Featuring scholarly and practitioner insights from HR and people leaders, industry experts, and researchers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a period of significant uncertainty for businesses and their employees, as organizations navigated lockdowns, remote work transitions, and economic volatility, looking to their leaders for stability, direction, and support during this ambiguous and changing time when effective leadership is most critical. While the specific needs of employees in an environment of prolonged uncertainty have not been fully addressed, this video explores key leadership behaviors and practices that can bolster employee morale, engagement, and well-being during turbulent times based on guiding principles of transparency, empathy, and a long-term vision that will best position leaders to weather uncertainty. Specifically, research suggests employees need clarity and communication through frequent, transparent updates; psychological safety and support addressing well-being, resilience, and pressure points; meaningful work and growth connecting responsibilities to purpose and fostering development; and collaboration and teamwork through designated teams solving problems and preventing isolation. The video provides targeted recommendations, such as regular all-hands meetings, central information channels, frequent check-ins, establishing counseling resources, assessing workload priorities, articulating organizational purpose, rotational assignments, cross-functional task forces, and virtual team building. Industry examples illustrate specific strategies like increased communications in tech, manager "walk-arounds" in hospitality, banking course subsidies, retailers' rapid response teams, and appreciation gestures in utilities. In conclusion, effectively guiding employees through prolonged uncertainty depends upon leaders upholding principles of transparency, empathy, and vision while attending to the crucial needs of clarity, safety, purpose, and togetherness to strengthen organizational resilience through challenging times.

In this HCI Webinar, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Artem Koren about pioneering the way forward in artificial intelligence at work. Artem Koren (https://www.linkedin.com/in/akoren/) grew up and lived most of his adult life in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Computer Science. He later attended the NYU Stern School of Business where he earned his MBA. Artem is passionate about using AI to enrich humanity and create positive change. He combines his experience as a systems engineer, product manager, IT executive, management consultant, and entrepreneur to create innovative products, bringing to life new ways that technology can help us reach our goals. Sembly AI (https://www.sembly.ai/) which he co-founded with Gil Makleff in 2019, is at the forefront of advancing natural language understanding, paving the way for a symbiotic partnership between humans and technology.

This video explores the importance of informal networks, or "hidden teams", that exist within organizations alongside formal hierarchical structures, as research has shown these organic relationship-based networks play a key role in knowledge sharing, innovation, and driving work forward through efficient exchange of ideas and solutions across boundaries in communities of practice and "invisible colleges", while teams that bridge different professional communities are better able to solve complex problems. The video provides recommendations for how leaders can identify, support, and leverage hidden teams to drive business success by mapping networks through analysis and employee surveys to uncover natural collaborations, supporting hidden teams through dedicating time and space for collaboration, cross-pollinating memberships, institutionalizing information flows, and recognizing contributions, as demonstrated through two case studies where a technology company and healthcare system identified existing hidden teams, formalized roles and support, and achieved rapid, grassroots change and meaningful business impacts, suggesting that viewing informal networks as assets that break down silos and strengthen connections across groups can empower change and improve organizational performance.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Artem Koren about pioneering the way forward in artificial intelligence at work. Artem Koren (https://www.linkedin.com/in/akoren/ (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.linkedin.com/in/akoren/&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw3ZECtTKFps7_PLunJIeAjA) ) grew up and lived most of his adult life in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Computer Science. He later attended the NYU Stern School of Business where he earned his MBA. Artem is passionate about using AI to enrich humanity and create positive change. He combines his experience as a systems engineer, product manager, IT executive, management consultant, and entrepreneur to create innovative products, bringing to life new ways that technology can help us reach our goals. Sembly AI (https://www.sembly.ai/ (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sembly.ai/&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw2FTQU9sWOeSbqJ4aJzbFAD) ) which he co-founded with Gil Makleff in 2019, is at the forefront of advancing natural language understanding, paving the way for a symbiotic partnership between humans and technology. Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network (https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/HCI) !

The business landscape has undergone immense changes in recent decades due to factors like globalization, technological disruption, shifting workforce and customer demographics, and economic turbulence, creating a profoundly uncertain and volatile environment that requires constant adaptation for companies to avoid obsolescence. However, by drawing from research on complex adaptive systems and uncertainty management, the video provides strategies for cultivating agile, resilient cultures focused on embracing uncertainty and continuous adaptation to thrive amid unpredictability. Leaders must foster agility through empowering experimentation, risk-taking, and iterative learning from failures to build resilience emphasizing adaptability, interdependence, diversity, communication, and flexibility, while embracing ambiguity recognizes leaders cannot predict the future and respond to new opportunities. Continuous learning and adaptation are also critical using flexible structures, short feedback loops, and scenario planning to identify weaknesses. The video then outlines an adaptive leadership framework to assess an organization's agility, resilience, and change readiness, proposing specific actions to decentralize decision-making, accelerate innovation, strengthen networks, communicate purpose, and conduct regular assessments/reviews, demonstrated through a banking example of innovative digital platforms, startup culture, customer empowerment, and experimentation enabling thriving amid turbulence. By developing cultures focused on continuous transformation over control and adaptability, companies gain strategic flexibility to reconfigure successfully amid unpredictability.

Abstract: In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, innovation is critical for organizational success, yet many companies struggle to cultivate truly innovative solutions. Substantial research has revealed that the composition of the innovation team itself is a key factor underlying the success or failure of innovation efforts. Innovative capacity is tied to individual personality traits like openness, risk tolerance, optimism, and self-efficacy, while team dynamics such as diversity of skills and backgrounds, psychological safety, and constructive conflict resolution are also essential for unlocking creative potential. By carefully assessing individual attributes, auditing team composition, and cultivating the optimal conditions for breakthrough thinking, organizations can reenergize stalled innovation initiatives and position themselves for sustainable competitive advantage through transformative innovations, as demonstrated by leading companies like Procter & Gamble, IDEO, and Tesla that have prioritized strategic team design.

Abstract: The power of dissent and its crucial role in driving innovation has a strong theoretical foundation backed by research in organizational behavior, social psychology, and innovation management. Scholars have found that dissent challenges the status quo, encourages critical thinking, and triggers cognitive elaboration, leading to the exploration of alternative solutions and the identification of novel approaches. Diverse teams that experience constructive disagreement have been shown to outperform homogeneous teams in terms of creativity and innovation. Practical examples from the tech industry, healthcare, and the nonprofit sector demonstrate how embracing a culture of dissent can unlock transformative breakthroughs. By cultivating an environment where diverse viewpoints are welcomed and encouraged, leaders can harness the power of disagreement to stay ahead of the curve and achieve sustained innovation.  

#trust #empowerment #leadership #growth #innovation #shorts