Bear with me as I attempt to bring a slightly nerdy concept into relevance this week. I think you’ll see it’s a powerful idea that can help us work in better ways. In technology there’s an idea called “technical debt,” defined in Wikipedia as “a concept in software development that reflects the implied cost of … Read More
Here’s the CPR interview from Oct 31, if you missed it (~15 mins): Click here to view it on CPR.org // starts around 5:30 mark // And a few follow-up thoughts… When we hear about this whole “self managing teams” thing, it can be easy to get a bit “triggered” by it. We all have … Read More
Culture is complex. By its very definition, “culture” is almost unreasonably complicated — read just a few lines in a dictionary, and you’ll quickly trip over phrases like “manifestations of human achievement regarded collectively.” Oof. Complex. The intricate nature of “culture” itself is actually one of its largest challenges, as its complexity makes it difficult … Read More
It was a morning like most weekday mornings, which is to say everyone in my family was running around trying to get ready to leave the house. And as you may know, some mornings are better than others when it comes to little kids listening versus dawdling — this particular morning was kiddo procrastination in … Read More
“I just love being micromanaged.” … Have you met a lot of people who would say this? Have you even met one? I’ve been studying leadership and human behavior for the last 20 years, and I struggle to think of a single person I’ve met — ever — who would say they enjoy being micromanaged. Humans, by nature, … Read More
Nikola Tesla reportedly said, “If you wish to understand the secrets of the universe, think of energy, frequency, and vibration.” The more we lean in to an energy-based approach to work at Helios, the more we believe this to be profoundly true. “Energy” is an interesting topic, mostly because it’s not something we talk about … Read More
Burnout at work is quite literally everywhere. Perhaps you read the recent article in The Washington Post, or saw how companies are adopting four-day workweeks to try to combat this problem, or checked out the piece in BuzzFeed about how Millennials are “the burnout generation.” Or maybe you just looked in the mirror, or into … Read More
I love creating learning experiences. When I stumbled into this line of work many years ago, I had no idea this was even a “thing” a person could do as a career, but it’s turned out to be a deeply fulfilling fit for my strengths. We’ve been the official certifying body for Strengthscope® in the … Read More
Helios is a growing tribe of change leaders on a mission to create a world where everyone can love work. There are probably millions of ways this could be approached, so today I want to explain our particular contribution to this herculean effort: human energy. Human energy — this is an interesting topic, because it’s … Read More
In our world, we often hear about creating a “strengths-based organization” — but that isn’t actually the point at all.
Since the beginning of 2017, we’ve been known as Strengthscope U.S. — we now need to broaden our brand, so we are becoming Helios! Why “Helios?” Great question! In biology there’s an idea called “heliotropism” — this concept describes how certain organisms turn or grow towards the life-giving energy of the sun (helios is the … Read More