Provo, UT—October 4, 2017—VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced the release of the Live Online edition of Getting Things Done® (GTD®) Training, based on the methodology from the bestselling book Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by...
Great Storytelling Connects Employees to Their Work
Joseph Grenny says that in every organization he's ever studied where there was a strong sense of moral motivation, the leaders were always storytellers. They understood and acted on their responsibility to overcome the inevitable alienation of routine organizational life by connecting employees with those...
Do This Ritual At The End Of Each Week To Become More Productive
It’s obvious that some employees perform at higher levels than others—but why? David Maxfield, vice president of research for the leadership-training firm VitalSmarts, studied 1,594 managers and employees and found that high performers have adopted smart habits, one of which is an important ritual for...
According to a study by leadership training company VitalSmarts, 83 percent of managers and 77 percent of employees are less stressed when they exhibit the productivity habits and traits of top performers. These include organization, time management skills, attention to detail, making to-do lists, keeping...
5 Habits of the Most Valuable and Productive Employees
David Maxfield shares 5 habits that can be adopted by anyone to improve individual and team performance as well as reduce stress....
How to handle high-stakes conversations
VitalSmarts surveyed 1,025 managers and employees about a time when they had a concern at work but failed to voice it. From hundreds of stories emerged five categories of people who go silent rather than communicate concerns....
Provo, UT—September 6, 2017—VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced the release of a new edition of Getting Things Done® (GTD®) Training, based on the methodology from the bestselling book Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David...
Is It All About The App?
Justin Hale says your personal productivity turns on behaviors, not tools....
The 5 Best Ways to Handle Difficult Workplace Conversations in the Office
A VitalSmarts Certified Trainer shares five steps for handling some of the most tricky and crucial conversations in the workplace....
The Top 5 Career-Limiting Habits You’ve Built (And 6 Ways to Break Them)
Based on a study that included hundreds of managers, VitalSmarts (a corporate training and leadership development firm) found that 97 percent of employees have at least one career limiting habit -- a behavior that restricts their potential at work. The top five most common were: ...
6 Surefire Signs Your Workplace Is Toxic
Aggressive employees can undermine safety and lower productivity, because they make the people around them go into fight-or-flight mode. According to a VitalSmarts survey, "Eighty percent of bullies in the workplace affect five or more people."...
There Are 3 Skills That Will Get You Promoted and 1 That Won’t, According to a Study
According to a VitalSmarts study, a corporate training and leadership development firm, which examined 1,650 promotions, 92 percent of the respondents said poor interpersonal skills hinder progression. The same research revealed that strong interpersonal skills combined with substantial contributions and caring about your organization are the...
Problems at Work? 5 Questions Every Employee Should Ask Their Boss
Have a problem at work? Get in line. Half of office workers say they’re overworked, and 75% say they don’t have access to the latest technology to help them do their jobs, according to the Staples Business Advantage Workplace Index. Three-quarters of people say slacker...
You can be a 10 in your boss’s book, be more productive and have less stress
It’s no surprise managers rate top performers as their most valuable employees. But what might not be as obvious is the massive impact a top performer has on the organization. A new study by VitalSmarts revealed employees rated by their managers as a “9” or “10” on a...
5 personality traits to develop if you want to be more successful
A survey of 1,500 participating managers and employees by leadership training company VitalSmarts found that top performers don't work longer hours than their peers, they work smarter. To work smarter, researchers suggest communicating more clearly and more often with your manager and colleagues....
5 productivity habits of high-performing employees that you can start today
A new study from leadership training company VitalSmarts reveals that top-rated employees perform better than their colleagues because they work smarter — not harder — when it comes to completing tasks....
Here’s why the highest-performing employees are also the least stressed
While many people may think success is born of the stress of long hours, chaotic schedules and hundreds of unread emails, a new study from leadership training company VitalSmarts reveals just the opposite is true for top-rated employees....
The Traits of Top Performers That Allow Them to Do More and Be Less Stressed
VitalSmarts survey of 1,600 managers and employees found that 83 percent of leaders and 77 percent of workers say that top performers have less stress and increased productivity because of their habits....
Provo, UT – August 1, 2017 – It’s no surprise managers rate top performers as their most valuable employees. But what might not be as obvious is the massive impact a top performer has on the organization. A new study by VitalSmarts revealed employees rated...
When to Solve Your Team’s Problems, and When to Let Them Sort It Out
Joseph Grenny gives leaders advice on working with their teams to resolve conflict. He says there are times when leaders will want to intervene and times when it's best to let employees work through issues themselves....
How to confront your boss about the gender pay gap, by a journalist who it did it live on the air
Joseph Grenny advises people to discuss issues in private, and to not overplay the risks of speaking up. ...
Managing in Tech: Exude Cool, Thrive Under Pressure and Dance with Your Stars
David Maxfield discusses the results of VitalSmarts study into the culture of tech. The unique nature of the tech world doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. What can change and change quickly is a manager’s ability to manage the idiosyncratic challenges that come...
Do You Have A Culture Of Silos? Here’s How To Break Them Down
VitalSmarts Trainer, Kelly Andrews, write that our siloed cultures can be broken up once we internally change our motivation and practice speaking up. As we start to challenge the conventions that hold us back from dialogue and create psychological safety in our interactions, others will...
Gender Bias At Work — Why Men Call Forceful Women ‘Hysterical’ And Try To Silence Them
A new study by New York Times bestselling authors, Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield revealed that gender bias in the workplace is real, finding that women’s perceived competency drops by 35% and their perceived worth falls by $15,088 when they are judged as being "forceful" or "assertive."...
What to Do When You Inherit a Team That Isn’t Working Hard Enough
Joseph Grenny give leaders advice on motivating and unmotivated workforce....
A new ‘warning’ for families: You may be trading a full life for Facebook Likes
A new VitalSmarts study found that people don't get as much pleasure from their experiences when they're "focused on capturing rather than experiencing." Turns out that social media 'Likes' are a low-effort way of producing a feeling of social well-being that takes more effort to get...
4 Ways To Foster Happiness In The Workplace
Joseph Grenny says one way to foster happiness in the workplace is to encourage conflict resolution. Encourage face-to-face communication, in a safe environment, where the employees can discuss and work out conflicts. Then be sure to follow up, asking how the meeting went. That follow-through will...
How to Give an Employee Feedback About Their Appearance
Joseph Grenny shares advice on giving employee feedback about sensitive topics--like one's appearance. Don't understate or sugarcoat your message....
Why You Should Walk the Line Between Company Culture and Your Individual Leadership Style
Although company culture is meant to guide employee actions and bring teams together, many employees have a negative view of these principles. In fact, a survey of 1,200 employees and executives conducted by researchers at VitalSmarts in July found a gap in how leaders and...
Playing favorites and workplace gossip hurt quality of care, providers charge
Gossip, rudeness and playing “favorites” hurts the quality of healthcare in facilities, a new report alleges. A survey of more than 1,200 physicians, nurses and other healthcare staff by VitalSmarts identified common communication issues among providers. In addition to gossip, the respondents said a failure to...
Don’t let these 5 toxic workplace dramas hurt patient safety
A survey of more than 1,200 physicians, nurses and staff, led by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield of the training company VitalSmarts, identified five common behavioral problems that more often than not go unaddressed in hospitals and other healthcare settings....
Provo, UT—May 9, 2017—A new study by VitalSmarts suggests that slackers, timid supervisors, toxic peers and arrogant doctors are common in healthcare. But while frustrating—those behavior problems aren’t the real problem. The real problem in healthcare is silence. The study of workplace drama in healthcare found...
How to React to Biased Comments at Work
Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, and Judith Honesty discuss the results of VitalSmarts research on unconscious bias in the workplace. They share tips for confronting discrimination to reduce the harmful effects of bias....
Debunking The 4 Myths of Online Learning
Emily Hoffman and Justin Hale talk about the myths of online learning and how the new Crucial Conversations Online course from VitalSmarts debunks those myths to create a stellar learning experience....
What to Do About Mediocrity on Your Team
Joseph Grenny says individual performance problems are far easier to address if you’ve done the work of establishing a norm of excellence. He shares four simple but important practices that if implemented can rapidly and profoundly shift a group’s expectations in a way that leads...
Unconscious Bias and the Skills for Speaking Up
David Maxfield and Judith Honesty share the results of their latest study on workplace discrimination and impact of unconscious bias....
Study on Bias Reveals Several Types of Discrimination
VitalSmarts latest research on workplace bias identified several ways in which people discriminate against others. Whether the discrimination was subtle or overt, those who experienced it heard these messages: "Don't be yourself." "You're not considered credible." "Just kidding." "Anything goes after hours.""You're unwelcome." "Gotcha."...
When You Use the Word Victim…
VitalSmarts, the leadership training company asked 500 victims of discrimination to share workplace experiences that made them feel excluded, unwelcome, discounted, etc. based on their race, gender, age and a host of other diversity-related criteria. They found workplace bias to be pervasive, permanent and unmanageable for...
Provo, UT—March 21, 2017—A new study by VitalSmarts, a Top 20 Leadership Training Company, found that more than a quarter (27 percent) of those who experience discrimination at work report the bias to be common, impactful and beyond their ability to manage. The result of...
How to Raise Sensitive Issues During a Virtual Meeting
Joseph Grenny says the reason so few of us speak up about sensitive issues is that we are wired for mistrust. As a result, we have a conservative bias: When in doubt, play it safe. Hide in a bush. Pick up a rock. Keep silent. Grenny...
This Is How You Handle Negative Feedback, According To Career Experts
Joseph Grenny provides advice on how to accept criticism and feedback....
Five Common Habits That Can Kill Your Career
David Maxfield says your blind spots for your own bad habits could be keeping you from raises and promotions. In a recent study for VitalSmarts, Maxfield interviewed managers who identified the top five career killers....
Provo, UT—February 22, 2017—VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty, Inc. company and an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced that the award-winning Crucial Conversations Training course is now available online in a completely on-demand, asynchronous learning experience designed to reach the modern learner. While Crucial Conversations...
4 bad habits that can destroy your career
"Poor habits over time can absolutely derail a person's career," says David Maxfield, vice president of research at corporate training company VitalSmarts. "And most often they are not aware of what they're doing." Maxfield shares 4 career-limiting habits and how to overcome them....
How To Quit Your Job In A Classy Way
Many employers require a formal letter of resignation, but it's worth viewing this as an opportunity rather than a burden. "Don't use your letter to point to negatives, to settle gripes, or to say 'I told you so,'" said David Maxfield, vice president of research...
20 Life-Changing Books You Must Add to Your List for 2017
Crucial Conversations is ranked No. 9 on the list of 20 life-changing books you must read in 2017....
A 3-Step Plan for Turning Weaknesses into Strengths
Joseph Grenny writes that you can change your own career-limiting habit if you identify your own crucial moments, seek out brief and intentional opportunities for deliberate practice, and build skills in addressing emotional barriers to your progress. Don’t let fear or inertia hold you back....
The do’s and don’ts of talking politics at work
According to a recent study by VitalSmarts, nine out of 10 U.S. voters said the 2016 election was more polarizing and volatile than ever before. So, how do you cover what will inevitably be a topic of discussion, without starting a bitter debate with coworkers? Read the...
PROVO, UT – January 10, 2017 – VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty Inc. Company, and leader in corporate training and leadership development, announced today a partnership with The David Allen Company. VitalSmarts will be the North American distributor for The David Allen Company’s premier training product, Getting...
When Employees Are Afraid to Speak Up, Organizations Suffer
A new study lead by VitalSmarts Cochairman and Cofounder Joseph Grenny and Vice President of Research David Maxfield found that a scant 1 percent of employees feel “extremely confident” when it comes to voicing their concerns in the workplace at critical moments. Furthermore, a third of employees...
The rise of the feedback culture
Joseph Grenny says that, in his experience, a company's overall "health" is often linked to the "average lag time between identifying and discussing problems." The longer managers wait to address problems in the workplace, the greater the negative impact on things like engagement, employee satisfaction and productivity....
Over 43% of Spouses Hide Holiday Spending From Partners
VitalSmarts research found that eight out of ten U.S. adults "either overspend or have a spouse or partner who overspends during the holiday season, and nearly 56% say it is difficult to discuss holiday spending with their spouse/partner."...
How to Bridge the Leadership Perception Divide
A VitalSmarts survey uncovered a huge gap between how management and employees view the company's leadership style and culture. Even worse, this gap markedly influences productivity and turnover. When employees thought leaders valued obedience, deference to authority, predictability and competition with peers, they were 32 percent...
How a Culture of Silence Eats Away at Your Company
David Maxfield shares the results of VitalSmarts study on the organizational costs of conversations either not held, or held poorly. He offers tips for changing cultures of silence into cultures of dialogue to mitigate those costs....
Provo, UT – December 6, 2016 – Steve worked with a colleague whose disrespectful behavior and verbal abuse went unchecked. Steve never said anything. His colleagues never said anything. And even management avoided the conversation with the office bully. Instead, they complained and gossiped about...
7 Things That Will Destroy Your Career
A recent survey by VitalSmarts found that 83% of people had seen someone make a blunder that had catastrophic results for their career, reputation, or business, and 69% admitted that they themselves had done something that had damaged their careers....
Five Ways to Prevent A Holiday Spending Nightmare
According to a study by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, 8 out of 10 people either overspend or have a spouse or partner who overspends during the holiday season, and nearly 56% say it is difficult to discuss holiday spending with their spouse or partner...
Provo, Utah, November 22, 2016 – Each holiday season, it’s the same old story: you endure a year-long battle of meticulously balancing and budgeting your funds, only to blow your budget come Black Friday. If this form of holiday gluttony sounds familiar, you’re not alone. New...
What You Can Do If You Have a Gossiping Boss
Joseph Grenny shares best practices for confronting a gossiping boss. With the right skills, you really can talk to anyone--even your boss--about anything in a way that produces results and maintains the relationship....
Holiday secret: 8 of 10 couples have an overspender
Is Black Friday breaking your budget? Turns out you're not alone. VitalSmarts research shows 8 out of 10 couples overspend during the holidays, but most never address their squandering partner. Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield share tips for holding this crucial conversation....
Don’t Apologise Just To Be Forgiven
Joseph Grenny explains, "the best apology is a glimpse into your own accountability." When you're truly sorry for something, you take a sincere look into your own feelings and actions to express your remorse....
How to keep it cordial when talking politics with friends
Joseph Grenny talks with Glen Mills about how to discuss politics with friends and family cordially and respectfully. They share results of their latest study that reveal it's not whether you disagree with others' opinions that determines the success of your relationship, but how you...
