Want to return from vacation sharper and more energized?  It’s not just about the downtime — recharge by learning something new.

Enter the Skill-cation: a getaway built around learning a skill, mastering a challenge, or diving into a creative pursuit. Research shows these kinds of vacations don’t just refresh your body — they reset your mind.

Here’s why skill-cations are gaining serious momentum:
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• They break the burnout loop: Learning something new forces your brain to shift focus, helping you escape work stress and mental fatigue.
• They make rest more rewarding: Physical and mental effort during a skill-cation leads to deeper sleep and a stronger sense of relaxation.
• They boost confidence: You return home with a new skill — and a renewed sense of accomplishment that fuels motivation long after the trip ends.
• They redefine leisure: Experts say “productive leisure” (like learning, painting, hiking, or volunteering) delivers longer-lasting satisfaction than passive downtime.

Want to feel sharper, more fulfilled, and ready to tackle life when you return? Take a skill-cation — and come back better than ever.

​Loneliness at work isn’t just a wellness issue. It’s a business threat — and it’s costing companies up to $300 billion a year!

On a national survey of 2,000 employed Americans, Inc.com uncovered some startling statistics:

• 1 in 4 workers say they have no friends at work.
• 64% feel lonely on the job.
• 46% wish they could be closer to their coworkers — and among Gen Z, that number jumps to 60%.

But here’s what really matters to employers:

• 63% say friendships at work strongly influence whether they stay with their employer.
• 71% would turn down a higher-paying job if the company culture felt cold or isolating.

This isn’t just about feelings. It’s about retention, productivity, and the health of
your workforce.
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What Can Employers Do?
Here are 3 strategies companies are using to fight back:
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1. Measure It: Use tools like the Work Loneliness Scale to identify disconnected employees before it affects performance.
2. Build Real Culture: Host team-building events, encourage casual conversations, and create space for authentic connection.
3. Lead with Empathy: Train managers to check in regularly, assign peer mentors, and help isolated employees feel supported.

Loneliness is no longer a silent struggle. It’s a loud signal that your culture needs
attention — and the smartest companies are already listening!

Have you felt lonely at work, and if so, what effect did it have on you? What do
you think could be done to improve your situation? To join the conversation, click on "Comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with
our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid
Learning of 2022.

When leaders become the go-to fixer, they break something bigger: Team trust, ownership, and momentum...

Being supportive is great — but trying to fix everything yourself? That’s a fast track to burnout. When you jump in to solve your team’s problems, you end up clogging decision-making, taking ownership away from your team, and wearing yourself out.

But there’s a better way. Leaders who involve their teams in solving problems together build stronger, more engaged teams — and they don’t have to carry the whole load alone.

In the Harvard Business Review, Elizabeth Lotardo, a leadership coach and author, suggests five simple questions leaders can ask to stay supportive without becoming the go-to fixer:

1. What have you tried?  
   This encourages team members to take the first step before asking for help. After a while, your team will come to anticipate this question.
2. What’s getting in your way?  
   Helps identify blockers and patterns that might need attention. Perhaps you, as leader, can remove the obstacle without taking ownership of the entire problem.
3. What support do you need?
   Do not add “from me.”  Support can come from another leader, a teammate, an adjacent department, or an outside source.
4. What would you do if you were in my place?
   When you solve every problem your team often does not see the effort involved. Asking this question prompts employees to take some responsibility. 
5. What’s your next step?
   Keeps momentum going and reinforces ownership.

These questions aren’t just conversation starters — they’re tools to build confidence, clarity, and collaboration.

Are you a reflexive problem-solver, and how can you see the value in giving people the space to work things out themselves? To join the conversation, click "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

Hybrid work isn’t just a location shift — it’s a mindset shift. The most successful leaders are the ones who set clear expectations, build connection intentionally, and make communication a daily habit.

Hybrid work is becoming more and more of a norm. And the old playbook of managing employees may not work anymore. The Harvard Business Review offers a series of tips to address the new paradigm.

