“This is the way it’s always been done.” Connor Joyce “This is the way it’s always been done.” This pervasive statement is at the root of many inefficient processes which have caused hours of extra wo...
Bringing a new employee onboard is both an exciting and stressful time. And while managers play a critical role in shaping a new employees’ first weeks and months, a broader team effort can ensure the...
It’s no secret that work and life are speeding up. It’s not uncommon to spend all day in meetings, writing emails, or on the phone, leaving little time to focus on what is most important to you. Many ...
Companies are beginning to utilize their employees’ behavioral data—generally known as people analytics—to better understand and improve their sales operations, with strong results. Microsoft, where w...
First impressions in the workplace really matter—and not just to the employer. New employees can begin to formulate impressions about organizations from the get-go, influencing their decision to stay ...
Microsoft Workplace Analytics Consultant Sawyer Kelly talks to Derek Russell, host of The Data Binge podcast, about the power of behavioral data to help organizations change culture, engage employees,...
Microsoft Workplace Analytics Director of Solution Design Dr. Neha Shah joins other researchers and experts talking to Adam Grant, host of the WorkLife podcast, about informal networks and the power o...
It seems like every business is struggling with the concept of transformation. Large incumbents are trying to keep pace with digital upstarts, and even digital native companies born as disruptors know...
Companies are always looking for the best ways to assess the potential of employees. Managers want to understand how their teams contribute to the organization, and they want to identify high performe...
The last several years have marked the rise of the Internet of Things and Big Data.These trends enabled individuals to gain unprecedented insights into their own daily behaviors through self-quantific...
So much depends upon managers. For example, a Gallup study found that at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores is driven by who the boss is. This is disconcerting because the same re...
A sales organization turns to behavioral analytics to accelerate digital transformation and improve sales. In 2017, Microsoft undertook a major overhaul of its sales organization as part of a broader ...
In many ways, things were going extremely well with Microsoft Surface—the company’s primary hardware bet. Surface was an ambitious expansion from software into advanced hardware. It was a strategicall...
There was an era not long ago when Shanon Bernstine spent a lot of time with paper maps. And not just a few maps: upward of 50 of them, large swaths of paper spread across tables and carpeting the flo...
What behaviors drive successful salespeople? Last year, research by my people analytics company VoloMetrix identified three things that were highly correlated with top performing reps: More time spent...
We’ve all been part of a bloated weekly meeting. You know the one, with 20-plus attendees that’s been happening every week for years; where everyone attends because they’re supposed to, but no one get...
Enterprises worth their salt typically use a set of standard key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate progress, but there are limits to the effectiveness of these measures in improving or predict...
At its most basic, productivity is the amount of value produced divided by the amount of cost (or time) required to do so. And while this equation seems simple enough on the surface, the strategies fo...
In many offices, using digital tools to chat or collaborate with colleagues is the norm — even with people you sit right next to. Tools like Skype, Slack, and old-fashioned email are convenient and a ...
What type of office design is best for productivity and engagement? Today, this common question tends to have two distinct answers. On the one hand are the tech start-ups, who advocate for open office...
It is no secret that today’s employees are being driven to distraction by technology. With the beckoning ding of a new tweet, email or instant message, we may be prone to abandoning a particular task—...
Did you think corporate sabotage was a recent invention? Not really. Learn how to combat it like a secret agent. “When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’...
Thanks to new tools, we are now able to garner more data on employee behavior than we can even process. Where scientists once had to stand beside a worker to understand their actions, technology now e...
In the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein wove research, psychology, and economics to craft a fascinating story about ho...
Micromanagement is one of those deceptive business techniques that might appear productive, but that can really create a toxic business environment.It decreases management productivity. It frustrates ...
Resilient organizations weather crises by adapting with flexibility, ultimately emerging stronger. That is easier said than done, of course. While many organizations may strive toward resilience, lead...
The holy grail of today’s workplace is high employee engagement. According to Gallup’s oft-cited research on the topic, just about one-third of U.S. employees are engaged on the job. That number drops...
Sales executives with even moderately large, distributed salesforces rely on data to help them understand which activities and behaviors lead to the best outcomes. Solid data and analysis allow them t...
Managers have hard jobs. They coordinate the work of their teams, align this work with company goals, serve as a primary source of professional development for their employees, deliver results, and ma...
Our team is excited to announce our feature updates for August 2021. (You can see past blog articles here). This month’s update describes the following features: Workspace Collaboration Optimize Group...
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on:
New Viva Insights Community
jessemurray
on:
Viva Insights September 2021 feature updates
Victor_Bilgen
on:
Research Proves Your Brain Needs Breaks
Ahana_Kamath
on:
Viva Insights August 2021 feature updates
