Whether you’re part of a company with 50,000 employees or five, there’s no reason you and your team should work in a “bubble” with minimal or no interaction with other teams. Still, for whatever reason, oftentimes people from different departments don’t work on projects together.
A cross-functional team is another phrase that is thrown around the workplace, but it does serve a very real and tangible purpose. This term is referring to a group of people with different skill sets and expertise that work together for a common goal. For example, marketing and customer service, IT and SEO are all departments where it makes sense to collaborate.

People in the business community love their clichés. "There's no 'I' in team," "work smarter, not harder," and my personal favorite, "think outside the box". Ugh.

When it comes to describing a workplace culture, clichés are abundant here as well. With our open-door policies and expectations of giving 150% (how is this even possible?). These general statements don't provide the employee with a lot of useful insights into what it really means to work, and fit in, at the company in question.

Now, I don't mean to offend those in charge of setting the company culture. For some reason, workplace culture, despite the fact that we all work in it every day, is actually pretty hard to define. But just as water is critical to a fish's survival, a well-oiled company culture helps keep your business afloat. And many companies sink or swim (sorry, couldn't resist) based on their workplace culture and how clearly it's defined.

While Super Bowl XLVII and its hype have come and gone about as quickly as the lights went out in the stadium, it still provided some intriguing lasting

Oftentimes cruel and unfair managers are the ones that get talked about, portrayed in the media and in Hollywood and so on.  But let’s say you, as the manager, do…

Life is just plain stressful. Whether it’s your workload, conflicts among direct reports, problems at home, stress can feel like it’s all around. When one is stressed out, they can…

Ah, the star employee. The one that goes above and beyond for every project, is a team player, and just seems to do everything right.

Just as that employee can give your company some of its best days, it all comes crashing down the minute he or she gives you their two weeks’ notice.

While it’s easy to assume the employee left your business because they wanted more money, several workplace studies show that actually isn’t the driving force.

One highly cited study comes from the Gallup Organization that surveyed more than 1 million employed U.S. workers from a broad range of companies, industries and countries. They asked what talented employees needed from their workplace. You would think the answer would be more financial compensation, but actually their findings revealed this: how long an employee stays and how productive they will be all depends on their relationship with their manager.

There are more than 34 million Americans working at home, at least occasionally, according to the research firm, Forrester. By 2016, that number is expected to hit 63 million, which estimates virtual workers will consist of 43% of the workforce. That’s a lot of people working in their pajamas.
Working from home used to be viewed as a necessity in a limited amount of cases: bad weather, employee suffering from sickness, kids home from school, etc. Some leaders in the past only saw the “home” part and not the “work” and did not believe employees had the capability to actually do their job from home.

Some view New Year’s resolutions with a healthy amount of skepticism. Probably because some of these resolutions can be pretty unrealistic – lose 50 pounds by February or strive to…

The end of year is always a time for reflection. It allows us all to take a minute and step back from our chaotic lives to try and put some…

Leaders are celebrated, while managers are often criticized, but a combination of the two could be just what the economy needs.

There's been an ongoing debate for the past five decades and I'm not talking about Medicare or why the Chicago Cubs haven't won a title since 1908. This debate has to do with leaders and managers.

In fact, a quick Google search of the phrase, "Leaders vs. Managers" produces more than 15 million results. Clearly, this is an issue people care about and are searching for the answers.

After all, should a manager also be a leader? Must a leader utilize management skills?

Before I attempt to answer those two questions, let's look closer at the differences between leaders and managers.

Organizational consultant Warren Bennis is widely known as the pioneer in what is considered the contemporary field of leadership. In his book, "On Becoming a Leader: The Leadership Classic" he delved into the qualities that define leadership, which included describing the differences between managers and leaders.