1. Start with the facts, not feelings: Check the numbers: Are meetings dragging on? Are emails piling up unanswered? Let the data show you what’s really happening.
2. Set rules everyone can live by: Decide when people need to be “on” and what counts as urgent — then stick to it so no one’s guessing!
3. Rethink what “good performance” means: It’s not just about output. Reward quick responses, teamwork, and helping others grow.
4. Make the path to promotion crystal clear: Use 360‑degree feedback to spot leadership potential and show people how to get there.
5. Create “all‑in” days: Pick regular days when everyone’s in the office together to build energy and connection.
6. Build relationships on purpose: Onboard in groups, match people with mentors, and make introductions across teams.
7. Treat communication like a core job: Managers should actively connect people, share updates, and keep the information flowing.

Are you working in hybrid mode, and what tips can you offer? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

Curious why some leaders inspire loyalty while others struggle to connect? Discover the subtle power that turns teams into communities — and why your next conversation could change everything!
 
In January 2025, Gallup found employee engagement hit its lowest point in a decade. One data point says only 39% of employees strongly agreed that someone at work cares for them as a person. And findings from the human capital management firm Workhuman show 30% feel “invisible.” Feeling unnoticed is antithetical to engagement and satisfaction at work. 
 
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Zach Mercurio, author of The Power of Mattering, offers advice for leaders who need to be better noticers:

• Rushing is a barrier to seeing others. Slow down. Noticing others takes time, but when leaders always hurry, it becomes too easy to cancel a one-on-one meeting, forget to check in on an employee who’s struggling, or connect  with a team member.
• Check in…in person: Make space for discussing how people are doing, not just what they are doing, in your real-time interactions.
• Leverage in-between moments: Connections are built incrementally. Use the few minutes before a virtual meeting starts, time on the elevator, or the couple of seconds after wrapping up a phone call.
• Observe, remember, repeat: When you learn something significant about an employee, jot it down to help your recall. They’ll feel seen when you bring it up in conversation, and you’ll develop a productive habit. 

Do you feel noticed at work, and do you make an effort to make those around you feel acknowledged? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.
 
Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022. 

Gratitude has consistently been shown to lower stress, reduce pain, boost immunity, and improve blood pressure and heart function. Here’s how to spread gratitude not just on Thanksgiving…but always.​

We recently released a micro learning video series on how to express gratitude so it sticks, and these tools are easy to learn.  Neuroscientist Glen Fox has spent his entire adult life studying gratitude. “Grateful people tend to recover faster from trauma and injury, have better and closer personal relationships and may even just have improved health overall.” Fox did an experiment using brain-imaging scans to map which circuits in the brain become active when we feel grateful.

“We saw that the participants’ ratings of gratitude correlated with activity in a set of brain regions associated with interpersonal bonding and with relief from stress,” he said. To up your conscious gratitude, Fox suggests keeping a gratitude journal. On a regular basis, write down what you are grateful for, even if those things seem mundane. The positive effect is cumulative so it’s a good idea to make this a habit. You can also write letters of gratitude to those who have helped you along your way. Says Fox, “I think that gratitude can be much more like a muscle, like a trained response or a skill that we can develop over time.”

When was the last time you actively expressed gratitude, and how did you feel? To join the conversation, click on "comments" below.

​Create lifetime communication mastery online, with our virtual programs, awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.

Research suggests that asking questions that show you're listening is a great way to make conversations click.  Since not all questions are equal, here are 3 tips.
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Conversations help us forge and deepen connections.  And they are essential to our well being.  Sometimes, though, we avoid conversations because we fear they may become tedious, awkward, or even confrontational.  

Writing in the Journal of the American Psychological Association, Zara Abrams notes that one of the best ways to make conversations click is to ask questions.  But be conscious of how you do this:

• Avoid answering your own questions: Some people believe that asking a question makes their conversation partner feel included. But not waiting for a reply can actually alienate your listener. 

• Ask follow up questions:  Follow-up questions prove you were paying attention and show your conversation partner that you want to know more.  Speed daters who ask more follow-up questions are more likely to get a second date!  

• A good conversation has a good rhythm: A conversation can be like a dance.  It might speed up or slow down, and there may be pauses—like in a tango.  Effective listening tends to lead to moments of quiet, and that’s linked to higher satisfaction among participants.  When someone responds too quickly to something very thoughtful or personal, or not quickly enough when you were expecting a spirited back-and-forth, they aren’t "dancing" with you in an enjoyable way.

Do you have a go-to conversational style that works for you?  And what do you do to show you're listening?  To join the conversation, click "comments" below.

Learn more about creating a habit around masterful communication with our online learning courses awarded International Gold for Best Hybrid Learning of 2022.