drove conversion rates up by 275%. Learn the details of these finds and what language needs to be a part of every call.

An international research team came to the surprising conclusion that disclosing risk can actually help you sell more. Learn why timing is key and how it can turn fear into trust.

A group of professors writing in the Harvard Business Review reveal a counter-intuitive approach for adding value to your proposals. Learn how this concept can make your message more compelling and increase your chances of winning the sale.

What’s the best way to counter a person who has deeply held, but incorrect belief? A Dartmouth University study answers that question. It gives insight into how the brain processes information any explains a simple but powerful technique salespeople can use to win agreement.

You can offer the highest value, the lowest price, the best service. None of it matters unless you first win your customer’s trust. But trust takes time – time you don’t always have … and that’s what leads many sales people into the “Yes Trap” – and it crushes their credibility. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what the “Yes Trap” is, why it snares so many salespeople, and a counterintuitive technique to avoid it and instantly build trust and credibility.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia uncovered what buyers are really looking for when making a high-stakes purchase. Learn their surprising findings and what you can do to increase your chances of winning these sales.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota studied how thinking about money influences our behavior. Learn how to use their findings to avoid the destructive impact price discussion can have on your sales conversations.

A team of international social psychologists conducted experiments that point to an effective approach to honestly acknowledge your offers imperfections in a way that can actually add perceived value. When you get it right, you increase the likelihood that a buyer will say yes.

Research from Columbia University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem found that people focus on the negative when pushed to make immediate decisions. Discover how these findings can help salespeople better persuade potential buyers who raise “deal-breaker” objections.

A study from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reveals why it’s so difficult to get buyers to abandon the status quo, and offers a counterintuitive insight into what it takes to get them to change.

Salespeople who encounter stalled sales more than they'd like often suffer from a psychological phenomenon call “anticipatory regret.” Brain function measured by MRI scans show that fear of losing the sale may prevent you from asking questions you should early in the process.

Conventional sales and marketing wisdom says we always need to show how our product are different and better than. Research shows that when trying to unseat entrenched competitors, that approach is almost certain to fail. Learn a better approach and the key insight behind it.

Too many sales reps fall back on the “commodity copout” when a sale isn’t going the way they want. They argue, “Our product is a commodity and we have to lower our price to win the business.” Truth is, your product isn’t a true commodity and the buyer knows it. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn: why salespeople buy into the commodity copout, how the commodity copout sabotages sales, and the best way to differentiate your products and services and get the price you deserve.

It’s normal for buyers to feel anxiety about a major purchase, and that anxiety can jeopardize sales. Learn about research on a concept called “emotional contagion” that can cause normal, manageable anxiety – both the buyer’s and your own – to spin out of control and actually kill deals. Good news: There are ways to prevent it.

You've just finished making your pitch and the prospect serves up an objection. Your gut reaction is to respond with a counter argument. Stop right there. That instinct might cost you the sale. Fortunately, there is a way to respond in a way that turns the objection into an objective you and your customer can work on together -- and potentially net you a sale in the process. In this Quick Take, you will learn a simple technique that can help you deal with the toughest objections without being offensive, pushy or argumentative.

Most salespeople know to ask their satisfied buyers for referrals. But researchers from The Wharton School and others suggest there's another type of referral that most don't ask for - and it's one that can open doors to many new prospects.

Research shows that referrals are as much as 180 times more likely to close than cold contacts. Yet only 11 percent of salespeople actually ask for a referral, mainly because they think the “cost of helping” is too high. A study shows why this is wrong, and why potential referrers are for more willing to help than you might expect.

No matter how much you ask for referrals, customers rarely give you a name. So is it even worth the effort? A study says yes. Learn why you may be underestimating the value of asking for referrals, a key reason why referral efforts fail, and which types of customers are most likely to give you a referral.

A study led by researchers from three major U.S. universities examined situations where customers were most generous about providing referrals. Learn how the results shed a surprising new light on conventional sales wisdom.

Researchers from Carnegie-Mellon University conducted studies to measure the impact confidence has on perceptions of expertise and credibility. Find out just how powerful confidence is, and what every salesperson can do to build it with buyers.

Cornell University researchers and experts on the psychology of influence examined the impact of up-selling versus down-selling. Learn what they uncovered – and how to apply their findings to win trust and increase customer value.

Harvard University researchers found that asking a lot of the right kind of questions has a surprising benefit. But they also found that asking the wrong type of question can destroy rapport and undermine your sale.

A study from Missouri State University looked at the relationship between trust and expectations. It found that most salespeople work hard on meeting expectations about the sale, but fail to meet expectations about the sales relationship. Learn what it takes to avoid this critical mistake.

Is it a good idea to give a gift to a customer? Researchers studied the psychological principle of “reciprocity” and found that what you give, and to whom you give it, dictates success or failure.

A landmark study by the Sales Executive Council found that “Challenger” salespeople win 14% more sales than average. Learn how providing “critical insights” really works and a 3-step model you can use to close more deals.

Behavioral researchers at MIT, Cornell and Northwestern Universities studied the body language cues people doing business together for the first time use to determine trustworthiness. Some of the findings make perfect intuitive sense. Others will surprise you.

Psychologists who founded the “social penetration” theory of interpersonal communication discovered that effective conversations, whether face-to-face or by phone, follow a pattern. If you understand that pattern, you can structure “deep conversations” that can help make you a trusted advisor rather than a mere salesperson.

Ever wonder why buyers often don’t give you the time you need with them to complete a sale? Could it be because they perceive that you’re trying to close the deal with minimal effort on your part? A study on the concept of “reciprocity” shows that’s exactly what often happens. Learn the power of showing the buyer your “time spent” on a given sale.

A study from the University of Chicago and UC-San Diego School of Management shows that making lots of small promises that are easy to keep is better than delivering on one big promise. Learn how the concept of the “fairness premium” can improve your customer relationships.

According to psychologists, you can get someone to like you more by asking for a favor. It's called the Ben Franklin effect. Learn why it works and how savvy sellers use it to win more business.

Research shows that when buyers are uncooperative – cancelling meetings, making unreasonable demands, etc. – they’re doing it for a specific reason. Learn the “secret message” behind uncooperative buyer behaviors, how you can help buyers feel empowered without yielding control, and the absolute worst thing you could possibly do with an uncooperative buyer.

Researchers found that salespeople with strong internal “professional” networks are nearly twice as effective as those with weak networks. But more interesting, those who also had strong internal “personal” networks were three times as effective. Learn the details of how to put these findings to work. (https://www.cies.org/grantee/danny-pimentel-claro)

An international research team discovered that upselling success rates were driven by two key factors: the complexity of the sale, and the way the upsell was framed. Learn how these findings can shape your upselling strategy.

Research published in the Harvard Business Review explains why prospects who say they would purchase your product aren't always willing to advocate your proposal within their organizations. Learn how to help them overcome their deal-crushing risk aversion.

To win complex sales you often need an “champion” who will advocate for you. However, research published in the Harvard Business Review suggests that salespeople too often align themselves with the wrong champion. Learn the different stakeholder profiles to watch for - and how to align yourself with the right one.

Research published in the Harvard Business Review examines how buyers use “justifiers” to help them decide when there's no clear first choice between you and a competitor. Learn why the psychological concept of “anticipatory regret” drives the final decision.