Facebook Gets Ugly: Politics Brings Out the Troll In Us
Research by Joseph Grenny, co-author of Crucial Conversations, shows 81% said “difficult or emotionally charged” conversations they have held over social media remained unresolved. Two out of five blocked, unsubscribed to, or defriended someone over arguments that took place via social media....
5 Secrets To Mastering Conflict
VitalSmarts' research shows that those who consistently speak up aren’t necessarily more courageous; they’re simply more accurate....
What a Real Apology Requires
Joseph Grenny shares the best practices of issuing a genuine apology. He says, "The purpose of an apology is not to restore trust, but to confirm to others that we deserve it."...
Leaders Need Different Skills to Thrive in Tech
Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield share the results of their study examining the unique culture of tech and what mangers can do to improve team performance amidst the industry's challenges....
Why Teamwork Matters at Every Level
The July 2016 Corporate Culture Chasm survey from VitalSmarts found a disparity between how employers and employees perceive competition. While leaders say they value teamwork in the workplace, employees say they believe employers really want to see staff compete with one another....
How to Defuse Trump-Style “Locker Room” Talk at the Office
When confronting inappropriate comments, sooner is always better says Joseph Grenny, cofounder of VitalSmart and co-author of the book Crucial Conversations. “Don’t bite your tongue, even for a second. When inappropriate remarks border on any kind of verbal harassment, witnesses must speak up and confront the...
Provo, Utah – October 10, 2016 –VitalSmarts training programs have earned recognition by two prominent training and leadership development publications for their ability to help clients drive business impact and for the quality of their content. Chief Learning Officer awarded Gold Fields, a client of VitalSmarts,...
Four Leadership Rules for Success in Utah’s Silicon Slopes
Joseph Grenny says that while every industry is unique, no sector can make the case for uniqueness better than tech. He shares four leadership rules for managing in tech to improve team performance....
Learning In Practice: GOLD Award Winner
VitalSmarts partnered with our client, Gold Fields, to enter their Influencer Training initiative to reduce avoidable injuries on their mining worksites. The practice won the top award, Gold, in the Business Impact category from Chief Learning Officer....
Should You Talk About Politics at Work?
Joseph Grenny says learning how to talk about politics in a productive manner can help you “manage other difficult conversations at work,” including peer performance reviews or disagreements over strategy and policy....
No. 1 Top Training Video
Training Magazine named “The Janitor Story” from Crucial Accountability the No. 1 training video produced in-house. ...
How Employees and Managers See Things Differently — and How to Fix It
There is a large disconnect between how higher-ups perceive their organizational culture and the reality that employees experience. The July 2016 Corporate Culture Chasm survey, from VitalSmarts found that managers had a much more positive view of their corporate culture than did their employees....
How to talk politics with those you love — without tearing your hair or their eyes out
VitalSmarts research shows the 2016 presidential election was more polarizing and divisive than ever before. Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield share tips for talking about politics with your loved ones in a way that can maintain the relationship....
VitalSmarts Ranked #30 in the UV 50 Awards
VitalSmarts ranked 30 among 50 0f Utah Valley's fastest-growing companies. This was VitalSmarts' fourth consecutive year on the UV 50 list....
Provo, UT—September 14, 2016—In past elections, our front yards, t-shirts, car bumpers and water cooler conversations proudly campaigned for the presidential candidate of our choice. In 2016, most are afraid to utter the name of the person they plan to vote for on November 8. Research...
Want a top-performing team? Make sure speaking up is encouraged
Joseph Grenny, a co-founder of the consulting firm Vital Smarts, notes, “Our research over the past 30 years has shown that you can largely measure the health of a team by measuring the average lag time between identifying and discussing problems.”...
The Delicate Art of Gracefully Recovering From a Verbal Blunder
David Maxfield shares best practices for recovering from seemingly catastrophic conversations. When you learn to apologize with honesty and respect, you can take control of a catastrophic situation and right the wrong. Your job and your relationships depend on it....
This is How Your Employees Really See Your Company Culture
Company culture has become more and more important in the workplace, but when VitalSmarts surveyed 1,200 employees in July, it found that many employers were missing the mark....
Are You Disconnected From Your Employees? Then Your Culture Is in Trouble
If you want your workers to be productive, you must create an environment where they feel appreciated and involved. Unfortunately, VitalSmarts latest research shows there is a disconnect between management and employees in this area. Joseph Grenny offers tips for closing the culture chasm....
How To Give And Accept Criticism In The Workplace
Why is it so difficult to hear criticism in the workplace? Joseph Grenny, a leading social scientist for business performance, believes it’s because people don’t receive feedback frequently enough....
How to Make Feedback Feel Normal
Joseph Grenny says the primary reason people struggle with giving and receiving feedback is not a lack of proficiency but of frequency. He shares the success of implementing feedback at The Other Side Academy and tips leaders can use to create a similar environment in their...
Provo, Utah – August 15, 2016 – VitalSmarts, one of the world’s top leadership development companies, today announced that it awarded Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) the prestigious Albert Bandura Influencer Award at the annual REACH event which took place August 9 - 11 in...
Address workplace conflict or it could cost you
VitalSmarts research shows avoiding conflict is costly. Each avoided conflict can cost an organization up to $2,000. Joseph Grenny offers tips for reducing conflict avoidance....
VIRTUAL VS. CLASSROOM TRAINING
David Maxfield writes about how to design virtual training that performs equally as well as traditional classroom training....
4 Steps to Starting a Conversation about Changing Your Culture
VitalSmarts founders and researchers Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield found recently that a large majority of executives, managers, and employees have an unfavorable view of their culture, and that views of what an organization values differ drastically between management and employees....
When women speak up, they get punished
Joseph Grenny and Beth Wolfson share research that says gender bias is a reality, but recognizing it can spark change....
Do Your Employees Believe That You Value Innovation? Probably Not
Bosses beware: Researchers say most of you are out of touch with your employees’ day-to-day work experience. A study of 1,200 employees, managers, and executives found a big gap between what managers say they want their company culture to be and what employees say is truly...
Corporate Culture Chasm: Employees and Management Don’t Agree
A new study from VitalSmarts finds a large chasm between how employers and employees view corporate culture....
July 19, 2016 – PROVO, UT – A new study, released today, found a concerning gap between what managers say they want their company culture to be and what employees say is really valued by these same bosses. The study, conducted by Joseph Grenny and David...
What did you say?
Some 31% of respondents to a recent study by VitalSmarts executives Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield said making a catastrophic comment cost them a pay increase, a promotion, or their job....
Almost All Managers Have at Least One Career-Limiting Habit
Joseph Grenny shares a few new ways to think about the real causes behind some of the most common career-limiting habits — and what you can do about them....
Could Rules for Managing Tech Workers Translate to Your Industry?
Aabaco Small Business spoke with VitalSmarts VP of Research David Maxfield about the top four culture challenges tech managers need to master in order to effect change in their organizations....
Don’t let stress and a crazy pace kill your culture
A 2016 study from VitalSmarts, a leadership training company, interviewed 827 tech employees, to look at how culture affects performance in tech companies. The study identified some key ideas around culture and how it can positively or negatively affect the overall performance of the company. Based on...
Provo, Utah (June 14) – A new study released today identifies four culture challenges in tech companies that substantially affect a tech organization’s ability to execute and innovate. And yet, tech leaders receive little-to-no training or coaching on how to successfully manage these challenges. According to...
How to Talk About the Orlando Shootings at Work
How can you discuss your feelings about violence like the Orlando mass shootings without upsetting coworkers? David Maxfield, vice president of research at VitalSmarts, says, “ask yourself what the purpose of having this conversation is. If you want to express sadness for the victims or support,...
How to Deal with the Irrational Parts of a Negotiation
Joseph Grenny shares a few best practices for addressing the human dynamics that frequently drive negotiations....
How To Give Feedback At Work That Doesn’t Jeopardize Your Career
If you have constructive feedback to offer, how do you avoid a "pink slip of the tongue"? David Maxfield shares tips for delivering criticism in a constructive and respectful way....
How Democrats Married to Republicans Survive Election Seasons
A study by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, cofounders of corporate training firm VitalSmarts, found that 1 in 3 people have been “attacked, insulted, or called names” over political clashes, and 1 in 4 have had a political debate hurt a relationship. According to the...
Avoiding the Controversy in Controversial Conversations about Politics
If you're like most people you avoid political conversations at all costs but there are ways to keep it cordial. Glen Mills sat down with New York Times best selling author Joseph Grenny to talk about just that. He's been studying the impact of political...
81 percent of wary Americans now swear off political discussions over 2016 election ‘at all costs’
How acrimonious is the 2016 presidential race? A new survey finds that 90 percent of Americans say the bout between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is more polarizing and controversial than the 2012 election - to the point that it has compromised their personal relationships. Some appear to be...
Tips to Keep Employee Silence from Driving Away Customers
Joseph Grenny writes that a recent study by VitalSmarts found that silence is killing customer service. We asked subjects how often they witness a fellow employee underserving, or even abusing, a customer. Then we asked: What happens next? Does someone in your organization speak up and address...
Provo, UT—May 3, 2016—As the primary elections for the 2016 U.S. presidential race come to a close, the media is buzzing about unprecedented contested elections and unexpected slug fests over the Democratic and Republican party nominations. And the drama doesn’t end with the news. A new...
7 Ways to Stop a Meeting from Dragging On
Joseph Grenny shared seven of his favorite interventions for stopping a meandering meeting. These tips are tactful things anyone can do to not only take responsibility for my own investment of time, but to become a healthy voice for the silent majority....
5 Career-Crushing Things Employees Say
VitalSmarts has come up with a list of what we'll describe as "five career-crushing ways to express yourself," and we've adapted that survey-supported list here. The conversations and exchanges that require some degree of caution include: offering feedback to a co-worker; discussing race, politics, religion...
5 career-killing conversations to avoid at work
No matter how progressive, open and casual your workplace, there are some conversations that should never take place. VitalSmarts research identifies five conversations to avoid at all costs....
Avoiding ‘pink slips of the tongue’ at work
VitalSmarts research shows we all put our foot in our mouth at work. "It happens to all of us from time to time. I don’t think any of us have particularly learned how to deal with it when it does. We could all use help,”...
Can You Recover from a Major Gaffe at Work?
VitalSmarts recently surveyed 775 U.S. employees and found that 69% admitted they had said something at work that they later had cause to wish they hadn’t. Of those, VitalSmarts reports, 27% said inserting foot in mouth had “undercut or destroyed a working relationship,” and almost one in...
Curious Things That Will Kill Your Career
A recent survey by VitalSmarts found that 83% of people had seen someone make a blunder that had catastrophic results for their career, reputation, or business, and 69% admitted that they themselves had done something that had damaged their careers....
WorkZone: Avoiding “pink slips of the tongue” at work
VitalSmarts research shows we all put our foot in our mouth at work. "It happens to all of us from time to time. I don’t think any of us have particularly learned how to deal with it when it does. We could all use help,”...
What to Do If a Conversation Is Turning Loud and Aggressive
Joseph Grenny shares five skills to halt, and sometimes reverse, a conversation meltdown....
How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You
What do you say when you disagree with someone who has more power than you do? How do you decide whether it’s worth speaking up? And if you do, what exactly should you say? It’s a natural human reaction to shy away from disagreeing with a...
New Study: How to Kill Your Career in One Sentence
A new study by New York Times bestselling authors Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield found five common career killing comments, and the top comment involves giving critical feedback....
March 8, 2016 – Provo, UT – Marianne C. thought she was in a “safe” meeting where open discussion was encouraged and yet, following the meeting, she found herself in and out of the discipline process and shortly thereafter demoted—all because of one comment. Pam S....
Top 20 Leadership Training Company
TrainingIndustry.com, named VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty company, to the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List for the second consecutive year. Selection to the annual list is based on the following: Thought leadership and influence within the training industry Industry recognition and innovation Breadth of programs and range of audiences...
5 ways to minimize distractions at work
Research continually tells us multitasking decreases productivity rather than increasing it. By dividing your focus, you’re increasing your stress levels and decreasing your performance abilities, write Joseph Grenny for Harvard Business Review. Grenny shares five ways you can minimize your workplace distractions....
LEAD2016 Leadership Excellence Awards: Top Leadership Partner
VitalSmarts received a LEAD award for Top Leadership Partner. For more than 30 years, Leadership Excellence, now a part of HR.com, has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and their strategies and solutions in its yearly ranking....
LEAD2016 Leadership Excellence Awards: Best Experienced/Senior Leader program
VitalSmarts received a LEAD award for Best Experienced/Senior Leader program. For more than 30 years, Leadership Excellence, now a part of HR.com, has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and their strategies and solutions in its yearly ranking....
LEAD2016 Leadership Excellence Awards: Best Train the Trainer Program
VitalSmarts received a LEAD award for Best Train the Trainer program. For more than 30 years, Leadership Excellence, now a part of HR.com, has identified and recognized the top 500 leadership organizations and their strategies and solutions in its yearly ranking....
Provo, Utah – Feb. 18, 2016 – Two of the most prominent training and workforce development professional organizations in the world have recognized VitalSmarts for its contributions in the industry. TrainingIndustry.com, named VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty company, to the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List for the...
Two actors, a man and a woman, performed an exact same script for the 4517 test subjects
This Norwegian publication shares VitalSmarts research that shows gender bias exists for women in business....
Why Keeping Quiet May Sabotage Your Relationship
A lot of couples might keep it to themselves when they're mad at each other because they're scared of starting potentially relationship-threatening arguments. But a new study by VitalSmarts has found that avoiding these conversations is actually more likely to do a relationship in....
Tiffany Gee Lewis: The most important words you’ll ever say
The author used Crucial Conversations in a high-stakes relationship with her son. In addition to using the skills with her family, she says, "I find myself consciously employing the techniques in numerous situations: in a director hire for our charter school, in exchanges about difficult...
3 Ways to Improve the Learning Environment
Author Kerry Patterson writes that if you want to create a high-impact learning environment, start with genuine problems and end with real solutions. Avoid solutions that mask tactics as outcomes or call for miracles....
How arguing can be good for your marriage
Arguing may not be such a bad thing. In fact, a new survey by VitalSmarts that found finds couples who engage in healthy conflict are 10 times more likely to have a happy relationship than those who ignore difficult conversations....
Do You Avoid Arguing With the One You Love? Why Keeping Quiet May Sabatoge Your Relationship
A lot of couples might keep it to themselves when they're mad at each other because they're scared of starting potentially relationship-threatening arguments. But a new study by VitalSmarts has found that avoiding these conversations is actually more likely to do a relationship in....
Provo, Utah – Jan. 20, 2016 – VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty company, won a Brandon Hall Group Silver award for excellence in learning management technology for external training, the company announced Wednesday. VitalSmarts was recognized for achieving inspiring results with the VitalSmarts Instructional Platform. The VitalSmarts Instructional...
