Social capital distinguishes successful teams.

Forget the Pecking Order at Work, Margaret Heffernan, TEDTalk: Marageret Heffernan shares surprising findings about what drives high-achieving teams. “Companies don’t have ideas; only people do. And what motivates people are the bonds and loyalty and trust they develop between each other.” 

Succeeding in business is all about making connections

Richard Branson: Why You Should Network, Virgin: Richard Branson explains the importance of building relationships “Business is all about personal contact. No matter how heavy your workload is, do not allow yourself to work in your cubicle or office all day, every day – for your own well-being and the health of your business, you need to get out and about, meeting people and developing relationships.”

Nonconformity is your competitive advantage.

Let Your Workers Rebel, Harvard Business Review, Oct 2016: Research conducted by Francesca Gino, professor of business administration, concludes that the key to increased engagement, productivity and innovation is encouraging workers to challenge the status quo, be themselves and apply their unique strengths.

Cross-functional relationships drive business success.

Why effective leaders must manage up, down and sideways, Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise, McKenzie Quarterly. “Complex modern organisations benefit when people engage with their peers across functional and business-unit boundaries to bring a range of perspectives and drive change and innovation.”

Reflection improves performance.

Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance, Harvard Business School: New research shows that taking time to reflect on our work improves job performance in the long run. “When we fall behind even though we’re working hard, our response is often just to work harder. But in terms of working smarter, our research suggests that we should take time for reflection.”

Talent is worth fighting for

What if Companies Managed People as Carefully as They Manage Money? Harvard Business Review: This article recognises the often over-looked importance of effectively managing our scarecest resource – human capital. It explains how we can bring a greater discipline to the field. “Inspired employees are three times more productive than dissatisfied employees, but they are rare.”

Effective leaders employ networks.

How Leaders Create and Use Networks, Harvard Business Review: This article talks about the importance of networking and how effective leaders learn to employ networks for strategic purposes. “As a manager moves into a leadership role, his or her network must reorient itself externally and toward the future.”

How to radically humanise the workplace

Four ways to build a human company in the age of machines, Tim Leberecht, TED Talk: Tim argues that we need to build beautiful organisations to thrive in the modern world and proposes four ways to go about it. “To maintain our humanity in the this second Machine Age, we may have no other choice than to create beauty.”

The point of humanising work

Humanising Work: What’s the point?,Robyn Katz, LinkedIn Pulse: argues that organisations, just like governments, have responsibilities beyond making money and that putting people before profit is our moral imperative. “Most of us spend at least one third of our time (more than half of our waking hours) at work, and as employers, we are responsible for how our employees answer the question ‘How was your day?'”