What's really happening when sales get stuck. Research shows that in eight out of 10 cases, when buyers sit down to make a decision, one or more critical pieces of information is missing. Learn a proactive process to avoid this pitfall, shorten your sales cycle and close more deals.

Numerous studies from Stanford University and others uncovered a phenomenon called “reactive devalution.” This psychological insight sheds light on why offering concessions during a negotiation can undermine a salesperson's credibility.

Researchers from Purdue and the University of Idaho a certain type of question can help you win agreement - but only if you're seen as a credible source. Learn the details of how you can use “tag questions” to increase the odds that people will agree with you.

What are buyers actually thinking when they say, “I'll get back to you. I need to sleep on it.” Research from Cornell and Tilburg University answers that question and explains why you shouldn't call attention to your product when the buyer is mulling it over.

Research on sales negotiations from the Kellogg School of Management experimented with a way to offer choice without trading away value – a strategy called Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers (MESOs). The findings show this technique will help you close more, and significantly bigger deals.

When prospects take “psychological ownership” of the solutions you recommend, they're far more likely to buy. Psychologists call this phenomenon the “endowment effect”. Find out how researchers from Princeton and other top universities connect this to giving your buyers a sense of power and control.

There's a certain phrase sales professionals can use that might double their odds of getting a yes. This psychological principle supported by numerous studies and a meta-anlaysis by a researcher from Western Illinois University is as simple as telling buyers that are “free to say no.”

What can you do to increase the odds that buyers will follow through on what they say? Research says the key is to ask them to make a promise. Find out the psychology of why this is so effective how to use this concept to protect your time.

Research shows that one of three people experience anxiety when they spend money. That might explain why some sales seem to get stuck for no reason. But a major study on buying behavior from the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon identified two simple strategies that can help you get those buyers to say yes.

Don’t sell past the close. You’ve heard that a million times. Once the customer says yes, just say, “Thank you very much and let’s get started.” The problem is, some customers still have unfinished business. And if you ignore it, you could find that sale slipping away. In this Quick Take, you will learn how to use the Post Close: a simple yet powerful technique that can help you test your new buyer’s commitment and protect your sales against last-minute surprises.

A Harvard study shows how a negotiating tactic called a “restorative turn” can restore equilibrium in negotiations, neutralize aggressive price objections and help salespeople hold the line on price.

Research from Stanford University reveals the best way to present your customer with “unconsidered needs.” When you’re facing a buyer who thinks they know what they want, this powerful technique can position you as a safer and better choice.

Scholars from Columbia University and Israel’s Ben Gurion University discovered that people are less likely to make decisions that upset the status quo late in the day. Find out how this phenomenon known as “ego depletion” can help you close more deals.

A study done at Penn State University investigated how creating “consumption visions” drives behavior. Learn why this powerful technique works and the best way to apply it to your next sales conversation.

Obviously, when you state your price it can’t possible hurt to explain the “why” behind the prices you’re charging, right? Not so fast. A study showed that justifying your price isn’t always the best approach.

Many sales professionals fear upselling because they believe it will make them look greedy and might cost them the sale. Fact is, this fear is legitimate – if you don’t handle upselling properly. But top sellers know that upselling is a powerful tool to increase sales volume and add value to the customer. In this presentation you’ll learn: The two most common upselling mistakes, the ideal moment to ask for more and the #1 insight star salespeople “get” about upselling.

Researchers from Babson University studied what's going on in the minds of angry customers. The results tell us what these customers really want and what they don't. Learn why these findings are good news for you.

According to research from Gartner Group, 88 percent of salespeople believe great service and support are the keys to account growth. They're wrong. Find out what really does drive success.

A study reveals the built-in reason people experience a letdown after they’ve made a purchase, why it’s not something you caused or could prevent, and a simple approach to managing this emotional letdown and keeping your buyer’s enthusiasm high over the long term.

Do buyers just assume price increases are unfair? According to research from the University of California Graduate School of Management, no, provided the news is delivered a certain way. Find out what you need to know about this critical sales skill.

Why do salespeople so often miss the signs of trouble ahead with existing customers. Researchers at McGill University found that it has to do with our brain's bandwidth and natural tendency to focus on our own role in conversations. Learn a proven approach to avoid this dangerous pitfall.

Here’s a scary fact: A study shows that 50% of “satisfied” customers are willing to switch suppliers. To retain customers, you need to do more than just satisfy them. You need to “entangle” them. That is, find ways to lock them into your services so that the cost of switching to too high.

Every sales person eventually deals with customers who have unrealistic expectations. They underestimate the amount of work required to complete the job, the internal resources they’ll need to support the project, and the time required to get it done. You’re eager to close the deal so you’re reluctant to challenge them too much in the early goings. But having misaligned expectations is a recipe for disaster. This Quick Take will give an approach that can help. You’ll learn how to effectively manage buyers’ expectations, have a tough talk without scaring them off, and get the commitment you need to be successful.

A study by marketing professors at Universities of Miami, Ohio and Missouri-Kansas City found that “vendor complacency” was the number one reason companies switch providers. Learn the four common mistakes that cause salespeople to drop the ball.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why perceived unfairness affects people so deeply, why, when it comes to fairness, little things matter a lot, and four categories of fairness that you, as a manager, must be aware of.

In the early years after he founded Microsoft, Bill Gates had a surprising reply when strangers asked him what he did. He didn’t say, “I’m the CEO of Microsoft” or even “I’m an entrepreneur.” He said, “I’m a programmer.” He was making an important point about leadership – one that can help you become a more effective leader. In this Quick Take you will learn a simple definition of leadership -- and how it ties into credibility, the number one source of credibility for leaders and the key to increasing, and sustaining, your credibility as a leader.

The best managers realize that to be a truly effective leader you need to deploy a variety of management styles depending on who you're dealing with and what you're trying to accomplish. They know that a 'one size fits all' approach to leadership simply doesn't work. In this Quick Take you’ll learn: Why 'one-trick-pony' managers have limited value to the organization, that great managers master a repertoire of six management styles and, how to correctly deploy the right style depending on the situation.

The #1 job of the human brain is to predict what will happen, so that we can be prepared. But managers can unintentionally create a work environment where unpredictability reigns. When that happens, employees feel stressed, anxious and demotivated. In this Quick Take you will learn how the brain creates 'predictive models' that are designed to tell us what’s going to happen, why we feel good when our predictions are right – and bad when they’re wrong and how you can use the principle of predictability to create a more productive and positive work environment for your people.

In this Quick Take, you will learn how a leader’s fear of appearing vulnerable can become “contagious,” resulting in an overly cautious team culture driven by risk-avoidance, the results of a research experiment that shows how acknowledging vulnerability fosters trust on teams, which increases risk-taking, innovation and performance and how to help leaders reframe their attitude toward vulnerability.

In this Quick Take, you will learn the psychological reasons why too many coaching conversations are one-way, the importance of a concept known as “wait time” in coaching and learning, and a simple technique.

So what makes some training work and other training fail? Find out what separates training and development programs that succeed from those that don’t, how coaching plays a critical role in workplace learning, and how to conduct effective follow-up sessions with your employees.