Trick Yourself into Breaking a Bad Habit
Joseph Grenny writes that most of us are blind to the many forces that shape our choices. We overestimate the degree to which we are the product of conscious choice and grossly underestimate the power of situational and social forces. It’s time we learned to...
5 things (besides willpower) that’ll help you successfully make life changes
When trying to change your behavior, the authors of Change Anything don't write off willpower altogether. However, they do assert that there are five additional factors that influence whether you will successfully make changes in your life. Learn how to utilize all six sources of...
Here’s How Much Your New Year’s Resolution Will Cost You
According to author Joseph Grenny, 70 percent of people who fail to keep their New Year's resolutions lose more than $1,000, reported Time in 2014. If you're one of those people, that's a lot of wasted energy and money down the drain....
New Year’s Resolutions: Why We Do What We Do
David Maxfield, author of Change Anything, has studied failed resolutions. He's also studied what the successful few do who actually succeed at changing behavior. His research shows those who include six sources of influence in their resolution plans are 10 times more likely to succeed...
6 Workplace Realities Women Will Face In 2040
VitalSmarts research, conducted by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, found that women’s perceived competency drops by 35% and their perceived deserved compensation by $15,000 when they're seen to be assertive or forceful—violating ingrained cultural expectations for women to be caring and nurturing....
5 Ways to Minimize Office Distractions
Simply gritting your teeth and attempting to ignore nagging interruptions at work doesn’t work. Master these five ways to take control of your environment so it stops controlling you....
See Something, Say Something
Bad customer service is costing the average company $54,511 annually per employee, according to a new study released by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, authors of Crucial Accountability....
Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology: Best Advance in Learning Management Technology for External Training
VitalSmarts was awarded the silver award for the VitalSmarts Instructional Platform (VIP) -- the Company's proprietary training platform....
Utah Business Best Companies to Work For
VitalSmarts was named among the best companies to work for in Utah in 2015....
Silence Costs You in Customer Service
Joseph Grenny writes that we’re facing a “crisis of silence” in the corporate world; people simply don’t hold their colleagues accountable for delivering poor customer service. The key to creating distinguishing customer service is to create a culture where anyone can speak up to anyone...
What your child’s teacher needs to know
A VitalSmarts study reveals that many parents fail to communicate major changes in the home to their child’s teacher...
Balancing act: ‘Crisis of silence’ leads to bad customer service, survey says
A study by VitalSmarts, a Utah-based company that focuses on leadership training, found that each employee who witnesses bad customer service and fails to speak up costs his or her company an average of $54,511 per year....
Can You Count on Your Employees to Tell You When Your Customer Services Stinks
VitalSmarts research shows each employee who witnesses bad customer service and fails to speak up costs his or her company an average of $54,511 per year....
The Salt Lake Tribune Top Workplaces 2015
For the second consecutive year, VitalSmarts is ranked #12 in the Top Workplaces in Utah in the midsize business division by The Salt Lake Tribune....
Provo, Utah – Nov. 10, 2015 – Gary was flying home from his father’s funeral. His plane touched down, was delayed on the tarmac for 45 minutes and, due to a last-minute change of gates, Gary missed his connecting flight. Frustrated, tired and still grieving,...
How to Get Work Done on the Road -By Joseph Grenny
For me the key to being productive while shuttling around the globe is to think of myself in the third person, as someone I need to carefully and deliberately influence. Here are the ways I do that....
How to Handle an Increased Workload (And When to Ask for Help)
As author and social scientist Joseph Grenny told Fast Company, it's important to "acknowledge what you know to be true and tell your boss how it caused your conclusion. Ask how your boss came to her conclusion. If you’re simply in a no-yes argument, you’re...
Four Sneaky Ways to Trick Your Enemies Into Becoming Allies
This is what Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, the authors of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, call “inventing a mutual purpose.” If your in-law hates a certain sports team, find a way to hate them too....
What Businesses Can Learn From B2G Content Marketing Strategies
Need inspiration? Take a look at VitalSmarts ...
The 8 Most Annoying Things People Do With Their Phones
"Sadly [social media platforms] they have also become the default forums for holding high-stakes conversations, blasting polarizing opinions and making statements with little regard for those within screen shot,” says Joseph Grenny....
Chief Learning Officer’s 2015 Learning In Practice Awards
VitalSmarts won GOLD for Excellence in Community Service -- in Chief Learning Officer's 2015 Learning In Practice Awards -- for its efforts in helping the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) increase the number of KIPP school founders who make it to year four from 50...
Chicago & Austin, Oct. 12, 2015 — Chief Learning Officer magazine, published by Human Capital Media (HCM), the largest integrated media company in the human resources industry, announced the winners of its 15th annual Learning In Practice awards at a recognition ceremony last night preceding the Fall...
VitalSmarts wins Gold in Learning in Practice Awards
VitalSmarts win first place (Gold) in the Excellence in Community Service category of the 2015 Learning in Practice Awards, presented by Chief Learning Officer....
5 Ways To Get Better At Grown-Up Love
(None of this is easy, of course!) For further reading on this topic, I recommend Emotional Freedom by Judith Orloff and Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny....
Crucial Conversations No. 1 on Bestseller List (Non-fiction/General)
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (Second Edition). (McGraw-Hill, $20). By Kerry Patterson...
The great generational divide -By David Maxfield
If senior leaders and HR directors teach workplace managers the few basic skills to speak up to anyone – regardless of age or authority – employees can candidly and respectfully resolve conflict and improve productivity in today’s multigenerational workplace....
Are You Sure You Want to Be a Manager? By Joseph Grenny
I’ve sat with many recently promoted leaders over the years — newly minted supervisors, first-time CEOs, and even recently elected political leaders — some who wondered what they had gotten themselves into ...
18 things you should do immediately to best prepare for the next five years
Learn how to deal with interpersonal conflicts. Read Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. ...
Here’s how you can get the most of out this fall’s parent-teacher conferences
Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield issued a report that detailed "five life-event areas where failure to communicate can damage a child's ability to learn" ...
Your kid’s teacher wants to know about your home life
The vast majority of teachers — 94 percent — say it's important for them to know that a child's parents are divorcing, but just 23 percent of divorcing parents say they told their child's teacher, according to a new study....
How parents and teachers can work together to help kids
A recent study explained that there's a significant disconnect between teachers and parents that could affect our children in school. Where do you even start to establish a connection with teachers? David Maxfield, vice president of VitalSmarts, the organization that conducted the study, offered some ideas:...
What your child’s teacher wants to know
According to research by VitalSmarts, teachers and parents are great at communicating - just not in the areas each wants to know about. Parents, for example, say that teachers are not communicating with them on issues like drug abuse or depression. Teachers say that they...
This Year, No “Dear Teacher, We Are Divorced” Declaration
I am not alone. A recent study by New York Times best-selling authors Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield found that 94 percent of teachers want to know about a recent divorce but only 23 percent of the parents who are getting divorced told the teachers!...
How to communicate like a Buddhist — mindfully and without judgment
“Find a shared goal, and you have both a good reason and a healthy climate for talking,” writes Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler in “Crucial Conversations.”...
How to Control Your Nerves Before Giving a Speech
Joseph Grenny, a bestselling author and keynote speaker, writes in Harvard Business Review about his best practices for beating the pre-speech jitters....
Study: Parents want to hear more from teachers, teachers want to hear more from parents
Why aren’t teachers and parents talking more? Anecdotally, there were a variety of reasons, including that mental illness, divorce, an arrest and other life-changers, might be topics they don’t feel safe sharing. “There is shame and embarrassment,” Grenny says. “They probably don’t appreciate how profoundly...
Education Matters: Here’s what’s wrong with parent-teacher communications
There’s a crucial disconnect between parents and teachers, both vital players in a child's growth and development, according to the results of a new survey. VitalSmarts, a corporate training and leadership development company, surveyed 689 parents and 174 teachers from its national database of subscribers....
Parents and Teachers Should Talk More for Students’ Sake, Survey Finds
"Parents can have a significant influence on empowering teachers and should stay in touch on major life events in their children's life," said Grenny, co-founder of VitalSmarts, in an interview withEducation Week....
Tell Teachers About Problems at Home — or Impede Your Child’s Success
Problems at home — divorce, death, incarceration, illness — feel like intensely private affairs. But when you also have a kid in school, you might want to consider letting his or her teacher in on the news, as it can be critical to a child’s...
Parents and teachers should talk about the life-events that impact students
Wednesday, Grenny's and Maxfield's company, VitalSmarts, issued a report, "Silence at School," that identifies five life-event areas where failure to communicate can damage a child's ability to learn: a death in the family, a major illness, a divorce or another family disruption, mood changes and...
Provo, Utah – Aug. 26, 2015 – A fifth grader’s family was awakened by a SWAT team that held them at gunpoint and arrested the father on drug-related charges. The mother then sent her child to school without a chance to tell the teacher, who...
Gender Bias Is Real: Women’s Perceived Competency Drops Significantly When Judged As Being Forceful
As part of the study, Grenny and Maxfield conducted an experiment to see if using a brief, framing statement (that allowed the speakers to explain their intent before sharing theircontent) could reduce social and emotional backlash ...
Can technology drive meaningful cultural change in healthcare?
These stats [from VitalSmarts] are startling in and of themselves, but the most worrisome item in the report was that, “despite the risks to patients, less than 10 percent of physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff directly confronted their colleagues about their concerns.”...
Having this trait at work can cost women $15,000
According to a recent experiment by VitalSmarts, a corporate training company, women perceived as more aggressive in the office may be penalized for their behavior — at a price of $15,088, to be exact....
New studies show power of ‘unconscious bias’ in workplace
A new study from VitalSmarts, a leadership training company, found that women who speak forcefully risk losing more economic power (i.e. lower paychecks) than men who talk with equal assertiveness when addressing subordinates....
The Six Ways Your Financial Behavior Is Manipulated
In his research, Grenny breaks it down: The first two domains, Personal Motivation and Ability, relate to sources of influence within an individual (motives and abilities) that determine their behavioral choices. The next two, Social Motivation and Ability, relate to how other people affect an individual's...
Studies Show That Female Executives Still Face an Uphill Battle
However, if the woman in question framed her aggressive statement by first saying something like, “I know it’s risky for a woman to speak this assertively, but I’m going to express my opinion very directly,” the social backlash was reduced by as much as 27 percent....
Women get penalized for being assertive at work—unless they do this one thing
When a woman prefaces a harsh comment with a “framing” phrase, like “I know it’s a risk for a woman to speak this assertively, but I’m going to express my opinion very directly,” backlash can be reduced by as much as 27%. ...
The Key to Giving and Receiving Negative Feedback
Assure the person of your positive intentions in offering your critique. Pain is not an essential byproduct of feedback — it is the result of an absence of safety....
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Read this before posting photos of your kids on Facebook [video]
Many parents are living through the lens of their smartphone rather than in the moment: 80% of adults say they’ve seen parents put their attempts to get the perfect photo ahead of their child’s enjoyment of an event, according to a recent survey — “Society’s New...
Getting Angry At Work Can Literally Cost You, Says Study — Especially If You’re A Woman
This finding came about as the result of research conducted in June, which surveyed over 11,000 people about their experiences in the workplace. 4,517 of the 11,000 people they studied were asked to watch set-up performances on video ...
The Best Books for Salespeople
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High Again, this book isn't sales–specific, but it's absolutely sales–essential ...
Getting Mad at Work Can Cost Women $15,000 in Annual Pay
Corporate training company VitalSmarts surveyed more than 11,000 people in June to reach its results, which included this silver lining: Sometimes acknowledging sexism can reduce its effects....
Anger in the office costs women more than men
A study conducted by corporate consultancy VitalSmarts found that a woman's "perceived competence" fell 35 percent and her "perceived deserved compensation" dropped $15,088 when she spoke angrily or forcefully....
Getting Angry at Work Can Cost Women $15,000
New research from VitalSmarts ...
Conflict Is a Matter of the Heart
My favorite conversational model to facilitate effective dialogue is outlined in the book Crucial Conversations....
Provo, Utah – August 5, 2015 – What if your colleagues discriminated against you just for being assertive? Unfortunately for many women, gender bias is a reality in today’s workplace. A new study about emotional inequality at work conducted by VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty, Inc. company,...
KIPP founder shares 3 tips for increasing principal retention
Dave Levin has made keeping top principals a priority for his charter network. KIPP partnered with VitalSmarts, a corporate training and performance company, to help pinpoint what made principals stick around or leave....
5 Things to Immediately Stop Doing at Work
These actions are sabotaging your career and workplace happiness. [No. 1]: Staying silent. A recent study conducted by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, co-authors of "Crucial Conversations," found that 56 percent of employees refrain from addressing troublesome issues at workfor more than a year....
Sticking It Out: 6 Research-Based Pointers for Sustained Behavior Change
David Maxfield recognizes that motivation and ability drive behavior and divides these domains into personal, social and structural sources....
How a Charter School Giant Revamped its Culture to Put a Stop to Burnout
And what other organizations can learn from KIPP's experiments in taking time for renewal. ...
Frank, open conversation improves atmosphere at work
That point was confirmed by the results of a recent study on workplace secrets by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, the authors of Crucial Accountability ...
Purge the Scourge of Office Jerks
Fed-up colleagues should confront bullies with examples of their bad behavior culled from several incidents, says David Maxfield ...
What Your Employees Aren’t Telling You
A new [VitalSmarts] study suggests most staff have at least one workplace grievance that they haven't voiced out loud. How to get them to talk....
Bad Day? Honey, Don’t Bring It Home
A spouse should ask a mate’s permission before switching to a problem-solving role, says David Maxfield ...
How to Resolve Workplace Conflicts
Every unaddressed conflict wastes about eight hours of company time in gossip and other unproductive activities, says Joseph Grenny. “It’s an enormous drain on an organization."...
Six Ways to Increase Your Influence
Until we get all six of the sources of influence flowing in the direction of change, we’ll continue to fail. Even more damaging, we’ll pin the failure on moral deficiencies in our people rather than on our own insufficient understanding of human behavior....
Book It — Summer Reading From SHRM
Another book in hand was “Crucial Conversations,” which she thought will help with developing deeper, broad relationships among employees. “Performance conversations, collaboration, merit pay — these are all important issues we need to deal with.”...
Signs Your Team is Too Strong for its Own Good
Frequent self-examination for the four indicators of the tribal virus — and intentional promotion of these three behaviors — will help you strike the right balance in building your team....
How to criticize a coworker without wrecking the relationship
David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny, co-authors of a book called Crucial Conversations, recently did a study of 1,400 U.S. employees and managers and found that 56% refrained from bringing up a particular grievance, or more than one, usually out of fear of alienating someone they...
