#HR #RRHH Making love and making personal #branding #leadership

Forget slogans and posters. Forget mission statements. Forget culture decks. A survey of over 400,000 people across the U.S. found that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than two times as likely to give extra effort at work -- and to plan for having a long-term future with their company.

But wait, there's more: When employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than five times as likely to believe their leaders act with integrity.

The result? At those companies, employee turnover rates are half that of other companies in the same industry. Productivity, innovation, and growth metrics outperform the competition. For public companies, stock returns are almost three times the market average.

There’s a lot of discussion about what makes a person successful. Some say it’s the people you know or your network. Others say it’s all about how you organize your day and your priorities. Others say it’s innate personality characteristics.

All of the things listed above are extremely important. And, we wanted to know what really creates true greatness in people—where their work is so good that they win awards for it. 

It’s probably an understatement to call 2016 a year of turning points.

The U.S. presidential election, culminating in Donald Trump’s upset win in November, thrust labor and employment issues into a more prominent place in the news cycle. But it wasn’t just politics that fueled major shifts in the world of work. Here’s a look back at some of the most consequential ways the workplace has evolved over the past year, and where it might be heading next.

Though 2016 may have felt like a tumultuous year, a variety of factors are poised to ripple through 2017, further disrupting business as usual.

That's according to Brian Kropp, the human resources practice leader for CEB. The best practice insight and technology company that works with 20,000 senior leaders at 10,000 organizations worldwide gathered and analyzed internal and external data to look at broader trends that will influence the way we work next year. Kropp says major changes in public policy, technology, and employee demands will shape the challenges faced by business leaders and employees in the year to come.

Among the key factors driving this change is one that stems from the 2008 financial crisis. Throughout the recovery period organizations of all shapes and sizes have had to learn how to do more with less, and are now unable to get much leaner.

If you want your employees to work well together and get more done as a team, it might help to pipe in some upbeat tunes. Research from Cornell University has found that employees who listen to happy music—like the Beatles's "Yellow Submarine"—are able to cooperate and make group decisions better than employees who work without a background soundtrack.

"Retailers certainly use music routinely with the intention of influencing consumer behavior," says Kevin Kniffin, an applied behavioral scientist at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University and lead author of the study. "The point of our new research is to draw attention to the role that music can have for employees, whether in retail workplaces or any other kind."

Researchers played "Yellow Submarine"; "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves; "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison; and the theme song from "Happy Days" on a loop in a workplace environment, says Kniffin. "A definitional feature of happy music is that it has a rhythm to it," he says. "Happy music significantly and positively influences cooperative behavior," Kniffin points out. "We also find a significant positive association between mood and cooperative behavior."

Stuck in a rut at work? Here are three ways to get unstuck and be on the path to advancement, so that you can still grow in your job.

Wasting time is one of the biggest reasons you aren't more successful right now. Review how you've spent your time today, and you'll likely find plenty of unproductive time that you may not have even spent relaxing or preparing to be productive later.

Simply planning your day can make a big difference. Science has a lot to say about this. For example, it turns out that our willpower may be better earlier in the day and we need to take advantage of that.

The idea is that planning creates a guideline the brain wants to stick to. Here's more on how that helps create success, as well as some other approaches that can help.

Researchers have found leaders are more effective in how they communicate when they depersonalize the message. Learn what this means and how to do it.

Chances are there was a point—maybe there were several—in the past year when you found yourself sitting angrily at your desk wondering why you had to do so much of the work yourself. You silently cursed your colleagues under your breath as you polished off yet another aspect of that big project. If it weren’t for you, you thought, the entire office might collapse under the combined weight of all its slackers.

The same thing might happen at home, too. Spouses and partners routinely fight over who takes care of the chores, and everyone feels like they're doing more than their fair share.

And yes, it's certainly possible that you actually are pulling your own weight and then some. Maybe you're surrounded by freeloaders and are the only halfway responsible person in the bunch. But there's a pretty good chance you aren't, despite your perceptions to the contrary. Here's why.

To win at being the best company, you must first win over your best employees.

Stand-up desks, wellness programs, flexible schedules, financial consulting, access to health professionals, and a strong emphasis on employee recognition have all recently become focal points at many workplaces. It makes you wonder why leaders are suddenly so keen to create workspaces and cultures that bind teams together and make employees (dare we say it) happy and healthy to be at work.

Our world, as we’ve seen recently in the news, isn’t getting any softer. However, research shows that companies that focus on creating happy, healthier, motivating, and appreciative workplaces are onto something profound—even, and maybe especially, during turbulent times. It’s not about creating atmospheres lined with rainbows and butterflies either. Instead, these studies prove the “hard” impact a workplace environment has on productivity and engagement—on both the individual and team level.

Read on to discover which traits in your workplace are helping you achieve your best possible outcomes, and which might be derailing your potential.

You’ve got allotted breaks—and you take them.

It sounds almost too good to be true, but research has shown that regular breaks are crucial to productivity. Your brain needs a breather in between tasks so it can fully focus and engage when you need it to. In fact, the most productive employees take a full 17-minute break for every 52 minutes of concentration. Try their pattern out for a day, and see if it makes a difference. Even switching to a simpler task can count as a breather. Just remember the benefits of taking a break the next time you’re tempted to skip yours—because even just five minutes off can make a big difference.