Scott manages an underperforming team—but not for long. He has a plan to turn things around. First, he observes and interviews his employees. For the low and average performers, which are most of the team, he identifies skills and knowledge gaps. Paul is disorganized. Jill talks excessively and doesn’t listen. And even Kathy, one of his stars, has great technical skills but can’t seem to hit project deadlines. In this Quick Take you will learn what research reveals about the best way to turn around a low-performing team, why efforts to improve deficits can backfire, and where to focus your coaching efforts to get the best results.

A 'fixed' mindset is the belief that people’s abilities and talents are relatively static and cannot be improved in any meaningful way. A 'growth' mindset is the belief that innate talents are just a starting point – and that people can improve and grow over time if they work at it. In this Quick Take you will learn what studies reveal about the connection between coaching outcomes and a coach’s mindset about learning, how a change in mindset leads to more effective coaching, and five keys to success in a coaching role.

Compared with one-on-one coaching, group learning may seem like a compromise. It’s a time-efficient way to get across basic concepts and need-to-know information, but it’s certainly not the same as an expert working individually with an employee on high-level skills – right? Right. It’s not the same. It’s often better. In this Quick Take you will learn what research says about the power of group learning sessions, why peers are often better coaches than bosses or other experts, and how to design high-impact group-learning sessions for your team.

Some people bounce back from mistakes – even big mistakes – with grit and resolve. Others feel crushed, lose confidence and stop doing the things that made them successful. They may even quit their job or change careers – with potentially devastating consequences for both the employee and your organization. In this Quick Take, you will learn what works to help employees recover from failure – and what doesn’t work, how you can encourage people to forgive themselves for failing -- while still holding them accountable, and a three-step model you can apply to help people bounce back.

Bill has an employee with a serious performance issue. Bill sincerely wants to help and considers a very direct corrective-feedback approach -- for example, saying something like this: 'I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t tell you you’re failing, and that you’re going to lose your job if you don’t improve.' But Bill also wonders whether that message might backfire, demoralizing the employee and making the performance problems worse. So what should Bill do? In this Quick Take you will learn how a coach can frame corrective feedback in a positive way, why that doesn’t mean sugarcoating bad news or pulling your punches, and, why this approach is far more likely to result in behavior change than traditional ways of delivering corrective feedback.

How many times have you set a goal for yourself or your team that wasn't achieved? In this Quick Take you will learn why strong enthusiasm for reaching a goal isn't enough, the difference between 'goal intentions' and 'implementation intentions' and a simple research-proven technique that vastly increases goal achievement.

In this Quick Take you will learn what a landmark research study says about what’s going on in people’s brains when they’re interacting with a coach, and a model that optimizes your chances of success when trying to change people’s behavior.

Nobody likes to fail. Nobody likes to see their people fail. And no enlightened manager would ever set up their employees to fail, right? Well, not quite. Research shows that in certain situations, you can help your employees succeed in the long run by putting them in situations where they’re almost sure to fail. In this Quick Take, you will learn the science behind the concept of “productive failure” – why struggle and failure help people learn more quickly and retain what they’ve learned longer, why managers are often reluctant to let their people fail – even when they should; and when it’s appropriate to use “productive failure” and when it’s not.

Chances are at some point in your career you ran into an expert who struggled to teach others. They sped through difficult topics like they were a cinch. They used jargon learners didn’t understand. And, worst of all, they didn’t realize their audience was totally lost. Researchers call this phenomenon 'the curse of knowledge.' And it’s a big training and development challenge in all organizations, including yours. In this Quick Take you will learn why it's so hard for experts to share what they know, how to use the power of “near-peer” training to bridge the knowledge gap between experts and inexperienced learners and why near-peer training benefits everyone involved in training – experts, learners and the near-peers themselves.

Companies spend about $1,000 per employee on training. But 80% of the time it doesn’t stick. That’s a staggering amount of money going down the drain. But, here’s the good news: You can take steps to reduce that waste -- and as a manager or supervisor, you’re in the best position to fix it. More good news: If you can master the techniques covered in this program, you’ll transform your results and propel your managerial career into overdrive. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn why most training fails … and what you can do to make it succeed. However, the solution we describe will only work if you take action – and that’s the challenge.

Few employees like getting performance evaluations. The process often feels rigid, judgmental and de-humanizing. Most managers, of course, are obligated to give annual performance evaluations, and many would tell you it’s the thing they hate most about their job. Fortunately, there’s a better way that eases the pain for both managers and employees. In this Quick Take you will learn the Seek-First-to-Understand method for providing performance feedback, the #1 goal of performance feedback, and the most frequently overlooked stage in traditional performance appraisal processes.

University of Pennsylvania research reveals why some people face rejection so much better than others. Unsuccessful people engaged in negative self-talk, seeing their failure as personal (their fault) and pervasive. Successful people did the opposite, framing failure as something external to themselves and related to the specific situation. Learn how to coach your people using this powerful insight.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why many new hires literally talk themselves into failing, and how managers can use the theory of “explanatory styles” to turn them around.

In this Quick Take, you will learn the strongest factor determining whether an employee will stay or leave, the real purpose of stay interviews, and simple guidelines for conducting effective stay interviews.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why traditional employee orientations that emphasize 'fit' can backfire, what recent research says about successful onboarding and how to create an orientation experience that can boost employee retention and job performance.

When it comes to onboarding, the best leaders know that sink-or-swim -- the all-too-common default option at many organizations -- is a sloppy, lazy way to get new employees up to speed. In this Quick Take, you will learn a better way. You’ll discover that making people feel comfortable and welcome is NOT your most important goal as an onboarder, and the results of a new research study that shows the optimal way to design a new employee’s first assignment.

Every experienced manager knows the feeling. A valued employee walks into your office and says, 'I found a new job. I’m leaving.' You’re stung. You feel betrayed. And you’re asking yourself, 'Did I do something wrong?' The bad news: You probably did. The good news: In this Quick Take you’ll learn how to keep your good employees on board, energized and loyal.

Does this sound familiar? A solid performer on your team is tackling an important project that will require sustained effort over a long period of time. Despite her best intentions, day-to-day stuff keeps getting in the way. Then, with the deadline right around the corner, she drops everything and scrambles to finish the project. As a manager, wouldn’t it be great if you could help your people avoid the last-minute rush and create sustained effort on long-term projects? In this Quick Take, you will learn the concept of “temporal discounting” – and why it almost guarantees that long-term projects will get sidelined by day-to-day demands; how to structure projects, deadlines and incentives to promote sustained effort; and how temporal discounting affects bonuses and incentives.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why people suffer from “brain blindness” when trying to estimate how long a job will take, what happens when you ask people to set a deadline for themselves and how managers can intervene to help people set realistic, meetable deadlines.

In this Quick Take, you will learn the phenomenon of “drifting goals” -- a psychological trap that can erode performance over time, why past performance should NOT be your starting point for setting goals, why goals should be more about changing behavior than keeping score, and questions to ask yourself before you even consider lowering your goals.

In this Quick Take you will learn the psychological reason why people resist change messages, a simple exercise that can help defuse that resistance and how to structure feedback performance reviews to help get the change you want.

Kim is leading a major project that’s critical to her company’s success. A couple of months ago, people were enthusiastic and eager to get to work. But over time team members got distracted. Then frustrated. Intrinsic motivation faded and the project lost steam. In this Quick Take, you will learn the key component of employee motivation, why the perception of progress is the key to actual progress and how communicating the right information at the right time accelerates productivity.