Provo, UT — June 24, 2015 — VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty, Inc. company and an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced its award-winning Influencer Training® classroom course is now available through the VitalSmarts Virtual Classroom™—its live, synchronous online learning platform powered by Adobe Connect™ and MeetingOne. Courses...
Things Are Not Always What They Seem
The book Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson is a wonderful resource to help us realize that human interactions can be difficult and that we can often misread the process unless we are willing to get our hands dirty and break down the communication machine....
Provo, Utah – June 17, 2015 – A new study shows employees can be just as dysfunctional as Elaine Benes and the characters on Seinfeld. In the hit 90’s sitcom, Elaine, along with Jerry, George and Kramer lock away their darkest secrets in the vault...
From Playground To Workplace: 3 Tips For Battling Office Bullies
David Maxfield, coauthor of both “Crucial Confrontations” and “Influencer,” conducted a study for VitalSmarts in 2014 that found 96 percent of survey respondents experienced bullying at some point in their careers....
5 Secrets to Mastering Conflict
By Travis Bradberry Between the two of us, Joseph Grenny (bio below) and I have spent 50 years studying what makes people successful at work. A persistent finding in both of our research is that your ability to handle moments of conflict has a massive impact on...
Provo, Utah – June 15, 2015 – After nearly two decades of both educating and entertaining a worldwide audience with his New York Times bestselling books and monthly column, Kerrying On, author Kerry Patterson today released a new book, The Gray Fedora: Lessons on Life,...
How to Raise Ethical Issues at Work
If the person with questionable ethics is your boss, it’s best to proceed with caution. Joseph Grenny, co-author of Crucial Accountability, tells Fast Company that you should begin by letting your boss know you have their best interest in mind....
What Africa’s Leaders Have Learned About Facing Huge Challenges -by Joseph Grenny
Simple principles appropriately applied can restore trust, create hope, and improve results. Even in the most complex political environments one can act with independence and integrity to do great things. And when leaders do the work required to mobilize effective behavior, remarkable things can be...
A Leader’s Guide to Influence: How to Change Bad Behavior and Get Results
If your organization has found a way to tolerate or simply live with entrenched bad habits, then it's time you challenged these behaviors and turned them into productive work practices. If you don't, then this research suggests these bad habits will continue indefinitely and produce...
Are “Likes” dominating your life?
A study, facilitated by VitalSmarts, shows that an increasing amount of people are losing connection with their lives in order to earn 'Likes' and social media praise....
5 Books to Help You Deal with Work Drama
The book [Crucial Accountability] outlines keys skills we’re rarely taught in college or business school, such as how to foster greater personal accountability among teammates and how to deliver praise when things do go right to keep everyone motivated....
Silence Kills: Can Technology Drive Meaningful Cultural Change In Health Care?
In 2005, VitalSmarts and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) published a groundbreaking report called Silence Kills ...
5 common mistakes that will keep you from winning an argument
[Joseph Grenny co-write this post with Dr. Travis Bradberry.] So how can you use emotional intelligence to master crucial conversations? There are five common mistakes you must avoid, and five alternative strategies you can follow that will take you down the right path....
5 Secrets to Mastering Conflict – By Travis Bradberry & Joseph Grenny
The only way to win an argument is to never have one in the first place. Successful people know this—they don’t avoid conflict because they can do something productive with it before things get out of hand. Apply these strategies the next time you’re facing...
Creating Measurable Change in a Dying Culture
If you don’t want to end up at the bottom of the large precipice, the best step forward usually involves an overt, intentional, and systematic strategy for influencing the behaviors required to improve results....
Acquire career-enhancing habits
Joseph Grenny, best selling author, social scientist and co-founder of VitalSmarts, outlines strategies you can take to foster positive change....
How being unprofessional increases employee engagement
The best-selling book Crucial Conversations, discusses how you can express yourself (no matter how offensively) and feel heard as long as there is safety. Learning to become proficient at creating a sense of safety will allow you to help people express how they really feel....
How to reduce workplace bullying using proactive measures
Leadership development and research firm VitalSmarts recently carried out a survey that revealed a few alarming statistics. About 96 per cent of workers polled had witnessed workplace bullying...
Are You Present When Viewing Real Estate?
A recent VitalSmarts survey reported that 91% of the more than 1600 people involved had seen tourists miss out on an important moment by trying to capture it on social media. Since buyers are "tourists" in someone else's real estate, this research may be extrapolated to...
Transforming Communication and Safety Culture in Intrapartum Care
The results of collaborative research studies conducted by organizations that represent professionals who care for women during labor and birth indicate that health care providers may frequently witness, but may not always report, problems with safety or clinical performance. Some of these health care providers...
7 Ways to Say No to Your Boss and Keep Your Job
"People have a hard time saying 'no'––period––and when you introduce power, it gets exponentially worse," says Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations ...
Overcoming Peer Pressure in Your Business Decisions
Last month the thought leaders at VitalSmarts published an article in their online Newsletter about how to avoid making stupid choices because of peer pressure. The article, One Simple Skill to Overcome Peer Pressure, teaches a valuable skill that we can all benefit from in...
4 Strategies to Implement and Spread PBL in Your School
As suggested in Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, et al, we feel the answer lies within the previous question -- we need to make the conversation safe...
The Current: Ditch social media to discover “The Joy of Missing Out”
David Maxfield was recently interviewed on-air on CBC Radio (Toronto) for the program “The Current” — about VitalSmarts’ latest study “Society’s New Addiction: ‘Likes' Over Life.” Listen here to the 8-minute segment in which David tells the personal story that prompted him to do this study...
Keys to help you develop your leadership through social influence -By Joseph Grenny
Si vous voulez vraiment accélérer un changement et faire adopter de façon généralisée de nouveaux modes de fonctionnement ou créer de nouvelles habitudes, vous devez trouver des leaders d’opinion et les impliquer dans vos projets de changement –trouvez ces personnes dans votre entreprise et faîtes-en...
Errors of Comedy: Office humor has its place, but managers need to intervene when it crosses the line
Sometimes the volume or nature of a worker’s jokes makes it necessary for a manager to intervene. While this conversation can be uncomfortable, silence is not an option because it implies permission for the undesirable behavior to continue. David Maxfield, vice president of research at...
Why we no longer talk with each other
“‘Likes’ are a low-effort way of producing a feeling of social well-being that takes more effort to get in the real world,” said Greeny in the study. “This study is a warning that we are beginning to take the easy over the real.”...
Column: Social media often makes us anti-social
Co-authors of New York Times bestsellers like “Crucial Conversations,” Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, recently analyzed how “likes” and the need for other social media praise impact our lives. The results paint a picture of a media-obsessed society and found, for one thing, that 58 percent...
Six Frightening Facts You Need to Know About Health Care
58 percent of clinicians felt unsafe about speaking up about a problem they observed or were unable to get others to listen. This statistic first appeared in a 2005 report by VitalSmarts and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) called "Silence Kills."...
You Can Have Constructive Conflict Over Email -By Joseph Grenny
It is possible to handle sensitive topics without the benefit of seeing faces, so long as you can accurately imagine them, and discipline yourself to respond to those imagined cues. When it becomes clear either your imagination or interventions are insufficient, make visual contact as...
Date night — the secret to a happy and long-lasting marriage
Joseph Grenny, a New York Times best-selling author who has continued to go on dates with his wife during his 26 years of marriage, agrees. “Behavior is always a team sport,” Grenny told the National. “Other people play a role in my behavior, influencing, provoking. It’s...
How Wanting ‘Likes’ on Social Media Is Killing Our Capacity for Actual Joy (Infographic)
58 percent of respondents claimed that attempting to hone the perfect post has prevented them from enjoying life. The survey was conducted by behaviorists and best-selling authors Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield....
Obsessing over the perfect social media post is ruining your life, study says
Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, co-authors of New York Times bestsellers like Crucial Conversations, have unveiled a new study on the way "likes" and the need for other social media praise affect our day-to-day lives. The results of the study, which surveyed 1,623 people, paint...
Social media addiction: when preserving the moment gets in the way of the actual moment
The resulting report, “Society’s New Addiction: Getting a ‘Like’ over Having a Life,” was co-authored with Joseph Grenny and is out today from training and consulting firmVitalSmarts....
New research shows obsession with posting photos, checking phones corresponds with lower enjoyment Provo, Utah, March 12, 2015 – A mother of a 3-year-old writes: “I disciplined my son and he threw a tantrum that I thought was so funny that I disciplined him again just...
Crucial Conversations Review – Strategies That Work When the Stakes are High
There’s no graduation for this work -- it’s a life-long process. But with the alternative being a life-long series of experiences of unsatisfactory exchanges, stressful moments with colleagues, unproductive business proposals, and other personal and professional relationship problems, Crucial Conversationsstands as a tested and reliable...
Balancing act: Readers offer tips for building trust with remote workers
They wrote to me in response to my recent column about a survey of more than 2,000 employees conducted by Utah-based VitalSmarts in partnership with Training Magazine. It was designed to capture people's impressions of colleagues who work remotely, and respondents said they thought those remote...
The technology that keeps us constantly connected is changing the way we think about etiquette
In a 2,000-person study conducted by VitalSmarts Research in 2014, 89% of respondents reported damaged relationships as a result of another person’s “electronic display of insensitivity” (EDI). One in four said that EDIs had caused a serious rift with a friend or family member....
How to Change Your Employees’ Bad Habits
Joseph Grenny, a co-founder of corporate training and leadership development firm VitalSmarts, conducted a study of close to 1,000 professionals and found that 97 percent of them admit to having a "career-limiting habit." These bad habits can range from unreliability to procrastination to just a...
You Might Be the Reason Your Employees Aren’t Changing -By Joseph Grenny
In short, coaching works when it amplifies one’s own motivation, enhances ability, and equips people to address their context when it inhibits their ability to change. When it fails to do that, it simply doesn’t work....
How to Stop Workplace Bullying -By David Maxfield
Clamping down on workplace bullying could mean saving thousands of dollars a year in lost productivity. Here’s where talent managers can start....
Survey: Office workers don’t trust colleagues who work remotely
So what can companies and managers do to overcome these problems? Maxfield wrote that VitalSmarts collected 600 examples of what the best managers of virtual teams do, and he offered six ideas based on what they learned....
The 3 Most Powerful Ways To Change People Who Don’t Want To Change
I was intrigued when I saw a recent video of David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny– The “Behavioral Science Guys” — all around how we can change behavior in people who don’t want to change, and I thought the messages were dead on. See what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACi-D5DI6A...
Sources of influence deconstruct mystery of change
Not only was I able to lose my stubborn extra pounds, but I’ve kept them off for more than a year through one simple strategy: I changed the way I change. I targeted six sources of influence pulled from psychology, social psychology and organizational theory, as...
It’s Never Too Late To Be Nice
Kerry Patterson, co-founder of VitalSmarts and co-author of Crucial Conversations (a company and book that are all about empowering people to make better interpersonal choices), has just published a magnificent children’s book titled It’s Never Too Late To Be Nice. When I saw the title,...
Top 20 Leadership Training Companies
VitalSmarts was named to the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List by Training Industry, Inc....
Provo, Utah – January 29, 2015 – VitalSmarts today announced it has been named to the Top 20 Leadership Training Companies List, by Training Industry, Inc. The listing is part of the Training Industry’s mission to continually monitor the marketplace for the best providers of...
Leading with the truth: how to handle crucial conversations
Have you ever experienced saying something and, literally as the words were leaving your lips, you knew you would regret it?...
Shaping Strong School Leaders: KIPP Principal Training Rooted in ‘Real-World’ Practice
KIPP surveyed its principals—current and past—to see what they felt they needed in the job and brought in David Maxfield of VitalSmarts, a corporate training- and leadership-development company, as a consultant. Through its research, KIPP identified four vital behaviors it believes successful school leaders possess...
A Proactive Approach to Addressing Unethical Behavior in the Workplace
When the authors of Crucial Accountability gave an online survey to more than 900 working people in 2013, the three most common unethical workplace behaviors cited were taking credit for someone else’s work, indulging in extra long breaks and calling in sick when actually well....
Getting rid of company gossip
According to social scientist Joseph Grenny, workplace gossip cultivates an unhealthy, company-wide social system that can be difficult stamp out....
Career Coach: Dealing with a disruption
There are also some great books on this topic “Difficult Conversations,” “Fierce Conversations,” “Crucial Confrontations” that you might consider....
Stop Enabling Gossip On Your Team – By Joseph Grenny
Gossip is not a problem; it’s a symptom. The symptom disappears when a critical mass of leaders stop enabling it, create trust in healthy communication channels, and invest in building employees’ skills to use them....
When Dementia Threatens a Family’s Finances
To help a family prepare for a discussion of changing financial responsibilities, circulate the book Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson....
Top 10 Simple New Years Resolutions
We observe, we tell a story, and then we feel. …Since we and only we are telling the story, we can take back control of our own emotions by telling a different story. These are the claims made in Chapter 6 of Crucial Conversations...
People Who Keep Their Resolutions Do These 5 Things
The “ah-ha” moment came while reading the book Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success ...
10 great steps to talk about money without fighting
You may need to explore your spouse’s feelings that are leading to her withdrawal from the discussion. A good tool for learning how to better communicate with your spouse is the bestselling book, Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High....
Why are resolutions so hard to follow?
While many of us assume that the key to changing our habits is having enough willpower, social scientistJoseph Grenny, co-author of Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success, says our will to change is only a small factor that contributes to our ability to...
5 Signs You’re a Bad Customer
If crummy service seems constant, the common denominator may be you. [Joseph Grenny is quoted.]...
How Parents Could Be Sending The Wrong Message With Elf On The Shelf
A 2014 study by Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, co-authors of Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, gauged how the framing of the holiday affects kids' behavior....
How To Successfully Get Your Company To Change
I highly recommend the book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, for those who would like to learn more about the power of and strategies related to influence....
VitalSmarts one of ‘Best Companies to Work For’ in Utah
More than 500 people gathered together Thursday during Utah Business magazine’s annual Best Companies to Work For awards program and luncheon to celebrate the ...
Lessons Learned: Small Business Takeaways from 2014
“Too often, organizations ask Millennials to bide their time and wait their turn,” says David Maxfield, the company’s vice president of research. “That’s not how you nurture knowledge workers, no matter their age. VitalSmarts’ research shows that organizations can help through training and by making...
Does Santa make our kids selfish?
Maxfield, a social scientist and author, said parents need to talk about generosity — it doesn’t just happen. “Have them be involved in being generous where they actually take action,” he said. “Brainstorm with a young child as to what their siblings or daddy or...
Video experiment shows one easy thing parents can do to help their kids be more generous during the holidays Provo, Utah – December 3, 2014 – In a newly released video, Santa’s Elf holds out two tantalizing foil-wrapped chocolate Christmas bears to Emma and Alex. One...
