Steering Point Articles
Tracing Coffee’s Path from Origin to Office Ritual
“Google is a primary example of an organisation who have employed baristas serving high quality coffee for their employees marking their awareness of both the physical and psychological effect of provision of coffee for their employees.”
Building A Resilient Workforce : The Power of A Growth Mindset
“Developing a workforce characterised by a strong growth mindset, resilience, and determination can be achieved through strategic use of reward systems and effective management. One key area which can contribute to employee’s intrinsic motivation is praise.”
What is the State of Workplace Loyalty in 2024?
“Employees may be uncertain as to how loyal they should be to their company given the ever-changing landscape and the potential drawbacks of over-investing themselves. But employers will always want loyal employees…So how can employers work to earn loyalty from their staff?”
The Dangers of Playing it Safe
“To stop playing it safe, companies need to reassess their relationship with risk. Of course risk can bring failure. (As we’ve established, playing it safe can too.) But those failures don’t need to be failures. Through a shift in mindset, they can instead be viewed as opportunities for learning.”
Cultivating Quality Relationships through Leader-Member Exchange
“Leader Member Exchange (LMX) is a theory which focuses on the quality of the relationship between superior (leader) and subordinate (employee). The theory supports an ingroup, midgroup and outgroup. Employees within the ingroup may experience higher levels of LMX which is linked to increased confidence and positive relations; whilst outgroup interactions are characterised by low trust and minimal support.”
The Unsolvable Problem of AI Safety
“Given that AI is not explainable, it is in turn necessarily unpredictable –– how can you predict the actions of something you don’t (and can’t) understand? As is already the case with black box AI, the term used to describe AI models that arrive at conclusions or decisions without providing any explanations as to how they were reached, we will be in the dark as to how AI achieved its aims and what it might do to achieve future ones.”
Combatting Cybersecurity Risks
“Cybercrime is on the rise. Technological advancements paired with geopolitical instability have contributed to an increasingly fractious security environment. The cost of a cybercrime attack –– financially and reputationally –– can devastate a business. As such, greater precautions need to be taken. Businesses must decide whether they’re going to invest in their in-house cybersecurity unit or offset the duty to a third-party.”
How Does Smartphone Use Impact the Workplace?
“It’s not just teenagers who are hooked on their smartphones. In a 2022 Gallup poll, nearly 60% of Americans said they used their phones too often. Meanwhile, people in Ireland spend an average of 4.5 hours on their phone a day. Only 10% of that time is spent talking to someone in a phone conversation. The rest is given over to scrolling. A lot of that scrolling takes place at work.”
Workplace Performance Growth
“Performance growth in the workplace is crucially important for several reasons. The data consistently shows a positive correlation towards optimal productivity, identifying work on areas, enhancing strengths, setting clear expectations, talent retention, job satisfaction and continuous improvement.”
The Burnout Epidemic
“Working a job that we feel offers value to the world or that we feel we offer value to is key to avoiding burnout and having a healthy relationship with our work more generally. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology found that when employees feel like they fit well with their organisation and their specific role, they’re less likely to experience burnout.”
Harnessing Data to Fuel Employee Empowerment
“Analysing data such as customer satisfaction scores has been increasingly embraced with more old school metrics such as exit interviews becoming less common. By analysing and examining key metrics such as customer satisfaction scores and revenue, organisations can make more informed decisions on product development and resource allocation.”
Management in Times of Global Conflict
“Leaders – even experienced leaders – have not had to deal with the level (and variety) of problems currently facing the world. On top of the conflicts and political unrest, which impact everything from supply chains to employee morale, there have been shifts in the level of engagement businesses are expected to make regarding social issues. Not engaging, or engaging in the wrong way, can quickly prove damaging, maybe even fatal, as many businesses have found out the hard way.”