Research shows that high-performing teams and low-performing teams differ on one important dimension: How they handle mistakes. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn how to cultivate a team environment that gets mistakes out in the open where they can be dealt with, and why it’s important to celebrate mistakes and the people who point them out.

In every organization you have a few people with really BAD attitudes. The guy who has trouble dealing with authority … the woman who shows up late all the time … or the average performers who put in minimal effort but continually complain about their mediocre pay and lack of advancement. You could just terminate these employees. But let’s assume they’ve got skills you need and you decide they’re worth saving. This training module will show how to confront 'bad-attitude' employees the right way, and maximize the odds that they’ll change themselves and become better team players.

Discussion about salary is one of the most emotionally charged topics in the workplace. Why, because people often equate their self worth and value with the size of their raise. When they don’t get what they think they deserve, they walk away thinking, 'Why doesn’t the company love me anymore.' In this Quick Take you’ll learn: Why the size of the raise isn’t what causes drama in salary reviews. Why the real problem is the manager, not the employee. And, a technique you can use to communicate more effectively when it comes to money.

If delegation were simply about passing our work on to others, everyone would be great at it. But delegation is more complicated than it looks – and getting it right is so critical. In this Quick Take you will learn why delegation is key to advancement for a leader, what the Multiplier Effect is and why it’s the Holy Grail of delegation, the Four Fatal Flaws that sabotage delegation, and finally, how to avoid the Abdication Trap.

Should you let people manage their own projects, or should you ride hard on them? Research suggests that the answer is 'both.' When you create external accountabilities for your people, they’re more likely to succeed. In this Quick Take, you will learn what behavioral research has to say about deadline-setting and deadline missing, why people often fail to meet deadlines they set for themselves, and how the research applies more broadly to issues of employee empowerment and accountability.

Managers often see the stages of progressive discipline as the opening acts leading up to firing of an employee. They focus on creating a paper trail to protect against potential lawsuits. But too many managers overlook the positive role progressive discipline can play, and they miss out on opportunities to change behavior and salvage employees who are worth trying to keep. That’s the main subject of this Quick Take, which will explore what managers can do to maximize the likelihood that “endangered” employees will turn themselves around.

Don has been working for you for a long time. He likes what he does and the way he does it. And you’re about to mess that up. You need him to take on new duties or change the way he works, but Don is pushing back. In this Quick Take, you will learn the “secret message” employees are sending you when they engage in passive resistance, how to get greater buy-in from employees and the worst thing you can do with an uncooperative employee.

Good people resist change for lots of reasons. Perhaps they’re comfortable with the way things are. Perhaps they feel threatened. Perhaps they think the new way won’t work. As a leader, how do you respond? If you try to 'sell' change, your people will feel, well, sold. And if you simply demand change, you get reluctant participation at best. In this Quick Take, you will learn how to deal with employee objections and win buy-in without being dictatorial or argumentative, why efforts to 'counter' objections often backfire, why an objection is something to be embraced, and a three-step method to disarm resistance instead of escalating it.

Rumors happen when employee anxiety collides with an information vacuum. If you don’t fill the vacuum with facts, your people will fill it with rumors. In this Quick Take you will learn the role managers play in spreading or defeating rumors, why rumors are a symptom of a larger problem – and why you must fix that problem to keep rumors at bay, two critical ingredients that feed the rumor mill, how to effectively address a rumor that’s already out there, and how to turn rumor mongers into TRUTH mongers.

Every organization has its superstars. They are often the most valuable members of your team – and often times they know it. You love the results they deliver but their 'prima donna' attitude can be a serious disruption to everyone around them. Fortunately there is a way to keep them in check. In this Quick take you will learn a common response to a disruptive star performer – which fails miserably every time, an often-overlooked fact about stars that gives you far more power than you might think, and the S.T.O.P. Model for getting disruptive tigers to change bad behavior without driving them away – or turning them into pussycats.

In this Quick Take you will learn the single most important leadership strategy in a crisis, which will give you the credibility to lead effectively, a key insight into the psychology of your employees that will help you motivate and retain them and a managerial roadmap for engaging employees in a time of crisis.

In this Quick Take, you will learn how people feel when their boss makes a promise and breaks it, why it’s the frequency of promises – not their size -- that helps you earn trust and credibility from your people, and why it’s best to make lots of small promises that are easy to keep.

You have some good news and some bad news to share with your team. On the plus side, a key project they’ve been working on is getting rave reviews from customers. What’s more, you’ve just learned that the project is a finalist for a prestigious industry award. Even better, the team was able to deliver it on time and under budget. On the downside, the company is having a tough year, and raises and bonuses must be deferred for three months. Meanwhile, employees will face somewhat higher deductibles and co-pays under the new health plan. And a key leader of the team will be taking a job at a different company. In this Quick Take, you will learn how people perceive “serial gains” and “serial losses” differently, why a series of similar events creates a powerful impact on the mind, the best way to deliver bad news, and the best way to deliver good news.

Working with people in other departments – or other organizations -- takes a subtle touch. You need their help, but your influence is limited. You’re not their coach or their supervisor. You don’t hire them, fire them, promote them or pay them. So how do you influence them? In this Quick Take, you will learn a counterintuitive approach that can help you build a better working relationship with “porcupine” colleagues in other departments or organizations, the psychological principle that makes this approach work, and what this counterintuitive truth reveals about how we make personal connections.

In this Quick Take you will learn why the 'illusion of transparency' can not only undermine effective communication with your team but also your credibility. You'll discover why people misjudge their effectiveness as communicators, and how to make sure that you and your team are on the same page.

What’s the best way to introduce a potentially disruptive change? Should you announce the change and immediately implement it? Announce the change and delay the implementation? Or Announce the change and gradually phase it in? In this Quick Take, you will learn a proven way to introduce and implement disruptive change, why this method will maximize employee buy-in, and the psychology behind people’s acceptance of change.

You can’t be a successful leader without mastering the art of persuasion. You have to get subordinates, peers, and even bosses to see things your way – that is, the way you believe best serves organizational goals. But it’s hard. People see things differently than you do. In this Quick Take you will learn the most persuasive way to communicate hard truths to employees, colleagues and senior management, how to present evidence in a way that’s less likely to lead to a debate, and why we’re more persuasive when we communicate in the brain’s 'native language.'

Leaders get where they are by being competent and confident. In certain situations projecting confidence and authority is necessary -- for example, in a crisis, when a time-sensitive project is behind schedule, or when rallying the troops behind a new initiative. But sometimes too much confidence can backfire, by shutting down contributions by the people on your team. In this Quick Take, you will learn when it’s important for a leader to appear capable and confident and when it’s important to dial it back

A lot of people love playing a leadership role until … the day comes when there’s a problem in the organization and somebody needs to sit down with an employee and have a really difficult conversation – say, for example, he or she has terrible body odor that coworkers complain about. You don’t want to do it. You’re looking up and down the ranks to find someone else who’ll break the news. But guess what? They’re all looking at YOU. This Quick Take will give you a template you can apply whenever you have to confront an employee about a performance problem, the use of foul language, inappropriate physical contact, excessive use of perfume, unconscious rude behavior, or a host of other problems.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why groupthink happens – and why it’s not a thinking problem, how groups reward people for getting along, and punish them for disagreeing even when they’re right, two techniques that are proven to disrupt groupthink and result in better decisions, and how to get greater buy in for those decisions once they’re made.