Creating an Open Sales Environment
I recently read a posting on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network by Joseph Grenny entitled “4 Ways Leaders Can Create a Candid Culture.” I have long believed that the most successful distribution reps use leadership skills instead of the typical sales tactics to achieve...
Hard but necessary steps to build trust
There is another interesting factor at play in the leadership challenge of trust, and that is the ability to have crucial conversations ...
How to Disagree with Your Boss – By Joseph Grenny
When powerful people shut you down, it may not be because they’re incapable of brooking dissent. It may be that they mistake dissent for disrespect. By contracting up front for candor, clarifying your intent before diving into the content of your concerns, and giving your...
Businesses need to focus on ‘crucial conversations’ for efficiency
“Sometimes, we have these opposing opinions, we see things differently in different situations, the stakes are high and important to all the parties involved and the emotions kick in, people tend to not be on their best behaviour," said Beth Wolfson, a consultant at a...
Top Workplaces – Wasatch Front – 2014
In The Salt Lake Tribune’s first annual ranking of Utah’s top workplaces, VitalSmarts ranked #6 out of 20 in the Small Companies category....
Five keys to building a better workplace
Communication may be an overused word in the world of workplace management, but not all companies do it well. David Maxfield is a Utah business consultant on the most effective ways to talk and engage with employees, especially when it comes to underperforming workers....
VitalSmarts One of Top Workplaces in Utah –Salt Lake Tribune
Meet the 50 companies in Utah that received the highest ratings from their employees. [VitalSmarts No. 6 in Small Businesses.]...
6 Keys To Working With Others As Your Startup Grows -By Kerry Patterson
"We needed the ability to master high-stakes, often emotional, conversations. We had to know how to turn those nasty 'others' that many of us now found annoying, into helpful colleagues whom we respected and valued...
Can you recommend any sources … to manage conflict? Crucial Conversations
Dear Interested in Language Tools, How wonderful you have an interest in further educating yourself and your coworkers to find and use the power of words to resolve conflict. I recommend the following books: ”Confident Voices” by Beth Boynton, RN; “Crucial Conversations” by KerryPatterson, Joseph Grenny,...
Reader interview: ‘Crucial Conversations’ a great tool for important discussions
The book, 'Crucial Conversations,' has real potential, like an awakening to what one should be doing — to refocus, to be aware of your dialogue and the person you're having a dialogue with. It's quite comprehensive — and helpful....
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 97 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest-growing companies....
It’s influence, not authority that makes a great leader
Joseph Grenny will be in town on the afternoon of Oct. 28 to talk about “Crucial Leadership During Critical Times” at the 15th Achievers & Leaders Seminar at SMX Taguig Convention Center. In his talk, Grenny will outline the “influence process” supported by extensive intuitive...
Provo, Utah – October 15, 2014 – A national study reveals that 3 in 4 parents overestimate their effectiveness in helping their children navigate school-related issues, and many rely too heavily on teachers or school administrators to fix the problems. While most parents think they are...
How to Get Your Quiet Employees Talking
Joseph Grenny, co-founder of corporate training company VitalSmarts, tells HBR that leaders need to dig into their culture and understand why people aren't talking: "Silence usually means people are holding back," Grenny says....
Don’t Just Make Money, Build Relationships
Stressful conversation is when communication really counts, and when we will either shine or have egg on our faces ...
How to Get Your Employees to Speak Up
Getting an early handle on minor issues before they become big problems is the key, according to Joseph Grenny ...
Neutralizing the Workplace Bully
A recent survey conducted by VitalSmarts, a corporate training solutions provider, found that workplace bullies can have better job security. According to the survey, some bullies have kept the same job for more than 30 years....
In crucial workplace conversations, choose your words wisely
Some of this thinking is inspired by Vital Smarts, a company known for providing excellent training in managing “Crucial Conversations” — conversations that help manage conflict in the workplace. I have partnered with them, applying their methodologies with some of my Career Coaching clients, and have...
7. Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior (McGraw-Hill, $20). By Kerry Patterson....
Five crucial conversations that drive educational excellence. By David Maxfield...
Rude Technology: Where have all the manners gone?
Three out of five people say someone is rude to them on social media more than once a month. VitalSmarts conducted a survey of 2,698 people, and 78 percent of those reported an increase of rudeness in the virtual world as opposed to face to face....
Community Date Night to feature NYT best-selling Provo author
Grenny will be basing the Date Night discussion on decades of research on the topic of accountability and strengthening family relationships. He will teach vital skills for holding one’s spouse and children accountable while building family relationships on a foundation of trust....
The Top 10 Books to Build Your Business Acumen
Much of what we are able to accomplish is based on the quality of conversations we have – whether they are personal conversations with family or friends, or business conversations with customers, employees, or your boss. Based on 25 years of research, Crucial Conversations presents...
Community Date Night
Those tired of having the same argument with their spouse – or wishing their kids would follow through on chores – or looking to teach their kids some responsibility – should benefit from the seventh annual Community Date Night, supported by the United Way of Utah...
Eleven Ways To Stay Sought-After By Connecting Better In Conversation
For further ideas on fostering convivial, worthwhile conversation, I recommend Crucial Conversations....
VitalSmarts Acquired by Providence Equity Partners
VitalSmarts has agreed to be acquired by Providence Equity Partners. The companies have not disclosed the financial terms of the transaction....
Making Long-distance Relationships Work -By David Maxfield
Problems that involve remote colleagues result in significantly more severe impacts to productivity, cost, quality, and time, according to a survey by VitalSmarts and Training magazine. But the situation isn’t hopeless. Here are some steps that can help....
2014 Bronze Stevie Award Winner
VitalSmarts won a Stevie Award in The 2014 American Business Awards in the category of Product Development/Management Department or Team of the Year....
How to set expectations with your employees
“Sometimes we wait to offer criticism until we’re irritated,” says Joseph Grenny, co-author of “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.” “That’s a bad idea, because in spite of our best efforts to mask our emotions, the way we offer criticism inevitably changes....
Don Follis: Crucial conversations are vital for a meaningful life
In the many summits that I have attended, few topics resonated with me as much as one that was featured this year — the importance of having crucial conversations. Joseph Grenny brought his expertise on this topic to the Willow Creek Stage by saying if...
5 reasons to put down the smartphone
"Ninety percent of responses to Grenny's survey said people shouldn't respond to texts or check social media sites in public."...
Provo, UT—Sept. 2, 2014—Those tired of having the same argument with their spouse – or wishing their kids would follow through on chores – or looking to teach their kids some responsibility – should benefit from the seventh annual Community Date Night, supported by the...
Critical Conversations in Nursing
The nursing process offers pathways for nurses to communicate effectively with patients and increase staff unity....
Utah Business Magazine
VitalSmarts was named to the Fast 50 by Utah Business Magazine -- for the third time. (We also won in 2009 and 2010.)...
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 4875 on the 2014 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America -- and was named a Five-time Inc. 5000 Honoree....
Speak Up or Burn Out -By David Maxfield
Five Crucial Conversations that Drive Educational Excellence...
VitalSmarts Updates Influencer 2.0 Training
The Influencer 2.0 Training course teaches “a proven change model for anyone looking to alter human behavior – no matter the person’s level of formal authority, leadership, experience, or number of direct reports.”...
Balancing act: Readers dispute prevalence of workplace bullying
Are Americans really being bullied at work? Or are U.S. workers just too sensitive to criticism? Several readers have sent these questions my way during the last month since I wrote a couple of columns about the prevalence of bullying at work....
6 Keys To Change Management: Why Willpower Alone Isn’t Enough
David Maxfield joined me for half an hour on the topic of change management for companies and individuals. I was sitting on my phone, taking notes in Evernote at a table at Roxberry, drinking a green smoothie to lose weight as I listened to David....
Business Bookshelf: Learning how to address bad behaviour
Would we be more apt to speak up? The award-winning team of authors — Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan and Switzler — have done just that in Crucial Accountability. They teach us how to deal with the problem at hand without harming the relationship — and, possibly...
How To Use Conflict To Your Advantage At Work
VitalSmarts found that 95% of employees have trouble voicing differences of opinion, which results in a loss of roughly $1,500 per eight-hour workday....
How to Be a Leader during Layoffs
Grenny offers these tips to help managers lead through layoffs and emerge with a strong, trusting team of reps: 1. Downsize with kindness. 2. Be transparent. 3. Build confidence in the future....
SALT LAKE CITY – July 29, 2014 – Today, VitalSmarts opens its seventh annual REACH learning experience – at Salt Lake City’s Grand America Hotel – with bestselling author Joseph Grenny as the keynote speaker. REACH is a three-day event designed for those who work...
Dealing with Workplace Bullies
“There’s this collective powerlessness, which is remarkable,” says Grenny. “Social control is the most effective way to stamp out bullying, but that’s not happening.”...
The Real-World Implications Of Workplace And Cyber Bullying
A recent study by VitalSmarts, a leadership consultancy founded by David Maxwell, author of the excellent book Crucial Conversations, polled nearly 3,000 people on the topic of workplace bullying. ...
The worst (and best) things to say to someone who is grieving -By Joseph Grenny
Dos and Don'ts of Comforting Others: 1. Offer your heart, not your brain. 2. Don't offer judgments. 3. Don't give them an assignment, but take thoughtful initiative....
Rampant Bullying Found Across Workplaces -By David Maxfield
In a recent study that Joseph Grenny and I conducted for our organization, VitalSmarts, 96 percent of survey respondents said they have experienced bullying at work. It's not the kind of bullying one might expect, though....
Facebook Users Are More Likely to Divorce, Study Finds
VitalSmarts found that 19 percent of respondents decreased their offline contact with a person because of something that individual said on social media. [Joseph Grenny told The Christian Post last year that the findings showed there is a need "for manners to catch up with technology."]...
July 17, 2014 – Provo, UT – VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today released a new edition of its award-winning leadership course, Influencer Training®. The revised edition includes updated videos, a new training platform, and greater flexibility in its participant response...
5 Signs You’re Dealing With A Workplace Bully
96% of people have experienced bullying at the office, says David Maxfield, VP of research at VitalSmarts and coauthor of a recent study on workplace bullying. ...
Taking Aim at Workplace Bullies
One study, released in June by Provo, Utah-based VitalSmarts, found that 96 percent of 2,283 individuals had experienced some form of workplace bullying. What's more, the survey found 86 percent of bullies have been at it for more than one year and 54 percent have...
Fight Workplace Bullying with Better Communication Skills
In our email interview, Maxfield wrote that the best way to prevent bullying at work is to build a strong culture of accountability on four levels: Personal. Peer. Supervisory. Systemic....
4 Ways Leaders Can Create a Candid Culture -By Joseph Grenny
When leaders want to create an open culture where people are willing to speak up and challenge one another, they often start by listening. This is a good instinct. But listening with your ears will only take you so far. You also need to demonstrate...
The Social Media Skills Gap
Social media has potential for improving organizational performance and driving business, but new research from VitalSmarts, a corporate training solutions provider, found that many organizations persist in discouraging its use in the workplace. Rooting out organizations' remaining distrust of social media starts with training....
Workplace Bullying on the Rise: How Dangerous Is It?
Suffice to say, most companies are not adept with dealing with bullies in the workplace. TheVitalSmarts report found that a mere 51 percent of respondents worked for a place that had a policy to keep bullying at bay, 7 percent know of an individual who used...
More teaching, less threatening can lead to greater influence -By Joseph Grenny
Bad behavior is more often due to a lack of skills than to bad motives. When we learn to recognize our tendency to commit the Fundamental Attribution Error and ask, “Why would a reasonable, rational and decent person do this?” our influence efforts improve markedly....
Provo, Utah – July 2, 2014 – VitalSmarts today announced it has agreed to be acquired by Providence Equity Partners, marking the beginning of a new phase of growth in the company’s history. The investment from Providence will accelerate VitalSmarts’ corporate growth initiatives and further...
Balancing act: Survey: Bullying is wreaking havoc in the workplace
Bullying isn't only a problem for children at school. According to a new survey from VitalSmarts, it's wreaking havoc in our offices, too ...
Does the Office Bully Have More Job Security?
A new survey says bullies have job security, usually because people are afraid to confront them. Here's how to shut down the bad behavior....
The ‘silent epidemic’: workplace bullying is on the rise, research shows
Grenny and his co-author, David Maxfield, suggest several techniques for dealing with bullies, including speaking up right away, sticking to detailed facts when talking about bullying, finding out what kind of legitimate concern the bully has, warning the bully of the consequences of their behavior, and holding...
How Facebook employees use Facebook at work
David Maxfield: "If we could break down this fear that letting people’s outside life ‘intrude’ into their work life is always bad, I think we’d discover a huge breakthrough in productivity.”...
Next time you feel nervous, assume this position -By Joseph Grenny
"Changing your posture doesn’t just “psych you up” — it juices you up. It isn’t just others who are influenced by our nonverbal communications, we are too. Body language affects not only how others see us, but it also appears to change how we see...
How a best-selling author helped a Michigan hospital raise hand hygiene rates
“We taught them how to think about influence problems with six of these sources of influence, and how to shift human behavior,” said Grenny, who led a morning seminar on business leadership at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, June 25, and will...
Provo, Utah – June 25, 2014 – Brian regularly emailed his direct reports at all hours of the night. When one didn’t immediately answer, he would hurl a volley of emailed threats and personal insults. Team members felt afraid, vulnerable, and helpless. Many quit. The...
What Workplace Bullying Looks Like In 2014 — And How To Intervene
According to David Maxfield, coauthor of the books Crucial Conversations and Influencer, 96% of American employees experience bullying in the workplace, and the nature of that bullying is changing. “In the 70’s, it was fisticuffs,” he recalls. “I don’t think that’s happening at Facebook.” ...
Who Me? How to Build Accountability in the Workplace
Best-selling author David Maxfield explains why it’s important to hold one another accountable at work and how we can do so....
Joseph Grenny to share insights on business performance at 20104 Summit
"Start every change project with a clear and compelling statement of the goal you're trying to achieve," says Joseph Grenny, co-chairman and co-founder of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development. Grenny is one of 14 featured speakers for Willow Creek Association's 2014...
Five tips for parents of electronics addicts -By Joseph Grenny
"Your best hope of influencing [your son] for the better is to keep your motives right, maintain reasonable boundaries and focus on helping him learn to recognize consequences in his own life."...
About To Say “I Do”? Make Sure You’re Money Compatible
With money and communication issues cited as some of the main reasons for divorce, it’s important a new couple develop healthy habits early on, says Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations, the New York Times bestselling book....
How To Get People Off Their Phones In Meetings Without Being A Jerk
It’s not only at work where we’re bothered by inappropriate cell phone use, or Electronic Displays of Insensitivity (EDI). According to a survey by VitalSmarts, 89% of participants said that insensitive use of technology had negatively affected their personal relationships....
The Best Teams Hold Themselves Accountable –By Joseph Grenny
The role of the boss should not be to settle problems or constantly monitor your team, it should be to create a team culture where peers address concerns immediately, directly and respectfully with each other. Yes, this takes time up front. But you'll see problems...
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE [and others incl. Joseph Grenny] to present at Global Leadership Summit
The Summit is a two-day event that seeks to transform leaders around the world with an injection of vision, skill development and inspiration from a Christian perspective. ...
Can a Digital Connection Replace a Physical One?
Joseph Grenny writes that social media can boost productivity, improve decisions, and drive sales, but the danger is that managers will be deluded into thinking it can substitute for the day-to-day investment in face-to-face connections....
Smartphones are causing rifts in relationships (TV)
David Maxfield talks about the results of VitalSmarts' recent study "Digital Divisiveness."...
Stop Arguing With Atheists Online
According to a 2013 VitalSmarts survey of about 2,600 people, 35 percent of respondents reported blocking, unsubscribing or "un-friending" someone due to an argument held on social media....
4 Challenges of Being a Young Boss
Joseph Grenny suggests having an honest discussion in which you let the other person know you want a productive working relationship that doesn’t skirt sensitive issues like age differences. (See PDF to May newsletter_Silence 7 common complaints) ...
The Case for Embracing Social Media at Work
A new report led by David Maxfield claims social media has untapped potential in the workplace....
Putting Poverty Alleviation in the Hands of the Impoverished
Albert Bandura and the "Influencer" strategy, developed by Joseph Grenny, inspired Fundación Paraguaya to help poor families ask two questions: Is it worth it? Can I do it?...
Can Social Media At Work Be A Good Thing?
Six in 10 respondents to a recent survey said that use of social media in the office improved work relationships, and about a third said that they used platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to further work-related projects....
Infographic: 48% of companies don’t encourage social media networking
Social media can have “powerful positive impacts” in professional settings, but most organisations either discourage or disregard its use in the workplace, a new study has revealed....
April 17, 2014—Provo, UT—VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today announced its award-winning Crucial Conversations™ classroom course is now available online via live, synchronous learning. The company launched this first course using its new VitalSmarts Virtual Classroom™ technology, a highly collaborative learning platform...
2 Remarkable Books That Will Change Your Life–And Your Business
In Crucial Conversations, the authors share the results of their 25-year study of successful communicators. Not surprisingly, the key skill that differentiated them from their peers was their ability to deal with these very crucial (and oft-dreaded) conversations....
Dog-Eared Books: What’s on Your Bedside Table?
"I find myself turning again and again to Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. It’s my instinct to avoid having difficult conversations and I have to work against my fight-or-flight tendencies....
David Maxfield discusses “Electronic Displays of Insensitivity” (TV)
Earlier this month we told you about new research on "Electronic Displays of Insensitivity" -- basically ignoring people in favor of your smartphone. Today we are lucky enough to have one of the men behind this study in studio today -- New York Times best...
PROVO, UT – March 26, 2014 – VitalSmarts, a leader in corporate training and leadership development, was named the 2014 Business of the Year by ISA – The Association of Learning Providers – for the second time, during its annual business retreat this week in...
VitalSmarts Wins ISA ‘Business of the Year’ Award
VitalSmarts was named the 2014 Business of the Year by ISA – The Association of Learning Providers – for the second time, during its annual business retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona. ...
‘Electronic Displays of Insensitivity’ on the Rise
In Joseph Grenny’s Digital Divisiveness, 87 percent of respondents reported that electronic displays of insensitivity (EDIs) — i.e., the intrusive or inappropriate use of technology — is worse today than it was just a year ago....
PROVO – March 20, 2014 – VitalSmarts, a leader in corporate training and leadership development, announced today it has acquired Vital Skills International of Michigan. As part of the acquisition, VitalSmarts will maintain the presence of a Michigan-based office to provide its U.S. customers in...
Checking your cell phone will kill your relationship
Nearly 9 out of 10 people say that at least once a week, their friends or family stop paying attention to them in favor of something happening on their digital devices. And 1 in 4 say EDIs have caused a serious rift with a friend...
What to Answer: Your Phone or Your Wife?
A new study [by VitalSmarts] suggests ignoring someone to check a digital device may actually damage your relationship. When did technology start trumping respect?...
Provo, Utah, March 19, 2014 – Sandie sent her husband an email during dinner asking if they could talk. Even though he was sitting across the table, it was the only way she could get his attention as he buried his nose in his smartphone....
4 Ways to Overcome Age-Related Tension in the Office
David Maxfield contributes an article on how to work with coworkers of different generations based on VitalSmarts multigenerational research....
Social Media Helps Coworkers Bond
David Maxfield discusses the advantages of social media in the workplace and how to mitigate issues with coworkers....
Why Accountability is Key to Maintaining an Ethical Workplace
Joseph Grenny contributes advice on how to speak up and hold others accountable to maintain and ethical workplace....
Study: The War Of Generations Results In Lost Productivity
VitalSmarts releases new research that shows more than 1 in 3 people waste five or more hours each week (12 percent of their work week), due to chronic, unaddressed conflict between colleagues from different generations....
PROVO – February 5, 2014 – Tami has a coworker who behaves poorly as a result of what she and her colleagues perceive as “senioritis.” After 35 years with the organization, the coworker comes in late, leaves early, takes lengthy personal calls, is resistant to...
Top 20 Leadership Training Companies Watch List
VitalSmarts made the watch list for TrainingIndustry.com’s 2014 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies. ...
Research: We Should Speak Up About Ethical Violations More Often
Joseph Grenny shares research and experience that proves getting people to speak up about ethical violations is not about rewarding whistle-blowers, but creating an environment where employees feel able to hold people accountable....
PROVO – January 17, 2014 – VitalSmarts, a leader in corporate training and leadership development, announced today its list of Premier Associates who are recognized for achieving top revenue and sales targets in their respective regional markets in 2013. That list includes three of the...
Vitalsmarts found that the failure to stick to New Year's resolutions carries a price tag of more than $1,000 for seven in 10 people. ...
VitalSmarts experts found that the way you frame gift giving at Christmas can affect children’s generosity. ...
The 13 Most Popular Business Books of 2013
Crucial Conversations is listed among the 13 most popular business books of 2013 alongside Jim Collins' Good to Great, and Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In....
December 11, 2013—Provo, UT—Edith L. has always struggled with weight gain, but the one thing that has historically kept her weight in check is exercise. In an attempt to gain motivation to work on her exercise goal, she joined a state-of-the-art gym. Two years later,...
Joseph Grenny shares five tips for discussing holiday finances with a squandering spouse. ...
December 9, 2013—Provo, UT—VitalSmarts, a leader in corporate training and leadership development, today announced it has trained one million people in 36 countries in its four award-winning training products. Based on three decades of original research and 50 years of the best social science thinking, VitalSmarts’...
Joseph Grenny shares insight as to why Millennials are better with their money. ...
Kerry Patterson discusses how to respectfully and effectively confront a slacking coworker. ...
Paladin Associates, a procurement services provider, and VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, are pleased to announce their partnership aimed at addressing procurement’s numerous and complex change challenges....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for what it takes to really create a healthy habit and how long before it clicks....
VitalSmarts found that 63% frequently observe minor and major infractions, yet they confront only half of the unethical behavior they see....
VitalSmarts found that 63% frequently observe minor and major infractions, yet they confront only half of the unethical behavior they see. ...
Joseph Grenny shares how to turn conflicting parenting styles into complementary ones....
Crucial Conversations is ranked No. 2 on the Washington Post Paperback Nonfiction Bestsellers List....
David Maxfield shares the importance of personal, social and structural influences to facilitate hand hygiene behavior....
VitalSmarts' "Silence Kills" study found that less than 10 percent of medical staff confront their colleagues about their concerns....
An online survey of 926 people administered by the New York Times best-selling authors of Crucial Accountability found that while 63 percent of respondents regularly witness both minor and major ethical infractions, employees confront only half of the unethical behavior they witness at work....
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 97 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest-growing companies....
Joseph Grenny gives a preview of the skills he’ll share at the upcoming community date night to benefit the United Way....
Joseph Grenny shares how employees can effectively handle mistakes at work....
Joseph Grenny shares how to achieve greater success and build stronger relationships through applying the behavior change principles in Change Anything....
The Silence Kills and Silent Treatment studies from VitalSmarts show the lack of effective communication between clinical teams can have deadly consequences....
Al Switzler shares how Spectrum Health achieved unprecedented success in hand hygiene compliance through Influencer....
Joseph Grenny shares four tips to stop playground and cyber bullying....
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 4109 on the 2013 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America and No. 79 for Utah companies....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for successfully navigating difficult conversations at work....
Ron McMillan elaborates on the five toughest work conversations shared in the CNNMoney article....
TaskUs says Crucial Conversations solved their communication struggles....
VitalSmarts is listed as #4109 on the 2013 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America....
Joseph Grenny will speak at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit alongside Colin Powell, Patrick Lencioni and Brene Brown....
Al Switzler shares how to increase training transference by incorporating strategies within the Six Sources of Influence....
Rebecca Saxton said introducing Crucial Conversations Training to the AORN-Greater Kansas City Chapter was time and money well spent to create healthy work environments....
Joseph Grenny shares what to do when caught between fighting friends....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for communicating both candidly and respectfully on social media....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for effectively raising ethical issues to your boss....
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and leadership development, today released Crucial Accountability™—the update to the Company’s popular Crucial Confrontations Training. The two-day classroom course teaches a step-by-step process for holding others accountable to violated expectations in order to improve performance....
Based on more than 30 years of research, CRUCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY (McGraw-Hill Professional; June 2013; Original paperback and eBook formats: $19) provides readers with the essential tools they need to resolve controversial and complex issues dealing with repeated disappointments and performance gaps. This is the revised...
New research from the authors of the New York Times best-seller Crucial Accountability shows that three in four employees quickly attribute co-workers’ bad behavior to lack of motivation while only one in 10 consider ability deficits. As a result, they avoid holding problem colleagues accountable,...
Joseph Grenny shares his research on social media conversations and provides tips for communicating effectively online....
MassMutual Financial uses Crucial Conversations Training to increase employees’ capacity to foster open and direct communication....
Joseph Grenny shares how to harness the Six Sources of Influence™ to make lasting changes in your life....
Kerry Patterson shares the impact social influences have on our personal finances....
Patty Loeffler lost 100 pounds by following the principles in Influencer and Change Anything....
Research from VitalSmarts shows slacking co-workers cause their hard-working colleagues to put in extra time at the office....
Joseph Grenny shares strategies for ending sexual abuse in the military....
In every business interaction—from weekly conference calls to high-stakes corporate negotiations—one major element separates successful change efforts from the ones that fail: Influence. In INFLUENCER: The New Science of Leading Change (McGraw-Hill; Paperback and eBook formats: $19; May 14, 2013), Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David...
Most leaders put a great deal of time into crafting strategy, selecting winning products and engaging with analysts and shareholders, but according to a new study, only six percent are successful in influencing the behavior of the people who will have to execute on the...
Joseph Grenny shares how leaders can increase their effectiveness by learning how to influence behavior change....
Kerry Patterson shares how to graciously accept a gift you don't like. (This article was picked up by 31 publications.)...
Joseph Grenny shares his research on slacking co-workers and provides solutions for holding slackers accountable....
Steve Rappoport shares VitalSmarts’ research on social media conversations....
Erin Burnett shares VitalSmarts’ research on social media conversations and displays the VitalSmarts website....
Social networks are becoming increasingly hostile, with 78 percent of users reporting rising incivility online and 2 in 5 blocking, unsubscribing or “unfriending” someone over an argument on social media, according to new research from the authors of the New York Times best-seller Crucial Conversations....
Joseph Grenny shares his research on social media conversations and tips for how manners can catch up with technology....
Joseph Grenny shares his research on social media conversations and tips for communicating effectively online....
Joseph Grenny shares his research on slacking co-workers and provides solutions for holding slackers accountable. ...
Co-workers can shape up slackers
Joseph Grenny shares his research on slacking co-workers and provides solutions for holding slackers accountable. ...
Kerry Patterson shares advice in response to a reader’s question on how to deal with slacking co-workers. ...
A VitalSmarts study shows that valuable employees work up to an additional six hours per week because of slacking colleagues....
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, today released the Impact Cloud—a free, customizable, online tool that measures the impact of an organization’s training investment on key behavioral and business outcomes....
Kerry Patterson shares his research which shows 93 percent of employees have co-workers who don't pull their weight, but only 1 in 10 confronts those lackluster colleagues. ...
Slacking co-workers cause a quarter of their hard-working colleagues to put in four to six more hours of work each week, according to new research from the New York Times best-selling authors of Crucial Confrontations....
“Spirit of ISA” Broomfield Award
Al Switzler received the 2013 “Spirit of ISA” Broomfield Award for his contributions to advance ISA’s vision and strategic direction....
Telly Awards
VitalSmarts received two second-place bronze awards from the 34th Annual Telly Awards for outstanding videos....
Joseph Grenny shares ways people can increase their level of happiness. ...
Crucial Conversations is ranked No. 2 on the paperback nonfiction bestseller list. ...
Joseph Grenny shares his research and tips on how to speak up to your doctor....
Joseph Grenny shares his research which shows that couples who argue effectively are 10 times more likely to be happy. ...
Top 20 Leadership Training Companies Watch List
VitalSmarts made the watch list for TrainingIndustry.com's 2013 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies....
VitalSmarts, a leader in corporate training and organizational performance, announced today its list of Premier Associates who are recognized for achieving top revenue and sales targets in their respective markets in 2012. That list includes seven of the Company’s 18 licensed resellers located across the...
Joseph Grenny shares the six sources of influence trainers must engage in order to drive profound and rapid change in behavior. ...
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, today released the Crucial Accountability™ Companion Course. The one-day training builds on the skills learned in Crucial Conversations® Training and introduces a powerful new set of skills for resolving violated expectations, broken commitments and bad behavior....
Crucial Conversations was ranked No. 10 on the Publishers Weekly Business Bestsellers List....
Why So Few Performance Reviews Lead to Any Change
Joseph Grenny shares why performance reviews are largely ineffective and how managers can truly help their employees improve. ...
According to new research from the co-authors of the New York Times best-seller Change Anything, 43 percent of employees experienced a déjà vu performance review in 2012—negative performance feedback that surfaces year after year....
Joseph Grenny shares how to overcome the career-limiting habits that keep you from achieving your career resolutions. ...
Joseph Grenny shares why willpower is insufficient to change behavior. ...