Imagine you’re on the verge of launching a new project. It could be a game changer for you, your department and your company. You’ve invested a lot of time and energy building it out. You have buy-in from higher ups. And your people are enthusiastically on board. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, actually. But there’s something about our brains that often prevents us from seeing problems until it’s too late. In this Quick Take you will learn a technique psychologists call 'prospective hindsight,' how it can help you identify fatal flaws before a project is launched, and how to run a team meeting that harnesses the power of 'prospective hindsight.'

Managers get paid to make difficult decisions – about hiring, firing, promotions, salaries, resource deployment, operations, new products, new markets and more. A decision-maker’s worst enemy is lack of information or inaccurate information. In this Quick Take you will learn the Five Whys technique that can help you quickly get the information you need to make fact-based decisions, what it means to have a 'threaded conversation', and how the Five Whys can make you a better manager.

In this Quick Take you will learn why groups often fail to consider all the relevant facts when making decisions, why people who possess critical information often don’t speak up in meetings, and how leaders can structure team meetings to uncover this information and make better decisions.

Tom is your employee. He’s been at your company for nearly fifteen years. In that time, he’s done a good job and risen through the ranks. Tom knows what needs to be done and you can count on him to do it. But he could be doing more. In this Quick Take, you will learn why disengagement among employees tends to rise when they’ve been in the job a long time, what managers are doing that contributes to this disengagement, and how to re-energize long-tenure employees.

Bob was recently promoted to his first management job. He inherited a small problem from his predecessor. If he doesn’t address it quickly, it could turn into a big one. Some people are showing up late for work. But Bob wants to send a message that punctuality is important and expected. If you were Bob, how would you get your people to show up on time? In this Quick Take, you will learn how the 'transaction trap' can derail your efforts to improve results, why incentives and disincentives often backfire, and the difference between 'market interactions' and 'social interactions' – and how to know when to use each one.

What inspires employees to show up every day and give their all? Good pay and benefits? That helps but it’s not enough. Most people want more than to show up, collect a paycheck and go home. They want their work to make a difference. Yet research shows that most employees don’t feel a sense of higher purpose. So what can you, as a manager, do to help? In this Quick Take you will learn the key element that gives work a sense of purpose – no matter what kind of work it is, why it’s so important to create 'lines of sight' between employees and the people who benefit from their work, and clear, actionable steps you can take to create these lines of sight for your employees.

Imagine yourself deeply immersed in an activity you love. That activity might involve tedious work, but it doesn’t seem tedious. On the contrary, it's so enjoyable that hours fly by like minutes. How much more motivated and productive would your employees be if they felt that way about their jobs? What if they simply loved coming to work and were so fully 'engaged' in what they do that they gave 'discretionary effort' to every task. In this Quick Take you will learn what it takes to earn this level of employee engagement, how engagement affects the bottom line, and how to combat three destructive narratives that cause employees to disengage.

Why do some teams succeed where others fail? What is it that gets some workers to engage 100% while others simply keep a seat warm? When things aren’t working, should you blame the employees or does the fault always lie with their manager? In this Quick Take you will learn how the principles of Attachment Theory apply to leadership, why attachment enhances engagement, and four triggers that weaken attachment bonds – and how managers can avoid them.

Harvard researchers analyzed what made employees happy – and therefore more engaged and productive. For managers this means your best opportunities for motivating your people occur in something you’re already doing on a regular basis: Holding people accountable for their goals. Learn a three-part model for getting it done.

In this Quick Take you will learn what causes people to instinctively resist some efforts at persuasion why this reaction often has more to do with how a proposal is presented than the quality of the proposal itself, and language to use when you’re trying to get buy-in for your ideas.

Think of a time when you were swamped at work. Too many deadlines. Too many people demanding your mind-share. Not enough time or resources to get it all done. You may be thinking, 'That’s how I always feel.' Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent such workplace stress from crushing your focus, productivity and morale. In this Quick Take, you will learn the results of a study on people working in one of the most high-stress workplaces you could imagine, and how a series of short, simple exercises resulted in a surprising boost in productivity and kept stress at bay.

Has your boss, or maybe even a colleague, ever said, 'You need to manage your time a little better'? If so, that’s code for, 'You’re not getting things done.' And it’s not a minor problem. It’s a game changer, one that affects your promotability, your salary potential and, possibly, the likelihood that your company will keep you around. In this Quick Take you will learn why employees in organizations are perceived as being good, or bad, at managing their time; the list that matters more than any other; and the #1 enemy of good time management.

Every experienced manager knows how easily the workday can slip away. Employees pop in throughout the day looking for your help. Meetings run twice as long as planned. Unexpected fires need to be put out. Before you know it, the day is over and you haven’t accomplished what you set out to do. In this Quick Take you will learn the most important thing you own... and that you must never allow ANYONE to take away, the three words that are the most likely to steal that precious thing from you and a simple yet powerful tool that will help you to truly take charge of your time.

So you just got promoted. You probably got singled out for management because you were a strong performer, a producer who achieved excellent results. Now you’re in charge of a team, and your job is to get OTHER people to be strong performers. But that’s easier said than done. It’s so difficult, in fact, that most people want nothing to do with it. Of those who take the challenge, many underestimate the complexities of management, and fail. In this Quick Take you will learn the steps you must take to get started in the right direction.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why carrots and sticks are often the wrong approach to changing behavior, an often-overlooked driver of change that can be more effective than rewards or punishment and two questions you should always ask before you try to change anyone’s behavior.

In this Quick Take, we’re going to tell you the one thing you MUST do to make sure your nonmonetary rewards bring the results you expect. This is simple, but 90% of managers don’t bother to do it. You can start doing it immediately.

Experts tell us that we should deliver praise to our employees as often as possible. Recognition is one of the most powerful tools available to improve productivity, moral and loyalty. But giving praise isn’t as simple as it seems. Delivering it the wrong way at the wrong time can actually serve to de-motivate workers. In this Quick Take you will learn: 1) Examples of situations where 'praise' isn’t about praising at all, 2) An especially dangerous misuse of praise that could erode your credibility as a manager and, 3) The secret to ensuring that praise delivers the motivational message you intend it to.

Why is it so hard to get teams to take on something new and make it succeed? Is it that people are too resistant to change? Are they too busy with their current tasks? Are they just not good enough? In this Quick Take, you will learn the key reason why teams fail when they try to do new things, the unexpected downside of success, and how you can improve the odds that new initiatives will take root and grow in your team.

In this Quick Take, you will learn why changing bad behavior isn’t just about changing bad habits, the role of social norms in shaping and maintaining behavior, and how to root out dysfunctional norms and replace them with positive ones.

When facing a really tough problem, you need your people to bring 100% of their brainpower to bear. In those make-or-break moments, fuzzy thinking can be disastrous. People grasp at simple solutions. They don’t consider unintended consequences. They fall back on what feels familiar, even when it hasn’t worked in the past. They focus on the wrong issues. In this Quick Take, you will learn why high-stakes problems inhibit the mind’s ability to come up with solutions, how managers may inadvertently hamper creativity and problem-solving, and what you can do to maximize your employees’ innate problem-solving potential.