Joseph Grenny shares tips for providing feedback candidly and respectfully. ...
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, recently welcomed two leaders to its team, Stephen Wunderli and Andrew Maxfield....
Joseph Grenny says political diversity discussions can be healthy to hold. ...
Joseph Grenny shares how leaders can increase their capacity for influencing change. ...
Joseph Grenny shares tips for how to discuss holiday finances with your spouse. ...
Joseph Grenny shares how to reverse career-limiting habits to achieve greater success at work. ...
PRSA Golden Spike Awards
VitalSmarts received a Golden Spike Finalist Award in the Marketing Products/Services category from the Public Relations Society of America, Utah Valley Chapter for the Crucial Conversations 4 launch campaign....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for overcoming the sensitivities that undermine our performance at work. (This article was picked up by 5 publications.) ...
Joseph Grenny shares the four critical competencies of a high-performance cultural operating system. ...
Joseph Grenny shares why willpower alone is insufficient to change behavior. ...
This Snapshot features VitalSmarts’ research which shows who we avoid talking politics with the most. ...
Joseph Grenny shares his research on the costs of conflict avoidance in the workplace. ...
Kerry Patterson says a good political rant rarely leads to catharsis....
Crucial Conversations is No. 3 on The Denver Post bestseller list for paperback nonfiction books for the week of October 21....
Joseph Grenny shares what to do if your political discussion turns heated despite your best efforts to remain in dialogue. (This article ran in the Sunday print edition of The New York Times and was also picked up by the Philadelphia Inquirer)....
A survey from VitalSmarts shows 86 percent of Americans avoid political discussions. (This article was picked up by three additional publications.)...
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 100 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest growing companies....
Kerry Patterson shares how to use the Influencer Model to achieve lasting change in an organization....
Romney and Obama aren’t the only ones taking sides in intense debates this election season. According to a new poll from VitalSmarts and the authors of the New York Times best-seller Crucial Conversations, 62 percent of Americans have found themselves in heated debates and the...
Kerry Patterson shares tips for how to say “no.”...
Crucial Conversations is listed as a great resource for providing a framework for discussions on salary negotiation....
David Maxfield shares tips for overcoming career-limiting habits to achieve greater potential at work....
David Maxfield shares how to apply Influencer strategies to motivate employees and increase engagement....
Crucial Conversations is No. 1 on the Washington Post bestseller list for nonfiction paperbacks for the week of August 26....
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 3311 on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America....
The Silent Treatment study shows that a culture of poor communication in hospitals contributes to medical errors....
Ron McMillan shares tips for determining when to make a career move....
VitalSmarts is No. 3311 on the 2012 Inc. 5000 list. The Company has been ranked by Inc. as one of America's fastest-growing companies for eight consecutive years....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for handling financial differences in marriage....
Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards
VitalSmarts was awarded a certificate of merit from the Chief Learning Officer Learning in Practice Awards for the Change Anything Training course....
A survey from VitalSmarts reveals that 97 percent of employees have a career-limiting habit that keeps them from achieving their potential at work....
VitalSmarts released the fourth edition of Crucial Conversations Training, which teaches high-leverage skills to improve dialogue, relationships, and bottom-line organizational results....
Change Anything shows how to reach a higher level of achievement and satisfaction in life....
Joseph Grenny offers advice for taking well-deserved vacation time and for setting appropriate boundaries while away....
Joseph Grenny shares how the most influential leaders handle three important crucial conversations....
Utah Valley BusinessQ Top 30 Fastest-Growing Companies
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 29 in the UV50 list of fastest-growing companies....
Kim was distressed after she and her fiancée received a "conflicted couple" flag following a premarital questionnaire. She knew from previous failed relationships that she struggled to bring up sensitive issues, but would her tendency to avoid a nasty debate really threaten the success of...
A survey from VitalSmarts reveals that 97 percent of employees have a career-limiting habit....
Joseph Grenny shares how to hold effective crucial conversations in this age of digital communication....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for negotiating vacation time....
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, today released the fourth edition of Crucial Conversations® Training, one of the training industry's leading courses in teaching high-leverage skills to improve dialogue, relationships and bottom-line organizational results.
...Ron McMillan shares how to use Change Anything principles to reach both professional and personal goals....
Joseph Grenny demonstrates the difference Crucial Conversations skills make in being a great leader....
Crucial Conversations Training taught Paychex leaders how to achieve spirited dialogue at all levels in the organization, make the highest-quality decisions, and then act on decisions with unity and commitment....
Four Ways CLOs Can Change Their Company’s Culture
Joseph Grenny shares how to change a company’s culture using the four critical competencies of a high performance cultural operating system....
Four weeks after seventeen periOperative nurses participated in Crucial Conversations Training, they reported the ability to address disruptive physician behavior 71 percent of the time....
Joseph Grenny shares how to effectively speak up when facing moral dilemmas....
Communicator Awards
The Silent Treatment Study website was awarded the prestigious Silver Communicator Award in the Website category of the 2012 Communicator Awards....
David Maxfield explains why being helpful is an important leadership skill....
Joseph Grenny shares the importance of positive peer pressure to meet career goals....
A new study from New York Times best-selling authors Joseph Grenny and Loral Langemeier shows that over the past five years, three out of five people have failed to meet their financial goals; despite this, 76 percent are doing little to change their spending and...
According to a new study by Joseph Grenny, 76 percent of U.S. adults are doing little to change their financial behavior....
Crucial Conversations was No. 8 on the nonfiction paperback bestseller list for April 1....
Telly Awards
VitalSmarts received one first-place silver award and one second-place bronze award from the 33rd Annual Telly Awards for outstanding videos....
Joseph Grenny shares how to candidly and respectfully discuss politics at work....
Joseph Grenny outlines how the attention given to and glorification of school shooters amplifies the violence....
Crucial Conversations was No. 7 on the list of USA TODAY Money bestsellers for March 4....
Joseph Grenny and Chase McMillan share how managers can help employees overcome their career-limiting habits....
The second edition of Crucial Conversations was No. 3 on the list of bestselling business books for February 28....
Joseph Grenny shares his research which reveals why crucial conversations succeed or fail....
Kerry Patterson shares how leaders can increase employee engagement....
Crucial Conversations was No. 1 on the list of softcover business bestsellers for February 12....
David Maxfield shares the importance of positive social influence in altering career-limiting habits. (This article was picked up by 8 additional publications.)...
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, today released Change Anything Training™, its newest training course designed for organizations that are tired of yielding little-to-no change in employee behavior despite substantial investments in performance management.
...Kerry Patterson shares how to approach co-workers about highly sensitive issues....
Kerry Patterson shares his career-limiting habits research....
The authors of Crucial Conversations provide negotiation tips for high-stakes situations....
Joseph Grenny shares that willpower has little to do with behavior change....
Joseph Grenny says the way human behavior responds to five key challenges will determine our future. ...
Al Switzler shares tips for holding a successful crucial conversation....
Change Anything was listed as No. 8 on the top 10 business books of 2011 list. ...
Be proactive ahead of performance review
Joseph Grenny provides tips for improving your performance and catapulting your career....
Kerry Patterson provides tips for office party etiquette....
Joseph Grenny shares VitalSmarts' new research and workplace negotiation tips....
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, promoted Emily Hoffman to vice president of development and delivery. In her new role, Emily will lead a brand new division of VitalSmarts—the Development and Delivery department—an integration of the former Production Services and Training/Consulting departments.
...Change Anything shows that willpower alone is not enough to change behavior....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for holding crucial conversations with unruly relatives this holiday season....
My boss is a monster: Handling scary supervisors
Kerry Patterson shares tips for working with a difficult boss. (This article was picked up by four additional publications.)...
Why confrontation at work is critical
Joseph Grenny's research shows keeping silent on the job comes with considerable costs....
PRSA Golden Spike Awards
VitalSmarts won a Golden Spike Award in the Marketing Products/Services category from the Public Relations Society of America, Utah Valley Chapter for the Silent Treatment launch campaign....
Leadership Excellence 500
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 13 in the large consulting group category of best leadership development firms in North America....
New research reveals the most difficult issue for women in the workplace to discuss and successfully resolve is negotiating limits on their workload—it's also one of the main issues that cause 1 in 5 women to leave their job.
...
Improve Your Organization
This excerpt comes from the first chapter of the second edition of Crucial Conversations and focuses on VitalSmarts' new research from the past 10 years....
How to promote behavioral change
David Maxfield discusses why performance reviews alone are insufficient to create lasting behavior change....
How to disagree with your boss—without losing your job
Joseph Grenny shares tips for speaking up to your boss candidly and respectfully....
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 94 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest growing companies....
Handling Make-or-Break Conversations
Joseph Grenny shares findings from his new study on life-changing crucial conversations....
How to get your foot in the door
Kerry Patterson provides tips for holding a crucial conversation to get past the receptionist....
According to a study from the four-time New York Times best-selling authors of Crucial Conversations, the person people most struggle to hold difficult and life-changing conversations with is their boss. Spouses and co-workers are the second and third most difficult audiences when discussing high-stakes issues.
...
Bounty Hunting
Kerry Patterson says employees whose contributions merit a higher salary can effectively negotiate one....
When a high-stakes issue calls for a tough conversation, most people fumble, change the subject or avoid it altogether—with devastating consequences. Workplaces become dysfunctional, marriages fall apart and careers stall. Whether we need to solve a spousal argument, request a raise or get the department...
On the Bookshelf: Character Building
Change Anything shows that changing unhealthy or ineffective habits doesn't hinge on willpower....
Joseph Grenny shares how bosses can effectively handle bad behavior issues with star employees....
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 3425 on the 2011 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America....
Kerry Patterson shares how busy employees can strengthen relationships with co-workers during normal work hours. (This article was picked up by 17 additional publications.)...
Crucial Conversations is No. 5 on The Denver Post's list of paperback bestsellers....
Joseph Grenny says employees can make themselves more marketable by improving their interpersonal skills....
Joseph Grenny shares how the principles of Change Anything unlock one's potential for success in changing their behavior....
EMPixx Awards
VitalSmarts received a platinum and gold award for their excellence in moving pixels....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for how to create a great working relationship with your boss. (This article also ran on MSN.)...
Joseph Grenny shares how to alter your life to create fulfillment—instead of hoping the world will change to suit your needs....
Crucial Conversations is No. 6 on The Washington Post's list of nonfiction paperback bestsellers....
David Maxfield shares research from The Silent Treatment study which shows that a culture of poor communication undermines the effectiveness of safety tools and contributes to medical errors....
According to Kerry Patterson, when crucial conversations are avoided or handled poorly, teams and organizations stall or even self-destruct....
The Economist: Crucial Conversations is No. 7 on The Economist's list of worldwide business bestsellers....
Joseph Grenny shares how employees can overcome their Career-Limiting Habits and experience greater success at work....
Joseph Grenny shares how people over 40 can increase their success in making changes and achieving goals....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for when and how to hold crucial conversations with your boss....
Joseph Grenny shares how employees can speak up to mitigate the consequences of their mistakes and restore their reputation at work....
Joseph Grenny shares how the principles of Change Anything unlock one's potential for success in changing their behavior....
If you are contemplating personal change, Change Anything may help you overcome the unseen influences that might otherwise defeat you....
According to new research from the New York Times best-selling authors of Change Anything, 97 percent of employees report they have some Career-Limiting Habit (CLH) that keeps them from achieving their potential at work. These habits cost employees raises and promotions they might have...
Joseph Grenny shares an influence strategy for de-radicalizing prospective young terrorists....
Change Anything shows that we can gain control over our behavior and excel in our careers through harnessing the six sources that influence behavior....
Change Anything just might become an enduring classic in how to turn problem behaviors into productivity and happiness....
Change Anything is a roadmap for individuals to gain mastery over their weight, careers, exercise habits, interpersonal relationships and more....
Joseph Grenny shares how employees can use the principles in Change Anything to help them change their behavior and get a raise or promotion....
Joseph Grenny shares how remarkable change agents used the principles in Change Anything to turn hardened criminals into responsible fathers....
The authors of Change Anything, all affiliated with the consulting firm VitalSmarts, present research and insights about how to change bad personal habits....
Is willpower overrated? Most people blame lack of willpower for their inability to change a bad habit. But it turns out willpower has surprisingly little to do with whether or not people succeed at changing their bad habits finds CHANGE ANYTHING: THE NEW SCIENCE OF...
David Maxfield shares how the Change Anything approach empowers employees to take control of their own career path by teaching them the knowledge and tools to change their behavior and improve their performance....
Change Anything works great on a personal level, and could also help trainers to assist employees looking to turn over a new leaf for better performance and a more successful work-life....
Telly Awards
VitalSmarts received one first-place silver award and one second-place bronze award from the 32nd Annual Telly Awards for outstanding videos....
Research from Change Anything reveals how employees can make themselves invaluable by practicing the three vital behaviors of top performers....
Health care professionals make calculated decisions daily to not alert their colleagues when a safety tool signals potential harm to a patient, according to a new study of 6,500 nurses and nurse managers released today during a national briefing in Philadelphia....
David Maxfield shares findings from "The Silent Treatment" study and says teams need to create environments of accountability....
David Maxfield shares findings from "The Silent Treatment" study, which shows how communication failures in the hospital can lead to medical errors....
Brittney Maxfield shares how VitalSmarts developed a successful marketing campaign through creating an Old Spice parody featuring their book Crucial Conversations....
Kerry Patterson shares how employees can respectfully and effectively confront their boss before acting out in ways that could cost them their job. ...
Utah Valley BusinessQ Top Revenue Companies
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 8 in the UV50 list of top revenue companies....
Kerry Patterson shares how employees can effectively ask for extras by presenting a cost-benefit analysis....
Kerry Patterson provides tips for respectfully and effectively confronting office lovebirds about their public display of affection....
Kerry Patterson explains how HR professionals can effectively deal with angry employees' concerns....
Change Anything provides tips for employees to create a multifaceted change plan to excel in their careers....
Top 20 Leadership Training Companies Watch List
VitalSmarts made the watch list for TrainingIndustry.com's 2011 Top 20 Leadership Training Companies....
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, promoted three leaders, Mary McChesney, John Minert, and Emily Hoffman to senior management positions....
Kerry Patterson explains how learning leaders can help change their employees' behavior....
Change Anything is heralded as a "smart, sensible work" containing a "highly detailed holistic plan, illustrated by encouraging case studies, for making systemic changes that approach problems from every angle and promote active change."...
Kerry Patterson shares how employees can successfully ask for help without appearing incompetent....
Joseph Grenny shares how people can get what they want by proffering a simple invitation....
Al Switzler discusses VitalSmarts' research which debunks the myth that jerks are most likely to get promoted....
According to a poll by VitalSmarts, only 15% of U.S. employees feel comfortable dealing with "tough" conversations....