As any manager knows, communication is the fuel that makes teams go. And today it’s easier than ever for team members to keep in touch. Tools like email, instant messaging, texts and conference calls allow employees to efficiently share information with their colleagues anytime, anywhere in seconds. In this Quick Take you will learn the number one factor that drives team productivity, why it has such a profound effect and how you can boost team performance by creating more opportunities for random encounters.

In this Quick Take you will learn the phenomenon psychologists call 'social loafing', why performance can dip when people become part of a team and how you can overcome 'social loafing' and build effective teams.

There is one thing all successful leaders 'get' that failed leaders don’t. They know they can’t achieve breakthrough organizational results by themselves. That wisdom is often hard-earned because most leaders started their careers as individual high performers who moved mountains all alone. But they figured out at some point that the key to their success as a leader was their team. But not just any team. They needed an A-Team. This program will give you a proven 4-point model for building and maintaining a high-performance team that consistently delivers extraordinary results

The #1 rule in brainstorming sessions is no judgments. Everyone knows that if you let team members criticize each other's ideas, you’ll discourage people from putting forward new concepts – and you may not get the best answer to whatever problem you need to solve. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn why traditional brainstorming techniques are actually counterproductive, an improved technique for brainstorming that DOES work, and how to prime people to generate problem-solving ideas.

What do managers often do when projects start falling behind deadline? They ask for more resources. Adding a few more good people to the project seems a logical solution to the problem. In some cases, however, that’s not the best course of action. In fact, it could make things worse. In this Quick Take you’ll learn about 'Brooks Law' and what it means to team productivity. You’ll find out what his landmark research revealed and how you can apply it in your organization.

Conflict is absolutely essential to a well-functioning team. When getting along is more important than getting it right, hard questions don’t get asked. Tough decisions don’t get made. The challenge for managers is keeping productive conflict from turning into a disruptive force that can crush morale and team alignment. In this Quick Take you will learn why conflict is a powerful tool that team leaders must use to their advantage, what’s going on under the surface when disagreements become toxic, and the ACES method of conflict resolution – a straightforward approach that can turn destructive conflict into constructive solutions.

Multiple studies show that hiring interviews are poor predictors of job performance. Candidates who seem like a perfect fit in the interview turn out to be all wrong for the job, and later we wonder how we could have missed the obvious warning signs. In this Quick Take, you will learn how the psychological phenomenon known as “confirmation bias” can influence hiring decisions, a simple technique that counters confirmation bias, and how to apply this technique in hiring interviews.

You hired Jerry 18 months ago. He lacked experience but turned out to be a quick study and a hard worker, so you gave him a nice salary bump in year two. Now Jerry’s in your office, telling you he’s moving on. He likes the company. He likes you. But this other opportunity came up. You feel betrayed. In this Quick Take, you will learn why expectations between employers and new hires are often misaligned, a concept known as the “psychological contract” – and how it governs the way an employee thinks about your organization, and how to create clarity and alignment so that expectations on both sides are met.

He looked so good on paper. But a year later he hasn’t lived up to his potential. Yes, he’s smart and talented. But when he encounters obstacles, he throws up his hands. In this Quick Take, you will learn why talent, credentials and past accomplishments don’t always predict on-the-job success; two key indicators you should look for in every job candidate’s resume or work history; and a hiring approach that can help identify candidates with the grit to get the job done.

Have you ever hired someone who seemed like a star in the interview but ended up being a dud on the job? If so, you’re not alone. According to multiple research studies, traditional interview questions often fail to reveal whether a candidate will succeed in your organization. But a recent study found one type of question that is especially predictive of an employee’s future success. In this Quick Take you will learn what a major study of job interviews discovered about why traditional interview questions so often fail to predict future performance, why 'situational interview' questions far outperformed all others in the study, and how to create and use these questions, based on the specific job you need to fill.

Managers check references for many reasons. But the most critical goal is to ferret out information that will accurately predict how a candidate will perform if hired. In this Quick Take you will learn the often-overlooked goal of a successful reference check, what researchers say is one of the biggest obstacles to getting truthful answers and why the way you phrase questions is the key to getting the information you need to make an informed hiring decision.

We’ve all interviewed people for key positions and come away thinking, 'This candidate is perfect.' And we’ve all had the experience where we looked back after hiring a 'perfect candidate' and asked, 'What was I thinking? What did I miss? How could I have prevented such a mistake?' In this Quick Take, you will learn: A communications model called 'Deep Conversations', how to use this model to 'peel the onion' and achieve deep levels of communication that will help you foolproof your hiring decisions, and why this technique works both for people who are concealing information, and those who simply lack self-awareness.

There’s a huge difference between making a good hire and making a great hire. A good hire is one that places a qualified candidate into the position you need to fill today. It meets your organization’s immediate need. A great hire, on the other hand, meets both short and long term needs – for your organization as well as your new hire. The question is, how do you make that happen. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the real reason top performers accept jobs, the 'reality check' technique for gaining alignment between your goals and the candidate’s, and why long-term goal alignment protects you from the costliest mistake you can make in the hiring process.

Why is hiring the right people so hard? Because many job candidates are remarkably good at persuading us that they can do things they can’t. What’s more, we often don’t realize how our emotions and personal biases can affect our choices. In this Quick Take you will learn: The most dangerous attitude a hiring manager can possibly bring to an interview, the preparation oversight that gives Impostors an opening, and two proven questioning techniques that will expose Impostors every time.

Reflect back on some exit interviews you’ve conducted. When the person walked out of the room, were you ever thinking: I still don’t have a clue why the person REALLY left and that was a complete waste of time. Clearly, that’s not your goal. You’d like your exit interviews to reveal useful information you can use to improve your company and your retention rates. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn: The one type of employee that will give you the most useful info. The #1 obstacle to getting meaningful input. And, a simple questioning technique that will transform the way you conduct exit interviews and get far superior results.

Most managers and supervisors realize that employees have the legal right to take FMLA Intermittent leave. And, more often than not, they’re sympathetic to the employee’s situation. At the same time, team leaders have to produce results -- and that can be challenging when workers can’t make it in. So how can managers and supervisors reduce disruption when a well-intentioned employee must take intermittent leave. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn three ways to manage intermittent FMLA leave – without interfering with employees’ rights.

Most workers play by the rules when it comes to FMLA. But there are some who take unfair advantage of FMLA and sooner or later you’ll have to deal with them. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the #1 mistake that will get you sued over employee abuse of FMLA intermittent leave, the three rules you must know to legally deal with intermittent leave abuse, and how to handle employees who try to game the system.

USERRA places demands on your organization that go beyond other forms of leave, such as FMLA leave or short-term disability. In this Quick Take, you will learn what USERRA requires that you do when people with military obligations apply for jobs, what it requires you to do for current employees with military obligations, and what’s required when employees return to work from military service. You’ll also learn what you can require of employees with.

How should supervisors respond when an employee shows signs of mental illness at work? It’s a delicate situation that needs to be handled exactly right. Follow these guidelines to help ensure that you do what’s best for the employee, for the organization and for co-workers.

Most managers know about the ADA and understand that they must try to accommodate workers who have disabilities. But the ADA is complex and loaded with rules that managers and supervisors need to understand. In this Quick Take you will learn the definition of a disability; what the 'interactive process' is; why employees don’t have to specifically ask for an 'accommodation'; what you should know to determine whether you need to engage in an 'interactive Process' and the three things you must ALWAYS do once you’ve determined that an employee has made an accommodation request.

Most people in the workplace know you can’t discriminate against employees just because they’re disabled. Certainly supervisors are aware of this. But what a lot of people don’t know is that disability law extends its protection to employees who aren’t disabled, but have relatives or friends who are. The ADA calls this 'association discrimination'. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn: how to recognize situations that involve disability association discrimination; what you have to do in such situations and what you don’t have to do; and how disability association differs from ordinary employee disability.

The ADA protects employees who are disabled because they are 1) alcoholics; 2) recovering alcoholics; or 3) recovering drug addicts. The law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on such disabilities. But generally speaking, the law DOESN’T stop an employer from disciplining or even terminating these employees for misconduct or poor performance. In this Quick Take you will learn how anti-discrimination law applies to employees who are disabled because of substance abuse problems, what you can and cannot do in applying performance standards to such disabled employees, and the most important insight to keep in mind to help you handle issues involving employees and substance abuse.

It’s true that the ADA protects employees from discrimination. This means that you can’t treat employees who are disabled – or who you regard as disabled – different than other employees. Yes, the ADA requires that you make 'reasonable accommodation' whenever possible, but it does NOT excuse performance deficiencies. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the most important thing to remember when evaluating employees with disabilities, what reasonable accommodation is and how it affects the evaluation process and three things you DON’T have to do when reviewing workers protected by the ADA.

Employees have the right to express their religious beliefs (or lack-thereof) at work, but at what point does it cross the line of faithful religious practice into harassment? In this Quick Take you’ll learn four kinds of common religious expression in the workplace that you should generally tolerate, three situations when you have a right to limit or prohibit employees’ religious expression, and a quick test to help you tell the difference between acceptable and unacceptable religious expression.

Did you know discrimination lawsuits have risen 268% over the past 15 years? That’s 9 times faster than any other type of employee lawsuit. In this presentation, we provide a roadmap to the Self-Check Technique for unconscious bias. You will learn why unconscious bias is the leading cause of discrimination lawsuits and what you can do to prevent them.

As a hiring manager you need to dig to learn all you can about a candidate. Unfortunately, the more you learn about a person, the higher your risk of provoking a discrimination lawsuit. When you DON’T know a candidate is pregnant, a recovering alcoholic, or a member of some other protected class, it would be hard for someone to claim that you asked discriminatory interview questions. So how do you learn what you need to know about a potential hire without exposing yourself to legal risk? In this Quick Take you will learn: The 'Bias-Free Questioning Model'; what questions in job interviews could cause a lawsuit in The Big Six areas of discrimination (Disability, Age, Gender, National Origin, Race and Religion); and why job descriptions are key to reducing your legal exposure in the hiring process..

What should you do if employees complain that one of their coworker’s is hard to communicate with because of a heavy accent or poor English skills? What if customers also complain? Can you simply fire the employee? In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what you can legally expect of employees in the way of language ability and fluency, the two main traps that lead to illegal discrimination based on language and how to tell when a language issue needs attention, and when it doesn’t.

Work and family issues can put supervisors in a tough spot. They have to balance what’s best for their employees, what’s best for the organization and what’s fair to other employees. They also have to consider the law – because work-and-family issues can lead to legal claims and lawsuits alleging 'family responsibilities discrimination' -- or FRD. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what supervisors must do – and must not do -- when workers have care-giving responsibilities at home and three false assumptions about family responsibilities that can get supervisors in legal trouble.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 requires that 'women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment related purposes … as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.' In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what the law means by 'equal treatment' for pregnant workers and applicants; a handy rule of thumb to make sure you don’t discriminate against a pregnant employee or job applicant, and four common legal pitfalls that you may face with pregnant employees and applicants.

With today’s workforce becoming increasingly diverse and multi-lingual, employers are faced with a question: 'Can we, or should we, establish an English-only rule?' It’s a complex question because it encompasses so many issues, including customer relations, workforce communication, safety, morale and the law. In this Quick Take you will learn what questions to ask before establishing a policy, two traps you can fall into when enforcing English-only rules, the one way you can be sure an English-only rule is legal, and four examples of legally permissible English-only rules.

Every manager knows that racial jokes or refusing to promote or work with someone because of his or her ethnic background can lead to discrimination or harassment claims. Those kinds of behaviors are pretty easy to identify. But there are some gray areas where people can do or say things that could violate others’ rights and get the organization in expensive legal trouble. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn three examples of racial and national origin discrimination and harassment that many supervisors would never spot, and two simple questions you can ask to detect subtle discrimination or harassment that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

An older worker’s physical condition MIGHT prevent him or her from doing certain jobs. But you must make that call based on an assessment of the worker’s ACTUAL condition and abilities. When managers and supervisors stereotype or make assumptions about what older workers can and can’t do, they expose the organization to avoidable legal risk. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the intent behind federal age discrimination law, the four main ways managers violate the age discrimination law, and a question that will help you avoid breaking the law.

Of all the conversations you have in the workplace, discussions about religion are among the most challenging. Yet you must have those discussions when an employee asks you to accommodate his or her religious beliefs. In this Quick Take, you will learn how even well-intentioned managers can make hiring and promotion decisions that expose them to liability for religious discrimination, what the law requires when an employee asks for a religious accommodation, a critical error that can land you in court when you get such requests and four rules that can help you respond to these requests correctly.

Whether you’re a line manager or an HR person, you’ll probably get a phone call one day from a prospective employer asking about a current or former employee. But don’t worry: There are ways to respond to reference requests that are truthful, yet protect you, your company and the employee. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn how to avoid lawsuits – for defamation or negligent referral – connected with employee references. Specifically, you’ll learn how to prepare for a phone call requesting references, what to say – and especially not say – on the call, and what to do after the call.

Employee privacy rights often come down to one key phrase: 'reasonable expectation of privacy.' But what exactly does that mean and do you translate that ambiguous standard into a meaningful policy for your organization. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what 'reasonable expectation of privacy' means, and why it’s so important, five common ways supervisors may violate employee privacy, and three guidelines to help you stay on the right side of the law..

Most supervisors can recognize cases of blatant sexual harassment – where, for instance, an employee makes a crude or threatening advance. Or where an employee touches another in a way that’s clearly out of bounds. But what about those less obvious cases? In this Quick Take you will learn the difference between 'quid pro quo' and 'hostile environment' sexual harassment. Why sexual harassment doesn’t need to target a specific person. How 'victimless' sexual banter can trigger lawsuits. Why actions that are completely non-sexual in nature can be construed as sexual harassment and the 'reasonable person' standard for determining what is, and isn’t, sexual harassment.

Is workplace violence really a problem you need to worry about? You bet it is – even if you consider your workplace to be friendly and safe. According to OSHA, nearly 2 million American workers report that they’ve been victims of violence at work. But what can you actually do to prevent workplace violence. Can managers and supervisors predict when a given employee is likely to turn violent? After all, you can’t call the police every time an employee looks at you the wrong way. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn seven signs that an employee may be at risk of engaging in workplace violence, and how to respond to them using the concept of 'graduated response' in tandem with your organization’s policies.