Joseph Grenny says successful employees have strong interpersonal skills, are strong contributors, and care a great deal about their organization....
Ron McMillan shares tips for how to excel in the workplace through holding crucial confrontations....
Crucial Conversations provides the tools to step up to potentially uncomfortable conversations and ensure better outcomes....
Kerry Patterson shares how having the right training programs and processes in place allows managers to engage employees in difficult conversations....
Joseph Grenny shares how to handle crucial conversations with relatives during the holidays....
Kerry Patterson shares how HR professionals can improve through offering helpful training courses that empower their employees....
Kerry Patterson shares how to spot emerging leaders by observing how they step up to crucial conversations....
The authors of the New York Times bestselling book, Crucial Conversations, and their award-winning video team, have put a holiday spin on the Old Spice phenomenon.
...Joseph Grenny offered an executive briefing in New York City on how leaders can best exert influence. ...
Every Monday for five years, Natalie Luke looked in the mirror and said, “I’ve got a fresh start, this week will be different; I will lose those pesky pounds.”
...Joseph Grenny offers advice for sticking to a budget by shopping with friends who will help you to achieve your goals....
Vincent Han, president of Change Anything, a division of VitalSmarts, was selected by Utah Business as one of Utah's top 40 business executives under the age of 40....
PRSA Golden Spike Awards
VitalSmarts won two finalist awards from the Public Relations Society of America for excellence in communication campaigns....
Joseph Grenny shares how to best motivate employees by sharing examples from influential restaurateur Danny Meyer....
VitalSmarts' research shows only 15 percent are confident they can fully express their political views without getting upset....
A new study from the authors of the New York Times bestseller Crucial Conversations shows employees with poor people skills pay a "jerk tax" when being considered for promotion.
...Kerry Patterson shares how to create a safe environment for having discussions with hotheads and brooders....
Joseph Grenny shares advice for how to respectfully discuss politics at work....
Joseph Grenny says avoidance of crucial issues is one of the most significant impediments for the success of organizations....
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 3746 on the 2010 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America....
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts is ranked #77 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest growing companies....
Joseph Grenny, business strategy expert and three-time New York Times bestselling author, will speak about influence at the HSM World Business Forum on October 5-6 at Radio City Music Hall® in New York City....
Joseph Grenny, business strategy expert and three-time New York Times bestselling author, will speak about influence at the 2010 HSM World Business Forum....
Ron McMillan shares how families who work together on a farm can keep relationships strong....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for how employees can discuss micromanaging with their boss....
Joseph Grenny discusses the six sources of influence leaders can leverage to affect change....
Joseph Grenny provides tips for how parents can broach delicate topics with their children....
Kerry Patterson offers advice for how new graduates can handle tension-filled conversations to excel in the workplace....
Joseph Grenny shares the lessons human resource professionals can learn from the recent fatal firing in Connecticut....
Joseph Grenny shares advice for how employees can effectively hold crucial conversations following the episode with the JetBlue employee in New York....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for how to fire employees respectfully and without repercussions....
Kerry Patterson shares advice for how employees can handle concerns at work effectively....
Today, VitalSmarts, a Utah-based training company, awarded world-renowned psychologist, Albert Bandura, Ph.D., for his extraordinary contribution to the field of self-directed human change.
...VitalSmarts was ranked No. 29 on the list of the 50 fastest growing and revenue-generating companies in Utah....
Joseph Grenny shares how business leaders can implement the "six sources of influence" to harness the power to change anything....
Kerry Patterson offers tips for how employees can effectively handle difficult conversations with their manager....
Kerry Patterson relates the potential damage caused by failing to hold a crucial conversation face-to-face and provides advice for employees who are fired via e-mail....
Joseph Grenny suggests employees respectfully disagree with their boss by talking out differences instead of acting out....
Joseph Grenny says the impulse to punish or assign blame often inhibits our ability to see the real issue and offers advice for a new strategy....
VitalSmarts, a Provo-based corporate training company, won a Stevie Award in The 2010 American Business Awards in the category of Marketing Department of the Year....
VitalSmarts won a Stevie Award in The 2010 American Business Awards in the category of Marketing Department of the Year....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for how employees can respectfully disagree with their boss and keep their job....
Crucial Conversations is listed as the first book to consult for training on how to handle difficult business conversations....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for maintaining boundaries when taking time off from work....
VitalSmarts' research indicates that once accountability for safety is reached, companies can leverage that learning to improve quality, production, cost control and customer service....
2010 Stevie Awards Winner
VitalSmarts won a Stevie Award in The 2010 American Business Awards in the category of Marketing Department of the Year....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for how to effectively follow-up with an interviewer to get the job you want....
According to a new study by the authors of Crucial Conversations, 95 percent of the workforce struggles to speak up to their colleagues about concerns....
The Peer Principle
Joseph Grenny references VitalSmarts' recent cost of conflict research as well as discusses the importance of building cultures of accountability....
Crucial Conversations offers insights in stepping outside of ourselves and looking at a difficult situation from a third-person view....
VitalSmarts, a Provo-based training company, was awarded six Telly Awards for its series of creative videos featuring hilarious and often awkward conversations that occur at work and at home....
Ron McMillan discusses results from a survey by VitalSmarts. More than 50 percent of survey respondents listed a disagreeable boss as the No. 1 reason to want to leave their job....
Communicator Awards
The Crucial Skills blog was awarded the prestigious Silver Communicator Award in the Business Blog category of the 2010 Communicator Awards....
Joseph Grenny offers excellent tips for employees to effectively ask for much-needed vacation time without placing their job in jeopardy....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for dealing with crucial conversations to eliminate the costs associated with conflict....
Joseph Grenny shares three options of action for employees who feel underpaid for their work: persuade your employer, supplement your income or shop around....
Mary Dondiego McChesney, senior marketing director at VitalSmarts, was selected as one of the top 30 women worth watching....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for employees to unlock their potential at work through speaking up and holding conversations....
New research reveals employees waste an average of $1,500 and an 8-hour workday for every crucial conversation they avoid. These costs skyrocket when multiplied by the prevalence of conflict avoidance.
...VitalSmarts received two first-place silver awards and four second-place bronze awards from the 31st Annual Telly Awards for outstanding videos....
Mary Dondiego McChesney, senior marketing director at VitalSmarts, was selected by Utah Business as one of the top 30 women worth watching....
Ron McMillan shares how the increase of high-tech communication is breaking down employees' ability to hold crucial conversations at work....
Joseph Grenny offers face-saving strategies for recovering from verbal work gaffes....
Kerry Patterson shares how to confront gender bias in the workplace in a way that fosters a culture of diversity and improves working relationships....
Kerry Patterson shares advice on how to ask for a raise using crucial conversations skills....
Joseph Grenny discusses how the lack of laughter in an organization reflects a lack of trust. He shares his insight for building humor and candor into your leadership style....
A new study released today by VitalSmarts found that five threats to workers' safety are commonly left undiscussed and lead to avoidable injury or fatalities.
...Crucial Conversations is No. 4 on the Globe and Mail list of bestselling business books....
Joseph Grenny says Toyota's problem is most likely due to a culture of silence wherein employees don't speak up and surface critical issues....
Joseph Grenny shares tips for enlisting your manager's support when you feel underpaid, overworked, unrecognized, or burned out....
Kerry Patterson and Richard Pound share research and tips for exponentially increasing influence....
Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield share new research that shows 93 percent of organizations are at risk of avoidable workplace accidents....
Ron McMillan shares the five mistakes leaders and tips for changing behavior....
"Influencer is definitely worth the read as long as you are serious about the topic."...
Ron McMillan shares advice in asking for a raise....
Joseph Grenny shares research that shows changing shopping behavior is difficult because people don't know how many things influence their behavior. He shares tips for becoming more conscious of those influences....
Joseph Grenny shares leadership lessons he learned in 2009 as well as his plans for 2010....
Kerry Patterson explains how to design a training course that will directly impact the results you want to achieve....
Joseph Grenny shares his 2010 business resolutions for VitalSmarts....
Joseph Grenny shares research that shows changing shopping behavior is difficult because people are blind to the sources of influence that encourage spending behavior. He provides tips for becoming more conscious and competent about those influences....
Joseph Grenny explains that many company's problems are a result of executives not holding crucial conversations with their employees and shares tips for holding these crucial conversations....
A recent study by the authors of Influencer, found that most people don't know how to encourage themselves or others to do something as simple as wash their hands....
U.S. big businesses, such as VitalSmarts, are spending serious time and money trying to limit the swine flu pandemic's impact on operations, from bankrolling video on good hygiene to training employees to cover for co-workers with critical jobs....
Latisha grew up on the east side of Detroit surrounded by drug dealers and violence. Her sister was pregnant at 15. She had horrible grades and no social life. She had never even heard of college or a career. Determined not to become a product...
It's never easy to hear that something is wrong with your work, your behavior, or both. Joseph Grenny shares tips for dealing with negative comments from your boss. This article was published in 13 publications throughout the United States....
Hyrum and Joseph Grenny talk about an experiment they recently conducted to find out how to get your kids to wash their hands....
In a stressful recession, workers and managers go to great lengths to avoid the discussions they need to have. Joseph Grenny shares research and tips for stepping up to the crucial conversations you need to hold....
Crucial Conversations was listed on the long-running paperback bestseller list for the third month in a row....
Joseph Grenny shares tips and strategies for pushing a project or agenda at work, and eventually persuading other people to accept the idea....
Joseph Grenny shares new research that identified the five early warning signs that are predictive of ultimate project failure....
Kerry Patterson explains that, when it comes to expressing your views, even controversial ones, "it's not a matter of courage but rather a matter of skills."...
Joseph Grenny shares six tips for influencing employees to wash their hands....
Influencer Training™ by VitalSmarts, a provider of corporate training and organizational performance products and services, has been named one of the 2009 Top Training Products of the Year by Human Resource Executive® magazine.
...Crucial Conversations was listed on the long-running paperback bestseller list for the second month in a row....
Kerry Patterson shares tips for confronting coworkers who are "untouchable."...
VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, released its award-winning Crucial Conversations Training 3.0 program in four languages: French, German, Latin-American Spanish and Simplified Chinese.
...Across the U.S., employees are haunted by something scary and destructive—and it’s not ghosts and goblins. New research shows, more than 70 percent of people run in fear from a scary conversation with their boss, coworker or direct report....
The editors of Human Resource Executive announce their selections for the top 10 HR products and top five training products of 2009 -- products that are capable of delivering on their promises and making HR's job easier....
According to research by the New York Times bestselling authors of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (McGraw-Hill), a book on behavior change, only 14 percent of adults and 2 percent of kids wash their hands after coughing or sneezing—or shaking hands with someone...
Kerry Patterson shares tips for dealing with slacker coworkers....
MountainWest Capital Network’s Utah 100
VitalSmarts was ranked No. 70 on the Utah 100 list of most successful and fastest growing companies....
David Maxfield shares his latest research about the five crucial conversations that drive education excellence....
Crucial Conversations was listed on the long-running paperback bestseller list for the first time....
Inc. Magazine
VitalSmarts ranks #2,509 on the 2009 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America....
Top Training Product of the Year
Influencer Training was named one of the five top training products of the year by Human Resource Executive Magazine for its ability to deliver results....
VitalSmarts ranked #2,509 in the 2009 Inc. 500/5,000. Read our company profile....
Joseph Grenny talks about the affect of propinquity, or your physical surroundings, on making decisions and changing behavior....
An interview with bestselling authors Kerry Patterson and Al Switzler, who--together with Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield--have identified a straightforward process to resolve performance gaps, improve accountability, and ensure execution. Patterson and Switzler discuss their views on personal and organizational excellence, dealing with high-stakes interactions,...
MIT Change Management Approach of the Year 2009
Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, and Andy Shimberg receive the Beckhard Memorial Prize by MIT Sloan Management Review for the most outstanding article on planned change and organizational development of the year for their article "How to Have Influence," originally published in the Fall of 2008....
USA TODAY snapshot features research from VitalSmarts on how families interact at reunions....
Joseph Grenny shares the five conversations you need to hold to secure your career....
VitalSmarts was ranked #29 on the list of the 50 fastest growing and revenue-generating companies in Utah....
Joseph Grenny says the key to influence is understanding behavior. when leaders attribute the wrong causes behind behavior, then attempts at change won't be successful....
New research by the authors of the New York Times bestselling book and corporate training program of the same title, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, has received the Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize from MIT Sloan Management Review for the most outstanding article on planned...
Ron McMillan shares tips for improving communication and relationships at family reunions....
Ron McMillan shares tips for improving communication and relationships at family reunions....
VitalSmarts research shows working remotely causes 243% more workplace relationship problems....
Len Wittrock avoids family reunions and gatherings when he knows his younger brother will be in attendance. In the past, Wittrock's brother used each reunion as an opportunity to confront him and tell him why he vehemently opposed everything he and his wife believed in....
VitalSmarts research shows 13 out of 14 common workplace-relationship problems occur more than twice as often with virtual teams....
Joseph Grenny shares how to avoid rude language and hostile behavior in healthcare....
Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, and Andrew Shimberg won the Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize from MIT Sloan Management for the most outstanding SMR article on planned change and organizational development....
New research shows that 13 out of 14 common workplace relationship problems occur far more frequently within “virtual teams” (teams with members scattered across various geographies) than within teams located in the same building.
...According to a new study by VitalSmarts, problems with remote colleagues are significantly more difficult to solve and last longer than with on-site colleagues....
Joseph Grenny shares the four crucial moments that predict how well and how fast an organization responds to economic threats....
VitalSmarts research shows that those who use four or more influence strategies in combination are 10 times more likely to succeed....
Author Joseph Grenny says that leaders need to know a strategy and method and for influencing profound and rapid change in their organizations....
VitalSmarts product development team is named a finalist in The 2009 American Business Awards in the Best Product Development Team category....
Influencer Training is a "classroom course for teaching strategies to uproot entrenched habits and drive rapid and sustainable behavior change."...
Joseph Grenny shares tips for saying "no" to your coworker....
Crucial Conversations is listed #3 on the USA Today Money List....
David Maxfield shares research from the Silence Kills study and tips from Crucial Conversations....
Crucial Conversations is #3 on USA Today's Money bestseller list....
Crucial Conversations is listed #9 and #2 on the list of bestsellers....
Research shows leaders who hold crucial conversations respond five times faster and ten times better to financial threats
New research from VitalSmarts reveals the way leaders and employees behave in four crucial moments is a predictor of an organization's ability to respond effectively and quickly to...
Joseph Grenny shares four destructive behaviors and how leaders can confront these behaviors to help their company survive and grow....
Crucial Conversations is listed four times on the featured daily top 5 bestselling books....