Managers and supervisors play a critical role in handling employee complaints and preventing legal action. Why? Because very often they’re the first point of contact when a complaint is filed. This Quick Take will show them how to play that role correctly. Viewers will learn: A three-step model for conducting interviews with employees who come to them with complaints and three common mistakes managers make when handling complaints.

Retaliation has a specific meaning under the law. It’s an 'adverse action' against anyone who has engaged in 'protected activity' – for example, making a discrimination complaint or filing a workers comp claim. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what retaliation is (and isn’t); why even conscientious, fair supervisors may be at risk for creating a retaliation claim; four common mistakes that can get you accused of retaliation; and how to avoid these mistakes.

No smart supervisor wants to squelch harmless jokes that burn off tension and build camaraderie. But sometimes – often before people realize it -- jokes can turn mean, or jokesters overdo it, or somebody thinks it’s funny to put a co-worker down. When that happens, supervisors need to apply the brakes – firmly. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the two hidden reasons why humor can be so damaging, three ways employees can cause trouble with misguided humor and three steps supervisors can take to minimize the risks of off-target workplace humor.

The rise of social media brings new responsibilities for employers and employees alike. It’s a great way to keep in touch and share your thoughts and feelings. But it also makes it easy for employees to slip up in ways that can harm their employer, their own reputation and even their jobs. This Quick Take offers common-sense guidance on the use of social media that will keep employees out of trouble without shutting them down.

On the surface, terminating an employee for poor performance seems like a no-brainer. It’s nothing personal. The worker just isn’t getting it done and would be better off in another job. But even when a termination is 100% justifiable, managers must be extremely careful how they conduct themselves. Terminations, no matter how clear cut, are legal minefields. In this Quick Take you’ll learn the #1 managerial oversight that gives terminated employees traction in a lawsuit, the most common mistake supervisors make during the actual termination conversation, the main reason terminated employees sue and a blueprint for terminating employees in a way vastly reducing the likelihood you’ll get sued..

In this Quick Take, you will learn a counterintuitive approach that can help you connect with buyers who keep their distance, the psychological principle that makes this approach work, and what this counterintuitive truth reveals about how we make personal connections.

When insubordinate or troublesome employees push you too far, it’s tempting to fire them on the spot. But acting rashly can get you into a world of legal trouble. Employees fired abruptly are far more likely to sue than those who are given warning. This Quick Take will help you avoid the traps that surround 'knee-jerk' terminations. You’ll learn: When you should, and shouldn’t, fire an insubordinate employee on the spot, the one thing NOT to do when terminating an insubordinate employee, and three termination guidelines that lower your risk.

The EEOC has put employers on notice: You can’t have a blanket policy against hiring people with criminal records. Likewise, you can’t have a policy that automatically dismisses any employee who’s convicted of a crime while working for you. Convictions have to be analyzed in a more sophisticated, individualized way. In this Quick Take, you will learn what the EEOC says about blanket policies on criminal records, three questions to ask about applicants’ criminal convictions, what you must always do when rejecting an applicant because of a previous conviction and four suggestions for legitimately using criminal records in the application process.

Every HR pro knows that under federal law, you can’t discriminate against women by paying them less than men. That’s a key feature of Title Seven of the Civil Rights Act, which also bars discrimination based on things like race, national origin and religion. But there’s another law that comes into play specifically when the issue is men’s and women’s pay: The Equal Pay Act. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn the most common misconception about equal pay, the five questions HR must ask in balancing men’s and women’s pay levels and what you can and can’t do to fix any pay inequalities.

Genetic information discrimination isn’t something that comes up every day but it’s an issue HR professionals need to stay on top of. A growing number of organizations are finding themselves in court defending claims that protected genetic information was used in hiring, firing or promotion decisions. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn what genetic discrimination is, what the law says about when you can and can’t acquiring genetic information from applicants and employees, how to handle genetic information that is legally acquired, and three ways employers are likely to violate the law.

Reflect back on some exit interviews you’ve conducted. When the person walked out of the room, were you ever thinking: I still don’t have a clue why the person REALLY left and that was a complete waste of time. Clearly, that’s not your goal. You’d like your exit interviews to reveal useful information you can use to improve your company and your retention rates. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn: The one type of employee that will give you the most useful info. The #1 obstacle to getting meaningful input. And, a simple questioning technique that will transform the way you conduct exit interviews and get far superior results.

You know how much HR contributes to the success of your organization. But many HR professionals have trouble getting this message through to their CEOs. In this Quick Take, we’ll show you a proven approach to help you get the CEO’s attention and demonstrate the strategic value of HR.

The EEOC has put employers on notice: You can’t have a blanket policy against hiring people with criminal records. Likewise, you can’t have a policy that automatically dismisses any employee who’s convicted of a crime while working for you. Convictions have to be analyzed in a more sophisticated, individualized way. In this Quick Take, you will learn what the EEOC says about blanket policies on criminal records, three questions to ask about applicants’ criminal convictions, what you must always do when rejecting an applicant because of a previous conviction and four suggestions for legitimately using criminal records in the application process.

Complete, up-to-date, accurate job descriptions are an essential part of your lawsuit-avoidance toolkit. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn about the top five job description mistakes that can make any organization vulnerable to lawsuits and the four situations where job descriptions should always come into play.

Eligible employees may take two kinds of military leave under the FMLA: military caregiver leave or qualifying exigency leave. Military FMLA works a lot like regular FMLA. But there’s just enough difference to throw you off if you’re not careful. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn two key ways that military FMLA leave differs from regular FMLA, how to comply with the law on FMLA military caregiver leave, how to comply with the law on FMLA qualifying exigency leave and steps you can take to verify eligibility when employees ask for such leave.

Suppose a supervisor comes to you about an employee who’s scared co-workers with an unexpected outburst of anger. Or an employee who seems to be sinking into withdrawal, compromising her ability to function in her team. Would it occur to you that these people might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? In this Quick Take, you will learn myths and misconceptions about PTSD, what PTSD really is and why it happens, how to recognize signs that one of your employees may have PTSD, and accommodations you can make to help employees with PTSD.

Handling workers returning from FMLA leave can be a challenge to even the most seasoned HR professional. Why? Because it often involves three aspects of employment law: FMLA, ADA and state workers compensation. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn how the three kinds of law intertwine, and how to disentangle them so you can make good decisions.

Determining who’s exempt and who’s not isn’t always a simple matter. FLSA regulations are full of “gray zones” that can trip up even the most experienced managers. In this Quick Take you will learn: The most common mistakes that HR professionals make when classifying employees, why the title 'manager' is often misleading, and how to avoid the 'salary-basis trap'.

Workers who are home recovering from an injury have a lot of time to sit, think, and brood over their health issues. That makes them susceptible to the siren's call of a workers comp lawyer. And when lawyers get involved, payouts and insurance premiums go up. In this Quick Take, we’ll look at four claims management techniques that HR managers can use to keep lawyers out of the picture and keep workers comp costs under control.

Most employees are honest about work-related injuries. But there are always the troublesome few who try to game the system and take a vacation at your expense. According to some estimates, up to a quarter of workers comp claims contain some element of dishonesty. In this Quick Take, you’ll learn six warning signs of possible workers comp fraud, how to ask questions that can uncover bogus claims, and what to do – and what NOT to do – if your investigation turns up evidence of fraud.